Like the title says, I finally moved out of my apartment into a house. I'm not a gigging musician but I would like a real rig for playing, recording that could keep up with a drummer if need be.
I prefer a head + cab setup. No budget yet, but I have an MIA jazz bass that could help me fund a decent purchase.
Here what I was thinking for a starting point. 2x10 cab and 350ish watt head.
I mostly listen and play fingerstyle funk and slap on my stingray and play oldies on my pbass with flats.
I have no experience with real amps besides my BA-108 practice amp.
I usually go direct into my apollo twin or through my Tone Hammer D.I.
Virtually, I tend to use either the UAD Ampeg SVT plug for classics and the Eden W800 for modern tones.
What do you guys recommend!
Cheers,
Vers
I would recommend a good 210 plus a 500 or even 800-watt Class D amp. Before I go further in the interest of transparency, I am a member of the DNA Endorsing Artist group. Having said that, the 210 that I would highly recommend is the DNS-210 By DNA (David Nordschow Amplification). I have this particular cab myself as do a lot of the DNA Endorsing Artists. I wondered why so many had the 210 instead of the 410 until I got mine last year.
It's an exceptional 210 that will handle 700-watts rms (both mechanically and thermally) and has a maximum SPL of 134db. Of course you wouldn't want to be anywhere close to it at those levels. But even better than that is the sound of the cab. It is the clearest, most articulate, full sounding, and LOUD cab with a tight bottom end that I've ever played through outside of my DNS-410 cab that I bought in 2015. In fact I bought the 210 because it had the same sonic characteristics that my 410 had and it didn't scare small and just barely medium sized club owners when I rolled it in. My 410 (any 410) got bulging eyes out of the owners of small clubs.
Anyhow, I bought it last year and with the first gig realized that it was more than loud enough for any indoor venue. So I use it for all my indoor venues and reserve my 410 for outdoors and outdoor festivals. It's not really a light cab at 51-lbs, but it's far lighter than the Eden D-series 210XLT or XST cabs that David designed when he owned Eden. Street price on the DNS-210 runs from ~$849 to $969. If you get a DNS-210 or a very capable 210 of another brand, that will take care of your gigging needs for a while.
The 500-watt class D amp that I'd recommend would be the Eden TN501. It's super light (5.3-lbs.) and has a great full and warm sound. The EQ section is quite versatile with two shelving EQ's - Bass at 30Hz, and Treble at 2KHz plus two semi-parametric EQ's that between the two will give you control over any frequency from 30Hz to 2Khz. It also has an Enhance (frequency shape) control and a good auto-compressor that you can turn on or off. The amp just produces great sound. Street price is $649.
The 800-watt class D amp I'd recommend would be the DNA-800 (surprise!!). It does not have semi-parametric controls but rather Bass and Treble shelving controls and then a low-mid control centered at 500Hz and a high-mid control centered at 2Khz. It is also a great sounding amp, has all the normal bells and whistles and it includes an compressor with adjustable threshold and ratio controls as well as a much more usable shape control than the Enhance control he designed into the Eden amps. Street price on the DNA-800 is $799.
I had hoped to buy one of the DNA-800's myself in April or May of this year but Covid-19 killed our gigs starting in March and, in the interest of domestic tranquility, I only use gig money to buy music gear...so I still don't have it. It will put out 800-watts into 4 ohms. Although it will also safely handle a 2 ohm load, David says it sounds best with either an 8 ohm of 4 ohm load and there is no increase in power with a 2 ohm load in the DNA-800 like there is in the class A/B amps.
The DNA-800 is also very capable of driving the DNS-210 to its maximum SPL of 134db if you ever need to. It will also happily drive a second DNS-210 down the road if needed for outdoors and festivals...
This is my "indoor venue" rig:
