Best signal chain you ever had?
 

Out of all the $ I've spent on gear (Zon's, MM, fender, ibanez, Ampeg, eden, swr, Warwick + countless more) the best tone I ever had was a MM Sterling plugged into two Eden WT-300's, plugged into a SWR 8x8 and an SWR 2x12 cab with zero effects. I had many compliments from the sound man saying "best live bass sound I've ever heard in all my years".

My current one. Peavey TL-5 into a Yamaha PB1, through a SWR 2x10. The whole setup around $900, all bought used. I get complements on the sound all the time.

lowsound

My current setup. USA Spector NS-4 bass, with signal split into an EBS Microbass (the first of 2 signals sent to the board) and my rig, starting with effects = Boss EQ-20 equalizer and a Boss CE-20 Chorus, into a Phil Jones M-500 head (The direct out of the head is the 2nd signal sent to the board), driving Phil Jones 8-T and 16-B cabs.
The FOH mix is about 60% Phil Jones signal, 40% EBS Microbass signal.

Jeez....

You have a bass tech to set all this up?

I wish... We play mostly small to medium size clubs, and I haul & set up all of my own gear, including our PA at some of the venues. In addition to the above, I usually bring at least 3 basses, a set of Moog Taurus 3 Bass Pedals, an SWR Headlight and Sonic 15" speaker cab (for the Taurus) and a small light show, which I run with a foot controller.
It makes for a packed truck, and a rather busy evening....

Man, I've always wanted to try me some Phil Jones Cabs. Looks impressive.

I bet you would love them. My setup has the equivalant cone area of a 6x10" cab, but has more punch, bottom end and sheer guts than any 8x10" cab I've ever played or heard. The only downside is the weight - those suckers are friggin' heavy. But so worth it for the sound.
Highly recommended. :bassist:

Very nice. Has to be gratifying you only had to invest $900 to get that kind of tone.

'82 P bass straight into a '74 SVT/8x10.

I second this. I'm always a sucker for a Fender Precision plugged straight into an Ampeg SVT (or SVT-VR in my case) and SVT-810. No effects at all, clean, natural, no nonsense. That's about as good as it gets for me.

Musicman Stingray through an Ampeg SVT and 2 Ampeg 810e cabs. I know not for everyone - but magic for me!

Well, I spent thousands of dollars in testing out other equipment to get to the point where I have an amazing rig that cost $900 :smug:

lowsound

1978 Fender Jazz through a 1970 SVT head and 1970 SVT 810 Cab. I have live recordings from the early 1980's which were done on a Realistic (Radio Shack) cassette recorder and I am always amazed at how good my bass sounded.

By the way, I had a MM Stingray that never sounded good.

My bass plugged straight into an SWR SM-400 head; XLR direct out of the SWR straight into a Teletronix LA-2A tube compressor; output of the LA-2A direct into a Studer A800 24-track tape deck. (No console or mic preamp.) Speaker output of SWR into an Eden D-210T with the tweeter disabled. Close-miked with a Neuman TLM-170i set to cardioid, ~3" off the speaker directly on-axis. TLM-170i fed a Neve 1073 mic preamp/EQ, then to a UREI 1176 limiter. 1176 direct into a second track on that Studer A800. Somewhere in there the engineer used a LittleLabs IBP to phase-align those two tracks...not sure if that was during tracking or mixing.

My jaw dropped when I heard my bass tone. It wasn't that it was unrecognizeable, it was that it was exactly what I'd always thought my bass sounded like but that no other engineer had ever been able to capture & translate before.

Fender Precision into a Keeley compressor, into a VTBass into Effects Return on my GK 700RBII, driving a GK NEO 1x15III and an SWR s.o.b 1x15.

My current setup has a BDDI where the VT was.

Another favorite was a jazz into a Bruno tube pre prototype, into an SWR 750 effects return, driving an Epifani 4x10.

Sadowsky JJ4 > Markbass LM3 > 102P/151P

Now that´s what I call a good signal chain.

Mine was:
Jazz Bass - passive DI - Focusrite RED 8 - Nuendo

Jazz Bass - Universal Audio LA610 - Nuendo

Bass to cord to B15.