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Best Amp For flea sound

#21
He uses not only one... but 3 complete stacks. All of them are GK 2001RB with a GK410RBH and a GK115RBH. Each stack is for it's own sound. One is his normal clean sound, one is his distortion sound, and I can't quite remember what the third one is for.
 
#22
The only way to get Flea's sound is to play that musicman like he does..

I think i heard that he used 12 Black Musicman Stingrays back in the day, and each bass was strung with GHS boomers, requiring a new set after every gig.

If the man is blowing a set of strings in 1 show, i believe he plays pretty damn hard.
 
#24
95JettaCity said:
He uses not only one... but 3 complete stacks. All of them are GK 2001RB with a GK410RBH and a GK115RBH. Each stack is for it's own sound. One is his normal clean sound, one is his distortion sound, and I can't quite remember what the third one is for.
Click to expand...
All his 3 stacks get the same signal... They are daisy-chained...

The reason you don't see his amps live, is because they are in a huge rack (38" wide, 6units high) in the back of his cabs, or on the side... He has a total of 5 GK's, two of them are backup.

And from what I can remember, the 2x10 + 2x15 mesa stack was during the BSSM tour, and he started using his current rig (4x10 + 1x15 GK stack) on the Cali tour...
 
#26
It's easy to replicate a Flea sound if you play the hell out of a Stingray through a GK rig. Flea digs in hard when he plays bass... that's an important thing to remember here.

He used to always use Mesa cabinets...
 
#27
Keep in mind, when trying to reproduce the sound of someone like Flea, is that his musicmans and modulus basses are probably not the same as the ones you buy. He most likely has custom wound pickups. Although I'm sure you can get close enough by using what he uses.
 
#29
bassjigga said:
Keep in mind, when trying to reproduce the sound of someone like Flea, is that his musicmans and modulus basses are probably not the same as the ones you buy. He most likely has custom wound pickups. Although I'm sure you can get close enough by using what he uses.
Click to expand...
He has Lane Poors in stead of the Bartollini PU's they put in stock... I think Lane Poor went out of bussiness some years ago...
 
#30
Well, that depends on which Flea tone you want to emulate. If you're thinking about the Blood Sugar Sex Magik days, you have to get your hands on a Mesa/Boogie Buster Bass 200 and some diesel cabs (probably a 4x10 and definitely a 1x15). Those are tough to come by - maybe Tom Bowlus will sell you his 4x10? :hiding:
That was the setup Flea used while he played a MusicMan.

If you're more into his current sound, which I must admit, I am not a fan of, then you need a Modulus (but who has money for that?!?!), a Gallien-Krueger 2001RB head, a GK 410RBH and a GK 115RBH. I have no idea what the costs would be, but I'd imagine they'd be quite high.

Hope that helps!
 

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