Which would you want: a great bass and mediocre amp or a good bass and great amp?

[fourstringbliss]

Update:Twice as many people are polling in favor of the SX/Carvin amp idea but no one is saying why. If you think I ought to go for the SX/Carvin amp idea please tell me why.

I have a Peavey Millennium Plus 5, which is a great bass, but I'm not totally sold on the MM pickup sound.



My amp is a Behringer BXL3000 - fairly crappy sound on it's own but sounds okay if you bypass the preamp with an emulation pedal (I use a Hartke VXL Bass Attack).

I always find myself looking at the SX SJB-75 LTD, though:



and I've been saving up to buy a Carvin BR610



If I sold my bass and amp combined with some cash and sale of surplus gear I could afford both the SJB-75 LTD and the Carvin amp. I wouldn't have any cash for upgrades to the SJB-75 LTD, though.

What would you do? Keep the great bass and the mediocre (at best) amp and save for a year to get the BR610, or sell your stuff to get an SJB-75 LTD and the BR610?

Update:Twice as many people are polling in favor of the SX/Carvin amp idea but no one is saying why. If you think I ought to go for the SX/Carvin amp idea please tell me why.

[Jjango]

I think this thread would have been a lot more interesting with just the question – "Which would you want: a great bass and mediocre amp or a good bass and great amp?" – without the choices being made for us. Probably be some interesting responses.

But to the question at hand:

I'm not sure how much you like your current bass – on the one hand, you call it "great", but then you say that you aren't "sold" on the sound. Without really knowing this, it's kind of hard to answer your question.

[Marill]

keep all the greats you have, and slowly move to get rid of the below great, and acquire more great.

so, keep the peavy, wait wait wait and get the great amp. that way you win... you'll have both that are great.

[racket]

I bought a great bass - 03' Lakland Duck Dunn.
I looked for an amp and loved the SVT tone. I hated the idea of buying an amp I didn't like so I played without an amp till I saved enough for the SVT. I sometimes thought I should settle for what I could afford at the time, just to have something to play through. Then I would go down to GC play the amp I could afford and then plug into the SVT. It took a year and a half but I got what I really wanted. Well worth the wait.

[Alcyon]

Bottom line is, $3000 bass will sound like crap through a 50w practice amp, $250 bass will sound pretty damn good through a $600 amp. Especially if that's a Squier VM Jazz through a GK Backline 600 I saw on TB for $200 and the $300 Peavey 2x15" with Black Widows in the used gear store near my house.

...so poor... :'(

[tom once dead]

dont sell your peavey bass and buy somthing from the Marshall range, as they are awsome!
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navig...+338527+201002

[Mike Shevlin]

Keep your Peavey- If you pan toward the neck pickup it won't sound like MM. Sorry to complicate your amp choice, but the two 10s in that combo hold back that power section. I heard that 600 head through an Avatar 2x12 & it was a different LARGER animal- the 1200 would blister paint. Save some more $$$.

[TeeMartin]

Keep your Peavey and save money.

[Hemitom]

+1 Keep the USA Peavey Millennium and get the new Marshall 2x10 Combo....mind you my SXJB-75NA sounds pretty nice thru my Marshall MB150 Combo.

Originally Posted by tom once dead

dont sell your peavey bass and buy somthing from the Marshall range, as they are awsome!
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navig...+338527+201002

[musicelectronix]

I really don't know why people write random things as a response these questions. If Op asked what amp he should buy, he would have done so

Now, I am totally biased. Becuase I really dig Peavey Millennium with MM/J configuration. I think it is a great bass and way underrated. But my rule of thumb says, keep the already good stuff you have and replace the mediocre stuff when you have money. So in that case, I would have kept Peavey and save money for that Carvin, unless you there is some other pressing issue that makes you do otherwise.

When you are done, also consider getting an SX

[Jimmyplaysabass]

don't sell just save.

i'm going to assume you have a steady job

[McSpunckle]

Personally, I regret ever buying my "cheap" stuff.

The exception being the SX basses.

It sounds like you aren't really fond of the sound of your bass anyways... or just want something different.

SO! My suggestion. Buy the SX if you want it. Don't spend a ton of money on it. Sell the bass. Pocket the rest of the cash.

Use that money to save for whichever you want more at the time: The amp or the better bass.


Though, keep in mind: Every time you upgrade, the money you spent on whatever you had before is just money that could have gone to getting the better gear faster.

[Dr. Cheese]

Get a good amp. It will make a huge difference. As someone told me in another thread, people buy basses that sound great in the store on nice amps only to be disappointed when they take them home and play them on budget amps.

[EBMatt]

Even a Fodera will sound like crap through a bad amp.

[Muss]

Originally Posted by Jjango

I think this thread would have been a lot more interesting with just the question – "Which would you want: a great bass and mediocre amp or a good bass and great amp?" – without the choices being made for us. Probably be some interesting responses.

+1

[lomo]

As has already been posted, a crappy amp will mean no bass can sound good, but almost any bass, if set up and played well, will sound good through a quality rig.

[RickenBoogie]

Never skimp on your gear. Also, don't downgrade one thing so you can upgrade something else. You'll look back with regret if you lose a quality bass.

[EBMatt]

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

Never skimp on your gear. Also, don't downgrade one thing so you can upgrade something else. You'll look back with regret if you lose a quality bass.

Good point. Is there a way you can sell your current amp and pick up a used Carvin instead? The Peavy is a nice bass to have.

[jmcgliss]

I now have several budget import basses in the stable that work very well through my Eden rigs (which I acquired by selling more expensive basses that were good on paper but not my sound). My best basses can't overcome the drawbacks of a budget backline with clanky/boomy pre-amps or no headroom.

[JehuJava]

Originally Posted by McSpunckle

Personally, I regret ever buying my "cheap" stuff.

+1