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Can't focus my g.a.s.

M

mykllynyrd

Nov 10, 2004
5
0
#1
Hey everybody, been lurking on and off for years and respect your opinions. I feel like a ship without a rudder and can't focus. For a few years in my mid 20s I was playing in a church worship band every weekend but life, family and finishing my degree has pretty much ended that. Now at 35 I play at a friends church once a month or so and have a music room in the house that gets used nowhere near as much as I would like. I've been in a bit of a downsizing mood to make room for fewer but better gear.

The only real gigs I see in my future are the worship sets which are all modern, Hillsong United, Jeremy Camp, Lincoln Brewster type stuff. I'm a rocker & metal head at heart though so the 2 ton SVT is always taunting me but hurts my back just thinking about it.

Anyways, after buying a Sansamp PSA1, Fulltone Bass Drive and a Tech21 VT Bass to try and add some grit to my sound, I still don't feel it. I'm playing an ebony 5-string G&L L2500 I got back in 1996. At the same time I got a Trace Elliot AH400 with matching 4-10 cab but about 10 years ago I got a Aguilar GS112 to save my back. The Trace head with the Aguilar has gotten my a ton of complements on sound, but the 50 lb head is starting to make me wonder if I can't get the same tone with some of these newer super lightweight heads like the Aguilar Tonehammer, or Ampeg, or Markbass, or Mesa, or TC or...

I know the Trace is a great amp, but even playing in big rooms I have never had it past 2. I don't see the the 4-10 ever coming out again because the Aguilar 112 just sounds so good. I also have a QSC 3402 and thought about using the VT Bass straight to that but haven't tried it yet. So options/opinions...

1) Sell the Trace cab, keep the Trace head with Aguilar cab and continue on as I have been and just suck up carrying the head once a month.

2) VT Bass pedal or Sansamp PSA1 to QSC amp and Aguilar cab, sell Trace rig to help buy Mesa Mark V combo for guitar f'n around.

3) Sell Trace rig, VT Bass and Fulltone pedals and get ??? head

4) Give up because I'll never be happy with what I have.

Thanks everybody :)
 
#2
4 But, really, whatever makes you happy. One thing i've learned over the years, in the long run, worrying about, trading, buying, selling, and worrying some more, will never make you a better bassist. At some point, settle in with whatever makes you happy, and focus on PLAYING BASS. These forums make it hard, and there's always something new and lighter, and better, blah blah, but it's just an empty chase. Just play./
 
#5
I would keep it there, but they have only been a church for a year and meet in an elementary multi-purpose room, so that's not an option.

I guess my main thorn was that the 4-10 cab just takes up so much room in the house, but I wasn't sure if I should try and sell it without also selling the matching head.

Thanks guys.
 
#6
If you like what the Trace does with that tightness of solid state, you won't get it in a micro. But if you like SVT's and don't need that super tightness and are willing to dial your expectations down a level or two from the SVT, the SVT 7 Pro does about the best sounding SVT emulation to my ears. The PF500 is half the price of the 7 Pro and doesn't sound quite to the level of the 7 Pro, but it also sounds really good and tubelike to my ears. I have a PF350 which would probably do you just fine for your church gig and is $100 less than the PF500.

There are other really good micros out there as well and they're mostly all worthy of checking out, but the Ampeg line of light stuff does sound quite tubey and has a lot of the characteristics of what you'd expect from them. Also, the VT pedal is pretty darn awesome at SVT emulation as well and is very versatile, but I had a heck of a time dialing it in until I got used to it.

Micros aren't quite tube amps and they're not quite traditional solid state amps, either. But they have their own thing which you might dig or you might not. So I wouldn't go selling anything until you're sure micros will work for you.
 
#7
I owned the Trace GP12400SMX which was pre-Gibson buy out, probably very similar to the model you had. Owned it for 10 years approx.

One day I realised the weight was crazy for a solid state amp (in this age) and almost injured my thumb and hand carrying it.

I sold it for a decent price.

Never found that bright tightness in any micro..,until now!

I'm not just saying this, as I've mentioned it before this thread was up, but the Genz Benz Shuttlemax 9.2 is like the Trace but without the weight and more volume/flexibility, plus the stellar Genz service.

The FET channel is very tight, very clean, and can be as pingy and bright or dark and old school as you like. The TUBE channel adds more warmth and grit should you like that as well.

Stunning amp, runs very cool, quiet fan, loud, great tone, light and very compact for what it does.
 
#10
Sounds like you really like the 12" cab.
They seem to be a new standard lately.
I heard a GK MB Fusion pumpin 2 1x12 speakers
recently and was floored. Power and a ton of tone across the whole freq. range.
I have G.A.S. no, no I lust for a Fusion 500 head.
Keep the cabs & get a new head.
LOL
 

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