I had a 100 watt tube Ampeg head , i forget the model but it was made in the beginning of the first year SLM had Ampeg. It sounded really good and was super quiet. I was playing through a 4 way cab, 18, 2x10, 2x6.5 and 2 tweeters
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“ best bass amp combo/head
- Thread starter barrymichaelb
- Start date
The words "in the world" and "of all time" are missing from your question.
What is the best bass amp in the world of all time?
What is the best bass amp in the world of all time?
Seriously though, there's no universal best bass amp, we all have different preferences.
You can say Two-rock are your favorite guitar amps because you've played a few.
Try a few bass amps - you may start with the big names like Ampeg, Mesa etc. It's the only way to know which one is your favorite.
Try tube amps if you like (Ampeg B15 and SVT), but also solid state amps, because bass amplification is different from the guitar world, hand-wired tube amps are not considered the best by all of us.
You have a recording studio and you want to see a big smile on the face of all guest bassists?
Start with a REDDI and a Noble, add a B15 and a Mesa Subway (any head+any cab) and you're covered.
Start with a REDDI and a Noble, add a B15 and a Mesa Subway (any head+any cab) and you're covered.
Jule Amps. The Monique tube pre with the Simone 500 amp. Hi end ,High quality.
the best bass amp in the world of all time is hands down is a traynor yba300. everyone agrees with me. Scientifically proven. /thread
If you've experimented with bass speakers for decades, I'd assume you would have that much experience with amps too. Why are you now asking here?
And I agree with a few others and have to ask why hand-wired is a priority.
I suggest you think about recordings that have bass tones you like and want to achieve. Use that to get a starting point to perhaps search info or ask more specific questions here.
Do you prefer strong and clear notes or distorted? Most gigging bassists need the versatility to achieve a variety of tones, but if you are outfitting a studio you may prefer to have more specific solution for different tonal goals.
One thing that helped me zero in on my personal tonal goals in an amp/preamp was realizing that I generally prefer a baxendall eq vs a fender derived tone stack.
Do you prefer strong and clear notes or distorted? Most gigging bassists need the versatility to achieve a variety of tones, but if you are outfitting a studio you may prefer to have more specific solution for different tonal goals.
One thing that helped me zero in on my personal tonal goals in an amp/preamp was realizing that I generally prefer a baxendall eq vs a fender derived tone stack.
Arkham is making tube bass heads now that you might find interesting
Ok...gonna try and congeal some of the replies you've received thus far and give some context to why those replies are coming in the way they are.
)
Ampeg B15 is a highly-famous amp for studio recordings. Getting an original in good condition may be tough, but plenty of folks out there could service it back to respectable condition. Ampeg SVT is also pretty ubiquitous, and there would be PLENTY of clean volume on tap paired with the Ampeg 8x10 cab. You could tone it down by going for the Ampeg SVT 4x10 or SVT-212AV though.
Mesa, Gallien-Krueger, Orange, Genzler, Markbass, Aguilar (and many more)....all premium, high-quality amp companies with excellent products. They've all got different flavors of "great" though. I'll second the Noble and REDDI suggestions though (and throw in Origin Effects Super Vintage), as many famous recordings were direct to board or via preamp, the aforementioned DI/Preamp boxes are fantastic. Hell, some studio and live gigs have been rocking the $249 Sansamp Bass Driver DI to GREAT results for decades. Look it up if you haven't heard one before!
Speaker size tells you nearly nothing useful in the bass world (except how heavy it might be), plenty of threads on that here. I know with guitar cabs you can nearly throw any speaker into a cab with the right size holes and it'll work decently well, bass cabs/speakers don't work that way at all. You can outright damage speakers if you're not careful with what you're putting them in. Don't focus on speaker size, focus on the response curve and sensitivity of the cabinet in question.
"Hand-Wired" is not a definitive marker of superior quality in the bass world...at all. How do I know this (besides personal experience)? The guy who designed the Mesa Subway line (and several others before I was even born) replied to this thread earlier saying that. If AgedHorse tells you something, you can take that to the bank
I wouldn't worry too much about taming the treble...if you've done studio work you probably know a LPF usually gets applied to bass somewhere in the mixing/EQ process. Even the Treble knob on most bass amps works in a similar fashion. You can even roll off the tone knob on the bass to do just that. Multiple ways to dial out the clank if you're not looking for that in the final product.
Turnkey solution for bass? I'd just grab a decent Fender P-bass, Noble or REDDI DI (again, might wanna look at the Origin Effects Super Vintage and Sansamp Bass Driver or VT Bass too) along with a good compressor. Some folks even skip the preamp and just do bass -> compressor -> board to great results. If you're dead-set on getting an amp though, and money is no object, I'd probably find a good condition or restored Ampeg B15 if I were in your shoes. SVT is great, but that can be a lot for a studio setting IME. If you want to tame the treble as well, you may want to think about outfitting that bass with flatwounds instead of rounds...especially if you're going for the B15
Now we're talkin'! (....bass
)Ampeg B15 is a highly-famous amp for studio recordings. Getting an original in good condition may be tough, but plenty of folks out there could service it back to respectable condition. Ampeg SVT is also pretty ubiquitous, and there would be PLENTY of clean volume on tap paired with the Ampeg 8x10 cab. You could tone it down by going for the Ampeg SVT 4x10 or SVT-212AV though.
Mesa, Gallien-Krueger, Orange, Genzler, Markbass, Aguilar (and many more)....all premium, high-quality amp companies with excellent products. They've all got different flavors of "great" though. I'll second the Noble and REDDI suggestions though (and throw in Origin Effects Super Vintage), as many famous recordings were direct to board or via preamp, the aforementioned DI/Preamp boxes are fantastic. Hell, some studio and live gigs have been rocking the $249 Sansamp Bass Driver DI to GREAT results for decades. Look it up if you haven't heard one before!
Speaker size tells you nearly nothing useful in the bass world (except how heavy it might be), plenty of threads on that here. I know with guitar cabs you can nearly throw any speaker into a cab with the right size holes and it'll work decently well, bass cabs/speakers don't work that way at all. You can outright damage speakers if you're not careful with what you're putting them in. Don't focus on speaker size, focus on the response curve and sensitivity of the cabinet in question.
"Hand-Wired" is not a definitive marker of superior quality in the bass world...at all. How do I know this (besides personal experience)? The guy who designed the Mesa Subway line (and several others before I was even born) replied to this thread earlier saying that. If AgedHorse tells you something, you can take that to the bank
I wouldn't worry too much about taming the treble...if you've done studio work you probably know a LPF usually gets applied to bass somewhere in the mixing/EQ process. Even the Treble knob on most bass amps works in a similar fashion. You can even roll off the tone knob on the bass to do just that. Multiple ways to dial out the clank if you're not looking for that in the final product.
Turnkey solution for bass? I'd just grab a decent Fender P-bass, Noble or REDDI DI (again, might wanna look at the Origin Effects Super Vintage and Sansamp Bass Driver or VT Bass too) along with a good compressor. Some folks even skip the preamp and just do bass -> compressor -> board to great results. If you're dead-set on getting an amp though, and money is no object, I'd probably find a good condition or restored Ampeg B15 if I were in your shoes. SVT is great, but that can be a lot for a studio setting IME. If you want to tame the treble as well, you may want to think about outfitting that bass with flatwounds instead of rounds...especially if you're going for the B15
i will come to his defence. i personally played 2 bass (types… ric and jazz) and one amp for 20+ years and then suddenly i exploded to get a lot of different gear. i never thought about amp/cab gear that much in those 20 years. now i fool around with gear as a hobby
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I'm currently playing and gigging with a Genz-Benz Shuttle 6 and Bergantino HD112 cab: both high quality pieces and they sound amazing together.
If we're spending your money and you're looking for the best of what's currently available, get the latest Mesa 800D head and a Subway 15 cab or Berg NXT212 or a Barefaced Big Baby 3.
Part of the thing about leveraging decades of experience with amps and cabinets is that both of those have changed quite a lot in the last 10-15 years, especially with high-end cabs and speaker size/performance.
If we're spending your money and you're looking for the best of what's currently available, get the latest Mesa 800D head and a Subway 15 cab or Berg NXT212 or a Barefaced Big Baby 3.
Part of the thing about leveraging decades of experience with amps and cabinets is that both of those have changed quite a lot in the last 10-15 years, especially with high-end cabs and speaker size/performance.
Who cares about Hand Wired? What is "The Best"?
- Make a list of your top 10 bassists whose tone you dig.
- Research what they are using for gear.
- You'll prob find that many of them are using the same thing...start there.
- Don't discount the fact that many newer modern amps can cop a variety of sounds.
I mentioned Gretsch USA customs as a reference to quality. They are hand built drums .
Thank you, you and a few others on here are actually being helpful! Short and to the point.
