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Upgrading.. need advice.

N

natedawg5280

Mar 2, 2005
35
0
Central NY.
www.myspace.com
#1
I currently have a dinky little Ibanez 20 watt amp. I have an Ibanez 5-string black baby, with active X pickups. I am a serious bass player and need to upgrade bad (amp wise). I have about 400 bucks to offer up on this. Now the deal is I don't want to slowly upgrade.. then again.. then again. That'll cost to much. I want to buy something now that can be used in the long run at possibly some serious gigging. Any ideas? I was thinking of maybe the Fender Rumble 100, and then utilizing the external speaker jack down the road and hooking a cab up to it. Or possibly doing that with a Crate BT100.
I repeat: Any ideas?
 
#2
What kind of tone are you after? What kind of music?

I honestly don't believe anything that you get for $400 will last for "some serious gigging" unless you do light Jazz stuff.

For $400, I think the best you could do is an Ampeg B100R from Bass Northwest ( bassnw.com ) for $439 + shipping, new "store demo price." Classic tone and a 15" speaker, 100 watts.
 
#4
natedawg5280 said:
And would the Crate BT100 be a bad idea because of the built in effects? I've gotten advice to NOT get built in effects from many people.
Click to expand...

Built-in effects aren't inheritely bad. However, I doubt they would be high-quality on a Crate 100 watt combo amp, and would be useless. If you've got useless things on your amp, you paid for them but aren't using them. That's the only reason I think people would tell you not to get built-in effects.
 
#5
illidian said:
What kind of tone are you after? What kind of music?

I honestly don't believe anything that you get for $400 will last for "some serious gigging" unless you do light Jazz stuff.

For $400, I think the best you could do is an Ampeg B100R from Bass Northwest ( bassnw.com ) for $439 + shipping, new "store demo price." Classic tone and a 15" speaker, 100 watts.
Click to expand...
Well could I not convert the amp I buy into some sort of preamp or head and plug it into a cab I later buy? I mean it can't be that useless to pick up a 100 watt amp.
Illidian said:
Built-in effects aren't inheritely bad. However, I doubt they would be high-quality on a Crate 100 watt combo amp, and would be useless. If you've got useless things on your amp, you paid for them but aren't using them. That's the only reason I think people would tell you not to get built-in effects.
Click to expand...
Okay.
 
#6
natedawg5280 said:
Now the deal is I don't want to slowly upgrade.. then again.. then again. That'll cost to much. I want to buy something now that can be used in the long run at possibly some serious gigging.
Click to expand...

Very smart. More folks should think this way; they'd save a bunch of money.

natedawg5280 said:
I have about 400 bucks to offer up on this.
Click to expand...

To be frank, I think you should hold tight for just a little longer - you're almost there. If you can manage to save up a bit more coin (into the $500 - $600 range), you'd be able to grab something like one of those Avatar/Ashdown packages that could, as you say, handle serious gigging - the MAG 300 / B212 package can be had for right at $600 shipped.

In the meantime, keep an eye on the used market - you might get lucky. Not too long ago, I snagged a Traynor 6x10 in decent shape for $100, locally, no shipping. Find a second-hand gem like that, and a serious rig for $400 does become possible.
 
#7
natedawg5280 said:
Well could I not convert the amp I buy into some sort of preamp or head and plug it into a cab I later buy? I mean it can't be that useless to pick up a 100 watt amp.
Click to expand...

Why would you want to carry around a big sixty-five pound preamp that's larger than the average 1x15 cabinet?

And yes, a 100 watt amp is fairly useless in most gigging situations. It will rarely get you through a gig.
 
#8
bigbeefdog said:
To be frank, I think you should hold tight for just a little longer - you're almost there. If you can manage to save up a bit more coin (into the $500 - $600 range), you'd be able to grab something like one of those Avatar/Ashdown packages that could, as you say, handle serious gigging - the MAG 300 / B212 package can be had for right at $600 shipped.
Click to expand...
+1 Wait for 200 more dollars, then get that.
 
#9
Very smart. More folks should think this way; they'd save a bunch of money.
Click to expand...
Thanks. It seemed logical.
To be frank, I think you should hold tight for just a little longer - you're almost there. If you can manage to save up a bit more coin (into the $500 - $600 range), you'd be able to grab something like one of those Avatar/Ashdown packages that could, as you say, handle serious gigging - the MAG 300 / B212 package can be had for right at $600 shipped.

In the meantime, keep an eye on the used market - you might get lucky. Not too long ago, I snagged a Traynor 6x10 in decent shape for $100, locally, no shipping. Find a second-hand gem like that, and a serious rig for $400 does become possible.
Click to expand...
Hmmm, only thing is I'm running pretty low on income. And I want an upgrade bad. :( But I see your wisdom.
Why would you want to carry around a big sixty-five pound preamp that's larger than the average 1x15 cabinet?

And yes, a 100 watt amp is fairly useless in most gigging situations. It will rarely get you through a gig.
Click to expand...
Yes, but what I'm saying is couldn't I use the combo now in my current smaller playing situations, and then buy some sort of Cab to hook it up to, and gig with that?
 
#11
natedawg5280 said:
Yes, but what I'm saying is couldn't I use the combo now in my current smaller playing situations, and then buy some sort of Cab to hook it up to, and gig with that?
Click to expand...

I don't think you can have an Extension cabinet with the B100R.

Definately save up if you can.

Musician's Friend (musiciansfriend.com) sells Gallien-Krueger 210 combos for $469. This would be a great combo (200 watts, 300 with extension cabinet) that is only a little over your price range, but has as much power as the Ashdown. The new Gallien Backline cab packs a lot of punch, too. This would be a great setup. It may not be as loud as the Ashdown MAG with the Avatar, but it will be a lot more portable and have a different sound. At Guitar Center, I'm sure you could get one for close to $400 after some haggling.
 
#14
I would go with used for this situation. I got a peavey 3/4 stack ( 1 18' and 2 10's) with a 210 watts head for $160. And I have no troubles with it in almost any gigging situation as long as their is a good sound guy and even without one I can compete with 2 100 watt tube half stacks and a large pa without going past 6 on my gains.

You might want to check out this site called www.craigslist.com it is a site for local people to get together and sell pretty much what ever you want. Their is one in almost every major metropolitan area.
 
#16
I agree with violated. You can get a big bang for your buck going used. If you're not confident about being able to pick out something good, take a seasoned (not TOO salty) bass player whose opinion you trust. No guarantee with new stuff you won't get a lemon. Remember: there's someone above you who is probably looking to upgrade as well.
 
#17
natedawg5280 said:
I was thinking of maybe the Fender Rumble 100, and then utilizing the external speaker jack down the road and hooking a cab up to it.
Click to expand...

Well, the main problem with that is the Rumble 100 does not have an external speaker jack. I know because I owned one.

bigbeefdog said:
To be frank, I think you should hold tight for just a little longer - you're almost there. If you can manage to save up a bit more coin (into the $500 - $600 range), you'd be able to grab something like one of those Avatar/Ashdown packages that could, as you say, handle serious gigging - the MAG 300 / B212 package can be had for right at $600 shipped.

In the meantime, keep an eye on the used market - you might get lucky. Not too long ago, I snagged a Traynor 6x10 in decent shape for $100, locally, no shipping. Find a second-hand gem like that, and a serious rig for $400 does become possible.
Click to expand...

Both of these paragraphs are wise. Though you already said your income has slowed quite a bit, you can still buy used. My current rig, an Avatar 4x10 and a Peavey Max 450, cost me a grand total of $300. You've just got to be patient and know where to look.
 
#19
If you shop it, it will come. Definately di to the PA for help. I agree much with nods to Avatar, Peavey, GK 400rb... comb the used gear and you'll eventually find sweet deals. A head and separate cab can usually do bigger sound, but some of the Peavey 1x15 combos are cost effective. I had an Ampeg ba-112 and it was really weak, so look out-it's not all in the name.
 
#20
not the greatest stuff, but sometimes things like this come up on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10171&item=7320630681&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

if you want to buy equipment and not upgrade later, then do it right and wait till you have enough money ;)

id probably would have saved thousands now had I dont that and I've not been playing that long. Corse, the other side of that coin as that the money spent isnt wasted, rather paying the learning curve. You wont know what you want till you have it so you will probably be buying and selling (equipment whoreing as I was called recently) till you find exactly what you want. All said and done, its normally worth it too.
 
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