Bass or Amp - which affects sound more?

[darwin-bass]

In the never-ending quest for "the" sound, which component plays the larger role, the bass or the amp & cabinet?

I find myself often thinking of the bass as the main component with the amp playing a supporting role, but I wonder....

What do you think?

And would the answer be different if this was in the Amps & Cabs forum?

 

[Vinnie Boombatz]

No clue with basses, but with guitars I'd rather have a killer amp and a lower end guitar than a super sweet guitar going into a crap amp.

 

[Camaro69]

My response is what sounds better:

1) cheap bass through good amp
2) expensive bass through cheap amp


I like my Ampeg V4b very much...

 

[Camaro69]

No clue with basses, but with guitars I'd rather have a killer amp and a lower end guitar than a super sweet guitar going into a crap amp.

Sorry I type slow....

 

[Moving Pictures]

My experience is that a great amp can make a cheap bass sound good but a cheap amp does very little to make a great bass sound better. In the ideal world, you want a great amp and a solid bass that inspires you. I always tell people if you can only update one, update the amp first.

 

[two fingers]

If you do a search you will find this subject to be a dead horse you just started beating.

I will say what I always do. It's the player.

That being g said, there are extremes. You can play a $10,000 Fodera through an Ibanez starter pack 8" speaker amp and it will sound like crap. You can at my first bass (a no name awful piece of garbage) through a custom made tube amp an a 10-12 cab and it will sound like crap.

This won't (begin or) end well.

 

[DigitalMan]

I don’t interpret the question as to which element needs to be of higher quality. I interpret it as which element makes the greater contribution to good tone.

When it comes to tone, both bass and amp play an important role. Having said that, it is possible that people start with a generic enough sounding bass, or really make extreme decisions at the amp to where the amp dominates the equation. In my view when you treat both bass and amp as equal you have the greatest opportunity to find a great tone.

 

[ZenG]

If you're forcing me to choose I will go with amp.

 

[JRA]

IMO: if you hook together any bass and any amp in any combination = it's the player who will make the most difference with each possibility/permutation.

 

[NoiseNinja]

Hard to say specifically.

Guess it's a 50/50 thing though.

You can't get a crappy sounding bass to sound good using even the best amp, on the other hand your boutique high end custom bass will sound like crap through a crappy amp.

If I really had to chose either/or, I'd say a great bass will most likely always sound better through a crappy amp than a crappy bass will through great amp.

 

[Stonetown Lows]

Ah, but there's the relative crappiness to consider! LOl I think even a Fodera through a 10" Crate combo will sound irredeemably bad. Now, how about a Hondo through Epifanis, or (fill in the blank)?. So the relative crappinness has to be considered lol

 

[BasementWarrior]

I’ve found that a nice amp can make most basses sound good. The only downfall I’ve found is that no matter what bass and amp I’m playing through I still sound like me.

 

[JW56789]

I have no doubt, and am absolutely certain that . . . . .

Bass Guitar + (Amp+Cab(s) + effects if any) = Your Instrument.

The greatest bass in the world to you unplugged makes no sound. The amp of your dreams makes no sound without a bass plugged into it.

From experience, I will say if I were to spend more money on one than the other, a superior amp will make any bass better. A 10-grand Alembic plugged into a $100 amp, well, just DON'T think you're going to sound like Stanley or Jimmy Johnson. If you are a TB regular, you'll rarely see threads where guys think they're lacking a lot tone-wise when they have an SVT, a nice Mesa rig, or any good, substantial amp rig you can think of. Conversely, rarely does someone complaining about their bass sounding thin or just not right to their ears not have some combo, some underpowered or under-cab'd rig.

See where this is going? A good bass thru a big-enough amp for your needs may result in a tone that you think needs a little work, but a good bass that's running a not big enough amp pushed to its limits, having its' neck wrung almost never yields that tone that everybody wants.

I'm a card carrying member of the 'big amp turned up to 3'. I want it well within its' comfort zone, minimal distortion and lots of headroom. This is really necessary for 5 and 6 string guys, as those low C's and D's will tell you RIGHT NOW if you've 'got enough amp'. Once that's solved, then my choice of basses is way easier, as I'm hearing the instrument without the artifacts of the amp busting a gut just to make the gig.

My own two cents is that I love the little Bronco amp in my practice room, but that's the only place I'd use it. For anything else, 700-800 watts would be my minimum. 'He's crazy, that's a lot of horsepower' . . . . . not turned up to 3 or 4.

 

[pcake]

i agree that a better amp can make a crappy instrument sound better. besides, you can easily change most pickups relatively inexpensively so your bass sounds better, but a crappy amp will still make it sound crappy.

how about bass, amp and strings? i've had basses and guitars that sounded entirely different after a string change.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

It's the amp.
Assuming that the bass is playable and in-tune, at minimum.

 

[DigitalMan]

I think most people are answering the question from a negative perspective rather than a positive one. The question isn’t how to avoid crap tone. It’s how to create good tone. So where does the goodness come from?

 

[Geri O]

This situation changes totally with in-ear monitors, right (and no amp)?

For this reason, I work hard on my basses' tones to get the best from them. The amp is there to reinforce my efforts in that regard.

But no doubt, it takes a great amp to accomplish that.

(and say what you what, I couldn't care less, but even with IEMs, I still like an amp behind me when the situation allows. Reasonable volume, of course. Just feels good.)

 

[BurnOut]

Yes

 

[twinjet]

Well, answer me this.

What's best -- growing carrots with gravel and pristine water or loam and motor oil?

The answer: neither. You must not compromise in either aspect of carrot growth. You must use loam and clean water for your carrots to flourish.

HTH.

 

[Yahboy]

Do forget a place for String type too.