I'm in a strange predicament with my amp.

[JasonKain]

So, a little background. I've been playing about two years now, and I'm finally getting to that point where I'm kind of getting my sound in my head, and I'm wanting to get that sound out instead of just "what my gear can provide". My current equipment is a Squier Jaguar bass strung with La Bella flats, a Carvin BX500 head, tc Electronic 2x12 cabinet, and a couple pedals, most notably the Tech 21 VT Bass and Leeds. I play about 80% of my music with fingers and 20% with a pick. I tend to favor playing right over the P pickup, or around the heel of the neck for the really warm, thick stuff. I used to play on rounds, but I switched to flats because I preferred the feel.

For the past couple weeks, I've been battling with my sound. My amp and all my gear is located at my church, where I do pretty much all of my playing. I play through my rig because we're a small little group and the PA we have can't really do bass well. The more I've focused on my sound, I found I've been either fading into an almost indistinguishable rumble or had nothing but bark to my tone. I've made various adjustments from subtle to major, and tried pretty much everything I can think of both solo and in a band context, and I can't find anything I'm happy with.

I'm thinking the problem is me just not digging the sound of the Carvin, because I'm still having issues even without any pedals on. I practice at home using an old freebie Marshall MG10, and it's actually fairly close to the base sound I'm after. It's missing a fair bit of low end, but it's a ten watt guitar amp. I'm not expecting gold. I also had the opportunity to play through a Hartke 60 watt combo at another church's practice, and it sounded a lot closer that my Carvin overall, but not quite as close as the Marshall.

I'm in kind of a financial tight spot, but I can still afford to switch out one aspect of my rig. It's either new bass, new amp, new cabinet, or say screw it and get a wireless unit to try and work the sound board a little bit more for the rest of the band. The trick to this is I'm in a small town, and the nearest place carrying any decent bass gear is about 70-90 miles away, and that's a small Guitar Center that doesn't have much variety for bass, so I don't have much ability to try any gear out before I buy. I've been eyeing up the Marshall MB450H online, but that $500 mark is the upper end of the price range I can work with, so I don't want to jump in to something I can't try with my entire budget riding on it without some advice from those more knowledgeable than I.

So, any help you can give would be appreciated. I'm looking for a fairly clean, smooth sound, something that has some punch, definition, and clarity to it without getting barky or honky. I'd love to only have to use my Leeds and VT Bass to change up the tone to fit the songs, and I my budget only goes to about $500, $600 absolute tops. Even if you have some EQ suggestions to help with the amp I have, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks for your time, ladies and gents.

[lunarpollen]

The problem might not be with you, but with the other players. If that's the case, then no matter what you do, it won't help. You could have the most ideal perfect bass tone in the world, and if everyone else is playing too loud and muddy, it could effectively drown you out.

[prd004]

You need to practice with your rig at home. Getting the tone you want takes a little work, you can't just show up and expect results without some time dialing it in.

Then if it still doesn't work for you think about upgrading.

[JasonKain]

Originally Posted by prd004

You need to practice with your rig at home. Getting the tone you want takes a little work, you can't just show up and expect results without some time dialing it in.

Then if it still doesn't work for you think about upgrading.

I should have mentioned, I have basically free access to the church as the combination vice president/janitor. I've spent a fair amount of time down there just tweaking my rig outside of group practice/worship.

[JimmyM]

your stuff isn't the number one greatest stuff ever made, but it's pretty good. you should be able to get a good sound out of it that would work in a church for medium volume stuff. work on finding a happy medium between rumble and bark.

[azzyrazzy]

Invite the guitar player and the drummer to a session at church where the object is to tweak your bass tone. Try all kinds of placements of the cab, flat EQfirst and the cut some places if you find a problem spot. Maybe borrow a couple of different basses from other players if you can. Maybe a Stingray

[Nev375]

Is there a sound clip or youtube vid where someone has something close to the sound you're looking for?

Personally, I cant get a tone I like out of flats.

[NortyFiner]

Key question: what are your EQ settings?