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Why did you choose your amp?

#61
:Back in '84 (?), I was asked to go on the road. The old Peavey just wasn't doing it for me. I walked into a music store and I had never seen anything like the GK 800. Solid state, light, no tubes, BI-AMPED! Sounded AWESOME... and it was a demo for 25% off, with a Rockflight case. Still works great.

Went thru a bunch of cabs in the last few years. Everyone was all about the 4X10s. They just wouldn't work for me. Hartke, GK RBH, GK Neo.. Nothing was working. I was somehow drawn to 12" cabs.

By chance, I was checking out Bass Northwest in Seattle. They had a Shroeder 212 cab (used, but you wouldn't know it.) for $399. I drove 2 1/2 hours and bought it. FINALLY dig my sound in a light weight, easy to haul amp.

Although, I do covet a GK Fusion 550. ;)
 
#62
My small rig is a Mesa Walkabout into a Bergantino HD212. Tone and build quality were the primary drivers of that decision. I originally ran the Walkabout into an NV412 cabinet, but found that I liked that head through a ported cab better. Since then, my NV412 has been in the closet and I've toyed with selling it from time to time. Lately, I've not been real happy with the WA\HD212 combo on some of the older school country and blues stuff one of my bands is doing. It is great everywhere else, but only good there. So, I recently bit the bullet on the Fender Super Bassman to go on top of the NV412. That'll be my big rig and get most of the duty with the country\blues band - I think the big tube head into a big sealed cab will get me closer to the tone I need. Tried the 100T while messing around at GC last week and loved it. The SB300 seemed to be more of the same, so placed my order yesterday. I like that Vintage channel for most of what I do, but plan on using the second channel\blend to add a touch of mids & overdrive to the clean signal - will be nice to kick that in on some of the louder Allman Brothers\old ZZ Top stuff we tend to get into later in the evening...
 
#63
When I was younger I like the idea of a "Big Rig" and spent many years building a rack and cab setup that I thought looked great, but always left me wanting more from the sound. A little education from all you fine folks, and coming to the realization that it's not always about size, and now I play a Streamliner 900 into a Berg AE410. Tone goals finally realized at a size and weight that my aging body appreciates. So NOW my requirements in order would have to be tone, portability with looks at a distant third.
 
#64
400 RB ... simple, very quick, and plug and play ... have two, one was lonely ...

800RB ... (see 400RB above), except I can drive a third sealed 210 with the 2nd power amp if I need more ...

MB200 ... this goes with me in my shoulder bag wherever I go, I forget I even have it sometimes ... its the 2# back-up amp that doesn't know its place ... keeps coming out, I think it likes the attention ...

... mama bear, papa bear, and baby bear ...
 
#65
First for me is my budget. I'm looking to spend about $500. My first choice is a separate head and cab. Will get a combo if I have to. Not really to concerned about looking for a certain sound. Looking for about 500W max. My instructor said that should be more then ample. Kind of excited to check out these new Peavey amps and cabs coming out.
 
#66
DLaunder said:
When I was younger I like the idea of a "Big Rig" and spent many years building a rack and cab setup that I thought looked great, but always left me wanting more from the sound. A little education from all you fine folks, and coming to the realization that it's not always about size, and now I play a Streamliner 900 into a Berg AE410. Tone goals finally realized at a size and weight that my aging body appreciates. So NOW my requirements in order would have to be tone, portability with looks at a distant third.
Click to expand...

I haven't yet found an amp that can cop the tone and feel of a big all tube amp (except a big all tube amp) - and they're getting lighter. Same with big cabs - hard to replicate that feel in a smaller package. And with tilt\roll, I find them easier to transport. You can use casters on a 4x10 (or 2x12), I suppose but I like my cabs on the floor without the hassle of removing casters and the like.

Different strokes for different folks. I'm just glad we all live at a time where there are plenty of great options out there!
 
#67
I chose my EBS Drome 150W combo because, among all the small-ish combos I tried out, back in France around 2003, it just jumped out at me in terms of tone and clarity of sound. The only amp I had at that point was my SVT, which was way too big for my studio, or the trunk of my European car, so I was looking for something better adapted to my circumstances. I'd never heard of EBS until then, and was taken completely by surprise. The fact that it was also the most compact, one of the lightest, and had the most complete set of back panel options was icing on the cake (and helped me justify the relatively high price). There's a whole thread (which I did *not* start) on TB extolling the virtues of this amazing little combo, tragically discontinued by EBS.

I bought my HD350 sight unseen because it had the same pre-amp/drive/compressor/EQ as the Drome, but in a 350W head. And I was not disappointed. I've A/Bed and played mix'n'match between the EBS HD350+Neo212 and the SVT+810 fridge, and while the SVT does SVT the way only an SVT can, the EBS rig goes higher, lower, cleaner, dirtier, and louder.
 
#69
One of the most important factors in choosing an amp is--what are you going to use it for?

In my case I have two bass amps.

The first is a Garnet Stencil (Garnet made amps to other companies specs and they were branded with the other company's name. Many of them were sold through music schools, as well as dept stores, and other companies--such as Lab Series (Yes the second series, but still Lab Series)

They made some pretty good amps--even in the Stencil ones.

It came with the bass (Both used).
I was taking lessons, they had bands, and to be in a band you had to take bass lessons as well, although I only played guitar in the bands, not bass.
But it meant I got a bass and an amp--so that's how I wound up with that one.

The second one I have is a Traynor TBM 10--this is a small practice amp (Although it can get quite loud) I bought it as the Garnet is large and awkward to move, so I wanted a small amp I could keep at home and move around easily as I don't have a dedicated playing/practice space due to space issues. I also had a low budget.
One store had three of these on sale for about half of their normal price, and I bought one. It did what I needed it to do.

So my needs and desires in a bass amp may be different than yours.
 
#72
I have a 1996 Trace Elliot GP7 150 SM with matching 2x10 and 1x15 cabs.

The motivating factor for buying was price and reputation. In the UK Trace have a good reputation as solid amps with a great sound, they also have quite a following on TB....and the fact that it popped up in Cash Converters (Don't know if you have this shop in the US, but essentially a pawn shop) for £250 (416 USD) for the lot. It's a great rig, and at that price I wasn't going to argue.

In short, I just screamed "TAKE MY MONEY" and ran......
 
#74
I like to try a lot of different preamps and can dig super straight lows as well as very colored tones, so I'm inclined toward active speakers.

I tried a lot of them, PA and bass, then played Bergantino cabs, then heard that IP systems were the best thing ever especially if you like lows.

I found my IP112ER, paid the big money required to get it and what to you know, it IS the best bass system on Earth, at least compared to everything else I tried. I found an AE112 companion cab for it and have been happily playing it since then.

I may change my mind if I ever come across something better but it has still to happen.
 
#75
My small rig (and practice) is an Ampeg Micro SVT with two of the 2x10 cabs. Sounds really good, is reasonably loud, light and has a small footprint.

My favorite rig is the Reeves Custom 225 head and a Bergantino AE-410. I have two of the Berg cabs if the need arises. The Bergs sound very satisfying with the Reeves.

I don't take the Reeves on long road trips, for that I use an Epifani UL 902C. Lightweight, very good DI out, rugged, powerful (2x900 watt amps) and more organic sounding than most would think. I can get a great growly sound out of it and a jazz bass.
 
#76
primary rig - the utilitarian
1st - balance tone and reliability. price is just that. if it doesn't sound good, then it isn't worth the money obviously budget confines are a reality, so you need to work in that parameter. if it doesn't work every time, then the tone doesn't matter. reliability also means being able to get it serviced when and where i need. if i'm running a tube amp and it uses some super-obscure tube, that means i've got to carry my backup and/or pray.
2 - balance features and schlep factor. if it is small and light, but limited on features, i may need to bring pedals and/or accessories. if i've got a micro toaster, i might not mind bringing a pedal board. if the head has a fuzz and comp and eq i like, then i don't mind lugging extra size and weight if it saves me setting up cables and gear, and needing multiple trips. features includes ease of interface. if the eq gets you there, but it is tricky, then it is a waste of time. the Mesa Buster has an eq section which can be a little tricky because of how the controls interact. some folks can manage it, but others complain.
3 - cool factor. let's not pretend we are beyond this. if your favorite artist uses it, then you will think about it.

secondary/collection gear - the luxury item
this is a different game. price and availability can swing wildly. Mesa D180s and Busters aren't pricey, but they don't pop up often, so you gotta grab it if you want it, which may mean paying a premium (though you can score a deal on used gear). you don't always get to hear these items before you grab them, so you need to make a best guess.
 
#78
last time, it went as follows:
i found myself in the cursed/blessed situation where i
a) had some money to spend and
b) was severely lacking volume and sound in band practice.

So, since my budget was not that much of a limiting factor, i had a million amps to choose from, so i tried to narrow it down a bit. I wanted a modular rig that allowed me to leave one cab at home for smaller gigs, so either two cabs of the same make or some
combination that will work. after some thinking i had it, cabwise, down to the following combinations:
-fEARful 15/6/1 (or 12) with matching sub
-2x12 + 1x12
-4x10 + 2x10
For the last two i'd need the big cab to have twice the ohms to get equal powe distribution. Since Basscabs rarely come in 16 ohms, the small one would need to have 8 ohms and the big one 4 ohms.
Since i'm not much of a craftsman and fEARful designs are hard to come across in germany, i decided to push the fEARful project to the future.
Now, i googled my a** off to find a set of 410 +210 or 212 and 112 that matched the impedance and had the same footprint, so they would stack nicely.
Meanwhile, i decided that i wanted a class D head, small and light - and when you look around, most come with the powersection from B&O that does only 4 ohms. All the heads that made it into my list were 4 ohms min.
So back to the cabs.
4x10 + 4x10
2x12 + 2x12
1x15 + 1x15
were the new options. I settled on the 12s and decided to get everything from one brand.
Now i had it down to TC Electronics, Tecamp, Aguilar, Markbass and Orange.
The TC RH450 with 2 RS212 cabs was nice, especially stacked vertical, but
the EQ was not entirely to my liking and this issue with the Watts made me step back from that. Markbass and Orange fell out because of the cabs, Markbass had no 212 with 8 ohms and Orange only offered the isobaric design, so it was tecamp or aguilar.
I went with the Aguilar because i got a much better deal for the tonehammer500 and 2 GS212 cabs and i really fell in love with the sound.
This whole process took weeks and drove me close to insanity :-)
It was fun, though.
 
#80
I like valve amps.
The price of a new Bassman 100T, Super Bassman, V4B is not justifiable with the number of gigs I currently do... nor can I try them out without a long drive from here.
I also like restoring and fixing stuff.
So, the head I recently bought is c.1975 big, heavy, 4xKT88 200W, minimal PCB, minimal features, simple to service and fix and sounds nice with my 4001 bass.
 

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