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Favorite amp manufacturer...?
- Thread starter smithy78
- Start date
Epifani, followed by Markbass..............Those are the only ones I need, and have helped me cure my Amp G.A.S. so far! 
Carvin. Great AMERICAN made equipment at a reasonable price point. They are the mainstay of my equipment! Amps and guitars.
Paul
Paul
I've run what seems like dozens of rigs, but in my current band I run a Peavey Bam 210 through a Carvin 115. 500 watts of 2 ohm goodness.
Why did you pick those 4!? They don't even represent the most popular/common brands (as made obvious by your poll results). Personally, I don't think I'd ever even think about plugging into a Marshall, Roland or Laney, let alone make it my favorite.
As with your choice of bass manufacturers, very odd choices. Serious question, and not meaning to be condescending, but have you been playing long?
I own Mesa and Carvin...
Mesa may be the best tone I will ever own...
But, I still voted Carvin, because it took me 20+ years to find a nice used Mesa I could afford. (Also because my particular Mesa, a Venture "2-by-Ton" combo, bothers me whenever I have to lift it.)
I especially liked the Carvin power amps I used to own. They have extremely low THD. You can own a legitimate thousand-watt rig on a budget when you have a Carvin power amp at the heart of it. You can tailor the tone any way you like by trying out various preamps. There is no substitute for power.
And the reliability and solid power of my very old Carvin Pro Bass 500 head cannot be ignored, either. It is still a very serious and nice-sounding amp, even though I don't gig with it anymore.
Mesa may be the best tone I will ever own...
But, I still voted Carvin, because it took me 20+ years to find a nice used Mesa I could afford. (Also because my particular Mesa, a Venture "2-by-Ton" combo, bothers me whenever I have to lift it.)
I especially liked the Carvin power amps I used to own. They have extremely low THD. You can own a legitimate thousand-watt rig on a budget when you have a Carvin power amp at the heart of it. You can tailor the tone any way you like by trying out various preamps. There is no substitute for power.
And the reliability and solid power of my very old Carvin Pro Bass 500 head cannot be ignored, either. It is still a very serious and nice-sounding amp, even though I don't gig with it anymore.
Ex-guitarist here. The problem with your polls is going to be that you're not likely to get much true information out of them. On each one you've listed only one prominent manufacturer in the bass world (and Mesa is on the tail end of prominence as far as bass gear goes, even though it is great stuff) so your polls will be heavily skewed towards one manufacturer and "other".
Best thing would likely be to read existing threads and check out some of the "club" threads where various brands are discussed in depth if you're looking to find individuals' preferences.
And welcome to TB!
Best thing would likely be to read existing threads and check out some of the "club" threads where various brands are discussed in depth if you're looking to find individuals' preferences.
And welcome to TB!
For Hiwatt clean headroom, Live at Leeds tones-Vintage Hiwatt or Reeves
For the best hand wired Marshall Circuits. Reeves, Reinhardt, Germino, Metro, /13, Aiken
Best AC 30 style tones with far better reliability, Bad Cat, /13, 65 Amps, Top Hat, dAAb,
Fender circuits, so many! /13, Two Rock, Category 5, Bad Cat, Bruno, too many to remember.
For the best hand wired Marshall Circuits. Reeves, Reinhardt, Germino, Metro, /13, Aiken
Best AC 30 style tones with far better reliability, Bad Cat, /13, 65 Amps, Top Hat, dAAb,
Fender circuits, so many! /13, Two Rock, Category 5, Bad Cat, Bruno, too many to remember.
I have no favorite amp company. I have seen many nice amps from the humble and sturdy; yet toneful, on up to the cream of the crop, made by different amp makers.
I've played through a lot of different amps and brand names over the years to realize that most of the major amp builders have produced some great gear, as well as stuff in their product line that wasn't so good. Thankfully there have been more decent to great amps made, than truly awful ones.
I've played through a lot of different amps and brand names over the years to realize that most of the major amp builders have produced some great gear, as well as stuff in their product line that wasn't so good. Thankfully there have been more decent to great amps made, than truly awful ones.
+1
Carvin rocks my socks!
I just got done recording in Nashville with a grammy award-winning producer (Bill Whittington--Amy Grant, Gladys Knight, Mercy Me, Faith Hill, Building 429, Wynonna Judd, etc.), and he loved the straight neck of my Carvin B5. It sounded great all the way up the fretboard and it sounded great (it cut through the mix quite well). Carvin is superior to numerous bass and bass amp brands. Now I just need to get my hands on a Carvin bass rig!
+1
Carvin rocks my socks!
I just got done recording in Nashville with a grammy award-winning producer (Bill Whittington--Amy Grant, Gladys Knight, Mercy Me, Faith Hill, Building 429, Wynonna Judd, etc.), and he loved the straight neck of my Carvin B5. It sounded great all the way up the fretboard and it sounded great (it cut through the mix quite well). Carvin is superior to numerous bass and bass amp brands. Now I just need to get my hands on a Carvin bass rig!
To satisfy a yen to build a bolt on bass I assembled what amounts to a B5 from Carvin parts. I had them Tung oil the neck and body and ended up with a beautiful and light five string. I also have three Carvin Sixes.
I really think Carvin should produce a tube pre-amp to go along with their DCM series of power amps. They have tube amps for guitar players so why not something for we bottom dwellers!
Paul
Ampeg (SLM)
seriously though, what were you thinking when making this pole. ROLAND?!? and Laney?? I know some like laney, but those two are there and Ampeg, MarkBass, Aguilar (spelling?), Eden weren't.
seriously though, what were you thinking when making this pole. ROLAND?!? and Laney?? I know some like laney, but those two are there and Ampeg, MarkBass, Aguilar (spelling?), Eden weren't.
