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Looking for opinions on which way to go

Synthax

Synthax

Nov 20, 2011
68
0
SW PA
#1
Im looking at a new amp head as I want to get away from my small practice amp. I have 15" cab at my disposal 9was gift, old Lafayette, no head) It sounded great with a friends eden head attached but alas I need one of my own and don't have the $$ for a head like his.

I was looking at these 3
G-K mb200 new for 249
series 6 trace Elliot (think its 200 watt) for 175 used
or I can get a like new carvin pa800 powered mixer for 200, it has 3 channels at 333 watts each

not sure which way to go guys, ive read great things about the mb200 but the powered mixer thing seems like a good deal, but I don't know if it will work well etc.

I'm not interested it as a gigging amp just yet, mainly for practice, if we ever get to the gigging point it will be wiht pa support etc, but id like to be able to at least have a little flexibility.

thanks a bunch

nc
 
#7
I'm going to go off the reservation a bit here and say the powered mixer is something you'll get a whole lot of use out of besides playing your bass. It's enough to gig your first band, record stuff, throw parties...all kinds of stuff and you can play your bass with it. It's a more versatile piece of gear and will work just fine for playing your bass at home for now with your current speaker. Yes, your bass can sound a bit "blah" plugging straight in it, but a cheap little mic pre like the ART Tube MP, or a DI box, or an effect pedal you could get cheap used will fix that for now.

Consider it a building block to a bar band PA system, and a bass amp "just for now".


My $.02.:)
 
#8
Don't count on PA support, at least until your band is well-established and playing larger venues. You or another band member will need a PA (including speakers and monitors and cables).

You also need to research the capabilities of your speaker before you plug into it, particularly if you crank up the bass EQ or play loudly. There would be little point in replacing or reconing the speaker in an old speaker cab from a long-gone company.
 
#9
Out of those choices, definitely the Trace. GK will get more recs because they are more available and more people know about them, but TE is definitely better in general than GK. Plus, since there are so many of those GK's and you would be getting it new, you're going to take a pretty big hit if you ever want to resell it. The Trace is already at rock bottom, you could probably sell it in 20 years for at least as much as you'd be buying it for (making it effectively free).

Also something to keep in mind, the GK is a little "micro head" and the 200w rating is probably about all there is, while Trace stuff is generally underrated, meaning it might be more like 300w or so (ie 200w is really clean and you can go higher before you get to other brands' THD rating).

Plus, Trace Elliot is just plain cooler.
 
#13
You'll always get ten to one GK recommendations over Trace. What did the guy borrowing my amp when his rb700 blew up say?

"Man this thing is punchy!"

When he got his RB back it sounded good too. No hate on GK here.

I go with the Trace for same reasons as Jungleheat.

Give it a good test out and be careful with wattage ratings. Old Trace amp ratings are exactly what they say. The peak is double the rms, without distortion or any compression kicking in.

Whatever amp you must listen to the speaker to see how much it can take, even if you have a rating for the speaker. The thermal rating is a statistic similar to the top speed of a car in first gear.
 

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