New amp advice

btwally · #1 08-21-2011, 02:24 PM

Hi all. I'm currently using a peavey firebass head, with a 4x10. I play in a wedding type cover band and a black Sabbath tribute. I'm using a late 90s music man sterling and mim jazz.

I'm after a new head (£500 max) as the peavey is a little toneless. I'm not big into effects and I only use a envelope filter and bass wah. I'm after a nice beefy tone that will sound nice with my sterlings active pickups. Heard good things on this forum about the Orange terrors.

Any ideas. Ta

RickenBoogie · #2 08-21-2011, 03:46 PM

Tone is a personal thing. If you're unhappy with what you have, you should go play some other stuff, and get a feel for what's available, and how they compare. Only your ears can decide.

cableguy · #3 08-21-2011, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

Tone is a personal thing. If you're unhappy with what you have, you should go play some other stuff, and get a feel for what's available, and how they compare. Only your ears can decide.

+1

Although personally I like running my sansamp BDDI in front of my amps. It kind of adds a little tubeyness to my solid state heads. To me it gives my sound a little more fullness. I also use the blend to control my clean signal with the tube emulation. As an added bonus the DI makes a excellent back up solution for gigs with FOH.

my 2 cents

btwally · #4 08-22-2011, 04:14 AM

Thanks guys, I will have to go shopping. Problem is, its difficult to take my cab and bass to the shop, crank the amp up and really get a good idea of the sound with my current rig.

tekdiver500ft · #5 08-22-2011, 04:19 AM

I'd take a close look at the Ampeg SVT 7Pro. It's got a really nice, beefy, warm tone.

rodl2005 · #6 08-22-2011, 04:27 AM

+7 for the 7 pro! Just like an SVT only not as crunchy

jastacey · #7 08-22-2011, 07:15 AM

Here's my suggestion, keep the Firebass amp, just get a VT pedal, you will get many different sounds from that amp, the contour knob does some really strange things to your tone on that amp, so I would turn it completely to the left, which is off

JimmyM · #8 08-22-2011, 09:10 AM

I don't know if the 7 Pro will be 500 pounds, but it's about the best amp I've played that isn't full of power tubes. But if you can't swing that, the PF500 is a 7 Pro minus the tube and some wattage. The 7 Pro is 1000w @ 4 ohms, and the PF500 is 500w @ 4 ohms. The PF500 is right in the ballpark tonally with the 7 Pro IMHO, although the tube and extra wattage does make a difference. But then again, in America the 7 Pro is $800 and the PF500 is $400.

btwally · #9 08-23-2011, 11:01 AM

Thanks for the help. I will try turning the contour off and check out a vt. I've got a terrible zoom bfx 708 which has amp simulation on it, but that doesn't do much. Would love a ampeg head but not sure the wife would be happy with me splashing the cash on that!

. Sadly being in the UK I think the ampeg pro heads are around the £1k mark.

Update. Found a 7 pro for £650. Humm.