Why is amplification the most frustrating part of this gear thing?

wow i totally see what ur saying...
im in the market for a new amp and just dont have the desire to drive around town looking at them...but a week ago when i thought i needed a new bass i was all jazzed up
wierd

 

Me too, my only problem is that I haven't sold all that much, just bought. Now I have 2 combos, 3 heads, 2 pre-amps/power rigs and 3 bass cabinets. I need to sell some of this stuff.

 

Thats simple, the reason is neither of you has ever owned a Mesa 400+ an SVT or any other big tube amp. You would have missed it if you had.

 

really? Does an Eden VT300A count. That's one I actually did sell. It sounded wonderful but I prefer the SVP-Pro->QSC1202->Whappo Jr I'm using now.

 

Basses are personal, they're made from living organic materials, you hold it in your hands, ideally it's like an extension of your body.

An amp is a machine. I've had some that I really liked, but have never felt the connection with it that happens with a really great instrument.

Marcus Miller had a great quote: "It's important to get your gear together, but do it and then forget about it so you can get on with the music".

Good advice if you ask me. Not all that easy to do if you hang out at TB however

 

For me it was the same for the amp as it was for the basses. Once I found the feel and sound of a bass that I liked I put it through every bass amp out there.

I started with the SWR Redhead and a Yamaha TRB5. Great sound...not loud but the tones I was searching for. My bass instructor showed me the Eden rig at his house. I jumped out of the SWR and moved into the Metro with a D210XST. That was the sweetest sound ever, for me. I then tried, at the behest of a very good friend (Thanks Emerson), the MTD 5string Heir ... then the Z5. that was it.

I now own the D410XLT, D210XST, and the WT800C. What a sound. I think that it is about the same ... for me... if it is the right sound, flexibility, and stability then that is probably where I want to be.

JMT

 

I love Glockenklang stuff hands down the best, even with Eden heads they sound great. I've tried evrything else but I highly recommend them.

 

It's because you are looking for a bass rig that gives you some semblance of what the instrument actually sounds like, and none of them do. I've yet to find a junk sounding amp head, but the cabinets are all crap, save for the "better than most but not great, and way overpriced" Euphonic cabs and the AcmeBass cabs. (I've not heard a Phil Jones or an Accugroove yet)

 

I recently went through a Eden to Carvin to Ampeg (solid state) to Markbass and finally found what I was looking for all along. The same friggin' amp I owned as a kid 20 years ago.....

....Ampeg SVT - CL.

It may be 20x heavier than my Markbass F1 (4lbs vs 80!) but the tone is truly unreal to my ears. I would have saved a lot of $$$ if I just bought the damned SVT a couple of years ago when I started playing again!

 

Just a question, but since you always hear an electric bass through some sort of equipment, how do you know what it "actually sounds like"?

 

For me it's the other way around. I'm perfectly happy with my parts jazz bass but I wish I still had just about every piece of amplification I have gone through, and that list is much longer than basses. Tombowlus where are you?

 

Run it through something more accurate, such as studio monitors. (Poor as they are, most PA systems are far more accurate than bass rigs).

 

By playing through high end, very clean DI boxes back through flat, responsive studio monitors in a properly treated room.

I have to do it every day seeing as I don't own an amp, it definitely adds a perspective to how much amps actually do change your fundamental tone.

 

To me, an amp is kind of like a tv. It's a tool that I use but I don't get attached to it. There really is something to holding an instrument in your hands that makes a difference.

 

When I started, I started with Ampeg tube amps and really connected with them, except for the weight. Then when the weight got too much and I went to hybrid, I never connected with any of them, and always felt like I was compromising, so I never got the warm amp fuzzies off them. But now I've found the Markbass LMII speaks to me like no other SS or hybrid, and now I actually feel closer to amps than basses for the first time in a long time, and I'm much more interested in the amp side of things these days.

 

I think the bass thing is easier, because (generally speaking; seasonal setups aside) they play the same. Night in, night out, it's still a Jazz. Maybe you tweak the truss rod or saddle height every once in a while, but it is what it is.

On the other hand, amps are aural. We have proven again and again humans have short term aural memory, and tend to hear thing we want to/expect. And even what we do hear can change from one side of the room to another, from one room to another. Just enough bass in one room might not be nearly enough in another, or one snappy treble might be ice pick highs on the next gig.

 

Yes but...

That gear, that room, etc. are part of the equation now, not just the bass.

My not so well made point is that there is always something between the bass tone coming out of the bass and the one in your head you are trying to get at.

 

even your ears....

 

I've used 70's SVT's since 1975 and have never wanted another type of amp except for smaller Ampegs for little gigs and practice amps. I've got two heads and 3 cabs, a B-15S and a 1959 Ampeg bassamp. I'm covered everywhere. I have had 30-40 basses in that time, although I stick with three main brands: Ric, Gibson and Fender. I have a few of each right now, my current favorite is a 2007 Gibson T-Bird with Chromes on it, that thing roars through the SVT's, excellent bass, made very well.
A good tube amp becomes part of your style just as a bass does because it gives and you can "play" it. SS amps although there are some very good sounding ones out there just don't have that warm push-pull to them. Find an amp you love and stick with it like I did with vintage SVT's, which is a good place to start BTW, you may never change as I have never and I've played through a lot of different amps in my life, both my own and at jams.