Modern Amp - 70s Soul/R&B Sound

[bearhart74]

Id go used.. Eden WT550 + Aguilar GS212

 

[cchorney]

Markbass Little Mark II or III - found used frequently at about $300-$400. Pair it with any pair of 210s or 115s you like - the amp will do the sound shaping. That, or keep your existing rig and add a Tech21 Sansamp BDDI in front of it.

 

[pbass888]

mark bass little mark II with a matching 1x121 markbass cab (or a pair) .. the rig uws used for 600 total..... I use smith half rounds and a 65 jazz ... and you can get this sound... more like a Rasta catamaran with some good erb than a yacht... use a sadowsky outboard pre and this was recorded with a with a little "sub n up" by tc electronic. i get hired to do the wedding gigs with the type of music/type you mentioned

 

[Pbassmanca]

Look up "The Dukes of September": A "king's of yacht rock" super group comprised of Donald Fagen, Michael Macdonald and Boz Scaggs. Their tour bass player Ready Freddie Washington plays a 70's Pbass with flats through and Aguilar DB 751 amp and aguilar 4x10. Great tone for the genre, although really, any amp that will give you a warm, fat and clean tone will get you there. I play quite a bit of this music , (Read : Big time yacht rock nerd) , through a Mesa M9 Carbine , and that amp also will do nice fat, warm, clean tone. Although it has a tube in the preamp section (and a great on board compressor ) , which can add a bit of tasty , understated grit when necessary. The M9 has been discontinued so you will have to see which store has one in Stock or get one used if you go that route.

 

[Guiseppe]

I'd say for any 70's "yacht" rock, the SVT is the answer to the question. Practically speaking, if you don't want to break your bank account and still have some great tone for jamming (you didn't specify you were interested in gigging, so I'm going to assume a smaller amp might be ok). I have an Ampeg BA210 and love it's tone. No, it's not an SVT/810, but a) I have one and for playing around the house it's overkill, b) a BA210 is much cheaper than an SVT, and c) the amp isn't the whole answer. I think playing comfortably with a pick is pretty much a requirement for 70's rock. (I've played 44 years and really didn't feel comfortable using a pick until last year. It really IS a different animal, tonewise. When you listen to bands of that era you'll hear it a LOT).

 

[Vinyl Richie]

Heya Pbassmanca - mate, so good, thanks for all that info. Dukes of September is now going to destroy my productivity at work today haha. It seems like Aguilar amps are a bit of a trend in suggestions - the DB750's probably a bit expensive for what I want, but the TH500 looks good.

Guiseppe - it is for playing live, with a 6-7 piece band, so I'll need some power for sure.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Quilter Bass Block 800. The new kid in town is killing it.