Equipment help!!!

[ChrisiLynch]

Hi, new to this forum...but i need help getting a new bass rig!

At the moment, i have:

Epiphone Thunderbird Gothic
Ampeg B-2RE
Ampeg SVT-810E

I'm selling my bass cab because it's too impractical and i don't have a van to transport it!

The problem i have is in the past, before i bought my 8x10 cab, i used to use the normal half size cabinets. The only problem is because of the Gothic Thunderbirds pickups...they kept either blowing the cabinet up or blowing the head! Luckily they were the rehersal studio's equipment and i didn't have to pay for it (I went through 5 cabs and 2 heads!)

So i can't really afford to be buying new cabs and heads every week! But I'm looking to upgrade my bass to a Tokai TB48 so this should solve a few problems...

I'm just wondering what the best rig would be to have to use with the TB48. I don't want to carry on popping cabs if the pick ups are the same as the Gothic model (i think the picks ups are triple wound...THINK!)

I want to keep the Ampeg B-2RE for now because of financial reasons. But i need a new cabinet!

So if anyone has any ideas...shoot!!!

 

[RickenBoogie]

Your bass is not the problem, but I suspect the way you eq your amp may be. Too much bass will kill a speaker cab, and also make it difficult to get the volume you want. A better idea is to run the bass flat, and bump the mids. This will make the amp feel louder, cut through a busy mix, and prolong the life of your speaker cabs. You may do well with a 4 ohm 4x10, such as an Ampeg SVT410hlf. Just watch the eq, and if anything starts to sound bad, farty, overly distorted, turn the volume down right away.

 

[BassmanPaul]

The problem i have is in the past, before i bought my 8x10 cab, i used to use the normal half size cabinets. The only problem is because of the Gothic Thunderbirds pickups...they kept either blowing the cabinet up or blowing the head! Luckily they were the rehersal studio's equipment and i didn't have to pay for it (I went through 5 cabs and 2 heads!)

So i can't really afford to be buying new cabs and heads every week! But I'm looking to upgrade my bass to a Tokai TB48 so this should solve a few problems...

I'm just wondering what the best rig would be to have to use with the TB48. I don't want to carry on popping cabs if the pick ups are the same as the Gothic model (i think the picks ups are triple wound...THINK!)

I want to keep the Ampeg B-2RE for now because of financial reasons. But i need a new cabinet!

So if anyone has any ideas...shoot!!!

So you've blown five cabinets and two amps? You don't want to pay for blowing your own cabinets but it's OK to blow your rehearsal studios equipment? If I owned the studio you'd have been banned a long time ago!

As Rickenboogie opines, there is no problem with your bass only how you are using it and your EQ. If the type of music you play requires an 8x10 downsizing is going to be fatal for your new equipment. Sometimes you have to go with what you NEED not what would be more convenient. If that happens to be awkward and heavy you have to suck it up and deal with it.

Paul

 

[Bassmec]

I notice the original poster has minimal information about where he is from (something to do with obtaining rehearsal studios?)and his surname may have a lot more to do with what the outcome of his quite Extraordinary Incompetence might result.
If he did that or anything approaching that level of destruction in my rehearsal facility, we would be fixing to have a neck tie party bud.
How did you get that incompetent?
Perhaps bass guitar is not the ideal instrument for the profoundly deaf.
Actually I don't believe a word of it, what rehearsal studios?.

 

[ChrisiLynch]

I notice the original poster has minimal information about where he is from (something to do with obtaining rehearsal studios?)and his surname may have a lot more to do with what the outcome of his quite Extraordinary Incompetence might result.
If he did that or anything approaching that level of destruction in my rehearsal facility, we would be fixing to have a neck tie party bud.
How did you get that incompetent?
Perhaps bass guitar is not the ideal instrument for the profoundly deaf.
Actually I don't believe a word of it, what rehearsal studios?.

Ok, i didn't really come here for a lecture, just some advice. I thought it was because of the Gothic Thunderbirds pickups (triple wound?)... I have the volume about half way, the gain on 0.5 and that's safe...but i don't get anywhere near enough volume. If i turn the gain up, i get warning lights! I play normal rock n' roll music by the way...

Oh, yeh some of the heads i used didn't have any form of display to give me any indication of how much i was pushing it.

And if you really want to know... Crash Studio's, Liverpool. I haven't been there for about 8-9 months. But Cab Killer and Atomica should make them remember depending on who answers the phone.

 

[BassmanPaul]

YOU"RE SCOUSE????

Wow, I'd never have guessed that! Birkenhead maybe, but they're starvin' over there! Do they still have Immigration on the tunnel?

Seriously man, you are going to have to learn how to manage your equipment and sound. You have to treat equipment, your own and that belonging to others, with care and respect. You have to gauge its limitations and not cross beyond them. You don't want a lecture but you have to face the fact that in your short career you have caused more equipment damage (five cabs and two amps) than I have in my lifetime (No cabs and no amps).

The replies that you will get from this forum from players the world over would be profound shock and disgust of your cavalier destruction of equipment. That destruction cannot continue if you have hopes of making a "living" in this business. If you are playing normal R n R then you are playing too loud. I too play loud. I've fought distortion all my life. From the Vox, selmer and Marshall amps through guitar cabinets of the Sixties to my Acme cabinets of today. If you blew five cabinets and didn't hear distress from any of them then you must be using huge amounts of distortion or simply weren't listening. I can't see the Locals and Working Mens clubs dealing with volume like that.

Paul

 

[heath_r_91]

Your cab is fine. It's pretty much the industry standard for rock.

Where your problem lies is in the head. Sell it and get something with more power so you wont have to be stressing the amp.

After you do that, watch how much you boost the bass knob because that sucks up power like crazy (making it sound quieter than it is) and be generous with your low mids to compensate (150-300hz IMO)

It definitely isn't your bass or your cabinets fault. You basically just don't have that great of a head.

 

[ChrisiLynch]

YOU"RE SCOUSE????

Wow, I'd never have guessed that! Birkenhead maybe, but they're starvin' over there! Do they still have Immigration on the tunnel?

Seriously man, you are going to have to learn how to manage your equipment and sound. You have to treat equipment, your own and that belonging to others, with care and respect. You have to gauge its limitations and not cross beyond them. You don't want a lecture but you have to face the fact that in your short career you have caused more equipment damage (five cabs and two amps) than I have in my lifetime (No cabs and no amps).

The replies that you will get from this forum from players the world over would be profound shock and disgust of your cavalier destruction of equipment. That destruction cannot continue if you have hopes of making a "living" in this business. If you are playing normal R n R then you are playing too loud. I too play loud. I've fought distortion all my life. From the Vox, selmer and Marshall amps through guitar cabinets of the Sixties to my Acme cabinets of today. If you blew five cabinets and didn't hear distress from any of them then you must be using huge amounts of distortion or simply weren't listening. I can't see the Locals and Working Mens clubs dealing with volume like that.

Paul

Ha yeh, I'm originally from Liverpool.

The thing is, when using the half size cabs in my old studio room, i could never get enough volume. At all, even with different cabs and heads. The problem was the Gothic T-bird's pickups are so high output if you turn the gain on 1 or more, you're instantly clipping.

So that's why I'm getting a Tokai TB48. But I just need to know if that's going to be ok playing through a half size cabinet at a reasonable volume without it clipping or breaking the cab!

 

[Korladis]

Ha yeh, I'm originally from Liverpool.

The thing is, when using the half size cabs in my old studio room, i could never get enough volume. At all, even with different cabs and heads. The problem was the Gothic T-bird's pickups are so high output if you turn the gain on 1 or more, you're instantly clipping.

So that's why I'm getting a Tokai TB48. But I just need to know if that's going to be ok playing through a half size cabinet at a reasonable volume without it clipping or breaking the cab!

I doubt it. I played a bass with some of the highest output passives I know of through an Ampeg SVT-350H, which is basically the same as a B2R, for years, mostly through a single 15" speaker, and then through it and a 210. Never blew a speaker. Ever. Despite having the gain clipping quite frequently.

I also never boosted my lows. And I always used the limiter.

The Gibson/Epiphone Thunderbird is a very common bass that's used by many people with many different gear setups, including lots of ones much smaller than an 810. I think it's your EQ settings...

Do you boost lows? Do you use a distortion pedal with the volume turned up? You have to be careful about those. Boosting lows especially sucks up power without giving you much volume in return. Boost mids to be heard. With cabs like a 4x10, elevate them/tip them at an angle so that the speakers are pointing at your head/upper body, not your knees.

There's no reason you should be blowing speakers with a T-bird through a B2RE. I've been playing for almost ten years, and in that time have mainly played metal, and about half that time played in a very loud black metal band. I've also played doom, punk and classic rock. I have yet to blow up anything, despite using high output basses almost the entire time I've been playing.

It's not the bass.

 

[BassmanPaul]

+1 it's not the bass. The bass does have a volume control. Turn it down. No bass boost, increase mids to cut through. Listen to the cabinets. If the start to complain turn down further. If a 4x10 is too quiet at a rehearsal the whole band needs to come down or you'll be deaf in a few years.

Paul