On amps -
One of the common questions when players go from "all in one" amps or a rack based system to a pedalboard preamp system is "what amp should I use?"
I went to pedal board preamps mostly due to portability. I know that I would always use pedals for most gigs, so I tried to consolidate as much as possible. I also have to be flexible - which meant that I had to be prepared for non-pedal gigs as well as gigs that I would have to share my amp with other bassists.
The market for pedal board amps isn't huge, so there it's no surprise to me that there were not a lot of options. I looked at stand alone power amps - there are actuall quite a few power amp only solutions out there - Demeter, Bassics, etc. That are quite expensive.
There are also some less expensive solutions that are still portable - the Ganz Straight Ahead SA-500 is a fantastic choice for lower volume gigs - I'm actgoing to pick another one up (watch the clipping though) . The Sumo and Baby sumo - while interesting - ended up being too big/heavy to be practical for a board.
I needed something 800 watts-ish, and ultimately tried to look for something super flat that could also use as a stand alone amp. The Quilter BB800 ended up fitting the bill nicely.
I've been very happy with the Quilter. The power section was designed to have tube amp characteristics, and it sounds fantastic.
That being said, i ended up selling a few other things and with the proceeds picked up a GR Bass One 800. This thing kills. More portable than the Quilter - I have a laptop sleeve that I slip it in and it fits very nicely into my gigbag. It sounds more "pure" than the Quilter, and the EQ is much more flexible. What I really like is that the GR has a "preamp bypass" button that completely removes the preamp from the signal chain. Perfect for pedalboard based preamps.
So gonna give this a shot for awhile and see how it does!
One of the common questions when players go from "all in one" amps or a rack based system to a pedalboard preamp system is "what amp should I use?"
I went to pedal board preamps mostly due to portability. I know that I would always use pedals for most gigs, so I tried to consolidate as much as possible. I also have to be flexible - which meant that I had to be prepared for non-pedal gigs as well as gigs that I would have to share my amp with other bassists.
The market for pedal board amps isn't huge, so there it's no surprise to me that there were not a lot of options. I looked at stand alone power amps - there are actuall quite a few power amp only solutions out there - Demeter, Bassics, etc. That are quite expensive.
There are also some less expensive solutions that are still portable - the Ganz Straight Ahead SA-500 is a fantastic choice for lower volume gigs - I'm actgoing to pick another one up (watch the clipping though) . The Sumo and Baby sumo - while interesting - ended up being too big/heavy to be practical for a board.
I needed something 800 watts-ish, and ultimately tried to look for something super flat that could also use as a stand alone amp. The Quilter BB800 ended up fitting the bill nicely.
I've been very happy with the Quilter. The power section was designed to have tube amp characteristics, and it sounds fantastic.
That being said, i ended up selling a few other things and with the proceeds picked up a GR Bass One 800. This thing kills. More portable than the Quilter - I have a laptop sleeve that I slip it in and it fits very nicely into my gigbag. It sounds more "pure" than the Quilter, and the EQ is much more flexible. What I really like is that the GR has a "preamp bypass" button that completely removes the preamp from the signal chain. Perfect for pedalboard based preamps.
So gonna give this a shot for awhile and see how it does!
