Most popluar amp/rig? Is there a 'standard'?

[johng999]

Ampeg pf-500 is a great choice for what you want to do. To me it has the Ampeg voicing with lightweight and great price. There are a host of cabs that will work - many of the 4x10 or 1x15 ampeg cabs will sound very good - I suggest you try several.

 

[wcriley]

There must be something that 50% of all players use.

Nope.
Players use whatever fulfills their needs/wants and fits within their budget.
No single piece of gear can possibly fit that description for a majority of players.

 

[B-string]

The most iconic rig of all time is an Ampeg B15N from the '60s. Good for recording and practice but not a lot of watts. Miking necessary if things get loud and expensive when you find one. No bells and whistles, no over-done eq, tuner, DI out or effects loop/pre out.
Will it fit your needs......only your ears and budget can decide.

 

[cchorney]

If nothing else tell me what you bought - you must think it's the best or you'd have bought something else.

There must be some brand that you can say 'you can't go wrong with ....'

Or "most rock bass players I see use 2x10 cabs' or such.

Ok, that's something specific -

Different product lines within a brand will have a different sound, Mark Bass for example. Search the threads for comparisons between LMIII and LMTube for examples. Ampeg is the same way, as are others I am sure. I like the LMIII, as SS amps go, but I wish it were more tube like, which is how I ended up putting an EBS MultiComp and a Tech21 BDDI in my signal chain.

All amps have their own "voice" people telling you to go listen makes sense, don't be lazy and spend a ton of money because other people tell you something sounds "good" without trying it out yourself.

I prefer the sound of a ported 15 with no tweeter. A couple of them stacked, all the better. But plenty of people live and die by their 410, 210, 12, or 215. IT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU LIKE THE SOUND OF AND FEEL LIKE CARRYING.

For amps/cabs, I've got:
SWR Workingman's Pro 15 - great little combo. Decent tone if you turn off the tweeter, nice features. Great for in home practice and rehearsal space and quiet gigs. Can add an external cab for more moved air. Can get overpowered if the drummer and guitar get loud. Relatively small and light, as bass cabs go.

Kustom 250 with Kustom 215 cab - the amp has great power and great tone, but is damned near impossible to keep working or get repaired in any permanent sense. The cab has a great sound for older rock and country but is far from "hifi". Size of a small refrigerator and about as heavy.

GK 800RB - great tone, reliable, good power considering the low "official" rating. Bi-amp makes it flexible. Could use more power. Amp only, I use it with the Kustom 215. No longer in production.

Markbass CMD102HF - combo of Little Mark III 300/500 head and 2x10 front ported cab. Great tone ranging from hifi to old school, pretty small and light (ish), pretty expensive, limited by the fact its a 2x10 to amount of volume and air moved. Needs to be elevated on stage to be heard. Another 2x10 underneath would always make it louder.

 

[jumblemind]

People have already addressed the "popular" part of your question. Short answer for your needs is a MarkBass Little Mark III and New York 151 bass stack. If that's too much cash right now, look at an Ampeg Portaflex 350 or 500 with a PF-115HE cabinet. Both of these will get you quickly to what most people would accept as the "classic" all-around bass tone you will find in those genres mentioned.

 

[Davyo]

Ampeg and GK I think are the most common standard bass gear brands,,, and rightfully so in my opinion.

Funny thing is here in Vegas where i live, when I play the Hard Rock or House Of Blues or any other venue that provides back line I already know before I even walk in the door there going to have either Ampeg or GK for the bass back line,,, and I've never been wrong.

For the record I've owned more brands of bass gear than I can remember,,,, these days I use only GK.

Cheers
Davyo

 

[babebambi]

One thing I've come to realized is that, that the bass world inside and outside of TalkBass is very different. Bassists here have a, oh how should I put it, "more distinguished" taste in gears...

Ask this type of questions here, and you would get the "it ALL depends ..." kinda answer;
Outside, you just might be lucky enough to get a straight answer once in a while...

Back on topic, going by the rig most backline company has, I would say Ampeg, GK, Eden.

 

[BearCave]

I'd have to also say that it's the Ampeg SVTCL with the 810E cab. I see that rig more than any other rig on stages both at concerts and on TV. I own one myself, and if I'm going to be playing a straight up rock show, that rig is what goes with me along with one of my Jazzes and one of my P's.

 

[klejst]

Standard? Ampeg 8x10 cab and Ampeg SVT amp




But seriously it's whatever you find that works for you. Don't just buy something because it is popular. Some of "lesser used or known" brands can surprise you.

 

[two fingers]

Here's a whole poll that will tell you pretty much what everybody is using these days. Good luck with your hunt.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/poll-tber-amp-preference-957413/

 

[chaosMK]

This thread reminds me of the Michael Anthony ad for the Bass 400:

"If it seems like a lot of amp, think of the caliber of bands you'd like to play with...you know someone is going to get the gig. And if their tone is awesome while yours resembles A CAREFULLY EXECUTED FART, who do you think is going to get the call?"

 

[will33]

Ueah, there are a lot of great sounding rigs nowdays, but, the SVT is still the standard rig, and for damn good reason.

 

[dincz]

There's a world of difference between "most popular" and "best". Maybe you should forget about popularity and select the most versatile rig you can find. A good starting point would be a good uncolored cabinet, a decent power amp and a preamp with a powerful and flexible eq section (multi-band parametric). That way you won't be locked into any particular sound.

I haven't mentioned brands simply because these goals can be achieved with a variety of gear - although the cab options are more limited than are the choices of pre and power amps.

Forget marketing hype, bass folklore, brand mystique and snake oil and go for it.

 

[pica]

To the OP: don't feel like your alone. I'm looking to get my first serious bass rig and have no idea what I want. The combinations of heads and cabs are endless and o'h yea, don't forget about combo amps too.

 

[Mykk]

Well. I can tell you that 90% of all supplied backlines in studios and stages are either Ampeg with a 8x10 or GK & 4x10

 

[edbass]

OK, yes, I know it's 'whatever sounds good to you'....great advice for someone with 20 years experience.

Not worth squat for a newbie.

There must be something that 50% of all players use. I've been watching a lot of bands playing and see most choose a les paul or strat as a guitar, 4 string bass (squier/fender jazz is seems).

Of course there is a wide variety of instruments being played and a wide array of music out there and today there are fewer 'rules' than ever before. For example, I've seen a couple of bands now with no drummer -the lead singer or someone just has a bass kick drum. I see either no keyboards or a setup of half dozen of them. (korg being the brand I see most).

So is there a 'standard' (aka most popular) rig for bass for rock, country, jazz? (assume each has it's own preference).

Or is it a matter of get a modeling amp/pedal and what you choose for gear is unimportant?

I don't see where the OP is asking what he/she should buy themselves, the way I read this^ post it's a question of what bass rigs others have chosen, and what is most "common".

It's easy. In the truly pro ranks; that is where expense, practicality, and worrying about whether your rig will fit in the family truckster or if you back is up to the task of schlepping it is a NON issue, the tube SVT/810 is king.
Take away the marketing endorsements and the percentage that choose the Ampeg rig is staggering.

Not what I choose to play personally, but there is no denying that a whole bunch of big league players who can play anything they want share their stage with the "king".
It's in most cases a proven winner, from the musicians POV and the engineers POV, like Fender basses; you know what you've got and it works/sounds great every time.

It's the bush leaguers that get sucked into the "rig dujour" syndrome, the ones that allow those cheap amps with big marketing budgets to enjoy their "15 minutes".
Good marketing and/or the "me too" Kool Aid drinking on this and other enthusiast forums that fuel the GAS fires of the wanna be's.
Remember MarkBass and Relics?

It's all good; it's fun and it's cheap. Nobody gets hurt, everybody gets to brag about their latest acquisitions and go on and on about how wonderful it is.
Until the next "latest and greatest" comes along...

But I digress; as several other posters have mention, if you want to know what the “Fender” of bass rigs is, in the pro ranks at least it's hands down the SVT with good reason.

In the bush leagues its generally whatever the poster got sucked/marketed/peer pressured into buying.

 

[willop]

Interesting discussion...and no concrete answers.

I'm a photographer and if you're a pro you want nikon or canon, there might be 3 cameras from each that are what you want, and you want the pro lenses at $1200+ each.
But then you use them everyday, they make you a living, and you need versatility and reliability. Your customers want the image, not an excuse.

As a hobbyist budget becomes a factor. The wife is a factor if you're married. If you plan to shoot landscapes or flowers what you need will be different.

But in either case there are certain 'standards' - a 'standard zoom' is an all around good for most things lens. Until you know what specifically you want to do it will do fine. So I often recommend that and a used nikon/canon 'consumer' body as a place to start until you know what you want. Sure, a $99 point and shoot can take pictures, but it will lack IQ, clean ISO, many controls that you'll want/need.

With a guitar, from what I"ve learned, a $150 bass will be fine to learn on, a $300 one will be nicer, but either work fine - properly set up of course.

As for amps...this is where I get lost. THere is apparently no 'standard' anything...watts, speaker size, brands, tube/SS, etc.

I went to GC today and looked... they had an acoustic 100w 1x10 amp/cab sitting next to an ampeg 115. Very different sound, very different volume level...I see where the challenge of suggesting something comes in. Played a $600 markbass 1x12 and it was different yet.
I tried a fender rumlble 150 and 75 and bought the 75. i liked the sound, the volume, the ability to tweak the sound/tone a great deal. The 150 was nice but nearly double the money and probably more than I want in my house LOL

Presidents day sales saved me $30 on it too.
It sounds great - with my flat stringed 4 or 5 string - lots of tonal possibilities, scoop and punch buttons and the distortion / blend offers more choices.
Some reviews said it was noisy but mine is dead silent with either axe unless you crank it past half way then you get some hiss -but not as much as I'd heard from some I'd tried in the store.

 

[Steve Dallman]

I still see more SVT's and 8x10's on concert stages than any other amp. Ampeg does have a distinctive voice. When I first got an SVT head in the mid 70's, my drummer hated it. He wanted me to go back to my Carvin. He got used to it.

I recently replaced my old GK1001RB with a PF500. The change was much like Carvin to SVT was decades ago. I missed my old SVT but the PF500 is close enough for me.

 

[cchorney]

I don't see where the OP is asking what he/she should buy themselves, the way I read this^ post it's a question of what bass rigs others have chosen, and what is most "common".

It's easy. In the truly pro ranks; that is where expense, practicality, and worrying about whether your rig will fit in the family truckster or if you back is up to the task of schlepping it is a NON issue, the tube SVT/810 is king.
Take away the marketing endorsements and the percentage that choose the Ampeg rig is staggering.

Not what I choose to play personally, but there is no denying that a whole bunch of big league players who can play anything they want share their stage with the "king".
It's in most cases a proven winner, from the musicians POV and the engineers POV, like Fender basses; you know what you've got and it works/sounds great every time.

...

Boy I wish you had ended your post where my quote ended, and not continued on to diss people who enjoy new things, new technologies, and apparently Markbass in general.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

As most others have already said, some Fender 4 string into an Ampeg rig is about as standard as it gets in the bass world. If you want something a little more chic while remaining pretty standard then feel free to swap the Fender out for a MusicMan and the Ampeg out for a GK rig.