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Why did you choose the amp that you use?

#182
Nephilymbass said:
20+ years of trying out different gear. There's a few things I like to have in my rig. . A full range signal to send to the PA. Oddly enough I like cabs with a limited frequency range. That's mainly from trial and error. I do like a full range sound but I don't like how at shows with decent pa subs the low frequencies would bleed back onto the stage and combined with a low frequency cab onstage would cause the sound onstage to get muddy.
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Have to agree with you! As someone who plays bass but is also a sound engineer, I am blown away with a lot of what I hear at concerts/worship nights. I recently went to a worship night and I don't think I heard anything from the bass above 100 Hz!(that's an exaggeration) But it was so boomy! I guess maybe that is the sound they were going for? I can only imagine the sound on stage was quite muddy.
 
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#185
Back in the 80s I bought my Fender BX300 because it was the closest approximation to my bass straight into the desk, and I didn't care about the weight. Now I care about the weight, and there are more choices, but I need to sell the Fender first!!
 
#186
Nephilymbass said:
I'm running speakon out of the amp to the 410 then the second speakon cable out if the 410 into the 15. I control volum with the channel 1 control or the one on the left if you're looking at the front of the amp. One odd thing about that amp is in order to actually run it bridged you need a special bridging cable (same exact wiring as the bridging output to run the Ampeg SVT4 bridged actually). So the cable I have between the cabs is just a normal 2 connector speakon cable. The one from the crown to the 410 is a 4 way speakon instead of two way and it's wired funky. I'd have to look it to tell you exactly what it is but once I realized it was the same as the svt4 to run it bridged I literally searched "svt4 bridging cable" on eBay and found one in like 2 minutes so I didn't have to mess with changing the connections on a 4 way speakon cable myself. The two cables look very similar so I normally never unplug the cable from the back of the power amp, I just tuck it in the back of the rack so I don't have to open the end of the cable to see which one it is
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my SVT Pro 4 uses a specially wired nuetrik for mono bridging..instead of +1 and -1 wired at the amp side..its +1 and +2....the speaker side of the cable remains + 1 and -1....on your amp..besides engaging the bridge switch.. do you have to jump the inputs together on the amp with a 1/4" cable..and..do you have to do anything to the volume at channel two of the amp..it looks like you are saying the volume at channel one is the master volume in bridge mode..
 
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#187
StatesideRambler said:
In fifty-plus years of playing bass I've rarely been disappointed with the tone of the amps I've plugged into, whether mine or someone else's. From the beginning I've considered myself a sideman so I'm looking for amp settings that let the singers and soloists stand out. At sound check I turn the knobs while using my ears and, as I said above, I've rarely been disappointed. (Did you ever notice that every room is different and needs different knob settings? I did.) If I was a recording artist I'd be more inclined to be a cork sniffer but the people who are drinking, dancing and partying don't particularly care if my sound has or needs a little more top end or less mid. When we're grooving they're grooving.
That's just my take on it.
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Yup, personally I always use eq to fill a sonic space that needs to be filled, not overflow one already filled.
 
#188
dbsfgyd1 said:
I mostly play with front a FOH PA, which means, my rig is my personal monitor. It's job is not to carry max low end to the audience. That's what subs are for.

It needs to be clean, not overly EQed, and audible without causing issues with the front of house mix. As for the sound, it's warm, clean, a very natural sound that lets the bass be the show, not the amp. Tons of headroom when needed. Plenty of dbs.
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This is one area that I also think should be disclosed when talking about amp choices. Since I only play at home or at church, my amp choices have always been based on what I need to hear for me and others on stage. I do not need or want to have the amp loud enough that you hear it in FOH. Again as a soundman, this adds to my thinking. I do not want to hear what most bass players set as their tone in FOH because the majority of the time it is not what it should be in the room.

I am sure that if I never played with FOH support and never ran sound, my opinion would be very different.
 
#190
Gaolee said:
I have had an Acoustic 126 combo since it was six months old. That led to an Acoustic 370 through a 408 cabinet. I never really bonded with the 370. Then I got a 360. That was the sound. That led to an Acoustic USA 360M, which I haul all over the place. It has a big, full, round sound that I can only describe as juicy and blue-green and blooming. For small venues, I have a Carvin MB12 combo and a 15" extension cabinet. That's an OK amp, but it doesn't have the sound or presence of an Acoustic 360. So there you have it. Screw weight, it's the sound I want and can get with a big ol' beast of a folded horn. It's obsolete technology. So what. It hasn't been improved upon.
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I used to have the Carvin MB15 and matching extension cab. Adding polyfill helped add more output under 100 Hz quite a bit in my experience. Not the greatest for someone looking for booming bass. It handled well when I played a 5-string through it, I found keeping the bass knob at noon was best. Others who have a different playing style that is much more aggressive and have onboard preamps maxxed out at all times, were not satisfied.
 
#192
PraiseBassing said:
This is one area that I also think should be disclosed when talking about amp choices. Since I only play at home or at church, my amp choices have always been based on what I need to hear for me and others on stage. I do not need or want to have the amp loud enough that you hear it in FOH. Again as a soundman, this adds to my thinking. I do not want to hear what most bass players set as their tone in FOH because the majority of the time it is not what it should be in the room.

I am sure that if I never played with FOH support and never ran sound, my opinion would be very different.
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Oh, it's completely different. I use a different rig on the rare occasion I don't have FOH support.
 
#193
Blaze Barlow said:
my SVT Pro 4 uses a specially wired nuetrik for mono bridging..instead of +1 and -1 wired at the amp side..its +1 and +2....the speaker side of the cable remains + 1 and -1....on your amp..besides engaging the bridge switch.. do you have to jump the inputs together on the amp with a 1/4" cable..and..do you have to do anything to the volume at channel two of the amp..it looks like you are saying the volume at channel one is the master volume in bridge mode..
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Yep sounds like you described the speaker cable correctly. As for cables, I'm using one cable into the crown and one speaker cable out of the crown, no need to send signal to both sides. I actually have a kind of funky xlr to 1/4" cable running from the Avalon u5 xlr line level out to the 1/4" input on the crown but that's only because the Avalon doesn't have a 1/4 line level out. The 1/4" out on the front of the Avalon is instrument level. When I was using the sans amp rbi to the same power amp it was just a normal 1/4 to 1/4 there. When it's in bridged mode the channel 2 volume doesn't do anything. Lvl is controlled by the channel one knob on the front of the amp.

Picture of the back. I do have the Avalon and crown plugged into a furman power strip but I pulled it out of the way so you could see better. I use the mic level xlr on the Avalon to foh
D1E494A8-C837-49A7-860D-5C8F14EAC46E.jpeg
 
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#194
2BB60D0B-19BF-4CD4-BE1F-33B90D74E8CD.jpeg
45240D9F-531C-4555-979B-6719720B206F.jpeg


I love this for the tone. GK MBF-800 with upgraded GK 410 cabs.

I use the TCE for rehearsals and small gigs. I use the same head with everything.

I use this because I love the sound. I love that this little 6 pound head will just kill.

I would like the 410s to be a little lighter but that's why we have casters and carts. The 210 is very easy to just carry away.
 
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#195
Back in the day I was looking at Dr. Bass cabs because they were rated so high and they had some really cool configurations. Ended up buying a 1260 (12", 3-way) and a 112LF, a 12" sub. At the time I also saw that Carvin had an amp called a BX1200, which had two separate amps built in plus an active crossover function along with para-metric EQ plus a defeatable graphic EQ. What a great head and it turned out to be a perfect compliment to the cabs, which I still run in bi-amp mode.
 
#196
Slough Feg Bass said:
a couple years ago I picked up the GB Shuttle 9.0 because:

- it sounds good, versatile EQ
- can go pretty loud
- small / lightweight
- switchable 120 / 220

I don't usually take a cab to gigs, I use whatever is on the stage, and the Shuttle seems to like powering them all.
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I have a Shuttle 6.2 and 6.0. Plenty loud for me. Tone is fantastic. Very lightweight. Built to last. Dependable. Runs either
one or two GK Neo 1X12 cabs stacked vertically beautifully. Aged Horse is less than an hour from my house in case there
are ever problems, which I seriously doubt.
 
#197
I fell in love with the sound of Ampeg amps when I first heard my cousin's ex-husband's V4B and 810 from 73. Had a couple short dalliances with other amps but the V4B and SVT were the standard by which they were all judged, and I always came back because nothing quite hits me like Ampegs.
 
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#200
I used to use Gallien Krueger amps with a light OD, always on. Sounded good. Then I played a Traynor YBA200-2 and immediately got my sound without the use of pedals. I bought it the next day and sold my GK stuff. Just need to get the matching 410 cab, as that's what I played through at the store and I loved it.
 
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