Did you ever combine gear by accident and bullseye your dreamsound?

Happens more than you'd think.

I put an Ampeg SVT3PRO with 2 Mesa Boogie EV cabs. They sounded so good I gigged them for nearly 10 years.

My Thunderfunk and Epifani 410 sounded great.

I can't claim any credit for discovering the TH500 and CN212 pairing but I'm glad I checked out that suggestion.

 

Am on edge about pairing the Aguilar tone hammer head with one of the smaller markbass traveler or ney York cabs sight and sound unseen. I can only hope they work well together. Anyone tried this combination?

 

once I started practicing more and out of nowhere I began to sound better

 

Yes there are many more interesting speaker and amp combinations available to those that mix brands than those that don't.
For instance, old Eden 10" LXT cabs sound amazing with big old all tube amps, even though Eden didn't offer a tube amp at all, back when they came out.

 

Back when I was in highschool one of the teachers had an epifani Ps400 paired with an eden 210 xlt. It was absolutely amazing.

 

After two rehearsals spent fighting against the Ampeg SVT350T at a local rehearsal studio, I brought my 100RB and plugged it into the fridge. They complimented each other perfectly.

 

Yes, the joys of the mix-n-match, and more specifically, the "accidental mix-n-match!" Fun stuff! Lots of stories along these lines. First one that comes to mind is my '73 SVT into a pair of EA VL-210's. Kind of a "what the heck" experiment, but man, what a "wall of awesome" kinda sound! Phil Maneri gigged his SVT into VL-208's for years, and claims he never sounded better.

Another fun "just for kicks" mix was a little GK MB200 on top of an SVT-810e. That is a totally giggable setup!

 

Not so much with bass gear, but it happens all the time when I'm messing around with my MS20M analog synth. I have no idea what I'm doing with it and so happy accidents happen all of the time. The downside is they're often unrepeatable.

 

Lol, I've played in a couple bands were i discovered my same old bass rig suddenly sounded way better everytime one of the 2 guitarist didn't show up...

I think that mighta been how the power trio was invented

 

Once long ago I picked up an Ampeg B-15 from a repair shop and headed over to a regular gig where I was able to store my Ampeg B-100R. I had the idea to run them both for that night and it was amazing. It only happened that one night though as I didn't like to haul the B-15 out of the house.

A few weeks ago I was playing a reggae gig where I used an Aguilar Tone Hammer preamp into a Crown power amp into an Avatar TB153. I was getting a little bit of distortion in the first set so between sets I hooked up my backup head and cabinet, an old GK400RB into a Glasstone Lil G. It was pretty amazing sounding, loud, low, and very clear. I plan on doing that again this coming weekend.

 

I'm happy happy happy with the tone I'm getting out of a GK MB500 into a pair of Ampeg SVT210AV cabinets.

A few years ago, the band I was in started doing acoustic level rehearsals. The guitarist used an acoustic, and all the vocals were un mic'd. At the time, my main rig was either a DI into FOH or a Thunderfunk + Fearful. I felt the urge to pick up something inexpensive and small to take to rehearsals. Traded a bass for a first gen MB500 - which also was intended as a back up to the Thunderfunk. Ran into a deal here for a pair of the Ampeg cabs at a price I couldn't refuse. I used the GK and one of the Ampegs as intended, and got along well with it. I did use the GK and both the Ampegs a few times in small rooms and liked it. This was all with my five string.

Fast forward to the present. I'm in a different band now, and have gone back to four strings. Did a series of gigs trying everything I own gear wise. The first time I ran my current four string with the GK + Ampeg rig it became obvious it worked really well.

 

No, it's never happened. Every choice has been calculated, based on graphs, measurement, and calculations.
...and by that I mean every combination has been random or guesswork the first time.

 

Any MarkBass head will sound great with ANY Aguilar 12" cab. I had the same results with the MarkBass SA450 & TA503 with the GS212 & db212

 

I got an unexpectedly great tone (for what I do anyway, hehe!) recently when I was doing some home recording in a pinch. Bass->Tonehammer (pedal)->Sansamp BDDI->Interface. I always go through my head but the Aguilar-infused DI tone came out great. I rarely use my Tone Hammer but I found that I can get it voiced pretty similar to how I dial my Bass 400, although it lacks the aggressive detail and has a smoother vibe overall.

Example raw/unmixed: Aguilar->Sansamp (DI)

 

yeah years ago trace elliot head with an swr 4 x 10 cab ....sound was lush at the time

 

I brought my Fender P with flats in a Fender Rumble 100 out to a Amp Modeling pedal out to FOH
I usually adjust the amp and pedal when I switch from Rounds to Flat but I didn't have time out of the blue we threw in Running Down a dream which I add a little solos during the ending normally use one of my roundwound strung basses for this and amp and pedal adjusted but I just went with it and it was just killer and guess what I haven't been able to get that tone again yet???? the planets and stars aligned for tonal magic that night

 

Not to doubt any ephipanies found by combining gear - but sometimes I think this kind of revelation can be room specific.
You might find you love your tone in the comfort of your studio - but if you gig with the same odd combo in a noisy or large room full of people you might find that all the goodness you heard in your studio has vanished.

I am still trying to fathom why my rig sounds clearer and better with the addition of a Sansamp Paradriver?
It seems to clear up midrange artifacts at gigs but at home it doesn't sound so great.

 

Some weeks ago I played in a bar where the owener told me they had a "big cabinet for bass" and an ampeg head, it turned out to be the ampeg SVT-3 and an ampeg 8x10. Hesitant because I know I'm not an ampeg fan I brought my GK 400RBII, which is my backup head, to the gig. I hooked my GK with the fridge and it was amazing, I could get so many classic tones and with my spector in hands I felt like I was in the 80's rocking out! I definetly could hear where the magic in the GK/Ampeg combination is. Thanks to that gig I'm seriously thinking about getting two ampeg 4x10...