Red Hot Chili Peppers/Rage Against The Machine Tribute Acts - Bass Amp/Cab

[Freddie75]

Hi,

Just after some advice on gear really.

I play bass in both Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against The Machine UK Tribute acts and cant afford the top end gear that flea or Tim use.

I have decent basses but wondered what reccomendations you might be able give amp/cab wise?

I currently use an Ampeg B2Re and Ashdown 414t but doesnt seem to have enough power.

I need something with great tone and bottom end and have enough power (guessing min of 500 watts)? What are my cheapest Options?

Any help appreciated

Kind regards
Freddie

[ausf]

GK MB210 or 212. USD street here is $600 and $700 respectively before sales or promos.

I'll nail the sound you want exactly. The 210 offers expandability, but the 212 is 500 watts as is.

Trust me, it's the goods.

[georgestrings]

G-K 700rb-II is definitely a winner for the head, with a Jazz bass... For cabs, I've been able to cop the same tones with a Mesa PH 610, Ampeg SVT810e, and SWR's Goliath Sr... For a smaller cab, I've done a decent job of this with an SVT-410HLF...

IIRC, Flea has actually used a 700rb-II in the past, and they're not that expensive on the used market...


- georgestrings

[wideyes]

GK is a good suggestion - both Flea and Tim have upper end clarity and 'cut' that would be well served by GK gear. A GK head would probably be good, too.

EDIT: yeah, what both of them said.

[Mo'Phat]

Tim is probably the tougher act to follow, since he actually uses three separate rigs. All Ampeg, from what I remember, one SVT/810 for just his clean signal, an SVT/410 for dirty, and another SVT/410 for even more dirty. He has a footswitch that can engage any or all of them.

Pedals, well, that's where his genius comes out. Most of his stuff is hand-wired and modified by Tim to be his sound and he prides himself on not playing off-the-shelf stuff. Not sure if he's still got it, but he has twin wah pedals, a mystery box, distortions, delays...

I would possibly go for a 2 amp setup, clean and dirty, and the most common pedals that both might use...or maybe a Line 6 M9 or similar that would be cheaper than buying up all the same types of pedals.

Flea was a big GK guy...you could get a couple of those Gallien Kruger 500watt combos.

Or get a couple of efficient and sufficiently loud 4x10's and another head.

Edit...yeah what all them other fools said.

[Vic Winters]

Get a 700RB-II and a VT Bass pedal. Straight GK sound for Chili's and kick on the VT for Rage. Flea uses ported 4x10 and 1x15 setups while Tim uses sealed 8x10's. As long as the cab is of decent quality, whatever you choose should be close enough for rock and roll. Also check out the Bass Big Muff for distortion. The Dry mode cops a convincing dual clean and dirty amp setup sound which is pretty important for Rage tunes.

[muddycreek]

I agree- a GK head and a bunch of tens will get you pretty close. You may need some pedals.

[TheMutt]

As far as pedals, I'd suggest a Tech 21 VT Bass pedal to emulate some of that Ampeg sound. Does a great job at it and isn't very expensive. You can find a lot of information about them in the effects forum (as well as other effects that both Flea and Timmy C have used) and you can usually find one or two VT Bass pedals for sale in the classifieds.

Other pedals to look into would be:
BOSS ODB-3 Bass Overdrive
Marshall Guvnor
Electro-Harmonix Q-Tron
Dunlop 105Q Bass Wah

[rptrsn2]

+1 GK 700RBII, we play som chilli peppers and a lot of heavier stuff and sounds great for that, run mine with a avatar 210 and a peavy tvx115. the tvx will soon be getting a new 3015lf and lowpass crossover

[gillento]

+ 1 on the GK, VT Bass, Bass Big Muff