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Is it time to upgrade my gear?

javi_bassist

javi_bassist

Dec 6, 2011
1,597
3,019
Madrid, Spain
#1
Hi guys,

I'm writing because i'm having some doubts about my gear. I am currently playing through a Line6 lowdown hd400 head with a GK MBE212 cab. It's been 2 years since i bought it and i had never had any complains about the head. However, lately i'm not liking the sound i'm getting. I don't really know why because i have always loved that head. But lately i feel like something is missing in my sound. So i've been thinking about buying another head. I've been reading and listening to the tc electronic bh500 lately but i don't really know if that's upgrading or just changing a little bit. I also like the orange bass terror or the ashdown abm500 but i cannot afford these two yet.

What do you think? Should i wait and keep on playing with my line6 until i can afford something better or go for tc?
 
#5
I've gone through a lot of big heavy gear, mainly Carvin. For the past six months I have downsized everything and I'm as happy as a clam. My main gig rig is a Markbass combo with an extension speaker. At 500 watts it covers my needs and is very light weight.
 
#7
You're experiencing what I call "inexpensive digital amp dissatisfaction." Digital amps have a lot of cool features and bells and whistles that regular amps can't do, but to me they always come off as a low bitrate recording of a bass through an amp. Digital gets a lot better as the price gets higher along with the bitrate, and the CPU speed and RAM increase accordingly as well. But inexpensive consumer grade digital amps always sound like they're lacking to me.
 
#8
JimmyM said:
You're experiencing what I call "inexpensive digital amp dissatisfaction." Digital amps have a lot of cool features and bells and whistles that regular amps can't do, but to me they always come off as a low bitrate recording of a bass through an amp. Digital gets a lot better as the price gets higher along with the bitrate, and the CPU speed and RAM increase accordingly as well. But inexpensive consumer grade digital amps always sound like they're lacking to me.
Click to expand...

LOL.
 
#10
I've recently got the same head, took a long time to find one. Use with 2 Genz 4x10's. Can honestly say I have never been happier with with a rig. Why not start again building your sound,factory preset is holding down Channel Memory button A as you turn on the power.
Good luck.
 
#11
I would not switch to TCE, that's a lateral move, at best. As others have said, reset your current head. If that doesn't work, then decide what you are missing and buy the amp that has that. Both Ashdown and Orange build very good amps, but they have completely different sounds, so obviously at least one of them will be the wrong sound for you.
 
#12
"Is it time to upgrade my gear?"

Boy, you are truly asking this on the wrong forum. The wonderful world of talkbass full of gear junkies and classified addicts. People who go through instruments so fast that they don't even get a chance to change the strings. You will not get a single "no" out of anybody on this forum.

About your question though, If I were you I would wait until I could afford the head I really wanted. You could go with the tc now but then it would also take you a bit longer to get your new head later on because you spent X amount on the tc.

Just my 2 cents
 
#14
I love my setup. I changed my rig because I've been trying to make my rig more portable. I'm currently using a sans amp RBI pre amp into a crown xls1500 bridged into an ampeg 410he. You can buy both the pre and the power amp for $700 new or even cheaper used and it sounds as good as most amps that costs twice as much and its dead silent no hum, no radio noise. I carry them in a gator rack bag that also has a rack tuner. Super light weight compared to the 40lbs monsters I've owned and tonally i don't miss the heavy amps at all. Don't have to worry about tubes anymore either.
 

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