What bass amp do I buy

[jamesmustain]

Hi,

I’ve recently taken up a position with a band playing bass and I need a new amp.
I need something loud enough to keep up with a heavy drummer and two guitars. More of a heavy rock metal style so these guys go very loud. Most stages were playing will have PA’s but some may not in smaller venues. I’m on a budget and have a time limit so my options are a fender rumble 500, fender rumble stage 800 (both combos). Ampeg pf500 and either a rumble 1x15 cab, 2x10 rumble cab or if it’s worth the extra a 1x15/1x10 Ampeg cab.

Will these be loud enough? Tone isn’t a huge huge issue as I’m more than happy just smashing pedals and getting what I need.

I don’t know a thing about bass amps.

Thanks!

 

[krysh]

My advice from years of gigging, buy a an amp head and 2 equal cabs so you can do small gigs with one cab and large ones with two cabs. Cabs are the most important factor so start with one good one and later the second in addition. If you are on a budget look out for used hartke lh-1000: underrated, powerful and longlasting.

 

[krysh]

And start maybe with a 4x10“ if weight is no issue. Then you can add a 2x10“ or a 4x 10“ later. But make shire that both cabs ha ve same ohms and around the same watts. I dont recomend using different speaker sizes. And it is a myth that 15“ have more bass than 10“ speakers.

 

[krysh]

But of course it is a matter of tone and sound, too. Check out an see what your favourte bassplayers use, then you can ask more specific and get more specific answers. And the pf 500 and the ampeg cabs wont deliver, esp with a 5-string. I experienced that small combos and digital power amps dont work as well as traditional transistor or tubeamps in a loud bandsetting.

 

[fronobulax]

@krysh speaks with more experience than I do, as would @The Guilds of Grot and @twocorgis or @Happy Face if they choose to join.

I've never heard anything bad about Fender Rumbles and the smaller ones get recommended a lot for practice or small venues. So if I had a budget and needed to buy yesterday that would be an easy choice.

That said, a head and cabinets is probably a better choice. You only have to haul the speakers you need and with two cabinets you can separate them on some stages which gives the rest of the band a better chance at hearing you. You can also buy the head and a cabinet today and buy the second cabinet later when you are sure you need it or can better afford it.

I have always liked 15" speakers when I had a choice and never lusted after the mids and treble you can get from a smaller speaker or a tweeter.

Never played a five string but there are a lot of amps/speakers that allegedly don't do well.

I have not played with a loud drummer in decades. When I did a 100w tube amp into 2x15 and a 300w (RMS) transistor amp, also into 2x15 were loud enough as far as everyone else was concerned. Not sure, though, how those powers compare to more modern designs.

Keep in mind you don't have to get this right the first time. A year from now you will either not be playing bass or will be lusting after a new rig because there are some very specific issues you need to address.

 

[krysh]

@krysh speaks with more experience than I do, as would @The Guilds of Grot and @twocorgis or @Happy Face if they choose to join.
...
I have always liked 15" speakers when I had a choice and never lusted after the mids and treble you can get from a smaller speaker or a tweeter.
...

As I said before, 15“ dont necessary lack mids and treble and have more bass or sound smoother than 10“or 12“. It is a matter of quality and cabinet construction, and a matter of taste.
I use 2 1x12“ cabs for years and for me its great, but others may not like it.

The problem with gear is that the more experience you have, the more expensive is what you like.

 

[twocorgis]

My advice from years of gigging, buy a an amp head and 2 equal cabs so you can do small gigs with one cab and large ones with two cabs. Cabs are the most important factor so start wit one good one and later the second in addition. If you are on a budget look out for used hartke lh-1000: underrated, powerful and longlasting.

I can second what Michael said. I bought an LH-1000 "B-Stock" right from Larry Hartke himself at Sam Ash on West 34th Street in Manhattan, and it's an incredible value for something that good (and loud). I used it rarely, as 90%+ of my gigs are (or were) in clubs (Hartke Kickback 12 for that, thanks @bassmyf!) and used it with either one or two two Aguilar DB12NTs that were a major CL score. I recently sold it for what I paid for it when I got the Aguilar Tone Hammer 500, which I highly recommend if your budget allows. The only downside to the LH-1000 is that it's heavy, something that becomes a bigger problem as I...ahem...age.

That being said, there's lots of good choices. I have friends that swear by both GK and Markbass gear, old SWR before Fender ruined them too, but I don't really know anything about them. I always liked supporting Hartke because they make great, rugged gear, and it's a local family run business that treats their employees well. Larry also stands behind what he sells, and is always there to help if you need him. When I blew the metal cone speaker in my Kickback 12, he could have sold me one of his replacements, but he didn't. He recommended that I get an Eminence Basslite neo magnet speaker, and not only does it sound great, maybe better than the OEM, but it took a bunch of weight off the amp. Not that's customer service!

 

[mavuser]

i would get the 1x15 Ampeg or 1x15 Orange OBC-115 cabinet.

In fact, I been meaning to buy one of those for a couple years, and just missed out on great deal for the Orange OBC 1X15 a couple months ago, used but like new. this post is a reminder to hunt down another.

any head that works properly w those cabs, based on your initial post, would do.

with a nice 1X15, u can add and subtract heads, and a second 1X15, if needed. Orange makes a nice solid state head, OB-1 300 and 500 watt variants. one of those and one 1X15 uses half the power of the head. to use the head full blast u need the second 1X15...i *THINK*

 

[Nuuska]

Hello James - and welcome to LTG

Like KRYSH writes in post #2 - get a powerful head plus 2 cabinets - if your budget doesn't allow both cabs now, you can expand later. make sure the cabs are of good quality, while a bad cab can waste a godd amps power. You never regret afterwards for buying quality.

4x10 or 1x15 - that's the question. Depends a lot of what kind sound you're after. 4x10 can move as much air as 1x15 - maybe even more - depends on what speakers are used. They also sound different. Often 4x10 is tighter with maybe less low end - whereas 1x15 may have all low needed but lack attack. Some folks use the combination - one of each. Just make sure they're same impedance and about same power handling.

I'm FOH-engineer - and I can tell you - as long the person operating the amp on stage is sane - there's NEVER too much power in bass rig.

So the Ampeg PF500 - or PF 800 with one or two cabs will keep you happy for long time.

 

[Happy Face]

So the Orange OBC-125 cabs are beasts. Some years ago I recall they won a 1x15" shootout. But there may be something newer & lighter out there that folks prefer now. I still have a pair sitting in a practice studio with a Bass Terror 500 top. A buddy uses both a lot for recording.

But for easy and good sounding gigs, I concur with the others. Buy a couple of 1x12" cabs and a small but good sounding head.

A while ago I waved in a Fender Rumble 100 combo to tote around to old geezer jams. It was a pretty nice sounding amp. But easily drowned out ay an undisciplined drummer. Oh, that's redundant, right?

I gave it to a young colleague at work.

 

[mavuser]

btw jamesmustain, I noticed you wrote your band plays heavy rock type metal. any relation to the legendary Dave Mustaine from Megadeth? people must ask u that all the time. no sympathy from me though, since everyone thinks i'm the drummer for KISS. I am not, of course, and much more of a Megadeth fan. Killing is my business, and business is good!!

 

[mellowgerman]

I used to own an Ampeg PF-800 that I used with a 4ohm Aguilar 1x12 cab. Always liked the tone, the portability, and the volume it offered (never had to push it). Why don't I own it anymore? One day it blew a fuse. I went and bought a couple (so I would have one as a backup). New fuse in and it immediately blew again. I had purchased it used, so it was no longer under any warranty. I did some searching online and found a good number of stories of critically defective amps from the whole PF solid state line. Not all of them, but a lot of them. Third fuse yielded the same result, blowing right after I turned the amp on.
Fast-forward 5 years or so, I now have a PF-350. Even though my PF-800 experience left a very sour taste in my mouth, I recently found a 350 on craigslist for $100 and it was very cosmetically roadworn, so I knew a lot of hours were logged without critical defect. At that cheap price, I figured I'm not risking much, so I scooped it up for the solid tone and portability factors. I did find that the Aux-In jack doesn't work on this 350, but that's not really a feature I need and only discovered it by a fluke chance. Also, as mentioned above, for their alleged output power, they are not very loud. By that I mean, the 800 was plenty loud for my purposes as we were always playing venues with pro PA support then, but it was not as loud as I would expect from an 800 watt amp. Likewise, the 350 is really only suitable for jams/rehearsals in a normal-sized room and that's already getting real close to maximum headroom. Probably puts out about what I'd expect from a contemporary 200watt head.
So even though I am a PF-user, I wouldn't necessarily steer anyone toward buying one unless you really get a steal of a deal on it. Serves my purposes well for now -- good tone and juuust enough volume without having to drag the Acoustic 370 rig or the big 1000watt rack setup to rehearsal.
As for the PF speaker cabs, I don't have any experience with them but have heard they are quite good. My current cabs are a custom-built Eminence-loaded 1x12 cab and (for louder applications) an Eminence-loaded Gallien-Krueger 1x15.
Lastly, the Fender Rumble series seems to be great bang for the buck. People across the web really tend to love them. I borrowed one of the 500watt 2x10 combos for a gig once and it was surprisingly light and put out a ton of sound. Good flexibility in the tone department too.

 

[Guildedagain]

Playing through a ported 2x12 with 70's vintage Celestion Greenbacks, kills on bass with even the tiniest of amps. This is the second time I'm very happy with 2x12 cab for bass, previous was with a Bassman, but only when the EBO was plugged in, with P Bass it was underwhelming.

Ampeg, SUNN, Acoustic, Hartke, those would be my go to amps.

Loud enough can be tough with bass. I eventually ended up with an Ampeg 8x10, plus SUNN 2x15. Add a Big Muff for "added definition" ;]

 

[Nuuska]

Biggest rig on my gigs was years ago - the band was very very good - they always had good audience - but for some reason the bass player did not own very good amp - he was quite talented player tho - so I decided to invest some - after all they provided me with lots of gigs and paid what I asked without bickering.

I had two cabinets - each 20h - 30w - 18d - each with JBL E-140 plus 2x JBL E-110 in subchamber - separate inputs for 15 & 10:s
Amp was carver PM1500 - capable of putting 2x450W@8 ohms continuously.
Preamp had x-over outputs - so I could have pity on those 10-inch speakers . . .

So we had a very solid built 900W rig with high sensitive & powerful JBL E-series speakers. Full range, too.

He used to have all volumes and gains set on full - and play mostly with gentle touch - but when needed he'd hit harder.

That's when everybody in the room got it clear what dynamics is all about.

 

[Happy Face]

Nuuska - that sounds like a "wicked good" (Maine slang for "great") rig. A big brother to my old Marshall/Echolette "coffee house" rig.

 

[catan]

Completely agree with the head plus cab. Get higher wattage than you need. I'm partial to acoustic brand heads, they have character. For cabs i wouldn't go crazy something portable 1*15 it's my fav. Most venues are going to di your head anyway

 

[Guildedagain]

DI head or mike cab. Best sound I've ever had at a gig was through a practice amp, and all PA.