The "real thing".

[scuzzy]

Svt+svt810, GK800rb+svt810, rbi+power amp+aguilar 810.......all make me very happy. Honestly, I'm pretty happy once any quality amp reaches a certain volume. Tube, solid state, don't care. Gimme quality and gimme thump. Bass is meant to be heard & felt.

 

[BadExample]

I honestly have no idea what it might ultimately look like.

Metallic purple is my guess

 

[SteveBassJr]

I really like the sound and feel of my

so far this has tickled my bones. I'm also a preamp junkie.
I played a festival with this set up.
The only thing that would make it "better" could be Aguilar Db 751 & another Aggie cab.

 

[somebrains]

Spector + one of my old GKs + 215.
Passive Fender shaped thing thru SVT.
Passive Fender shaped thing thru old GK played with a quarter.
Warwicks thru Electric Blue + maybe power amp + T310.

Warwicks or Spector + B3k + Electric Blue + power amp helper + 810.

I guess when I get old I'll go down to a P with flats and use a B15 that costs as much as a Honda Civic, but I ain't there yet.

 

[rickdog]

Anything involving tubes pushed just over the edge of saturation!

I'm with the OP on the SVT-CL. But I call mine the "outdoor toy" because I really only play it a couple times a year when I'm outdoors with no PA support. I live for those gigs

For the wine bars, brew pubs, and coffeehouses I'm usually playing folk rock/country in, I get by with an Ashdown CTM-30. By the end of the evening I've usually managed to ease the volume level up to where the meter is going into the red regularly and it gets "that sound"

 

[Moosehead1966]

The tools that give me what I’ve been searching for.

Marc

 

[2112]

My original TE SMX+410+118 stack with the copy of Geddy's effects rack... Avalon U5, Palmer PDI05 & Sansamp RBI. I don't gig it anymore, but I absolutely love that rig and won't be parting with it anytime soon. Paired with a USA GL Jazz, a Rick 4001, or a Wal... it's heaven on earth.

 

[retslock]

My real thing, the thing that makes me happy, makes me want to play has nothing to do with amazing tone. Almost any bass with a pickup approximately where a P pickup is, that I've set up how I like, into a decent clean amp and cab is good enough. It's the other people.

What it's all about for me is that moment when you're playing with a great drummer you have good chemistry with, and a good guitar player, all three (or four, etc) of you are listening to each other, locking in, making instantaneous adjustments so everything works effortlessly, you're playing a song that grooves, and you all hit the first note of the next section right on the money, without needing a cue, or you all hit that cool stop...wait...wait...wait..boom! back at exactly the same millisecond like you can read each other's minds. That's the real thing. For me.

You’ve nailed it. It doesn’t get any better.
Over the years I’ve sounded so different from time to time that I’ve discovered that I don’t have favourite tone. I like the punchy Motown style thud but I also like a deep round Reggae type sound and a bit of a rumbling slightly overdriven grunt. I’ve managed to get good sounds from so many amp/speaker configurations and room characteristics that I’m just happy when it doesn’t suck and the band is firing.

 

[Thumpin6string]

A lot depends on the music you are playing, but I’m pretty fond of my Eden gear. Typically, I don’t even come close to an overdriven sound, but that is not to say it isn’t warm or vibrant. I much prefer 10” speakers in a well tuned cab. Most of the time I play, it’s with FOH support so I’m not providing all of the low end for the show. What I’m more concerned with is sitting in the mix without causing issues for everybody else, and my rig does it better than anything else I’ve played with.

BTW, I had an SVT powering their V-4B bottom that had the 2-15 in a reflex enclosure back in the 70s. It’s great gear, but PAs back then were used mostly for just the vocals, so you needed something with more thump. Today, not so much.

I have gone through a ton of amps in the last 2 years. My current rig is an EA Doubler through an Epifani 410UL. It sounds good but still wasn't the tone I craved. I added an Eden WTDI and that was it. It was the Eden tone I was looking for. Just got a killer deal on an older Eden WT300 and it even sounds better. So far it looks like the Doubler is going to go. I wish I would have got an Eden years ago.

 

[fhm555]

My real thing, the thing that makes me happy, makes me want to play has nothing to do with amazing tone. Almost any bass with a pickup approximately where a P pickup is, that I've set up how I like, into a decent clean amp and cab is good enough. It's the other people.

What it's all about for me is that moment when you're playing with a great drummer you have good chemistry with, and a good guitar player, all three (or four, etc) of you are listening to each other, locking in, making instantaneous adjustments so everything works effortlessly, you're playing a song that grooves, and you all hit the first note of the next section right on the money, without needing a cue, or you all hit that cool stop...wait...wait...wait..boom! back at exactly the same millisecond like you can read each other's minds. That's the real thing. For me.

Yeppers, when it’s perfect and everyone feels it, that’s when the levitation occurs.
Those are the moments i live for.

 

[Basshappi]

There's no replacement for displacement.
I never left "the real thing". No matter how many pedals or what type of bass, it goes into amps on top of cabs, pushin' air and vibrating the local zip code.
I've played great solid state amps and I love full tube rigs and that's what I use.
Got nothing against new, lightweight "D" amps and plan to mess around with them at some point.
Got nothing against processors, DI and IN-ears only, it's just not for me.
I love all the options available to bassplayers these days it's fantastic!

 

[InternetAlias]

Honestly at this point, I've played so many gigs through a compressor + DI + my processor at times, that I no longer feel I depend on any amp to "get me there". Part of it is just being practical, and part of it is prioritizing the important details on my guitars - like string action and so on.

 

[lowphatbass]

2F: Does a world class drummer count as a "rig"? That's what gets my playing where I want it to be, no matter what I'm playing through.

Absolutely true.

 

[KansasCityBassDude]

I don't own it anymore but I used to own a Eden WT-800 with an Eden 810. It would make me smile. Those were my touring days though. I got married, job, kids, and well, life. I've just got a 410 combo but setting up the compression and really getting the "thump" right is what does it for me.

Different strokes for different folks. It's great we can all find joy in a similar thing but still have our individuality within it.

Love the thread.

 

[KansasCityBassDude]

View attachment 3135173

My 2 custom 2x10 cabs, basically 1/2 an SVT, powered by my PF-800, and my Ric is tonal ecstasy.

Love that set up!

 

[two fingers]

Anything involving tubes pushed just over the edge of saturation!

I'm with the OP on the SVT-CL. But I call mine the "outdoor toy" because I really only play it a couple times a year when I'm outdoors with no PA support. I live for those gigs

For the wine bars, brew pubs, and coffeehouses I'm usually playing folk rock/country in, I get by with an Ashdown CTM-30. By the end of the evening I've usually managed to ease the volume level up to where the meter is going into the red regularly and it gets "that sound"

My LB30 (the model before the CTM) through an Epifani UL-410 1st gen is also pretty dang impressive. Once it gets "in the red" it's happy.... and so am I.

 

[Spidey2112]

View attachment 3135173

My 2 custom 2x10 cabs, basically 1/2 an SVT, powered by my PF-800, and my Ric is tonal ecstasy.

You knew I was almost cured of wanting that stack, and what do you do?

Post it... again...

 

[mapleglo]

I used to think that much of the Ampeg "grit" was from tubes, but now I think a lot of it comes from those 32 ohm 10" speakers. With my stack, even at moderate volume, digging in creates this wonderful overdrivey grit, and pulling back it gets nice and clean. I suppose it could also be that the PF-800 does a great job of emulating the tube-like response, but I think it's mostly the speakers.

 

[Kevin Wolfe]

I used to think that much of the Ampeg "grit" was from tubes, but now I think a lot of it comes from those 32 ohm 10" speakers. With my stack, even at moderate volume, digging in creates this wonderful overdrivey grit, and pulling back it gets nice and clean. I suppose it could also be that the PF-800 does a great job of emulating the tube-like response, but I think it's mostly the speakers.

Yeah, people don’t give speakers and cabs near enough credit for their sound.

 

[mapleglo]

You knew I was almost cured of wanting that stack, and what do you do?

Post it... again...

View attachment 3135699

You know, I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of my 810e and my two 1x15 stack. I have four of the 2x10's, and that's really all I'll ever need. Real happy with the way they came out. Ampeg should totally make these cabs.