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

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

  • Amp

    Votes: 1,211 48.2%

  • Bass

    Votes: 995 39.6%

  • Carrots

    Votes: 308 12.3%
  • Total voters
    2,514
#401
the bass. You can be the best recorded bassist and not own an amp

With a great bass you can go direct into a PA live (with a DI), the amp is for stage sound only.

with a great bass you can sound good thru headphone amps.

with a crap bass and a great amp, you will clearly hear how bad your bass is

my opinion
 
#406
Depends on your gig schedule, if you are gigging.

I voted Amp, simply because if you have garbage amp and you buy a nice bass. It's still going to sound garbage. But a nice amp will make a bad bass sounds good.

However, nothing motivates me to play non-stop and pracice all day long like a nice new bass.
 
#410
Nephilymbass said:
I'd go with bass. Amps are just "stage monitors" at gigs anyways, my tone is my hands, my bass and my sans amp to the pa.

Plus.... You can polish a turd but all you'll have is a shiny piece of s$&@.
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I was going to say the same thing, but those saying that a good amp can cover for a lousy bass, all other points being equal, are making a good point. And all the tone in your hands and the bass will get destroyed by a crappy amp. Maybe the amp is a stage monitor for you, but it's what brings your sound to the audience - that's one of the reasons why a lot of players have special rigs and set-ups for playing on stage.
 
#411
StinkFoot said:
I was going to say the same thing, but those saying that a good amp can cover for a lousy bass, all other points being equal, are making a good point. And all the tone in your hands and the bass will get destroyed by a crappy amp. Maybe the amp is a stage monitor for you, but it's what brings your sound to the audience - that's one of the reasons why a lot of players have special rigs and set-ups for playing on stage.
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I see what your saying but with a decent di like a sans amp the rest of the rig doesn't matter much. And really on most amps produced these days I can figure out a usable tone. What I can't do is make a rogue sound like a stingray
 
#412
Nephilymbass said:
I see what your saying but with a decent di like a sans amp the rest of the rig doesn't matter much. And really on most amps produced these days I can figure out a usable tone. What I can't do is make a rogue sound like a stingray
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"Philosophically" I agree with you. I think focusing on the instrument and what you do with it should always be the primary focus, not the gear that comes after the sound leaves your hands. Most of the old school greats didn't think much about their other gear - their focus was their instrument and their hands and their head.
 
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#413
it all depends on whether you are recording, or playing live.

If you are recording,then obviously a good bass is a must.

if you aren't recording,and are playing live,then you need an amp that lets you be heard.
Definitely don't get a cheap bass and a cheap amp just to alleviate both needs.
 
#414
StinkFoot said:
"Philosophically" I agree with you. I think focusing on the instrument and what you do with it should always be the primary focus, not the gear that comes after the sound leaves your hands. Most of the old school greats didn't think much about their other gear - their focus was their instrument and their hands and their head.
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I used to be all about my amp. Really the rig I'm using now (sans amp rbi, crown xls1500, ampeg 410he) is actually the cheapest setup I've had since the 90s when I was a teenager. But it works for me. I don't need a $1500 greenboy cab because my sans amps xlr has an even better frequency range and my ampeg cab puts out what I need to hear onstage, getting globs of 30hz onstage is a nightmare. I want it out front but not onstage.

I think the difference of opinion comes down to what the basses are. If your playing a bass that's not very transparent and doesn't repond well to touch, or if your the type who like to squash your sound with compression then yeah I can see the amp being the focus. But look how pros do things. Most pros don't even bring an amp into the studio. Most of them just run into an an expensive neve pre or something similar. I got into sans amps because when my originals band was doing a lot of shows opening for touring bands we played shows with the same big bands year after year. Each tour these guys would have different rigs. But no matter what they used out front they still had their signature sound. Why? Because their front of house tone had absolutely nothing to to with their amp and everything to do with the bass, their fingers and the sans amp in their rack. I've literally seen guys go from endorsing peavey to H&K to mesa to ampeg and their foh tone never changes because their foh tone is really just their bass and a sans amp psa, rbi, rpm, vt, or even a Bddi tucked away inside a rack.
 
#415
The problem is that it really does depend. I went with the assumption that the equipment you already have is not defective. So I chose the one that will affect your sound the most.

That would be the amp (well, amp/speaker combo).

However, if your current bass is just really hard to play because it's a cheapo, then the bass would be the one to replace.

And for some background on my answer: I have six basses. Most of them were under $150 at Rondo music and I love 'em all. Just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from regarding spending money on a bass.
 
#417
Robroy said:
I played a club called "7" in Seattle a while back. I had a crappy carvin redline 4x10 on stage (I think they only go down to something like 100hz) but the stage sat on top of somewhere around 8 18" subs. I felt like God playing that stage.
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Yeah all those lows FEEL great. The issue though for me though was with a ton of lows onstage the more people were telling me to turn down. To the point where I could feel the bass but couldn't distinguish note from note very well. It's part of the reason I downsized from my 810e to the 410he with both of those cabs they tend to sound scooped at low volume but come alive as you crank them. Most of the clubs we play have 8 18s. Even the smallest places have 4 and the biggest local band indoor venue has 12 or 16 if I remember right but it's an absolutely massive venue that to this day only the deftones have been able to sell out. Not saying all 18s are created equal I'm not talking brand new state of the art subs. it's mostly higher end peavey and mackie speakers. But when weve played festivals it's always big line array systems. People around here aren't shy about pa volume. I remember when Hell yeah came through (terrible band but I had to go to see Vinnie) they had pa going from each side of the stage to the walls and down low accross the front of the stage. It was so stupid loud I spent most of the show on the opposite end of the club or behind the pa.
 
#418
I've told this one before: In my very first gig (my church worship band) they kept telling me I was too loud. Meanwhile the guitar player was using a 200 watt peavy digital affects guitar amp to power a stack of two 4x12's. And he liked lots of bass in his sound in spite of my polite protests.

During one rehearsal they would actually stop a song and say I was too loud. I kept turning down each time and, finally, I turned my volume completely off - but kept playing. They stopped again and said I was too loud.:cool:

Never had a problem after that.
 
#420
For the less experienced bassist, it's generally better to invest in a decent amp first - otherwise, you can't play conventionally with other musicians. Jamming with others, or joining a band, does wonders for a musician's growth and development.

A good bassist can still rock on a cheap bass, and decent used basses can often be found for much less than the cost of a good amp and cab setup.

For the established musicians, it's a different story. A bass upgrade makes sense if you play clean and depend on a DI for your live sound. It also makes sense for studio recording and session musicians. But if you're at that point, you most likely have a good amp already, and the decision becomes a no-brainer. ;)
 

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