What do the pro's use?

IMO, your question is a bit meaningless (or, said more nicely, hard to answer).

If by 'pro', you mean musicians who make their living by playing music, what they use pretty much matches what we see here on TB, a wide variety of rigs depending on availability, tone goals, and budget... SWR, Eden, Hartke, Ampeg, GK, etc., etc. I would guess the share of each brand among full time players pretty much matches the general market share of all but the lowest end of the amplification brands.

If you are talking about big time sidemen/women who back up major artists, many don't even use an amp, since they always have top of the line PA support, and more importantly, their own monitor mix in the in-ears.

That being said, there are still a LOT of SVT's used as backline in the 'rock' part of the business, and a ton of Eden's still around in the pop/country part of the business. Markbass seems to have made HUGE inroads among the more 'jazz type' players.

 

the answer is anything and everything.

 

Unfortunately, Fender basses and Ampeg amps are used the most. I think that this combination sounds great; I just want to be a little less main stream. That's why I don't play Fender! I have heard some great Fender basses through Ampeg 8x10's. I just don't like to follow the crowd!

 

Personally I think the key focus in the buzz term 'pro gear' is RELIABILITY and quality. A pro knows his gear and how to best get his preferred tone out of it.

 

Yup, and a lot of them are turned off.

 

In most cases what they're paid to use. You can make a very direct connection between the number of touring artists using a particular brand and the advertising budget of said brand. In the studio it's different, since no one sees what's being played.

 

You're NOT a pro unless you play Fender basses and Ampeg Amps. Period, End of conversation and thread!!!!!!!!!

but seriously, the question is a bit vague. But as Kjung said, the big players seem to be: Ampeg, Eden,SWR, Hartke and GK, but there are so many other brands of amps that are available that do produce a "professional" quality product. Genz Benz, Aguilar, Markbass, the list goes on...

 

That's absolutely not true unless you only listen or attend to rock bands in the USA. The world of Professional bass players is way bigger than that...

 

I'm gonna say what you hear from most pros is going to be PA cabs, a di box, a mixing board and high quality power amps.

 

In rock/metal/punk/pop and the like, Ampeg is still the most used.

Namely: CL, VR and 4-Pro.

GK has a few big names that use the 2001RB.

 

The word "unfortunately" does not belong in that sentence. If true, I see nothing unfortunate about that fact at all.

Reality IS what it IS...and there's nothing whatsoever wrong with Fender basses or Ampeg amps.

 

That hardly makes them the standard or only professional choice however.

 

If an unscientific remembrance of Bass Player profiles is any clue, it's Fender and Ampeg. Fender doesn't have quite the share of basses that Ampeg has for amps, since the Fenders seem to be fairly easy to clone (to get close, at least), but Ampeg seems to have something that's not quite as easy to replicate; whether that is something technical or just the rep/look is probably 10% of TB's total content--in the amp forum, at least.

Again, unscientific, but those are definitely trends that I have noticed.

 

as far as specific brands and models, SVT's might be common but definately not a "standard" thing to have. ive seen tons of shows, and of them i dont really recall seeing an outstanding number of SVTs, with a matching 8x10.

for some reason i think i recall seeing aguilar amps/cabs a lot. usually a 2x12 kinda setup.

thats the best i can do. vague answer to a vague question

 

GRRRRRRRRRRR

 

Using Tom Hamilton as an example:

He "uses" Ampeg's on stage complete with a dead mic.

 

Mesa 400+

I see Paul McCartney chooses this with his 1516B Road cab and a bank of Avalon DI's.

Juan Alderette of Racer X / Mars Volta chooses Ampeg SVT's w/8X10's

Then you have Jeff Berlin swearing by Markbass. Choose whatever sounds best to you.

I myself am running through a Radio Shack FM tuner on the Mic setting through a pair of Soundesign speakers. My 1 string Bodon Box Bass shreds, and at the end of the show I light it on fire and throw it into the crowd!

 

Well, at least this time the Fender/Ampeg haters aren't calling us sheep or anything offensive like they usually do.

 

The rest of his post makes it clear that he likes the sound of that combination.