Punk Bass Amp

[jj4001]

Didn't Klaus Flouride (Dead Kennedys) use a 360? It sure sounds like it.

According to Wikipedia, an Acoustic 150b head through an Acoustic 402 cab with the original Eminence speakers. (Incredible cab, btw. I use the same thing on all my gigs and couldn't be happier.) He eventually replaced the head with a Traynor Mono Block B, which makes sense since the 150b is the lowest powered head ACC made.

To the OP, if you were to go Acoustic, keep an eye out for a 320 or 370 since they have the most headroom. Any of them will get the job done as long as you run them at 4 Ohms. (All but the 150 series will even do 2 Ohms.) Don't shy away from their guitar amps since they're really the same as the bass amps except with effects like distortion, reverb, trem, etc. added to them.

 

[GregC]

I try to avoid envy...but dayum..opened for the (imho) definitive American punk band? Awesome..you should start a thread on this alone. Listening to their stuff I imagine an absurd level of 'tight' on stage.

Allow me to clarify. This was 1983, when a lot of hardcore punk songs were in the 60-90 second range. So there were probably five bands opening for Minor Threat that night, and we were (rightfully) at the bottom of the bill. It's not like we were hanging out backstage with Ian and the guys. That said, you're right, they just crushed it--still one of the most impressive performances I've ever seen.

They stayed over and played a free show the next night at a club (the first show was at a rented American Legion hall). Ian's mic went out halfway through the set, so he pantomimed the rest of the way. I still pull out the complete Discography CD once in a while--what a great band.

Please tell me you got down on "Red".

Well, it was 32 years ago (!), so...probably, but I can't be sure.

 

[Metalbasspro]

Hey- It's not so much the amp that makes the tone, it's in the settings.
Take this tutorial.


That said the popular amps of punk players were made in England. Ashdown would be one example.

This is a video of a guy who is way over thinking his tone and wants to call it a punk tone? That's something like a contradiction?

 

[sonic 7]

Well this won't help the op but... When I think punk ,I recall CBGB and the gritty manhattan rehersal studios in NYC in the 1970s. And Sunn bass amps were everywhere. When I think "punk bass amp" I see a sunn.

 

[bassbully]

Allot of good suggestions for punk amps. I will say there is no way I drag a new or nice setup into any punk or hard rock club. I know how gear can get trashed there. I just picked up a used GK head And 2x15 cab used for my new band that will play loud ,sweaty clubs. My neo GK rig will not go into those clubs.

 

[bassbully]

View attachment 714549

No way would I take that rig into some of the clubs I have played.

 

[stajki]

The times have changed, today punk rock is much faster, melodic and very precise. Every pro punk bass player have good rig, usually it's ampeg head, ampeg 810 cab and sansamp bddi. That` s what i saw in 95% punkrock gigs.

 

[hintz]

Considering Sid barely knew how to play his instrument and was unplugged most of the time, I'd seriously question any opinion he had on amps. Or much of anything else actually, musical or otherwise.

I'm sure he knew where to score some good Heroin.

LOL!!

Yes, exactly! He was a PUNK.

Just my opinion, but kicking out Glenn Matlock was probably their biggest mistake, even Steve Jones and Johnny Rotten admit this as Glenn wrote a large bulk of the music...

Real sad how it turned out, maybe they could've made at least another great album like "Never mind the bollocks..."?

 

[Mr_Martin]

You can hear my Peavey-GK-Rig here:

Still Toxic, by Toxic Mutants

 

[GreaserMatt]

Poor Sid; he was a mess...

 

[BogeyBass]

here is the thing.

i didnt read the other 5 pages of the thread lol.

just the OP

Far as being in a loud punk band. i wouldn't fart around with any other cabinet than a SVT810E
all done its loud enough and it works great. awesome sealed tone.

as far as any millions of solid state heads that look dumb or good sitting on a 810E.
The matching 350H looks amazing and matches perfect.

as far as the " worst" or "best" head ever made

it has plenty of power for a band situation using a 810E.

it has a normal EQ section found on a zillion ampeg amps. and it also has a 9 band EQ where you can cut and boost any frequency you would ever care to boost or cut with bass. Meaning it pretty much does anything and everything youd ever need in a bass amp.

actually a whole lot more than some " better" bass amps. and likewise many of these " better" bass amps have died earlier than most 350H amps and in fact most 350H amplifiers are actually still working.

as far as sounding " ampeg" or not sounding " Ampeg"
since the companys been bought and sold so many times and they have produced hundreds of bass amps that do and dont sound all similair.

technically there is no " Ampeg" sound and many other amps could have a " Ampeg" sound. And if your using a Ampeg amp then techically it sounds like a " Ampeg" cause that is what it is. lol.

so yes a used 350H and a used 810E is probably one of the loudest most affordable ways to call it a day and be loud enough in a punk band, or rock band or country band or reggae band. or a zillion other types of bands where you pluggy wuggy in the bass and flippy dippy EQ knobs to your hearts content

as far as good raw biting distorted or slightly distorted punk or rock bass tone. the SVT350H sounds great cranked to holy heck. and likewise does just as well getting punched in the face with a pedal. and again it has more than enough power to also get " clean" tone with a 810E

 

[bobyoung53]

Hey, so I'm in a band that's starting to do some more serious professional stuff, so I'm looking to get a new bass amp. I was wondering if an Ampeg SVT-350 H would be a goos amp for a punk tone. I have about $550 to spend, and was initially going to get a loud combo, but I'm intrigued by the concept of a solid state SVT head. I'm playing a MIM P Bass with a maple fretboard and Quarter Pound pickups.
Tl;dr Good punk amp for ~ $550

Most of the good punk bands used real SVT's back in the day, you'd never regret it. I have not heard good things about the SVT-350, I have heard that a tube SVT head is much louder and sounded a lot better although I have never tried one. Save up and get an SVT. This from a 43 year very satisfied SVT owner and user. Incidentally saying that any amp is good for punk is pretty far from the truth you need a good amp with bottom and power to keep up with the loud drummers and guitarists, having a good amp is probably more important with punk than a lot of other types of music.

 

[bobyoung53]

here is the thing.





technically there is no " Ampeg" sound and many other amps could have a " Ampeg" sound. And if your using a Ampeg amp then techically it sounds like a " Ampeg" cause that is what it is. lol.

I strongly disagree that there is no 'Ampeg' sound but agree with the SVT cab suggestion (810)

 

[bobyoung53]

This is the closest I could find.................

View attachment 713993

I think Dee Dee Ramone used those back in the day.