You are considering $1,250 for a new Evil Twin. Used, but in excellent condition, you could get both an Evil Twin and a Rumble 500 2x10 combo for less than $1,000 total. FWIW, there was a black Evil Twin IV in excellent condition for sale in the TB classifieds about a month ago for $699 shipped.
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Which would you upgrade first? An amp or a bass?
- Thread starter StrudelBass
- Start date
I would say if you can afford it buy whatever will inspire you to want to play.
IMO people put too much emphasis on money and the idea that a beginner should buy cheap gear.
IMO people put too much emphasis on money and the idea that a beginner should buy cheap gear.
I wouldn't upgrade your bass yet if the only problem is the color. That bass will sound fine and you need a decent amp first. And I hate to say it but I'd try to dissuade you from getting a 100-watt combo of any brand because it's not going to be enough to play a lot of places and you'll not only want to add another cabinet, which it can do, but more watts to drive the two cabs. Plus, you're only going to get about half of the rated watts out of most combos with their internal speaker(s).
If you're talking about the Orange OB-1 which is a 300-watt amp with a single 15" speaker, you are only going to get about half the power (150-watts or so) out of it as is. If you add another 8 ohm cab, say another 15" speaker, that will drop the impedance the amp sees from 8 ohms down to 4 ohms where it will deliver all it's power...and then you're done. And if that 300-watts doesn't handle everything, you have no other choices left. You'd have to sell your combo and buy another more powerful amp along with another cab
If you buy heads and cabs, then you can upgrade either as needed. If you need a more powerful amp, you can just replace the head without having to throw the entire combo out. By the way, bear in mind that it is usually far better to get 8 ohm cabs than 4 ohm cabs because most amps have a minimum ohm rating of 4 ohms. If your amp has a minimum ohm rating of 4 ohms, that means you can run one 4 ohm cab through it or two 8 ohm cabs using the industry standard parallel connections.
If you do have an amp that will do a 2 ohm load without melting, then you could run two 4 ohm cabs or four 8 ohm cabs from that. But if your amp has a 4 ohm minimum load, and you buy a 4 ohm cab...you're done. You can't add anything to that.
And you can do far worse than buying amps and cabs from Mesa. @agedhorse here on TB designed the Mesa Subway cabs and their recent amps. But it's not going to be cheap either.
I'm on DNA's endorsed artist list and I used Eden and DNA gear. The Eden amp I use I bought from David Nordschow directly. David founded Eden in 1976 and he used my amp to design Eden cabs from 1999 on. He sold Eden in 2008, left them in 2009, and put out his first DNA (David Nordschow Amplification) cabs in 2010. He makes absolutely astoundingly good bass amps and cabs.
You say that you are learning and that loud volume is not your immediate goal, so for an "amp" I would recommend a good set of headphones, a small mixing board, and a bass preamp of some sort.
That way, you can play along with music or metronome or drum machine and develop your skills.
Used gear will help you stretch your money A LOT farther, so check out the Guitar Center Used site, Reverb.com, and Craigslist and Facebook marketplace - there are great deals to be had.
You might already have the headphones (and if not, headphones are the one item I would NOT buy used) so chances are you could score the other items for about $150-$250.
That'd leave enough money to go find a bass that makes your hands and ears happy, then pocket the savings for the time being...
If/when you want to join a band, go to those same used sources and find some solid older gear - amps, especially, often sell for pennies on the dollar.
But above all, find gear that motivates you to play, and makes you excited about what you're hearing.
And if you get frustrated or hit a plateau, take some lessons!
Good luck, and have fun...
That way, you can play along with music or metronome or drum machine and develop your skills.
Used gear will help you stretch your money A LOT farther, so check out the Guitar Center Used site, Reverb.com, and Craigslist and Facebook marketplace - there are great deals to be had.
You might already have the headphones (and if not, headphones are the one item I would NOT buy used) so chances are you could score the other items for about $150-$250.
That'd leave enough money to go find a bass that makes your hands and ears happy, then pocket the savings for the time being...
If/when you want to join a band, go to those same used sources and find some solid older gear - amps, especially, often sell for pennies on the dollar.
But above all, find gear that motivates you to play, and makes you excited about what you're hearing.
And if you get frustrated or hit a plateau, take some lessons!
Good luck, and have fun...
Hey but if you can afford it and it has a benefit why not? I'm all for it because it makes playing and practicing fun and the more fun you have the more you will want to practice and play.
Since I already told you my feelings about combos vs. amps and cabs, I'd like to recommend that you look closely at the DNA line of amps and cabs. I bought a DNS-410 cab from DNA (David Nordschow Amplification) in 2015. Was $1,000 when I bought it and street price is $1,049 to $1,199 now. There's a DNS-410 on Reverb "used in excellent condition" for $595. That's a steal.
That DNS-410 cab is amazing. It will handle 1400-watt rms both mechanically and thermally, and will produce a maximum SPL of 137db. It takes very little power to drive it. Indoors, even in large venues, I get told to turn down if I sneak the master volume on my 800-watt Eden amp above 9:30. At outdoor music festivals I get told to turn down if I sneak it above 10 o'clock. And it's the clearest, most articulate cab I've ever heard. It has a nice full sound and a very tight and low bottom end.
4-years after that, I bought a DNS-210 because my 410 would scare small venue owners and they would force me to use their small backline amps. Nobody bats an eye at a 210 and the DNS-210 has the same sonic qualities that my 410 does, just in a smaller form factor. When I bought my DNS-210 I was also accepted to DNA's Artist group.
The DNS-210 with half the speakers handles half the power (700-watts rms) and will produce a max SPL of 134db. So it's crazy loud too. I got it expecting to use it in small and medium venues but I now use it in all indoor venues and reserve my DNS-410 for outdoor venues and music festivals. It's more than loud enough for anything indoors. The DNS-210 isn't cheap but it's not outrageous. Street price is usually between $849 and $969. Used you'll often find them around $600. Saw one once on Reverb for $499.
For an amp I'd suggest the DNA-800 amp. It's a class D amp weighing just 4.8-lbs and delivering 800-watts rms into a 4 ohm load. Absolutely great sound coming out of it with a push button mute, effects chain, onboard compressor with adjustable threshold and ration controls, and a simplified EQ using Bass, low mid, hi-mid, and treble controls, as well as a Shape control that puts a progressively smiley face shape (boosted bass and treble with scooped mids) to your EQ. The low-mid control is centered at 500Hz and I like to put a little boost there using my passive Jazz bass.
A nice little detail is that it has a rear input as well as the normal one up front in case you want to run some rack accessories without having wires hanging in the front. I'd probably run my wireless into that back input. You can only use one at a time, but it's a nice detail.
A really good choice for you would be to get the DNA-800 amp now along with the DNS-210 cab in 8 ohm. That amp will deliver 400-watts at 8 ohms, which will still get you to over 130db SPL. Easy to play anywhere indoors with that. Down the road, get a second DNS-210 8 ohm cab that you can add to your first one to complete a 410 that you might want for outdoor festivals.
To give you an idea of what that DNA-800 plus DNS-210 sounds like together, I've posted below a video of bass musician magazine .com's review of the amp. They are playing it through the DNS-210 cab while he goes through all the features of the amp.
To the original question. It's important to not be in a hurry and really think about what you want the various pieces of your sound to do (bass, amp, cabinet, pedals, DI, etc.). Back when I was in your shoes, my first move was good cables. My second was an amp that was a high powered solid state amp with a 4x10 cabinet. It was good for me to be able to hear clearly what I sounded like as a decent volume with just my bass and a more or less clean amp tone. Note, some very good, very iconic amps deliver a signature sound that, while desirable, makes almost any bass that's played through it sound the same - this is why I opted for a cleaner amp. Anyway, once you have an amp and figure out how to get sounds out it that suit you, you can try to buy all the things that might make you sound and play even better. No worries, there are thousands of threads on this site that will make you want to buy more gear.
I would rather play my $65 Glarry P bass through my Mesa Bass 400+ than play my much nicer MIA basses through a crappy, subpar amp. The Mesa Bass 400+ levels the playing field that much.
Do you find you think your preference for a black bass is impacting your practice? My guess is no, because you said you are practicing 90 minutes per day, which is great. Do you find the amp is producing crappy tone that you don't like, or do you need to be loud enough to play with a band soon? Try playing with EQ to get a sound you like (either by setting the amp EQ flat and using the active preamp controls on your bass, or by doing the opposite - I don't recommend stacking EQs). You might be surprised by the amp if you play around with it.
Above all, focus on your playing. I have found a lot of people (including myself, on occasion) reach a plateau in their playing and then their minds start to wander into gear wonderland, and then GAS sets in and you have to have a new amp/bass/pedal/strings to reach your tone goal. I think a lot of the time people become dissatisfied with their gear because they are stuck in the same place musically and they consciously or unconsciously decide new equipment will solve all their problems. In actuality, I think the best way to be more satisfied with your sound is to play better.
I guess my advice is you should wait a while before investing more money into your bass playing. You might find that once you really understand how to use the equipment you have now you don't want a new bass or amp anymore.
Above all, focus on your playing. I have found a lot of people (including myself, on occasion) reach a plateau in their playing and then their minds start to wander into gear wonderland, and then GAS sets in and you have to have a new amp/bass/pedal/strings to reach your tone goal. I think a lot of the time people become dissatisfied with their gear because they are stuck in the same place musically and they consciously or unconsciously decide new equipment will solve all their problems. In actuality, I think the best way to be more satisfied with your sound is to play better.
I guess my advice is you should wait a while before investing more money into your bass playing. You might find that once you really understand how to use the equipment you have now you don't want a new bass or amp anymore.
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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