Well then you have to get something bigger now.
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What comes first, the amp or the gig?
- Thread starter CallMeAl
- Start date
GK is definitely on my short list. They seem to get recommended just as much as the Rumbles around here! Looks like that MB210 is very similar to the Rumble 500. Not sure how I feel about the powered extension cab, I'd probably go head/cab with GKActually you are being practical and falling prey to GAS! Sometimes the lines can get blurred. But at the same time you need that rig!
Even if you didn't need the 500, you do need the 500. You just don't know it. In your current setting the 500 would open up the headroom and give you the ability to better control the sound because you're not having to push it.
I currently use a 500 watt GK MB210-II. It runs 350 watts @ 8 ohms into it's 210s, add an extension cab, say another 8 ohm 2x10 cab, and you now have 500 watts into 4x10s @ 4 ohms. There's nothing wrong with being able to play at lower power settings. If I need drive, I can use the gain and boost to get some of that while keeping the main down low, or I can use a pedal. The flip side, if I have to go up against a full drum kit, I can and have done that with no problem with just the 210s.
As far as the muddiness of your current rig. Running wide open is going to attribute to that some. But then so does the acoustics of the venue you're playing in. It just varies from venue to venue. Try getting it up off the floor. Stages with big hollow spaces underneath them attribute to that alot.
Bottom line is the 500 will do more than what you currently need, it will do what you do need now effortlessly, and it will sound great doing it. But then when the time comes and you need more, it's already there. And that is how you justify buying the 500
Get the 500 and enjoy!
This is good advice. Being a gear head, I don’t tend to follow it. I was “scarred” by having very low quality amps age 12-18 (first world problems, I know) but once I got a decent used Peavey in 1996 — a TNT 130 that I still have and paid a friend “a hundred now, a hundred later,” my whole understanding of playing bass changed, even though it would still be years before I really became a gigging musician.
If you have any discretionary money to spend without going into debt, skip a few meals out over the coming months and get an amp. The deals are out there.
You can turn the 500 down for a quiet gig, but you can't turn the 100 up enough for a loud gig.
I think part of is the experience gap (hes got many bands and played for decades, even played bass himself,) and part of it is the nature of our relationship (I feel more like i work "for" him than "with" him... he writes the sets, books the gigs and cuts the checks.) I've been happy with my sound and volume, so I havent really felt a need to do anything differently.
BUT as I gain experience, confidence and knowledge (TB hot tips!) I feel like I have more leverage to do what I want
My primary goal is to have fun and make good music. Making some $ is nice, but not a requirement. I like a wide variety of styles- blues, rock, country, funk, jam, jazz... and with that could come a variety of needs, volume levels and venues. Being able to "keep up with a drummer" and "carry a small room by myself" seem like reasonable and realistic goals, so a bigger amp makes sense at some point.
Spot on answer my dude. I use a tone hammer 500 with a 410 and just keep it on 3 during practice. Atleast you've got the gift on time. I also use an ampeg portaflex that is pretty sweet amp
Yes! These are definately on my wishlist now!
This type of advice is really resonating with me. I'm a practical person and not one to rush into things. BUT....
I also dont think it's a bad idea to have a decent head and cab at my disposal. That would cover the "how will I audition?" Quandry. And even if a future band tells me i need Ampeg and 4x10 (for example) I will still have a backup. SO...
I hope I haven't given the impression I want to bail on this gig, I do really like it. I do get paid (albeit minimal)- its already paid for my 2 current basses, headphone amp, a dimarzio pickup, etc..... so I feel the smart thing to do would be keep on saving my gig money, keep testing amps, and wait for a deal.
An amp is extremely important. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and tell younger me, put more money into the amp than the bass. Now, I'm pretty set all over - except I've never scratched that SVT itch.
I've seen too many young players that start off with the 10W starter amp that comes with the starter Precision looking bass and they start playing with their friends that have there starter guitar amps that are 10x louder (thanks physics). So, they develop really bad playing habits - one kid I saw was playing his bass as if it were a compound bow, at least the attack was heard. I let him try my amp for two seconds and told him politely what he was doing wrong and didn't want to fry my tweeter. Gave him another shot, repeat of before. Sorry, I tried, you can use your 10W amp and I don't feel bad because I tried.
Ha I probably still have some of those bad habits for the same reason. I play DB and like a little room to pull on the strings for my
Sound, but I wouldn’t be surprised if my early years of underpowered amps was a part of that.
I think the advice here suggests that a good amp May be a higher priority than a second bass/ other gear.
I think my takeaway from the Rumble test was that I really liked the 2x10. Always thought I was a 15 guy, but they were so crisp and clear. Learning that living room tone doesn't always translate to the stage. And that 500w seems like a reasonable size.
My big takeaway from this thread is I'm more open to other amps. I still may very well get that Rumble, but I think it's not as set as I first thought.
I have been seriously considering the pf heads. I'm not 100% sold on the reliability. But I've seen several for cheap in my local classifieds
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Combos are ok for practicing (if you practice at a reasonable level). For gigs, I'd urge you to consider separates. For decent sized gigs, a head, two cabinets, and a spare head will get you through an instance of equipment failure - being able to do the gig when something breaks is part of being "professional" (even if you aren't being paid). Separates are also scalable - if you do a small/quiet gig, you can bring one cabinet (and two heads - one for backup). OK, so maybe right off the bat you can't afford all 4 pieces, but I'd suggest you buy pieces of your ultimate rig, not another combo, so you can buy things once, and not continuously be trading gear (which wastes money).
I rock a pf350 on a 210 pf cab. I was worried about the same thing. So I bought the head new so I'd have warranty. I pushed it really hard and it's held up great. And I absolutely love it over my Tone hammer for my passive basses
On the MB210-II you have the option of running an unpowered 8 ohm cab for the extension. That gets you opened up to 500 watts. Then, if you need more power, you can daisy chain up to 3 of the self powered mbp cabs to the "chain" out. Technically you could build a 2000 watt rig this way. And it would be powered by a total of 4 seperate amps. One goes bad, your whole rig isn't down unless it's the amp in the main combo.
I'm in the hold-off-on-buying-something-else camp. I'm also in the HPF/stand camp, if you want to spend a few bucks to scratch the GAS itch.
I'm a lot like the OP--a serious hobbyist who's been playing music for 30 years (at times semi-professionally). And I think we have some other similarities: most of my musical background was playing an acoustic wind instrument, and many of my (bass) gigs are semi-acoustic/drumless, but I'm also in a five-piece vintage country band with drums and steel and what-not, which is quite a bit louder.
I have two amp set-ups: a 300 W 110 'practice' amp (which is capable of quite a bit more than just practice) and a 250 W head into a 115 cab. The 115 is also nice as an extension cab for the combo.
After some time with just the combo, occasionally borrowing an extension cab, I was convinced that I needed that bigger rig for volume, tone, moving air, looks, credibility, brand-consciousness, etc. (in other words, a messy mix of musical and ego-driven reasons). And toss in a good dash of inexperience (when it comes to amplification) into that mix.
Now, if I'm honest about my musical needs and ambitions (which include avoiding high stage volume), I probably don't need anything much more than my combo, other than perhaps a 110 extension cab if I need to move a bit more air in a PA-less setting. Yes, the head and cab are 'better,' louder, deeper, etc. But I've only really 'needed' the bigger amp when playing a bar without a PA. Although the more I think about it, the more I wonder if the combo couldn't carry that space, with the added benefit of it being a tighter, punchier sound that never gets muddy. And because it's so compact, there are more placement options on a tight stage; standing right in front of the 115 is far from optimal for hearing myself.
Earlier this spring, I played a medium-sized venue with the band on a wide stage, so everyone got some bass in their monitors; the 115 couldn't cover the stage without getting too loud in the house. I spent the soundcheck trying find that balance while dueling with a boomy (hollow) stage, trying to figure out an EQ setting that wasn't either muddy or overly bright. Again, I wonder if the combo might not have served better as a personal monitor, allowing my sound to be tighter, the stage volume to be lower, and the FOH mix to be cleaner.
Last summer, I played an outdoor festival. Decent-sized stage, good monitors and a nice PA system with competent sound people. The bassist for one (rock) band rolled in with at least 500 watts and some sort of large-ish multi-cab setup. Sounded pretty good out front, although amp was bleeding into the PA mix a bit. The bassist for the next (funk-rock) band strolled in with what appeared to be a 60 watt single-speaker Peavey combo from the 80s or 90s, the sort of practice amp you see at pawn shops all the time. The kicker: he sounded even better out front--probably the best-sounding bass I heard all day. (I spent much of that set just staring at his tiny amp, wondering what the point of off-roading with my 115 on casters earlier in the day had been.)
Learning how to EQ, manage stage volume, balance between FOH/monitors/amp, etc. takes some time and experience, and I wouldn't rush into a purchase until you have a solid grasp of those fundamentals and some experience with other amps.
I'm a lot like the OP--a serious hobbyist who's been playing music for 30 years (at times semi-professionally). And I think we have some other similarities: most of my musical background was playing an acoustic wind instrument, and many of my (bass) gigs are semi-acoustic/drumless, but I'm also in a five-piece vintage country band with drums and steel and what-not, which is quite a bit louder.
I have two amp set-ups: a 300 W 110 'practice' amp (which is capable of quite a bit more than just practice) and a 250 W head into a 115 cab. The 115 is also nice as an extension cab for the combo.
After some time with just the combo, occasionally borrowing an extension cab, I was convinced that I needed that bigger rig for volume, tone, moving air, looks, credibility, brand-consciousness, etc. (in other words, a messy mix of musical and ego-driven reasons). And toss in a good dash of inexperience (when it comes to amplification) into that mix.
Now, if I'm honest about my musical needs and ambitions (which include avoiding high stage volume), I probably don't need anything much more than my combo, other than perhaps a 110 extension cab if I need to move a bit more air in a PA-less setting. Yes, the head and cab are 'better,' louder, deeper, etc. But I've only really 'needed' the bigger amp when playing a bar without a PA. Although the more I think about it, the more I wonder if the combo couldn't carry that space, with the added benefit of it being a tighter, punchier sound that never gets muddy. And because it's so compact, there are more placement options on a tight stage; standing right in front of the 115 is far from optimal for hearing myself.
Earlier this spring, I played a medium-sized venue with the band on a wide stage, so everyone got some bass in their monitors; the 115 couldn't cover the stage without getting too loud in the house. I spent the soundcheck trying find that balance while dueling with a boomy (hollow) stage, trying to figure out an EQ setting that wasn't either muddy or overly bright. Again, I wonder if the combo might not have served better as a personal monitor, allowing my sound to be tighter, the stage volume to be lower, and the FOH mix to be cleaner.
Last summer, I played an outdoor festival. Decent-sized stage, good monitors and a nice PA system with competent sound people. The bassist for one (rock) band rolled in with at least 500 watts and some sort of large-ish multi-cab setup. Sounded pretty good out front, although amp was bleeding into the PA mix a bit. The bassist for the next (funk-rock) band strolled in with what appeared to be a 60 watt single-speaker Peavey combo from the 80s or 90s, the sort of practice amp you see at pawn shops all the time. The kicker: he sounded even better out front--probably the best-sounding bass I heard all day. (I spent much of that set just staring at his tiny amp, wondering what the point of off-roading with my 115 on casters earlier in the day had been.)
Learning how to EQ, manage stage volume, balance between FOH/monitors/amp, etc. takes some time and experience, and I wouldn't rush into a purchase until you have a solid grasp of those fundamentals and some experience with other amps.
Hey everyone!
I've got this internal debate going on, and I'd like to bounce it of the more experienced players.
I'm an experienced trumpet player, and no stranger to the stage. I have dabbled on and off with bass for 20 years. I've decided to go all in with bass, and have been playing with a paying cover band for the past 2 years. I love it, and am looking ahead to the future.
My band has a low stage volume, and I can use a Rumble 100c. (Drummer plays a cajon.) We do our own PA, and I always have line in when we need it. My BL specifically told me I dont need anything bigger; Yet I find myself GASing for a Rumble 500c. I tell myself it would prepare myself for future possibilities. I would love to play with a kit drummer again, maybe in a big funk and soul band.
I'm not talking about going pro here. It's a hobby, but I take it seriously. I want to take a "part time pro" mindset.
So my big question: should I get the amp first to prepare myself for landing possibilities, or should I wait til i get a gig then buy the amp? Do bands expect players (on this level) to be equipped right out of the gate, or can I just say "I'll buy the amp when we need it?"
TIA!! I have very much appreciated the support and advice from TB thus far in my journey!
There's another solution, get the 800 head
. Seriously though, you can always turn down and when you get the 500 you won't be gassing for the 800.
I have 2 basses now, a squier and a squier/peavey parts bass. I spent no more than $250 on each. I was jonesing for a "real big boy" fender for a while, but after lots of testing, I've realized my basses aren't too far away in playability. (If not equal.)
So now I can focus on amps, and I totally get what you guys are saying. I do like to use a light touch and let the amp do the work!
Yes, I do see the reliability appeal of the modular amps. All those TB threads this past winter on backup basses talked me into getting one. And I did note that many respondents said the amp was more likely to fail on stage. I want to be professional and reliable, so definitely something for me to consider. Thanks!
You're young, and willing to lean. That's a great combination! Keep the willingness, and hold on to the young as long as you can.
Wow, thanks for the lengthy response! And I appreciate the personal parallels, that goes a long way with me.
I also value a low stage and rehearsal volume. My band now rehearses quietly enough that even though we have mics set up, we dont really need them. I would prefer that my next group feels the same way, and doesn't want to melt my face off at rehearsal- especially the audition!
I used to own a peavey head, and 2 peavey basses, so I have a soft spot for their gear.
