What do I buy?

[pilotphilip]

So I recently came into some money and I want to replace my bass rig. I've never had the opportunity to buy WHATEVER I wanted so what do I get!?!?

I play a lot of rock, ska, disco with a MusicMan Ray 34.

Currently my rig is

Trace Elliot head (and old one)
4x10 Hartke
1x15 Ashdown MAG

(this should be interesting!!!)

[Igotsoul4u]

Get a sweet cabinet!!! Spend $900 or more for true bass bliss. At that price point you are guarenteed to get a good sound that can handle power. I see alot of players that skimp on the cab while having a great head.

[RickenBoogie]

Buy whatever sounds good to you, but try to go with 2 matching cabs instead of the 410/15 thing, which is "engineering by looks", and not a sound choice at all. If it were me, I'd get a mesa M6 or M9 carbine, and pair it with either 2x PowerHouse 212's, or a single PowerHouse 412.

[scottfeldstein]

Allow me to abandon my love for GK for a minute and say... if I had a pile of money, I'd get a Genz-Benz Streamliner 600 and a pair of fEARful 15/6 cabs.

[makohund]

Why not go all out and get the 900? Those cabs will easily swallow even that whole.

[oneillj]

I used a Line6 Pod XT rack mounted pre-amp with a QSC stereo amplifier. It's probably a little more expensive because of the amp but you get a lot of sounds that are very cool. Especially good if you play cover. A lot of players may have an aversion to computer modeling of amps and cabs. I have to admit, I only used a few of the patches but the versatility is endless.

[scottfeldstein]

Originally Posted by makohund

Why not go all out and get the 900? Those cabs will easily swallow even that whole.

Crazy talk!

But kind of a good point. Why not have the extra watts. One day you might need them. And the tube preamp section will keep you edgy even with a ton of headroom in the power amp section.

[lomo]

Originally Posted by scottfeldstein

Crazy talk!

But kind of a good point. Why not have the extra watts. One day you might need them. And the tube preamp section will keep you edgy even with a ton of headroom in the power amp section.

And when playing just 1 of the cabs, the extra couple of hundy watts at 8 Ohms will be very nice. Quite frankly, 500 good watts into one fEarful or similar 15/6 s enough for anything that a conventional 410 could handle.

[pilotphilip]

Cheers guys. I do play a lot of covers in small ish bands and coming through clean and clear is always my goal (avoiding that small band small room mush that's all too easy to achieve)!

I borrowed a Warwick 1x15 combo once and really loved it, not sure how their pro gear fares.

Id rather rack mount the head if I had the choice too along with my tuner etc

[azzyrazzy]

Barefaced cab. Barefaced Bass - Product Range

[big evil robot]

Which Trace head are you using currently?

I'd probably have to echo the sentiments of most others here, replace the cabs first.
Hartke and mag series Ashdown cabs are pretty "meh" sounding in my experience. Even swapping those for a good Ashdown ABM410 would be a good choice.

[Joe Louvar]

Originally Posted by pilotphilip

So I recently came into some money and I want to replace my bass rig. I've never had the opportunity to buy WHATEVER I wanted so what do I get!?!?

I play a lot of rock, ska, disco with a MusicMan Ray 34.

Currently my rig is

Trace Elliot head (and old one)
4x10 Hartke
1x15 Ashdown MAG

(this should be interesting!!!)

Where do live and how much money did you get - take me shopping with you.

Ok, seriously, this is my newest GAS ~

The “Genz-Benz Shuttle 6.0” pared up with the “Barefaced Super Fifteen” for the ultimate super lightweight mini Monster of Doom rig.

Genz-Benz Shuttle 6.0.
Shuttle Series | GENZ BENZ

Barefaced Super Fifteen.
Barefaced Bass - Super Fifteen

[sad_katz]

Definitely upgrade the cabs. And definitely use *identical* pairs for the best results.

Any other cabs would sound nicer than the MAG cab you have, imo.

Genz Benz UB cabs are tight and punchy and clear sounding. Another would be Bergantino's HD/AE line which are highly praised in here. (and +1 on Barefaced - ships worldwide and are light and loud).

For the D-I-Y route, fEARfuls are excellent provided you can make one yourself or get someone to build one for you (you can get the plans or buy complete pack like an IKEA). Another one is Bill Fitzmaurice's cab designs which are great for bass. You can reach their respective designers here on TB (greenboy and BillFitzmaurice).

[Joe Louvar]

For the D-I-Y route, fEARfuls are excellent provided you can make one yourself or get someone to build one for you (you can get the plans or buy complete pack like an IKEA)

+1
I’ve read the fEARful 1515/66 is a super clear and loud loudspeaker. If size, weight, and $ doesn’t matter ~
fEARful 15" Kits, fEARFUL 1515/66 Deluxe Kit | Speaker Hardware