Most iconic hard rock/metal amp & speaker?

[Michedelic]

If you want to go back to the beginnings of metal:

Standel

Ho Kay...at the risk of going off the rails with an entirely different discussion, just curious, how do you figure that one?

 

[2tonic]

Ho Kay...at the risk of going off the rails with an entirely different discussion, just curious, how do you figure that one?

You can find many photos of Blue Cheer, and Detroit area contemporaries like MC 5, with Standel 4x10, 6x10, or 4x15 combos in the backline.

225 watt tube amp in a combo shook itself to death pretty quickly, but day-um, they sounded good.
The 4x15 may have been a custom build, only saw them with Cheer and Mitch Ryder.
Then came Sunn and Marshall.

 

[funkytoe]

Really should not forget the early Sansamp preamps ( RBI ) and the SWR Interstellar Overdrive. Lots of hard rock guys I knew sought these out when they first decided to give up their lead sleds in favor of rack gear.

 

[Mark Andrew]

I have seen metal bassists use all sorts of gear...Ampeg, Hartke, Ashdown, Markbass, Aggie...even Mesa I don't believe metal has any special requirements for a bass amp. Some folks prefer what they prefer, but anything that works should get the job done.

I have to admit to not have read every post yet but playing mainly hard rock and metal myself. Yes I would agree non pro players are not that brand specific and getting the job done is most important. For me clean headroom was the most important thing and speakers that have the ability to handle a range of detuning options. Value for money and durability also came high on my list as in general were not loaded and the gear gets abused physically and often still at decibel levels many would consider ridiculous. God praise drum screens so we don't do that anymore.....Hence the big heavy loud and cheap setups tend to crop up allot and still get used today for non pro players regardless of what's iconic I don't think most care. Generally a mixed bag with an SVT being the only constant icon i can think of........ Boring perhaps but true.

 

[JW56789]

I love it when Andy goes fishing . . . . . .

IF it were me, I'd feel out some artist reps at ESP and Ibanez: They have LOTS of endorsed bass guys in metal, and might hook you up with some of their artists or crews. Plus Mesa has lots of guys using Boogie in metal's guitar end. . . . who all are in bands with bassists.

I'm sure you're aware that Geezer Butler has his own deal with Ashdown, but their US distribution is very spotty at best.

My two cents? Some blend of 400+, the snarkiness of the Prodigies, lots of HP, but use the toroidal transformers to save weight. Lots of 400+ in that it's easily maintainable. The time has come where certain bass amps are going to include distortion in some fashion just like a Mark Boogie, at least in a bass-based sense, which Mesa in-house would be up to its' ears in experience. SVT's are my-t-fine, but an 80# head gets to everyone sooner or later, much less the road crew adding another 40# for an Anvil case. And this IS the 21st Century last time I checked, maybe it's time for a new standard, and I think you've got it in you !

 

[DJ Bebop]

 

[BogeyBass]

I also wonder, maybe there isn't anything iconic due to the fact we are discussing a time before internet sales. So if you wanted a Mesa, Trace, GK or Ampeg head the local music store had to be a dealer. I had 2 choices when buying my main rig then. Gk800rb from guitar center or a peavey megabass at guitar showcase. Couldn't afford the trace Elliot at k&k. So I bought my megabss and didn't look back for many years. I had no idea at 15 Ampeg was a thing. I was told how awesome solid state was. And like most stores now the bass section was 1/8th the size of the geetar section, so selection was as limited then as it is now.

Lol that's awesome man

I worked as a salesman at K & K and also the Rental Dept at Guitar Showcase for a short time. Probably seen every single way a JBL , EV or Eminence speaker could possibly be destroyed lol

And basically lived at all of John Nady's clubs. One step beyond, The stone and The Omni

The place of Fame in those days to find worthy equipment was Starving Musician. Complete walls of new and vintage equipment of every single brand. Including very rare synths and the famous pedal cabinet.

I was pretty well known there as the speaker guy. Meaning I constantly blew up vintage Cerwin Vegas in all my Acoustic Amps. And destroyed probably every raw 15" they had hanging on the wall. And every single bassman or Traynor 2x15 that nobody ever bought.

Likewise after buying my first 810 my speaker murder days ended. And carried on with monthly repairs at starving musician on 2 blueline SVTs and a backup CL lol

Anyways at K&K Mesa only allowed dealers to be so many miles within each other. Basically anybody who bought a Dual Rec in the Area probably bought it from me. And pretty much every 400+ as well

Likewise kids working for Bob would drop off new GK cabs that still smelled like fresh spray paint.

Aside from huge sales from PA and lighting from what pretty much started the west coast rave scene.

GK sales pretty much kept the doors open there.

And aside from amazing music equipment. Absolutely amazing junkyards lol Between San Jose Speedway and illegal drag racing. I grenaded every Dodge motorhome motor or van limited slip rearend I could find out there.

Anyhoo just surprised you never mentioned starving musician. San Jose had walls of amps. And we gathered up endless Moogs and B3s and rotary speakers in Santa Cruz. I forget the repair shop in Santa Clara but he was pretty much " the guy" for busted Fender Rhodes tone bars or B3 key clickety clicks

 

[andrew]

The truly iconic amps have all been well mentioned, but from the last 30 years it gets a bit less obvious. I think this is mostly because the tech in bass amps evolved quickly from the early 90's on and bass players more than guitar players embrace new amp tech. SWR and Eden were both popular in the 90's and the Ampeg SVT3 and SVT4pro are both really popular with rock and metal guys who use amps from the past 30 years. G-K's newer offerings were well used too. Be hard to call them iconic though. Maybe the Ashdown ABM 500 would be an iconic amp from the past 30 years, because it's unique looks and couple features stick out. but that's no where near SVT/Bass400+/800RB status.

@agedhorse If you're wondering about this because you are going to design a new amp geared towards rock players, my advice is don't overcomplicate the control features, do not make it silver (keep them black for rock and metal), do not add a meh to average built in compressor. Make it loud and high wattage rated. I'm not saying that's necessary in the real world but on paper most rock guys have a "more is better" mindset for watts.
Mesa did a lot right with the Titan V12 in power and tone. But of course it'd need to be smaller and lighter now. The Titan was actually quite light for it size but I think many people assumed it was in line with the weight of similar 3u sized amps like the Aguilar DB750 and Ampeg SVT 4 Pro. It looked heavy.
The 5 position eq shift on the M6 and M9 is pure gold. Put that control with the Titan preamp and overdrive and you'd have the start of a killer rock amp. the Mesa Titan V1200.

I think it's very hard to create an iconic rock or metal bass amp these days, but Mesa has some features from past amps that could be used in a new design to make for a popular modern aggressive music bass amp.

 

[Ethereal Thorn]

For metal the mesa 400, 400+ Ampeg svt. Classic,Trace elliot, Swr and Aguillar where always the most iconic the rest have never really appealed to me that said You will see different taste in all of the metal subgenres like doom favoring sunn, orange, laney, mata amp, electric and stuff like that guys more into the zingy tone or funk influences tend to favor gk ,Guys on a budget used peavey. Theres more but ampeg and mesa seem to be a pretty common choice across the board.

 

[BogeyBass]

You can find many photos of Blue Cheer, and Detroit area contemporaries like MC 5, with Standel 4x10, 6x10, or 4x15 combos in the backline.

225 watt tube amp in a combo shook itself to death pretty quickly, but day-um, they sounded good.
The 4x15 may have been a custom build, only saw them with Cheer and Mitch Ryder.
Then came Sunn and Marshall.

Likewise when Randy Holten moved on from Blue Cheer was endorsed by Sunn.
Played infront of Walls of the Much Unknown Sunn Orion amps. Basically a attempt at what people now call " self powered speakers" somewhat similar I guess to the Acoustic 361( came before the SVT ever existed)
Being any numerous amounts of cabinets with built in solid state amplifiers could be run with the one Orion preamp head. Somewhat Similar to a 200s cabinet with a Amp built in.



All the Doom guys now call it " Pysch Rock" and Population II being one of the many influences aside from Blue Cheer

 

[Ethereal Thorn]

My personal pick now a days for metal would be a Mesa wd800. I am hoping for a new 1200 watt version with more preamp tubes down the line tho hey I can dream lol

 

[Clap Trap]

As we all know, the most iconic and a standard for decades now is
Ampeg SVT + 810

 

[BogeyBass]

And likewise when everyone and their mom wanted a " Rack"

Probably endless Ampeg rackmount heads that have haunted repair shops for decades lol.

Likewise in my experience could pick up used torn to heck particle board 810s any day of the week.

Funny people hate the heavy particle things but always had the best luck and most consistent best sounding drivers in them.

Pretty much love the paper thin tolex on a SVT- 810E cause it rips up so easily. A horrible looking ripped to heck 810 never sells well on a music store floor. People assume it's been abused to heck. But usually they look destroyed but the drivers are in really good shape. And swooped up many many used cabs dirt cheap with excellent drivers

Plus you dont cry over ripping up a new1200 dollar cabinet and can toss around a used 300/400 dollar 810 with no worries

 

[andrus108]

Good question. When I was looking around recently for bass amp and cab to buy, and I am into rock / metal genre, I figured that ever since Sansamp BDDI came out, the most iconic modern bass tone is this direct into board. I got a GK head only because I didn't really like the Sansamp tone so was hesitating to splurge on one, and the head I bought was not much more than BDDI itself.

So I'd answer either none, or whatever backline / endorsement provides.

 

[el murdoque]

There is a lot of stuff that works great for metal.
And there is the SVT+Fridge, which seem to be an icon in any style of music that goes loud.


And of course, there are Murder One and Hammer, each sitting on a 4x12 and a 4x15 on either side of the drums.
Those are maybe the most iconic amps in these genres I could think of.


My guess is that metal bassists usually start out in their teens, living with their parents and visiting some kind of school. These people are set up against a fit drummer of the same age that has learned double bass but will need years of practice to master it, so it's fast and consistent, but it's also quite loud. The guitar guys have 50 and 100 watt heads into 4x12 cabs, so they easily keep up. That's a brutal pace set for a bassist. 500 Watts into 4x10 barely cuts it - and being in their teens, budgets are tight and we're not talking about bergs or barefaceds but rather about old Peaveys. I know I've spent my first couple of years playing metal with gear that was chosen primarily on the 'how much bang for the buck' rate - I had X money to spend, how can that be turned into a maximum of volume. My biggest sound goal was being audible. Brand names and trademark sounds were not too important back then.
I adored anyone playing a full stack with two cabs and the head all of the same brand.
That looked classy to me.

 

[gelinas666]

Besides Ampeg SVT heads.. Mesa 400/400+ heads for sure.Match'em up with a Diesel cab. Both very iconic..

 

[NeonVomit]

Life-long metalhead and metal player here, been playing pretty much exclusively in metal bands for the last 20 years.

Having said that, everything below is based on my own experiences, opinions and conclusions - other people might have totally different ones and that's cool. We're not robots or clones.

First off, DI/preamp straight into the board - plenty of people do that, and I can understand the appeal, but I think since most metal bands play in small to medium size venues, having a big amp on stage adds immensely to the depth and power projected - a bass sound coming through the PA will be heard, but definitely not felt. When I'm on tour I take my Subway D-800 with me and hook it up to whatever cabinet they have (~80% of the time it's a 4x10) - so far, it's been fine.

The Mesa 400+ is the real legend. Plenty of metal players swear by the SVT too. You're seeing a lot of Aguilar as well though, and Hartke have their fans. GK for sure. EBS are also commonly seen at metal gigs.

Built-in compressor - most metal players use compressors, OD/distortion or both, so having those built in can be handy but you then run the risk of having a cool amp with a compressor someone may not like. It can be a deal-maker or deal-breaker. EBS' Reidmar 750 head has both, and has divided opinion. There's a lot to be said for simplicity, but occasionally in a dense mix/crappy room (which happens a LOT) it can be tricky to tweak your sound.

A high-pass filter can be a lifesaver. Since you have such a low-heavy sound, being able to tighten it up is amazing. That's the main reason I'm seriously thinking of trading my Subway in for the 800+ or even the WD-800.

Power is important. Keeping up with 2 (usually) high-gain guitar amps and a (necessarily) loud drummer is always demanding. Cutting through the mix is also especially vital and the #1 concern for metal bassists. So strong mids are key. Metal bassists don't tend to care about/need super subtle tone or detail in their sound.

As for speakers, 10's. Always 10's. Maybe the odd 15 thrown in, but 10's are the gold standard. Metal bassists don't tend to be super picky over the actual cabinet itself (either a 4x10 or an 8x10 is just fine) but they need to be able to handle a fair bit of sonic abuse. I'm interested to see where Darkglass are going with their cabinets (which are supposed to be specially-designed for distortion/OD) but never had a chance to try one out yet.

The D-800 has served me well so far, it's my travelling head (fits into an airline carry-on) and my GK is also great. Very different sounding amps but both do the job.

 

[Mark Andrew]

There is a lot of stuff that works great for metal.
And there is the SVT+Fridge, which seem to be an icon in any style of music that goes loud.


And of course, there are Murder One and Hammer, each sitting on a 4x12 and a 4x15 on either side of the drums.
Those are maybe the most iconic amps in these genres I could think of.


My guess is that metal bassists usually start out in their teens, living with their parents and visiting some kind of school. These people are set up against a fit drummer of the same age that has learned double bass but will need years of practice to master it, so it's fast and consistent, but it's also quite loud. The guitar guys have 50 and 100 watt heads into 4x12 cabs, so they easily keep up. That's a brutal pace set for a bassist. 500 Watts into 4x10 barely cuts it - and being in their teens, budgets are tight and we're not talking about bergs or barefaceds but rather about old Peaveys. I know I've spent my first couple of years playing metal with gear that was chosen primarily on the 'how much bang for the buck' rate - I had X money to spend, how can that be turned into a maximum of volume. My biggest sound goal was being audible. Brand names and trademark sounds were not too important back then.
I adored anyone playing a full stack with r cabs and the head all of the same brand.
That looked classy to me.

Exactly....and when I saw Korn playing blind with a Peaveyxp mkVIII in the backline I had to have one and it was the only amp I've had that kept up with some in reserve. Still have it and am disturbed by how high I had to run it back in the day. Granted today I think you could get away with less....thank god....

 

[el murdoque]

Exactly....and when I saw Korn playing blind with a Peaveyxp mkVIII in the backline I had to have one and it was the only amp that kept up. Still have it and am disturbed by how high I had to run it back in the day. Granted today I think you could get away with less....thank god....

I also have an old Peavey from those days sitting around.
And I get away with a lot less but have two barefaced cabs that can keep up with any drummer and guitar halfstack if needed. The age makes me play with people who've been in practice rooms a lot longer than those metal teens and a steady job enables me to buy the gear I actually want to own.

I still remember, however, my first bigger gig as a metal teen. Still wet behind the ears, I came up on the stage and wondered about the lack of a little microphone stand in front of my amp. And about the little red box sitting on top of my amp - the guitars had none of these.
When I found out what that evil FOH person wanted to do to me, I was close to tears. The guitars would get their amps sounds miced and I got that stupid DI thing grabbing my signal before it even hit my amp. My precious equalizing all for naught.
It took me years (and a few gigs viewed from the other side of the FOH board) to grasp that concept.
But that also made bass amps even less important to me.

 

[Slevage]

Not my genre, but after SVT,
I think of Marshall.