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Favourite bass + rig combinations?

punkjazzben

punkjazzben

Jun 26, 2008
1,711
206
Australia
#1
Bit of a thread-for-the-sake-of-a-thread thread here. Not sure if this is about basses or amps, though, so move it if you need to, mods.

Who has come across a combination of one bass and one rig that together, without adding any pedals, pre's, etc. between the instrument and amplifier, produced 'the tone' you wanted? What are your favourite combinations? (e.g. early 70s Fender Precision into an Ampeg SVT+810 of some species).

For practical purposes, my current favourite combination is a Yamaha BB405 into a Warwick WA300 and WCA411 Pro. It just works with minimal tweaking. My Fender P seems to need a bit of tube emulation or soft overdrive in the signal path plus some boosting around 60-70Hz. That means pedals, batteries, fiddling, etc. I like minimalism and having gear that is, essentially, 'plug-and-play'.

From what I've heard, I like the sound of an older Warwick Thumb NT5 played through an Eden setup (wish I could be more specific about the Eden gear, though). The Warwick-Eden combination seems to nail 'the tone' for me as well.
 
#2
Schecter Stiletto C-4 and an almost cranked Peavey Basic 50. You can really hear your mistakes like that but if you manage to play clean it's a hell of a tone to play with. Real stupid clear with just a touch of dirt if you dig in.
 
#4
I just purchased a G&L ASAT bass and it is perfect. My amp setup is another story. I have an Eden XLT 2X10 cab but didn't have enough coin for a good head. Wasn't sure if I would really go all in with the bass. Just started playing a few months ago. I figured the cab was a safe investment if I didn't get into bass too much. Gonna be looking for a nice head for my cab soon. I currently have a GK Backline 600 which was just something to put noise in the speaker. I've been playing regular guitar for 30+ years, wish I would have picked up the bass sooner! Looking forward to hear everyone's amp choices.
 
#13
My current setup is the best sounding I have ever heard (and a few bassists friends as well as all of my band members agree. I have owned tons of gear, but I think I am set.

Unfortunately the bass is pricy and the pre is fairly expensive. Worth it IMO.

Fodera Emperor Standard 5 -> Jule Monique pre -> Crest or Crown power amp -> Bergantino AE210 cabs.
 
#14
After 30 years of experimentation with literally dozens of amps and hundreds of basses, I've managed to boil it all down to this;

My USA Spector NS-2....

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Played through my Phil Jones M-500 head into PJB 8-T and 16-B cabs...

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I do use a pedal board, but it's very simple - just an EQ, chorus, noise gate (used only for my passive single-coil basses) and a tuner. The sound is still awesome with all of the pedals bypassed. I'm mainly a metal player, and while this setup excels at that style, it can also handle funk, blues, country, fusion and anything else you throw at it.
 
#16
Without pedals or anything?? Not me. I run a conklin gt7 tuned G#beadgc(eq flat)into a bbe sonic stomp(which I use in the same way as an onboard pre) then comes a sans amp RBI which has a pod hd in the effects loop just for effects and an mk2 footcontroller that's all that goes to FOH, my "stage monitor" is a swr750x which gets its signal from the sans amp into the effects return of the 750x powering a ampeg 410 he classic cab. I could play the majority of our stuff without the effects but some parts would not sound the same at all , especially where I use delay for two hand tapping parts on newer material.
 

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