Best bass head and cab for drop A deathcore

[Anit bassist]

Im looking for a good head and cab, i play in a tech deathcore band that tunes to drop A. Naturally the head and cab must be able to deliver punchy, clear tones at stage volumes. i want my sound to stand out in the mix, as im up against 2x peavey 5150+, 410's and a drum kit. i want a sound simalar to that of the red shore, rings of saturn, signal the firing squad.
the heads ive been looking at on the net are ampeg svt-7, gk 1001rb-II, swr workingpro700, swr 750x. my price range is between upto $2000aud.
If you could name some nice cabs to go with a head, that would be great. looking around the same price range for a cab.
Thanks in advance, Luke.

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[SerratedBass]

Quite difficult for bass to stand out in a Deathcore mix, especially when the guitars are tuned to A. The guitars occupy so much of the low end content that it almost doesn't need the bass to hold down the low end, just leaving a gap for you in the mid range. Listening to The Red Shore the bassist seems to have a quite mid heavy sound and a bit of grind. In all honesty the amp won't matter so much as to what you do with it. For the low A, bass set up and string gauge as well as technique will play as big a part as what amp you have.

You'll need serious power and volume to compete on stage with two 5150s, especially if they have decent cabs. and you are playing venues that sometimes only put vocals and kick through the PA. The GK is very punchy, so if you are using a distortion for a bit of grind, it will give you a 'clearer' tone to work with, to find your gap in the mix. The Ampeg stuff is always used by metal players as well, but ultimately you would want to use something like a BDDI for the grind you need, and an amp with a shed load of power, and plenty of mid frequency sculpting so you can cut and boost the right frequencies to sit in the mix.

Something I have always found with lower tunings is that you just won't get much in the way of note definition with a 'metal' bass tone, leaving you with a low end rumble and a bit of clank. I tend to recommend playing the same octave as the guitar when they go lower, as if you set up your tone well, you won't lose any low end, but will be heard in the mix. Take a look at Meshuggah and what the bass does, they tune as low as F#, so the bass plays the same octave as the guitar, and dials in a distorted tone that perfectly compliments it. Another good example of this is Pantera on a couple of songs from The Great Southern Trendkill. Dime tunes down to drop G, and Rex just plays off the G on his 5 string, same octave as the guitar. Cuts through beautifully!

[lokikallas]

The head won't matter too much. I think 500 w min, my vote is for the 7 pro because it works for me. The guitars most likely have smiley face eq, so I say boost your mids to carve out a space. What the hell is deathcore anyway? Is that like obituary crossed with madball?

[cableguy]

Cab......fEARful 15/6 with 15Sub. Or 1515/66 if you want one cab. These cabs go lower & louder than any other cab I have heard. Look up TBer burnigskies rig. SVT7Pro, GK1001RBII or pre/poweramp set-up.

[::::BASSIST::::]

+1

[grendle]

Amp doesn't matter so much as said before. GK has good mids , ampeg has a cool mid selector and graphic eq and hartke has a good graphic eq also. Gotta find a midrange tone you like and boost it to cut through. A graphic eq makes that fq. easier to find imo.

[Anit bassist]

thanks very much for the quick replies, as it stands right now im most likely leaning more towards the GK 1001rb-II, simply because i can pick one up brand new online for about 1k. from what ive read they seem to have a punchy mid range, which i think will be necessary to cut through the already bass oriented mix.
This being said, im still not sure what cab to put it on, i was thinking a 410 thats rated at like 800w or something would be easy to move to and from gigs, but would a 610 or 810 deliver a better 'tone' or move more air?
not sure whether to look at the lighter gk neo series cabs or to look at ampeg's 410,610 or 810. or perhaps a swr cab.

I also play finger style, hardly ever use a pick. im sure this will make quite abit of difference. so i really need something thats going to allow the softer touch of fingers to be propelled through the mix.

[somegeezer]

Originally Posted by Anit bassist

thanks very much for the quick replies, as it stands right now im most likely leaning more towards the GK 1001rb-II, simply because i can pick one up brand new online for about 1k. from what ive read they seem to have a punchy mid range, which i think will be necessary to cut through the already bass oriented mix.
This being said, im still not sure what cab to put it on, i was thinking a 410 thats rated at like 800w or something would be easy to move to and from gigs, but would a 610 or 810 deliver a better 'tone' or move more air?
not sure whether to look at the lighter gk neo series cabs or to look at ampeg's 410,610 or 810. or perhaps a swr cab.

I also play finger style, hardly ever use a pick. im sure this will make quite abit of difference. so i really need something thats going to allow the softer touch of fingers to be propelled through the mix.

I use that head with a Laney Nexus NX410. I have 2 of them at 8 ohms each, so I always have that extra cab space if I need more volume. But I tend to cut through 2 guitarists using 412s and a loud drummer and harsh vocalist easily.

EDIT: I generally use fingers most too btw.

[grendle]

Really hard to beat an 8x10 svt. There's a Lotta love around here for 4x12'too.

[Skabasskid]

I'm sorry, but there's a certain point where I can't tell if these threads are trolling or not.

It's deathcore. Buy a piece of crap setup that sounds like it's throwing up on itself and spend the rest of the money on something useful. Your guitarist will probably always tell you you're too loud anyways, so blow the cash on something you'll actually use.

(from personal experience and anger, not bashing deathcore, by any means.)

[NOT]

I've never played Drop A.... or B.... or C

[jag872002]

alex webster was useing ampeg stuff for the longest time. hes useing swr now. think that stuff is a wall of guitars but the bass always seems to cut through. id would even look any further than gk or ampeg. go with 8x10 thats what i was using for a band allong them lines. go with the crowd make sure ur mids are there and not scooped.

[Anit bassist]

ive seen brand new ampeg 810e cabs on ebay for 1.9k delivered so im thinking if i pair the gk 1001rb-II with an ampeg 810e then ill be set for just about any venue i could possibly want to play .

as far as spending money on other, more 'usefull' things, what would you consider to be more useful then the place of sound reproduction itself?

[grendle]

Originally Posted by jag872002

alex webster was useing ampeg stuff for the longest time. hes useing swr now. think that stuff is a wall of guitars but the bass always seems to cut through. id would even look any further than gk or ampeg. go with 8x10 thats what i was using for a band allong them lines. go with the crowd make sure ur mids are there and not scooped.

+10

[Derek Kiernan]

If you're concerned about low end extension and volume, you need a fEARful.

[Anit bassist]

what makes the fEARful better then something like an ampeg 810e?
im not liking the design and i cant find anything good about them for death metal.
but if im missing something then please explain.

[Mr. Foxen]

Fearfuls go an octave or two lower than an SVT cab. The SVT cab has an upsetting similar frequency range to an oversized guitar 4x12, which makes it a poor contender to compete with them. Plus they are smaller and lighter, which means you can have more of them.

[spaz21387]

Fearfuls are full range cabs. For metal I would recomend the ampeg svt 4 pro and like 2 ampeg 8x10s per channel bringing both channels down to 2 ohms.

[Bassmec]

I think this is much more of a job for an 8 X 10 than a cab known for huge fundamentals and only one or two six inch cones for midrange.
He will need to make most of his sound with the harmonics
as he wont get through the booming guitar with bass so the
cab should be as far from flat as possible.
GK is very good and fairly flat, SWR is a tad brighter but quite scooped, Ampeg is forward in the mid classic but not much bottom, but an old eden LXT is fairly smoothly nasal sounding but very efficient, but isn't that sort of exactly what you want. If a little weighty to hump but the wheels seem OK
on fairly smooth surfaces. Rat fur finish so just drag it up the tail gate while standing in the UTE buck.
really forward in the upper mid accentuated by a keley tubescreemer or other mild distortion like a boss OB3.
I wonder if you can really find a big old eden LXT honk box down under.
Amps you can use pretty much anything powerful and reliable, A half decent power amp + sans amp is cool as.
And cheeper and far easier to replace if it blows the magic smoke out in alice springs on a hot night.

+ the 8x10 LXT is 8 ohms, so bridge mode works fine on most 1K+ power amps.

[::::BASSIST::::]

You guys are wrong. A 15/6 + 15sub will kick the crap out of an 810. These cabs can be voiced anyway you like. They are super loud and efficient.