What's more important, the amp or the cab?

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by arai

I am going to go against the grain a little here.
It my situation the amp is more important. I am always going through the front of house via my amps DI. If I was using a crap head with a crap DI I would sound like crap out the front. My cab is purely for stage monitor. I only need to take my head when recording too.

Not really. Why would you use an amp head as a DI when you're recording? The OP is talking about live sound, anyway, in which case the cabinet is more important. If your amp has a "crap DI," you just use a good, stand-alone DI instead. Ultimately you don't want to use crap gear of any type. The cabinet is going to have the greatest influence on the quality of sound in a live situation, and that's why almost all of the respondents here recommend cabinet.

[rodl2005]

Originally Posted by mystic38

no, its not smart to lug a cab (or two) around for a month...lol

i pick your option b) get a decent amp within your budget with the features you need... eq, DI ins /outs etc..then lug THAT around to try cabs..

This .....

Cab is as important, if not more than the amp, BUT, MUCH easier to drag an amp around to stores, friends etc than a cab.
As others say, find an amp in you're budget & with the power & features yr after, then try it with cabs.
If possible try cabs out *in a band setting* so many sound VERY different here than "in-store"
Goodluck!

[jmattbassplaya]

Cab!

[arai]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

Not really. Why would you use an amp head as a DI when you're recording?

Because I have pre-sets that range from clean and bright to distorted and growly to fat a cushiony for different songs. My sound. Live and recorded.

[arai]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

The OP is talking about live sound,

You sure about that?

[Downunderwonder]

Yes, instore demo and youtube demos give a shonky representation of how it will sound with the band. Many a bass rig proves unsatisfying when taken out into the world.

The instore sound is affected by all the other cabs soaking up bass and if it has a low ceiling it plays hell with the lows too.

The sound in dialed in the band mix is different. You will be looking for a lot more mids as a general rule.

FWIW, you save a heap by buying used, so much that it's worth buying something off the classifieds just to try out and hope you like it.

When you're deciding where to position your money, my vote is on the cab too.

[joelb79]

Speaker design and implementation is so much more important than the amp IMO. But the speaker can only produce what you put in it. That said; I've heard some really bad speakers where no amp behind it could make it better.

[Misty Mountain]

I, like most other respondents have posted, would go cab first also. When I purchased my cab, I played it through an amp I had never heard before. I loved the tone I got from the cab, it was just what I was looking for. When I found a head I wanted to try (one that I was familiar with already), the sound I got was very similar to what it was when I demo'd the cab, and they were very different amps. The cab has the sounds I want, the trick is finding a head that won't screw with it, and at least with my current cab that seems to be pretty easy.

[M. Owen Santy]

I would say head. Most of the time you are DI'ing to FOH sound now - and stage volume only matters in very small clubs without PA support. finding and/or making the right cab for your sound is relatively easy.

Hell - I know a bunch of people that use different cab set-ups for different gig's (including myself) The head however is what makes or breaks your tone.

[CL400Peavey]

Originally Posted by SpectorErector

I would say head. Most of the time you are DI'ing to FOH sound now - and stage volume only matters in very small clubs without PA support. finding and/or making the right cab for your sound is relatively easy.

Hell - I know a bunch of people that use different cab set-ups for different gig's (including myself) The head however is what makes or breaks your tone.

Really? I guess if your perspective is of always being in the PA, then yes I would say that the DI is the most important piece of gear you bring. It still goes back to my point that it doesnt matter how good your DI is if the PA is crap.

Believe it or not, there is a large portion of bassists that dont receive real PA support. Sure its there for guitar and vocals, maybe some drums, but not really for bass. Either way its the end mechanism that is projecting your sound that matters most.

[velalv]

+1 to being a bassist that does not receive PA support. I play at church every Sunday, and the occasional local bar gig, and I have always had to carry the room with our church's rig, which happens to be Peavey 115. Our other bassist, who plays out much more than I do and is a regularly gigging bassist, almost never gets PA support either, and he is doing wineries, larger churches, and mid sized clubs here in the DC area.

Originally Posted by CL400Peavey

Really? I guess if your perspective is of always being in the PA, then yes I would say that the DI is the most important piece of gear you bring. It still goes back to my point that it doesnt matter how good your DI is if the PA is crap.

Believe it or not, there is a large portion of bassists that dont receive real PA support. Sure its there for guitar and vocals, maybe some drums, but not really for bass. Either way its the end mechanism that is projecting your sound that matters most.

[Bassamatic]

DEFINITELY the Cab. There is a lot more variation in cabs than in amps.

[capcom]

My experience about this subject is also the cab.

I noticed that good cabs really begin to show their quality at high stage volume levels. At low volume levels most of the time a bad cab and a good cab sound almost the same or bad one can be EQ'd easily to achieve the needed sound.

Having said that, however I also noticed that using tube power amps instead of transistor power amps is kind of more "forgiving" kind of making somehow a "bad" cab to produce a more decent sound. Perhaps the relative big difference between damping factors of tube amps versus transistor amps is the deciding factor in this thing. Anyone noticed this also ?

[NWB]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

I say cab also. But I sure wouldn't start out with 15s. Cabs are a personal taste. I'd get a good 410.

You're both wrong.

What he needs is good 2x12 cab!

Really, there isn't enough context provided to make any specific driver size recommendation here.

[arai]

Originally Posted by CL400Peavey

Really? I guess if your perspective is of always being in the PA, then yes I would say that the DI is the most important piece of gear you bring. It still goes back to my point that it doesnt matter how good your DI is if the PA is crap.

Which brings me back to my point that if the PA is crap there is no saving the whole band.

Originally Posted by CL400Peavey

Believe it or not, there is a large portion of bassists that dont receive real PA support. Sure its there for guitar and vocals, maybe some drums, but not really for bass. Either way its the end mechanism that is projecting your sound that matters most.

There is also a large portion that do. Last time I had no PA support was about 6 to 8 years ago. And yes it is the end mechanism that matters most. So if you have no PA support a cab probably is best.

[dspellman]

Originally Posted by Shlogo

Maybe this is a bad title, as both the amp and cab play a massive role in your overall tone.

In picking a bass rig, I'd pick the cab first, and then find an amp that was appropriate to drive it.

[iualum]

Caberino, my good man.