Most RELIABLE Bass Head ???

[brianrost]

I chose amps I’ve used that are still rocking after 35 years or more without any trips to the shop.

GK 400RB and 800RB
Peavey Mark III and Mark IV
A.M.P. 420/220/260

If you overlook the need to replace tubes every so often, it would hard to argue that the classic Fender and Ampeg designs aren't rock solid. They should be, they are a marvel of simplicity.

As for the claims for Rumbles, I'm really curious. The current Rumbles (v3?) have been around less than ten years. IMHO, that’s a bit early to claim high reliability. I’d go along with “so far so good”. Check back in 2043?

 

[droo46]

10-15 years would be the earliest I'd even consider commenting on, if no or minimal problems have been observed. I saw a durability review yesterday on a cab that had only been to twenty gigs so far - really?

I agree. I regret to say that not one amp I've had my entire bass career has been very reliable. Every amp I've ever had has failed at some point except for the ones I'm currently using and the Fender Rumble 500 I had that was stolen. 3 years is probably the longest anything I've ever owned has lasted which is just abysmal. The upside is that in spite of my luck with amps, more and more of my gigs are ampless IEM setups so I just bring a bass and my board and I'm good to go.

 

[Coot]

I wish I still had my 74 Acoustic 370. (traded it for a nice used Fender Jazz). The only real problem I've had was with a Quilter Bass Block 800 first edition that had a (low volume) high pitched mechanical whine (in more than one replaced head). I've heard this was addressed though and fixed ..which is great because they are fantastic amplifiers . I also had a 74 Marshall 100 for a few months .. It had issues tone-wise and electronically ...so.. not so good . All the Traynor gear I've used from the 60's, 70's were solid. The newer stuff has had some issues though. The original Traynor heads were point to point and built like tanks and I think they had a few issues going over to circuit boards on a few models in the past . However, I do have a newer Traynor YBA 100 that's going strong but its still a young 3 years old so fingers crossed. My Mesa WD800 is flawless thus far. Fender v3 500 Rumble chugged along nicely for a long time but I traded it for the Mesa. There's also a MarkBass silver anniversary little mark 500 that I wish I'd kept , it was a solid head with good tone. I had GK 2, 5 and 800's that were all solid players but not my tone.
I wish I had that Acoustic 370!!. lol
I bet it's still out there in the wild kicking ass somewhere.