Gear for a 3 piece rock trio

[JamesXP]

I'm currently a bassist for a 3 piece rock trio, currently using a very old H&H 15 inch combo, it's not exactly cutting the mustard for larger gigs anymore and the pots are all very crackly anyway...

I'm looking to get a new rig, i'm looking for a seperate amp/cab combo but i'm not sure what's good I'm the UK and things here are generally alot more expensive than stateside.

Trying to do this on a relatively low budget and I have no problem with going used!

At the moment the only pedal I use is a korg pitchblack for tuning, what other pedals would suitable for my uses?

We're a covers band covering classic rock from the 70s

 

[JamesXP]

And to add it will need to be able to hold it's own in pubs/clubs without PA support

 

[K73]

How low is relatively low? If you're budget conciuos used is the way forward.
I also live in the UK and see a lot of Ashdown stuff around me. It tends to be fairly good quality (for the price) and sounds prety nice. I bet one of their (used) amp heads would suit your needs.
If you have to hold your own without PA support try to find a nice 2x12 or larger. Don't skimp on the cab, if you are restricted by budget, again, search used. Nice bass and nice head through poor cab = poor tone.

 

[JimmyM]

Love pedals, but the only one you might truly need is some distortion. No idea what prices are in the UK or what gear is readily available, though.

 

[JamesXP]

Talking less than 500 for the amp/cabinet ideally!

thanks for the advice, been looking at used peavey cabs on the ebay they seem pretty cheap but hows the sound, from my brief searching it seems they're not too bad but I want to be certain

 

[dhsierra1]

Peavey is good bang for the buck used and has decent tone. Very reliable and durable gear, too. Not to mention heavy....

And if you're not getting the tone you're quite looking for you can always get a VT pedal or the like.

Edit: for example, the Peavey TVX 410 is very popular around TB as a solid bargain cabinet. I'd also see if there's any Hartke's around, another popular used bargain.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I'm currently a bassist for a 3 piece rock trio...

Department of Redundancy Department!

 

[jungleheat]

For cheap and reliable in Ol' Blightey, I doubt you can do better than some older Trace Elliot gear. I'm in the US but I love my Trace stuff. Sounds awesome. Look on Ebay UK.

In terms of specs, you should generally be looking around a 300-500w head, and a 4x10, 2x15, or 2x10/1x15 setup that can handle at least as many watts as your head can put out. I know some of the older Trace heads were 250w, but they are supposed to be rated pretty conservatively, so that would probably still be fine.

Anything you can get new for 500 pounds would probably be junk, so you should definitely be looking at the used market (check local classifieds too, whatever the UK version of craigslist is, or the local weekly paper, etc...).

 

[JamesXP]

Department of Redundancy Department!

Never realized that, probably explains why I failed english in school!

to add, our guitarist uses a JCM800 100w head with a marshall 1936 2x12 cab

 

[Adam Bomb]

Because I'm in the States and I'm a hardcore GK user, I've always assumed that if I was a Brit I would play Ashdown or maybe Trace. Not exactly sure what that means but maybe you grok it.

--Bomb

 

[lakedmb]

You may also want to check the classifieds at basschat.co.uk

 

[will33]

Never realized that, probably explains why I failed english in school!

to add, our guitarist uses a JCM800 100w head with a marshall 1936 2x12 cab

At least he has enough sense to use 212's and not 4....and a JCM800 instead of 900/2000, etc. Must be pretty good.

Something about the size of a good 215 or 610 would hang with that in most any situation. Maybe a good 410. Cool thing about 3 piece is you have a lot more sonic territory open to you and can play more to fill the holes. I'd be looking at stuff that has good upper mid response, etc., a little more "full range" than just "banging out the bottom".