Bass head decisions

[Ambrose1769]

Gotta love buying new gear, so many decisions to make!
Anyway my choices are
- Darkglass microtubes 900 (used)
- fender rumble 800
- gk mb fusion 800 (used)
- peavey mini max 600
- peavey minimega 1000
- peavey tour 450 (used)

Basically, what is the best out of these options?
The tones I am going for are like duff mckagan, flea, also love Steve Harris and frank bellos tone

which amp will get me closest to these sounds?

Any
advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[CallMeAl]

What cabs are you using/ going to get? They will have as much (if not more) impact on the tone. Not to mention the bass, strings, technique...

Im a proponent of not getting too wrapped up in brand decisions. Looking at specs, features and overall budget (including cabs) might help narrow that down. You can tweak and dial most of those heads any which way you want. Get what speaks to you, and make it your own!

That said, the GK jumps out at me; both overall quality and flexibility, and specifically the tones you mention. Personally I’m looking at that Peavey 600- if my current head died on me today, that’s probably what I’d order.

Good luck!

 

[Gearhead17]

The last time I bought a bass head, I focused on what I wanted the head to do. Do you want it clean sounding or do you want more a signature tone? When the head is towards the cleaner spectrum of sounds, the pedals you put in front of it coupled with your playing style will shine through easily. This typically helps getting a multitude of sounds to come through at greater ease.

If you go for a bass head that has a signature tone, you have to work with it at all times. On some heads, it is nearly impossible to dial out that signature tone. For me, I always fought against it and spent way too much time dialing the head in just to be happy with it.

I ended up with a Mesa D800. What I like about it is that it's about 80% my tone versus 20% Mesa tone. I barely have to turn the knobs to get what I want. I just focus on my playing and the pedals I use.

For the tones you listed, I think any of those heads will do just fine for you. Maybe the MB800 Fusion would be too warm sounds, but it's been a while since I have played one. It's going to come down to your bass and playing techniques for the rest of the sounds. I am glad you are looking at USED items.

 

[Ambrose1769]

What cabs are you using/ going to get? They will have as much (if not more) impact on the tone. Not to mention the bass, strings, technique...

Im a proponent of not getting too wrapped up in brand decisions. Looking at specs, features and overall budget (including cabs) might help narrow that down. You can tweak and dial most of those heads any which way you want. Get what speaks to you, and make it your own!

That said, the GK jumps out at me; both overall quality and flexibility, and specifically the tones you mention. Personally I’m looking at that Peavey 600- if my current head died on me today, that’s probably what I’d order.

Good luck!

It depends on what head I buy, if I buy gk it will be gk cabs, fender with fender cabs etc

 

[CallMeAl]

It depends on what head I buy, if I buy gk it will be gk cabs, fender with fender cabs etc

Sounds reasonable. If you have the budget I think the GK will give you closest to what you want with minimal tweaking

 

[shoot-r]

Gotta love buying new gear, so many decisions to make!
Anyway my choices are
- Darkglass microtubes 900 (used)
- fender rumble 800
- gk mb fusion 800 (used)
- peavey mini max 600
- peavey minimega 1000
- peavey tour 450 (used)

Basically, what is the best out of these options?
The tones I am going for are like duff mckagan, flea, also love Steve Harris and frank bellos tone

which amp will get me closest to these sounds?

Any
advice would be greatly appreciated

Of the heads you've listed I'd go with the G.K.
I've two G.K. MB heads.
A MB2-500 and a MB-500.
They are great sounding, dependable, and can be found used at GREAT prices, (I paid $250.00 for the MB2 and $300.00 for the MB.)

I'd also recommend your trying the Mesa Subway series of bass heads.
Six months ago I spent a few minutes playing through a Mesa Subway 800+.
I immediately liked what I heard and it came home with me!
The 800+ is now my main gigging amp and the G.K.'s have been moved into back-up heads.

 

[Killing Floor]

No Mesa No Poll.