No sign then of the troll. How do people get off doing this sort of thing. Yes the topic is sort of interesting and its got us talking but even so....and the guy must be a musician for the knowledge. Seems a very odd thing to do to the fraternity.
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I hate all amplifiers
- Thread starter Savoury Salmon
- Start date
dont listen to your amp on its own, listen to it in the context of your full band mix, how does your sound sit in that mix, dont listen to your amp while right up on it, you need to get a bit of a ways back to really hear it, for years i would do a slight bass boost on my Active basses as I wanted more lower end, but in reality the lower end was there, I was just too close to my amp to be really hearing it. So now when I play I get out at least 10-15 feet away to get a feel for my sound, and where its sitting in context to the rest of the band.
This too. I would walk out in front whenever possible to do a sound check on my own. It just took a long cable.
Given the bass amplifier is an integral part of the electric bass as an instrument, how can you continue to play the instrument if you hate the sound you are making?
FYI: There is no such thing as a zero latency plugin despite marketing claims to the contrary by some manufacturers. The same can be stated for audio interfaces. If the signal path and DSP is handled responsibly it can be kept below the threshold of human perception, which is commonly around 8ms, but zero latency is not possible whenever you have to pass a converter stage.
Try a Hartke LH series. They are very transparent and work really well with preamp and eq pedals.
I love the GK 700RB II. I like the sharp growliness to it. It works for me and sounds great with my Jazz bass but I can see some people not liking its tone.
I love the GK 700RB II. I like the sharp growliness to it. It works for me and sounds great with my Jazz bass but I can see some people not liking its tone.
Maybe OP is a sociologist who wants to study how long a post untitled "I hate all amps" can go on…
I’m an average player at best, but 15 years ago I was finally at the point where I had some extra money and could put $2k in to a new rig. I was buying $2-300 amps or cabs for years but now I could get one of the “special stuff” I had only read about on Talkbass.
My highly skilled bass playing friend joined me a day long trip around Los Angeles, playing some pretty expensive new rigs. I was shocked at how much I didn’t like. (I brought my Am Dlx Jazz bass with me - and was also shocked at how it sounded through a sterile amp. The bass has these large pole pickups and I learned the bass has this gnarly built in tone that I just hadn’t expected, and never noticed before through the cheaper amps I had been playing.)
So I’m trying these different cabs, and they all sound different from each other - and so many I just didn’t like! And the amps were tough to find one that wowed me. Until I tried the Aguilar AG500. That amp had the tone that was in my head I was searching for! Every note sounded full and warm. Next to shop for cabs - well, the only one I liked was a Glockenspiel non-US model the shop picked up from the recent (that year) NAMM show. At $950 a piece, two cabs were out of the question. In retrospect, one cab would have been fine! I didn’t buy anything but at least the 6+ hours hadn’t been in vain.
I was able to pick up the AG500 - nearly 10 years later (!) and then fell in love with the Aguilar DB cab’s sound.
So why did it take me 10 years? Bc I bought a QSC power amp, and a single rack space pre-amp, and plugged it in to this custom cabinet I got cheap off Craigslist and the setup sounded amazing! I loved it! Ok, it weighed a ton, but aside from that, wow!
I still have that rig but it’s packed away. Since I got the Aguilar setup, I’ve only been playing that.
But that is my story - took trying a BUNCH of rigs before matching one to the sound in my head I was chasing. I even bought more amps and cabs after that, really nice ones people rave about. Didn’t like them. Went back to my Aguilar stack and was super happy. Stopped buying bass rigs.
My highly skilled bass playing friend joined me a day long trip around Los Angeles, playing some pretty expensive new rigs. I was shocked at how much I didn’t like. (I brought my Am Dlx Jazz bass with me - and was also shocked at how it sounded through a sterile amp. The bass has these large pole pickups and I learned the bass has this gnarly built in tone that I just hadn’t expected, and never noticed before through the cheaper amps I had been playing.)
So I’m trying these different cabs, and they all sound different from each other - and so many I just didn’t like! And the amps were tough to find one that wowed me. Until I tried the Aguilar AG500. That amp had the tone that was in my head I was searching for! Every note sounded full and warm. Next to shop for cabs - well, the only one I liked was a Glockenspiel non-US model the shop picked up from the recent (that year) NAMM show. At $950 a piece, two cabs were out of the question. In retrospect, one cab would have been fine! I didn’t buy anything but at least the 6+ hours hadn’t been in vain.
I was able to pick up the AG500 - nearly 10 years later (!) and then fell in love with the Aguilar DB cab’s sound.
So why did it take me 10 years? Bc I bought a QSC power amp, and a single rack space pre-amp, and plugged it in to this custom cabinet I got cheap off Craigslist and the setup sounded amazing! I loved it! Ok, it weighed a ton, but aside from that, wow!
I still have that rig but it’s packed away. Since I got the Aguilar setup, I’ve only been playing that.
But that is my story - took trying a BUNCH of rigs before matching one to the sound in my head I was chasing. I even bought more amps and cabs after that, really nice ones people rave about. Didn’t like them. Went back to my Aguilar stack and was super happy. Stopped buying bass rigs.
Even more than my Mesa WD800, I like my Hartke LH1000. Just a simpler way to get to a generic old-school bass tone. Of course the LDS ported cabs also have an effect of the tone I'm hearing.
The LH is a big skid of bricks regarding weight but, it's been incredibly reliable though I had to have it repaired recently since buying in 2008. Of course that's also after 14 years of 400+ live shows, including rehearsals, practices, loading in & out of the gear trailer, getting moved, bumped, etc. BUT; it was economical at 1000+ watts for about $650.00 retail in 2008.
An amp isn't just plugging in and playing. Everything that gets you and that amp to the gig should also be considered in its utility.
What might work for you isn't for any of us to say. Finding, getting, achieving tone nirvana is a pursuit.
If you're gigging regularly or simply playing for pleasure, reliability matters as does what you hear. What music you're playing and the musicians and their instruments should be a factor in how you're determining "tone" and at what volume. It's so damn subjective but it's a balancing act and sometimes, you just deliver the music on point, and stomach the tone you hear at that moment. Venue, room, PA-monitor mix, bass and strings, ALL factor in too.
Good luck.
The LH is a big skid of bricks regarding weight but, it's been incredibly reliable though I had to have it repaired recently since buying in 2008. Of course that's also after 14 years of 400+ live shows, including rehearsals, practices, loading in & out of the gear trailer, getting moved, bumped, etc. BUT; it was economical at 1000+ watts for about $650.00 retail in 2008.
An amp isn't just plugging in and playing. Everything that gets you and that amp to the gig should also be considered in its utility.
What might work for you isn't for any of us to say. Finding, getting, achieving tone nirvana is a pursuit.
If you're gigging regularly or simply playing for pleasure, reliability matters as does what you hear. What music you're playing and the musicians and their instruments should be a factor in how you're determining "tone" and at what volume. It's so damn subjective but it's a balancing act and sometimes, you just deliver the music on point, and stomach the tone you hear at that moment. Venue, room, PA-monitor mix, bass and strings, ALL factor in too.
Good luck.
Before giving up, try Bergantino Forte
Can hold it in one hand and more than enough power
Transparent? Yes; very much so ; if you don’t like how your bass sounds.., frankly that is how your bass Really sounds!
So put a pedal in front of it
Bergantino cabs are light and powerful .
Frankly you may change your perspective after you try Bergantino.
This is straight up and kinda kicks into the grass our obsession with the minutae of gear. Did a largish outdoor show a while back, big stage etc ...Im a nobody so we were early in the day so no one really cared which meant the sound dude probably didn't touch the console and consoles are rarely messed with in transit.
My tone on stage....thick gnarly P bass, old flats..beautiful. Vid playback and I sounded like an Alembic with the bass dialled back and the treble dimed....thats sarcasm..for those who know how bright Alembics are. It was so bright and clangy I could not beleive it.
On the other hand Ive watched big shows with active basses and they sounded like muddy boom in the auditorium. So bass amps. Yep, there really worth worrying about.
My tone on stage....thick gnarly P bass, old flats..beautiful. Vid playback and I sounded like an Alembic with the bass dialled back and the treble dimed....thats sarcasm..for those who know how bright Alembics are. It was so bright and clangy I could not beleive it.
On the other hand Ive watched big shows with active basses and they sounded like muddy boom in the auditorium. So bass amps. Yep, there really worth worrying about.
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Man I know how this feels, I had to make some changes due to weight with my old rig. Then I had to make some changes due to tone, ultimately pedals and compression got me where I wanted to be. Anyways it sounds like you might like what Fender has in terms of amplification, especially if you don't like gritty tones. Fender's tone stack is really bouncy and bluesy (that's how it sounds to me anyways). If I was you I'd demo a Super Bassman (or any Bassman head) with a Bassman 410, or a Rumble 800 HD and a Rumble 410. The latter will be fairly easy to use the pedal with, that much I know from experience.
I find that my TC Electronics K210 cab combined with the BQ250 head gave a pretty clean and relatively neutral tone. However, I needed more power and went to a GK MB500 head which still sounds good, but certainly more processed. Still, maybe muck around with some TCE.
I bought a 1975 SVT with the 8*10 cabinet in 75 after retiring it from the road, like most I went looking for a lighter gigging rig.
I tried many amps looking for that SVT tone and a ton of different manufactures, as my hunt became more and more consuming, I started to realize what I want wasn't important it was all about the overall mix rolling out to front of house.
So I now roll into club, set my amp flat to start, tweak to fit the rooms acoustics and send a dry signal to FOH
And with that monkey off my back I really started to enjoy playing for the sake of playing only took me about 40 or so years to get it right good luck.
I tried many amps looking for that SVT tone and a ton of different manufactures, as my hunt became more and more consuming, I started to realize what I want wasn't important it was all about the overall mix rolling out to front of house.
So I now roll into club, set my amp flat to start, tweak to fit the rooms acoustics and send a dry signal to FOH
And with that monkey off my back I really started to enjoy playing for the sake of playing only took me about 40 or so years to get it right good luck.
try frfr powered speaker from di pedal?
Headrush FRFR112, and one of the EV15 claim good bass response, and they are cheap. If you do like em, there's plenty of high ends (Yamaha etc).
Let us know how it works out, down the road I intend to try this.
If you dont like it, just consider it your home entertainment stereo. Movie night!!!
Headrush FRFR112, and one of the EV15 claim good bass response, and they are cheap. If you do like em, there's plenty of high ends (Yamaha etc).
Let us know how it works out, down the road I intend to try this.
If you dont like it, just consider it your home entertainment stereo. Movie night!!!
From the OP:
“The GK 700RB-II sounded like a sterilized scalpel falling on the tiled floor of an operation room. It stripped away all that made basses sound different from one another and made them sound all similarly clean. Loud. And growly when pushed.”
Actual LOL, and I have yet to play through any model of GK bass amp.
OP’s scalpel comparison reminded me of this 2013 TB post:
“The GK 700RB-II sounded like a sterilized scalpel falling on the tiled floor of an operation room. It stripped away all that made basses sound different from one another and made them sound all similarly clean. Loud. And growly when pushed.”
Actual LOL, and I have yet to play through any model of GK bass amp.
OP’s scalpel comparison reminded me of this 2013 TB post:
I admit the title is click bait, but I’m not trolling. Sorry if that’s the impression I am giving.
As I said, I love the tone I get out of the Super Vintage. I’m playing through earphones and studio monitors. Maybe I need to lower my expectations when it comes to amplifiers and bigger speakers.
I’ve seen some interesting suggestions I’ve never played through, though: Phil Jones, Bergantino and Epifani. They’re hard to get by here in Canada. I also haven’t tried the other Subway Mesa amplifiers. I did not realize they weren’t the same.
One tone I’ve been enjoying lately is Rocco Paladino’s on the “Lift Off” and Welcome to the Hills.
As I said, I love the tone I get out of the Super Vintage. I’m playing through earphones and studio monitors. Maybe I need to lower my expectations when it comes to amplifiers and bigger speakers.
I’ve seen some interesting suggestions I’ve never played through, though: Phil Jones, Bergantino and Epifani. They’re hard to get by here in Canada. I also haven’t tried the other Subway Mesa amplifiers. I did not realize they weren’t the same.
One tone I’ve been enjoying lately is Rocco Paladino’s on the “Lift Off” and Welcome to the Hills.
I bought a Hiwatt 200 a few years back and really like it. Maybe give one a try?
