Which would you upgrade first? An amp or a bass?

[Howlin' Hanson]

String noise goes away?

Oh well, off to the "Mediocre Bassists" thread.

Oh, yeh, amp.

 

[tyreay1]

I voted Amp.
Love my SB-1 but the BA-115 does get a little muddy if I push it.

 

[Taxt]

Id upgrade my Amp no questions asked. Id rather play an SX through a SVT-CL than a Fodera through a 10 watt Crate

 

[funkygroover694]

A stingray will sound beautiful no matter what you play it on! Maybe this is because I have a pretty nice amp. Peavey Max 115 gets the job done nicely.

 

[Rafescow]

I used to think that my Condor XB25A sounded like crap when playing through my Meteoro 30w amp, but then i bought a Roland 100w that completely made me change my mind!
The amp really makes a huge difference, more than a bass IMO

 

[muskrat doug]

I'll go for the bass first, I've have the same problem before and so I upgraded my amp from a Behringer to a Hartke, The sound improved a lot, but I was still spending time tweeking the amp, still not satisfied with the sound, until I upgraded my bass. When you go out on a Gig you wont be bringing your amp, but your bass, so, better to have a good bass.

 

[::::BASSIST::::]

BTW a cheap way to improve the tone of your bass...

Orange Drop Capacitor = $3.00

DiMarzio Model J pups = $60

Huge improvement in tone IME.

 

[weston417]

what if you have a 120 watt rogue amp and basically a no name jazz with p pickups. bass sounds decent and the amp is loud but no 4x10...

 

[(b)Assman]

Depending on the respective prices of your equip. I think a 1 to 2 ratio of bass to amp/cab price is good but where does that leave pedals?

 

[Andrea84]

I want a new bass. I think I need one in order to play better. Well new strings at least.

 

[Son of Bovril]

if you're going through the PA every night and your amp is just a monitor anyways then I say BASS first... you'll sound better through the PA and not just to yourself through some amazing amp on stage! - whats more important a better sound to your audience or a better sound to yourself?

 

[JHRyan]

Depends if you prefer an amp/rig that colors the sound a lot or one that's transparent. If you upgraded to a transparent rig but still had a shoddy bass then then all you would get is a bad sound coming through your setup, and you could be getting that simply by not upgrading and saving your money. So I'd pick up the new bass.
If on the other hand you like really colored setups, than grab a new amp and it'll make the sub par bass sound "better".

 

[rocker246]

definitly amp. my bass isnt the best but it would sound alot better with a new amp

 

[Afc70]

I would say get the bass. Thats where your whole signal chain begins, and lets face it, if your bass is garbage, then your $2000 Glockenklang head is gonna reproduce exactly that- garbage. I would get a nice bass and make sure it is set up properly- action, intonation, etc.. Then, your playing will improve automatically just by having a nice bass that you dont have to fight to play. Also, even if you dont have an amp, if you have access to a nice p.a. you can always go direct and get great tone. Just my two cents, get a good bass first, then save for the amp later.

 

[Buslady7803]

now that i have the bass i want, im gonna try to up the amp matching up the 'vette to a blue cab 60 or whatever i can afford LOL

 

[DaveKirkpatrick]

I voted bass- but it depends on what bass and what amp you're starting with...
My first thought was- good bass ------> DI = good FOH sound/recorded tone
As long as the amp is putting out sufficient clean volume to monitor properly, I could (and have) live with sub-par on stage sound in exchange for a good FOH and recorded tone.

 

[thehiros]

I'd say 'depends' as well.

I'm currently playing a P-bass, and it's a ripper; I've heard it through a really good amp at my teacher's place. At the moment, I'd upgrade my own crappy amp because I know my bass sounds good.

But in the future, I really want a Stingray cos it can fill the niches my P-bass can't, so that'll be when I upgrade my bass (get another one, whatever).

Sooooo, basically, if I'm happy with my bass, I'll upgrade the amp. If I'm not happy with the bass, then I'll upgrade that first. I mean like if it feels like crap, it's not balanced, the fingerboard and neck aren't nice, of course I'll upgrade the bass, because I' pretty happy sometimes practising acoustically, without the amp.

 

[zachoff]

I upgrade whichever one's worse. Generally, you can gig with a cheap bass that works. If you bass doesn't work it doesn't matter what amp you plug it into. If your bass works and you need a giggable amp then upgrade the amp.

 

[jelpo]

I haven't read any of the posts. I voted for Bass. IMO a bass has much more impact on your tone. In my estimation, a killer sounding bass can make a lower end rig sound so much better.

 

[OOZMAN]

Bass. If you have a good bass that has low action, looks nice, feels nice etc, you'll want to play it. Half the time when I'm practicing I don't use an amp, just cause I love playing my bass.