Bass Rig buying rambling

[dgrizzly]

Carvin has the MB500. Not a micro, but it sounds like a pretty nice amp.

GK makes the MB500 and it is indeed a nice amp. Carvin makes the BX500 which looks nice, but I haven't played it.

Buy a new Avatar 2-10 (neo magnets) (44lbs) for $400.

+1 on the Avatar 210 neos. I have a pair and they rule.

I'm not sure why OP would take Ampeg and GK off the list. I would think that those two, along with Aguilar could get him closest to the tone he's looking for.

 

[akukulich]

You might want to look at the Markbass Jeff Berlin combo. I don't know if 350 watts at 8ohms is enough power for your needs, but it's a good sounding amp.

 

[fishdreams]

+1 on the TH500. Well-earned reputation for over-engineering.

 

[Mark_70]

Nothing's more reliable than the Aguilar TH-350/500 and those are REAL watts that won't cut out on you when you push the carp out of them like many other amps . Bonus is you can get a fair approximation of an overdriven Ampeg tone out of them. If I could only keep one amp my TH-350 would be it .

Can't say I have a lot of reference material (other than my SVT III Pro) but the TH350, as small and light as it is, holds his own on my average (bar)gig and then some. Never even had to push it. She's a keeper in my stable Saves me another trip to the car vs the SVT

Regards
Mark

 

[steveinohio]

I love my MarkBass LMIII. I toss it around from bag to amp and all over. I haven't had a problem yet. I also really dig Aguilar. I think there stuff is pretty great as well.

 

[Eminor3rd]

I have a 66' B-15 that's going back into the family vault after its next maintenance and will be looking for a new bass rig.

I want something relatively light/small, reliable, and portable that I could use for practice, rehearsal, recording, and gig'ing. Budget is ~$1000. I had been considering a Rumble 500v3 combo + the 2x10 extension.

I went to my local GC armed with a screwdriver, and found that most 350@8/500@4 Class D amps have almost exactly the same ICEPOWER amp with a custom pre and some custom protection bits. For example, the Bassman 500 and the Rumble 500 look electronically identical with the exception of the preamp.. I was confused as to how Fender can justify charging $400 for a 2x12AX7 Mexican-made preamp.

I viewed some of the GC/MF RMA statistics from 2014 that were floating on freenet. This ruled out Hartke, Ashdown, GK, and Ampeg as candidates. Nothing was available on the v3 Fenders though.

Currently I'm left mulling over the Markbass CMD102P (which I was not allowed to take apart) and the Rumble 500. Are there any other amps/brands/etc I should be looking at? Is there anywhere else that I can (legally) view reliability and RMA statistics? Is there somewhere that I can obtain schematics and see whether an amp is half/full bridge and what mosfets are used for switching? Are circuit modeling amps available for bass?

It's hard to shop when reviews simply describe amps as "loud, warm, smooth" and other pseudoscientific nonsense words without diving into the tech and measuring actual performance.


Suggestions? Or should I just STFU and buy the Rumble like our corporate overlords seem to want me to do?

Wait so you went into a store and start taking the amps apart to have a look inside? Do you realize that voids the warranty? You're lucky you didn't get banned.

 

[73jbass]

B1000-410 Half Stack Bass System – Carvin Amplifiers

Most of my PA is made by Carvin. Great stuff.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

I have a 66' B-15 that's going back into the family vault after its next maintenance and will be looking for a new bass rig.

I want something relatively light/small, reliable, and portable that I could use for practice, rehearsal, recording, and gig'ing. Budget is ~$1000. I had been considering a Rumble 500v3 combo + the 2x10 extension.

I went to my local GC armed with a screwdriver, and found that most 350@8/500@4 Class D amps have almost exactly the same ICEPOWER amp with a custom pre and some custom protection bits. For example, the Bassman 500 and the Rumble 500 look electronically identical with the exception of the preamp.. I was confused as to how Fender can justify charging $400 for a 2x12AX7 Mexican-made preamp.

I viewed some of the GC/MF RMA statistics from 2014 that were floating on freenet. This ruled out Hartke, Ashdown, GK, and Ampeg as candidates. Nothing was available on the v3 Fenders though.

Currently I'm left mulling over the Markbass CMD102P (which I was not allowed to take apart) and the Rumble 500. Are there any other amps/brands/etc I should be looking at? Is there anywhere else that I can (legally) view reliability and RMA statistics? Is there somewhere that I can obtain schematics and see whether an amp is half/full bridge and what mosfets are used for switching? Are circuit modeling amps available for bass?

It's hard to shop when reviews simply describe amps as "loud, warm, smooth" and other pseudoscientific nonsense words without diving into the tech and measuring actual performance.


Suggestions? Or should I just STFU and buy the Rumble like our corporate overlords seem to want me to do?

The Rumble is your best bet of the small Class D amps. You would be wasting money on the extension cab. My Rumble 500 v3 is pleanty loud. I have played outdoors with 3 guitars and drums and had no problem keeping up. My last gig was a space that holds 800. Because of technical issues, we had no instruments in the FOH and no monitors. I was told to turn down.
I object you your "pseudoscientific nonsense words" comment. Not all of us are engineers and are more interest in how the amp sounds. None of the tech numbers mean anything when you are looking for a sound. I think you are a bit OCD on the tech stuff. But, if that is how you roll, roll on and enjoy.

 

[KamaK]

The Rumble is your best bet of the small Class D amps. You would be wasting money on the extension cab. My Rumble 500 v3 is pleanty loud. I have played outdoors with 3 guitars and drums and had no problem keeping up. My last gig was a space that holds 800. Because of technical issues, we had no instruments in the FOH and no monitors. I was told to turn down.
I object you your "pseudoscientific nonsense words" comment. Not all of us are engineers and are more interest in how the amp sounds.

Indeed. When I test-drove the R500, it seemed plenty loud in the store. It also seemed fairly versatile in terms of tone, though I would need to hear it in context to see if the tones are usable. I was going to grab the extension because I find it frustrating when I want a matching cab later on only to find out that I can no longer obtain one. It also helps on the insurance/warranty claim when it's a Fender amp plugged into a matching Fender extension cab with Fender speaker and line cables, a Fender foot switch, and has been stored using Fender covers.

The troubling facet with the Rumble was that the 5 year warranty covers everything for 5 years except the "speakers, cabinets, handles, foot switches, batteries, covers, and hardware".... This leaves me wondering what exactly is covered.

I apologize if the "nonsense-words" comment offended. If I were to try to form opinions on amps based on reviews, ALL bass amplifiers would be "warm with thunderous low end and lots of punch with patented breakthrough technology".

 

[MrLenny1]

Eden, the older stuff made in the 90's.
No issues in 12 years. Head and quality 2x10
for about $800. here on TB and CL.

 

[Space Pickle]

So you actually opened up the amps in GC enough to see the common ICEPower module and weren't kicked out?

I'm impressed.

...you...went to a music store and started dismantling amplifiers?

 

[B-string]

...you...went to a music store and started dismantling amplifiers?

You folks need to read the whole thread, it was explained in post #32.