URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Hello GUys
LONG ERA NO see Right??
IM preparing some stuffs but they are running as SLOW as ****. ahahahah so i wont announce anything yet

I bought a Korean Made Ibanez SR505 5 stringed Bass and im in love with the bass .
however i went to the instrument shop and tried a hiwatt and 2 hartke amps and was annoyed by the fact that the 5TH string of my bass (active electronics, passive pickups. ) wasnt well reproduced. well almost not at all. i tried 30 , 15 and 60 watts amps but none of them reproduced the 5th string according .
it was muddy, or it definitely didnt sound like a bass string at all.
Resuming of the problem : IM a GUITARRIST learning Bass. Dont know yet if im going to switch instruments or not, but for the moment, i want a Bass that can reproduce The true sound of my bass (including the active preamp and the 5th string) in a Smooth,deep, velvet and Balanced Way.

Ill mainly , at this stage, use the amp to Play at home(bedroom /study ) and recording situations.

What brands , watts and models do you guys recommend me??
Im asking for this advice Now, because my birthday is in 5 days. so i have to come up with a solution SOON, otherwise i wont get that bass amp.

Q: )
Thanks and ill be waiting for your reply
Q: )

JP


Ps - is here the right place to put BASS AMp questions??

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

The first question has to be how loud is the band with which you will be playing?

My suggestion is tc electronic. Their 250w combo does most of what you could want. Loud enough for clubs. XLR output to feed to a PA mixer if/when the need arises. Headphone and DI sockets for home and recording.

I use their 450 Classic and Staccato '51 heads with RS cabinets. I need two channels to do my Billy Sheehan sh1t.

The RH450, 750 and Staccato '51 amps have programmable EQ frequency bands. This helps the low B on my Warwick Streamer sound fine - even through a 2x10 + horn cabinet.

 

[ginormous]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

I agree with the TC, or a Gallien-Kruger of the same size.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

or a hartke.
+1 to the suggestions of xlr outs. For the extra low end of a 5 string you need headroom - and lots of it, so the xlr out will allow you to get that extra girth from the PA. Bear in mind tho, that if its a smallish PA, all that extra load can suck the life out of the vocals cos the PA amp and speakers are working so hard.
For the real smooth, deep and balanced sound you mentioned that does not load up the PA there is no substitute for an amp with headroom, and enough bass dedicated speakers to reproduce it. Basses are not like guitar amps, so a 350 watt amp on 3 will sound a lot better than a 150 watt amp on 10.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

I have no problem with the Rumble series by Fender. The 5th String is beautifully produced on these amps.

 

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

Hey funkfingers thanks for the input Man
Q: )
i liked the advice but i think its too loud for bedroom volumes and/or recording purposes. im not going to play with bands right now. Q: (

The first question has to be how loud is the band with which you will be playing?

My suggestion is tc electronic. Their 250w combo does most of what you could want. Loud enough for clubs. XLR output to feed to a PA mixer if/when the need arises. Headphone and DI sockets for home and recording.

I use their 450 Classic and Staccato '51 heads with RS cabinets. I need two channels to do my Billy Sheehan sh1t.

The RH450, 750 and Staccato '51 amps have programmable EQ frequency bands. This helps the low B on my Warwick Streamer sound fine - even through a 2x10 + horn cabinet.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

It might be worth checking out keyboard amp/combos too as they should be set up to deal with the wide frequency range of most keyboards (low frequencies in particular).

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

See if you can try a Boss Bass Cube too. Don't forget that bass amps are generally 2 to 3 times more powerful in watts than you'd buy for a guitar amp. I'm using a 100w Cube at home at bedroom levels and that does OK with a 5-string, though I don't doubt it would sound much better if I had the space to turn it up and make the amp/speaker really work.

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

The Acoustic B-200 has enough power to play with a band, and a DI out with it's own level control, with a very wide ranging EQ.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

Hey funkfingers thanks for the input Man
Q: )
i liked the advice but i think its too loud for bedroom volumes and/or recording purposes. im not going to play with bands right now. Q: (

if you are recording, just get a sansamp bass driver

 

[James Rock]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

i liked the advice but i think its too loud for bedroom volumes and/or recording purposes. im not going to play with bands right now. Q: (

The problem is bass (as in below say 70Hz) is fairly hard to hear at bedroom volumes due to the fletcher Munson curve although through good earphones you can get some decent bass. For recording if you are using a DAW there are plenty of plugins fine for the job depends if you want a more aggressive rock tone (amp sim) or a more even DI (with EQ and compression) tone otherwise as suggested a Sansamp is pretty cool. Above suggested amps have plenty of headroom to produce those lower frequencies. Also speaker wise you probably need either 2x10s or a 15 to get that low end.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

I'll second the Fender Rumble series. I bought a used one as my son's first bass amp. They a definitely a budget line, but sound good. Great for home use. We had a 25 watt with a 10". You might want to go bigger for a 5-string.

 

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

hummm i understand guys. Q: ) thank you very much. ill think a bit more about it since im moving from a house to an apartment i a MOnth.

 

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

if you are recording, just get a sansamp bass driver

Im mainly going to play and study in my bedroom. thats all for now. since im going to start it from ZERO and have classes. i cant play with a band nor recording in until im decent at playing.

 

[BlueTalon]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

Hey funkfingers thanks for the input Man
Q: )
i liked the advice but i think its too loud for bedroom volumes and/or recording purposes. im not going to play with bands right now. Q: (

Don't make the mistake of getting a smaller or less powerful amp because you think a larger, more powerful amp will be too loud for a bedroom or apartment. As gibson175 mentioned, you typically have to treat the volume differently on a bass amp than on a guitar amp. You need something that can faithfully reproduce the sound of your B string. You're going to want something with a headphone jack. You're also going to need something big and strong enough to jam with -- unless you plan on buying another amp later, or know you're never going to jam again. It doesn't have to be huge, it just has to be big enough.

Some examples:
Fender Rumble 75
Peavey MAX 112 II
Orange Crush PiX CR50BXT
Carvin MB10
Acoustic B100mkII

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

Im mainly going to play and study in my bedroom. thats all for now. since im going to start it from ZERO and have classes. i cant play with a band nor recording in until im decent at playing.

Sansamp will be perfect then. You can plug it into damn near anything whether its xlr/balanced, line level, instrument level..whatever and still get a nice fat tone.- and when you do get good enough to play in a band and invest in a bass rig, the sansamp will still be worth its weight in gold as a DI and many other uses besides.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

one of the digitech BP series multieffects pedals
has headphone out
has a drum loop
can be plugged into a PA if you wanta do a band gig

headphone till you are gig-able

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

Don't overlook the simplest aspect - the pickups.

Jackson's stock passive pickups on the older Concert V 5-string also get weak on the 5th, and have active circuitry. A more recent 5-string has Duncan Designed bar pickups and the 5th kills through the same rig. Even the HZs in the Ellefson 5-string import are better.

 

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

I tried that same bass on a AMPEG combo and it worked great, although i think the ampeg was a bit saturated. maybe due to misuse. or abusive use.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: URGENT: Recomend me a bass amp that... Q: P

I like the Fender rumble series: basic but solid. A friend has the 350 watt amp, it's great!