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Another small rig advice needed!

Which amp rig?

  • GK MB500 + GK NEO 210

    Votes: 12 26.1%

  • GK RB700ii + Gk NEO 210

    Votes: 5 10.9%

  • Carvin BX500 + Carvin BRX 10.2N

    Votes: 7 15.2%

  • Something other than those

    Votes: 22 47.8%
  • Total voters
    46
valencia0919

valencia0919

Dec 3, 2010
102
1
Brookline, MA
#1
Hello,
I've been searching for a small rigs. (Under$1000 preferrably around $800~900)
And I think I have to decide among:

GK MB500+ GK Neo210
GK RB700ii + GK Neo210
Carvin BX500+ Carvin BRX 10.2N

I read a "lot" of nice comments about GK products (and their "growly" sound), and I also saw many good comments about Carvin products. Right now, I use rumble 15(practice amp) and Fender P-bass with flats

I tried out some amps in a few different guitarcenters, but all the basses had roundwounds on, so I am not sure what tone I would get with flats.
Things I found out:
1. I do not like GK tones with rounds (too bright and clunky(if that makes sense. I had to use "extreme" eq to make it tolerable).
2. I kinda liked markbass LM2(but it does not have headphone out).
I would be grateful if people who those gears give me some advice (comparison, if possible).
 
#3
I voted other, as I'm a big fan of Genz' Shuttle series if you're looking for hi-fi clarity and their STM stuff if you want some tubey goodness, as they're often referred to as the tubiest Class-D/Micro. Any of either the Shuttle or Streamliner lines paired with a NeoX212 or 210 will get you a KILLER rig.

Also, I'm diggin' the Ampeg Portaflex stuff. That PF500 sounds sweet with a great feature set, and the PF350 is simpler but still killer sounding. If you want some SVT looks and the Micro-VR is enough power for you (rated at 200W @ 4 ohms but tested by Bass Gear Mag to be 259W @ 4 ohms) they sound killer paired with 2 of the matching cabs.

The GK stuff is a great option too, but I personally prefer Genz for that more modern tone. No first hand experience with Carvin, so no help there!
 
#4
I also like the Genz Benz, i have a shuttle 6, does the job nicely paired with 2 Bergantino AE 112's, my advice is try as much as you can and don't panic buy, also check out the second hand ads, its a buyer's market now, if you see something in the ads you like, look for a shop that stocks it and try it out.
 
#7
GK amp + GK cab is a NO go for me, each are GREAT on their own with another warmer counterpart. Love the GK MB500, Love the GK cabs... just not together.

WAIT for the new Genz Shuttles coming out in the next few weeks & pair those with a GK cab... sometimes GK cabs can go REALLY cheap on Amazon new.
 
#11
Just for a lark, you might check out Link Removed as well. The Featherweight 500 looks like a pretty good micro-head (500w @ 4 ohms), but there's no pricing, so it might not be in stock. The've got a 1u rack version for $479. The're fairly new, but look very interesting, and the pricing looks quite aggressively competitive.

I stopped into the House of Blues in Las Vegas a few weeks back and Tony Smith was playing bass with the PJ Barth Band. He was playing through a Link Removed - a 4x8 combo config ($789). Of course he was running DI into FOH so I couldn't really tell you how it sounded by itself, but he had great things to say about it.

Premier Guitar did a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] recently which included the $229 Featherweight 200.
 

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