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Is there a bass amp for Reggae ?

#21
Having played ska and reggae on and off since '99, the most common amp I ever see at gigs is an Ampeg SVT, usually powering The Fridge (Ampeg 8 x 10" cabinet). Always sounds good.

The big size and heavy weight of that rig does not suit me at all.

Since '05 I've used an Ashdown MAG 300 head powering an Ashdowm MAG 1 x 15" Deep cabinet. I love the overall tone of the amp, supplemented built-in subharmonics (on/off plus a dial I usually keep at about 4.5/10).

I believe that the breathing room inside the 1 x 15" Deep cabinet is important for projecting well-defined low end from the stage. I always run a DI from my amp to the house PA.

This rig serves me so well that just want to keep getting more life out of the nickel roundwound strings on my bass since '05. (No kidding. Ernie Balls. Always keep 'em clean.)

I give most of the credit to those strings on my ash/maple G&L bass, with good playing technique.

The Ashdown rig always sounds so good for me playing ska-reggae-dub that I basically take it for granted.

It's far easier to move around (and to keep at home) than one of those SVTs and a Fridge.
 
#25
For the past few years, I've used a Markbass LMIII with two fEARful 12/6s for roots reggae and ska. I recently got a Quilter BB800, which sounds great at home, but I haven't had any reggae gigs since the fall. I'm looking forward to cranking it at a gig.

Over the years, I've seen all kinds of amps and cabs at reggae gigs.
 
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#29
Aston Barrett used Ampeg, Eden etc. so I don't think there is such a thing as a Reggae amp.

IMO you need good full frequency cabs to sound best. I don't go for 18" cabs. 10's and 12's are great for me.
 
#32
BassmanPaul said:
Off Topic for a moment but @The Diaper Geni I do love the face in your avatar. He/she be gorgeous!

Edit: What is it about a dog that makes you just have to smile? :D
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**Copied/Pasted my response from a previous compliment about my avatar**: "Thanks! That's my bud, Max. Some kind of husky mix. Got him from our vet. He had been, at the least, neglected by a previous owner. I suspect abused some, too. Sweetest dog EVER. We called him the ice cream dog: If he was standing or sitting while being scritched he would, literally, slowly "melt" to the ground so the end result is him on the ground, belly up, and the petter leaning over to scritch him. The whole process was slow and gradual and consistent. Like ice cream melting.

We had to put him down this summer. We think he was about 15 years old. I like to think we made up for his crummy start to life."
 
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#33
PWV said:
*Hey, where's all the cool photoshop mock-ups in this thread?
:bag:
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I faked this one of Robbie and a wall of something. :D
8mox6Zp.jpg


Not faked...lately Mr. Shakespeare seems to have taken a liking to Markbass.
full.jpg
 
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#35
Turn Em Loose said:
We had to put him down this summer. We think he was about 15 years old. I like to think we made up for his crummy start to life."
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I am so very, very sorry for your loss. We have had five dogs that have "owned" us in our married life. They all occasionally visit us and we reminisce their lives. :)

All of them found us one way or another and enriched our lives. We miss them all terribly.
 
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#36
BassmanPaul said:
I am so very, very sorry for your loss. We have had five dogs that have "owned" us in our married life. They all occasionally visit us and we reminisce their lives. :)

All of them found us one way or another and enriched our lives. We miss them all terribly.
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Thanks!

It's all good. He got a good home and good care for about 12-13 years. When it's time, it's time. And it was time.
 
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#37
although you mostly see the classic ampeg svt + 810 dominating on reggae stages, there's not a specific "reggae amp".
lots of headroom is good because it allows you to play with a soft touch and still get the full tone.
i personally use an ampeg SVT II preamp with an Eden WT1000 power amp into an ampeg svt classic 15en speaker.
 
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#40
DrumsAndBass said:
At first, I was using an Aguilar rig - AG 500s with 2 - GS210 cabinets. Those particular cabinets go pretty low for 10's. It's too bad that they no longer make them. I think those cabs were over engineered for the market/price. They sounded good for Roots Reggae & Dub but lacked low end. The keyboardist, drummer and rhythm guitarist in the band commented that my rig needed more low end on stage. It turned out I was finished saving up for a major purchase anyway - for my rig. So I told them, "oh yeah, I getting ready to get some new speakers to make more low end on stage..." I'm glad to have those guys in my corner. Well, for all of the difficulties that lows can cause on stage I decided to make a drastic addition to my Reggae bass rig. I had been reading about and trying out equipment at stores for about 4 months prior. I also use an old Ashley BP-41 bass preamp (solid state). It's quiet and clean. This preamp has a built in electronic crossover and a balance knob for the low and high sends. So my signal path is bass(passive)>Ashley low send jack>Aguilar AG500s to the 210 cabs and the Ashley high send jack>powered 18"sub. Overall, it's just a bi-amped system which is nothing fancy. But I went the whole 9 yards+ on the powered sub because it's a JBL PRX 18s XLF. I sold 2 basses to muster up the $ for it. It's got two voice coils with two corresponding built-in power amps on the same 18" neo speaker. This gives it great transient response and each voice coils run cooler. It weighs 80 pounds-my 210's each weigh 65 pounds. The 210 cabs give me the definition for the notes and the sub is really, and I mean really clean and full and punchy and warm and etc. The band members are all happy-actually the soundmen like it too. It's not loud, it's clean and clear. The shaping of the lows is fully adjustable. And there are no doubt other configurations for a powered sub too. I can use one or two of my Aguilar GS 210's. It's not a particularly tall rig - but the sub cab is quite deep in size. The quality of this particular powered sub is absolutely excellent. JBL really knows what they are doing when it comes to designing enclosures and low freq. drivers. I wish I would have done this years ago for my Roots sound. Naturally, this set up requires management of both the extent and the amount of lows but that's adjustable in several places in the signal path. It's never easy to manage extended lows from a bass rig ANYWAY for all of the reasons that we already understand. This rig can present extra challenges for the overall sound though but what else is new. For my part, I've pretty much found my own perfect rig for Roots music. For me, it's been a seemingly endless quest for the low end in my rig. JBL did all of the hard work when they designed this powered sub. I just had to connect the patch cables and fork out the $. The sound of the bass through the rig is very clean and very clear and beautiful. I wanted to get this idea out to you all. It's not the be-all, end-all to bass rigs. It's subject to improvement like everything else. It's Irie.
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You, sir, are my hero!
 

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