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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
#81
Originally posted by pyrohr
As with any amplified sound the amp and speakers are the bottom line. If does not matter what is being amplified if your speakers don't reproduce it it dont matter. How many of you guy's got stereo in your vehicle? I bet most have amps and aftermaket speakers too. Remember it is all about sound and the biggest contributing factor to all sound are the amps and speakers.
Click to expand...

However, if what you're amplifying (i.e., the sound from the bass) is crap, then no amp or speakers can change that. Garbage in, garbage out. All a great rig can do is lessen the garbagitude, so to speak. Which is useful, don't get me wrong. But it won't make up for having a bad bass--it won't make a crap instrument sound like a Fodera.
 
#82
The instrument is all about your hands anyway.

A seasoned player can make a cheap bass sound like it costs $200 more than list, however the player won't be happy because of the basses physical limitations. The rookie can make an Alembic sound Cheap.

If you like your bass, get the best amp you can afford. Within a year you will upgrade your bass.
 
#83
Right now, I have saved up a lot of money. My basses are fender mark hoppus bass, and olp 4 string. My amp is a b2r head and a peavey 1x15 with a black widow speaker.
I'm either selling the 15 and getting ampeg 1x15 and ampeg 4x10's or...
buying some kind of new bass.

If you picked amp..
would you get ampeg 4x10's and 15.
or would you get SWR 4x10's and 15, and get SWR 4004 head?

If you picked bass..
would you get a fender jazz bass (some kind of jazz bass)
musicman 5 string (find it somewhere used)

thank you so very much

p.s. my basses right now, sound ok, but not great.
 
#84
Welcome to Talkbass.

I'd say learning to use the "Search" feature is key as this has been discussed many times before.

As far as bass or amp, it's a bit "chicken and the egg". Without a bass an amp isn't much good, but with a great amp you can gig even with the cheapest bass so I'll say "Search", Amp (if you have a bass), and bass in that order.
 
#87
hm...i am in a worship band in which i go direct. i am not really sure if they would even allow me to use an amp. so, i had some money and i bought a new bass. i guess if i had to hae an amp i wouldve bought a new amp instead. different sittuations call for different meassures. now, i will be getting a new amp (i hope) for christmas, so they are both important, but in a loud band i would say upgrade the amp first. just my $.005.
 
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#89
Right now, I have saved up a lot of money. My basses are fender mark hoppus bass, and olp 4 string. My amp is a b2r head and a peavey 1x15 with a black widow speaker.
I'm either selling the 15 and getting ampeg 1x15 and ampeg 4x10's or...
buying some kind of new bass.

If you picked amp..
would you get ampeg 4x10's and 15.
or would you get SWR 4x10's and 15, and get SWR 4004 head?

If you picked bass..
would you get a fender jazz bass (some kind of jazz bass)
musicman 5 string (find it somewhere used)

thank you so very much

p.s. my basses right now, sound ok, but not great.


__________________
 
#91
If your amp is decent, I would upgrade the bass first.

Getting a new bass, or a bass that you WANT to play, will make you want to practice. The feeling of the instrument is important. I still crack a huge grin everytime I pull my MusicMan Stingray out of its case! I want to play this bass. The same was not true of my first, crappy, no name brand (which sounded decent by the way). It sounded okay, but was not inspiring to play.

However, if your amp just sucks, a good bass ain't gonna help. If your amp sucks and you play live through a club's rig all the time... get a new bass.

Just my 2 Yen.

-Aladdin
 
#95
People argue about this all the time... here's how I tend to approach it:

Is your amp underpowered? If you're finding that you don't have the ammunition to play in whatever situation you're in, I'd upgrade the amp first, because having a nice bass isn't any good if no one can hear you. If your power is good and you're just looking for a different sound, figure out what basses and amps you can afford, and then try to see what you like in that range. If you like your bass now, don't replace it until you've got the amp you want... you can use an amp to EQ around a bass to a certain extent, but if you don't like the way your bass feels, all the EQ'ing in the world won't change that.
 
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#99
imHo this is like a recording chain: the source is most important, than the thing capturing the source, than the thing transporting that source, etc....


1) music/musician
2) instrument
3) amp - cab (*)
4) misc (cables, fx, D.I,...)

1) a good musician on a bad bass will play circles around a bad musician on the best gear.
2) the same good muso with a good bass will play circles around the same guy with a bad bass.
3) repeat for amp/cab and misc

(*) My guts tell me amp primes over cab but I'm not too sure about that. some combinations work great, others suck completely. That said, I have an amp that sounds great for all my basses, but when switching either cab or amp won't work (for me)


All that being said: I pretty much sound the same on any piece of equipment :D Gear either facilitates getting the sound I want or makes it harder.




Herwig
 

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