Fender Bassman 500 vs Peavey Mini Max

[Cole Fleming]

So I’ve been playing old peavey stuff forever mainly a mark vi and a peavey 1820. I’ve started to notice my sound lacking, maybe it’s my ears getting better, but I just can’t get the kind of growl and shimmer I want out of a bass tone. (Think Josh Winstead from metric.)
My plan has been to get a 2x10 and a 1x15 plus a fender super bassman and then run either a tech21 vt bass or ampeg scr-di in the front end or in the power amp in of the loop to get me the kind of tone I want.
However one of my friends then mentioned that since I was just going to bypass the preamp on the amp and use it as a glorified power amp anyways that I should just buy the cheapest 500 watt class d amp I could. Hence the peavey mini max. What do you guys think?

I love the look of the Fender Bassman 500 so it already has brownie points on that side, and if it could get me closer to what I want even without the preamp it might be worth it. Any help is appreciated.

 

[rodl2005]

All I can say is that with the Super Bassman ... I've NEVER felt the need for ANY pedals. It's just SO good. Can't comment re the Bassman 500... tho it has they same pre amp. But I've never used my Tech 21 VTBass dlx pedal since getting the SB300. IT'S got all the grind and grunt I'll ever need.

 

[PotsdamBass8]

I will echo that sentiment, I just got a Bassman 500 and the overdrive channel is unreal. I usually play with dirt and grind in my sound, previously from a sansamp, a VT Deluxe, a B3K and most recently a Darkglass Vintage deluxe. The overdrive channel sounds so good I don’t use the darkglass any more. And it’s blendable which is key to being flexible. Even mostly blended in though, the overdrive has tons of natural punch and lows so you don’t feel like the bottom is dropping out.