Thinking about going to Pre-Amp/Power Amp

[Progtastic]

I have an SWR Triad Cab, but never found a head I absolutely loved to match it. After some research, I think the Pre/Power amp might be the way to go.

My question is, what are some of the best Pre/Power amp combinations? I have a budget of around 500. I play almost entirely Progressive and Metal. I have a Markbass Compressore as my sole effect, I'm thinking about getting a distortion pedal, but I'm not entirely sure.

My favorite bassist/tone is definitely Arif Mirabdolbaghi - Protest the Hero (Specifically in Heretics and Killers and Palms Read) I'm pretty sure he uses Aguilar heads, I'm not sure about his cabs. If that helps.

Thanks!

[johnk_10]

lately, i've started using a pre/poweramp setup instead of my SVT-VR. but i had to go with with a fairly high end preamp and a powerful power amp to justify doing it.

for a more reasonably priced one, i think that a used SVP-CL preamp, mated with a good Crown or QSC power amp would also do the trick, but unfortunately is still beyond the budget that you stated.

IMO, other really good preamps that can be found cheap (used) are the Yamaha PB-1 and the Ashly BP-41 or BP-41E.

[FilCo]

I have found some fantastic deals on what you might call non-traditional bass preamps. There are several older parametric eq units that have a gain stage built in. Recently I bought a Furman PQ-3 that is like this. You can find these for less than $200, sometimes even less than $100. This would free up a bunch of money for the power amp. Most of these sound really good too. You just have to be able to live without some features like eq presets or power switches.

[animal52]

I'm experimenting with a pre/power setup ATM as well. I had an English muff'n laying around, so I bought a QSC power amp for about 3 bills. My impression so far... decent, but not amazing. Using the English muff'n, it's tough to get nice clean tones, but the dirty tones are quite good.

Something of a similar ilk would fit your pricepoint. Perhaps a Sansamp VT bass driving a QSC, crown, or one of those new Peavey class D power amps... the IP something-or-other.

IMHO, for the budget you're on, you'd be better off just getting a markbass head and calling it a day. Building a rack, however, would give you more flexibility down the road.

Also, have you considered that what you don't like about all the heads you've tried isn't the heads at all, but the cab you're using?