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best head for hardcore/heavy music

best brand of head

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
#61
Played with both an SVT-CL and GK stuff in the past. Both have their own unique sound, and they're each equally great for hardcore/heavy/stoner/metal/death/diarrhea. I'm currently rocking a road ready 2x15 and Mesa 400+, which sounds great too. If you're interested in non-production stuff, you can find vintage Sunn solid-state gear for under 1K. Good distortion and very loud!

However, if I were in your shoes and my mesa 400+ blew up in my face, melted into a ball of metal, and toke out my 2X15 cabinet, I'd probably buy another GK rig. Loved my Fusion 550 and 700RB ii.
 
#62
SlugThrower said:
Played with both an SVT-CL and GK stuff in the past. Both have their own unique sound, and they're each equally great for hardcore/heavy/stoner/metal/death/diarrhea. I'm currently rocking a road ready 2x15 and Mesa 400+, which sounds great too. If you're interested in non-production stuff, you can find vintage Sunn solid-state gear for under 1K. Good distortion and very loud!

However, if I were in your shoes and my mesa 400+ blew up in my face, melted into a ball of metal, and toke out my 2X15 cabinet, I'd probably buy another GK rig. Loved my Fusion 550 and 700RB ii.
Click to expand...
My 400+ was perfect for more modern heavy music IMO!
 
#66
My Markbass SD800, Ampeg 8x10,and my jazz bass has worked for me in a few heavy bands.. Always had interest and positive comments on my rig. Honestly I think you can make anything work for you and don't really have to follow what everyone else does. That being said I've tried GK, Ampeg and Traynor amps and found the SD800 to be quite good at heavy.
 
#68
i am looking into the GK 1001RB is that a good well made head? i have never played one!
what are some good tone shaping things to go with it? maybe a preamp or rack stuff i might need? i'm going to get a boss bass overdrive and maybe a decimator pedal. i'm new to high power and hardcore gear.
 
#69
chandler347 said:
i am looking into the GK 1001RB is that a good well made head? i have never played one!
what are some good tone shaping things to go with it? maybe a preamp or rack stuff i might need? i'm going to get a boss bass overdrive and maybe a decimator pedal. i'm new to high power and hardcore gear.
Click to expand...
I'm no GK wiz, but I'd look into the 700RB before the 1001RB. The 700 will "hit the rails" as GK says and get more aggressive before the 1001 will volume wise. Unless a cleaner tone is what you're after.
 
#70
GK stuff is all slightly different flavors of great. +1 to what Moe said. RB series heads have this 'rails' thing going on at high volumes. MB heads do not. But MB 500 has the G. I. V. E. thing like an old 800RB. 800 has a second channel. In the end they all sound very similar, with GK signature tone.
 
#72
aledeville said:
For that heavy sound you need something to cut through and have an immediate response. I also do vote for a GK, 700RB or bigger. They have this direct in your face sound.

And please, don't use a SansAmp BDDI or any other smiley-face preamp.
Click to expand...

I love smiley faces!!!

I think Sansamp works awesome for rock and metal but if your bass is scooped and your cab is scooped then you'll be felt but not heard. I have to turn the bass down sometimes on my BDDI and I leave the treble and presence boosted. Works great for cutting through.

I also like to run mid-heavy dirt boxes in front of or parallel to my BDDI to bring in some dirty mids too.
 
#74
Well in all my years engineering hardcore and extreme metal, the setups that impressed me most where Rob Eaglestone of early Cradle of Filths Trace Elliot V8 and 8x10 rig and then a Mesa 400+ with the variable bias mods via an old Acoustic 408 4x15" cab, as used by various Raw Noise and Extreme Noise Terror bassists over the years.
That usually had a boss OB3 pedal on it, driven with a Stingray and was crushingly loud and heavy in every way.:-)
 
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