Bass Cabinet & Head

[Gormans_Gast]

I saw The Joys last Friday night and was completely blown away by their sound, especially the bass player.

He was playing through a Ampeg 8x10 cabinet with an Ampeg V-4BH preamp and using a Fender Jazz Bass. They invited some of my band (including myself) up to open the third set. All I can think of now is to own the same rig. Unfortunatley my bank account is not deep that I can spend approx $5,000.00

 

I have come across a few cabinets that look similar but I really can't tell why there is such a price difference.

 

So far I have found the following cabinets.

Ampeg SVT-810E 8x10

Behringer 8x10

Hartke 8x10

Peavey 810TVX 8x10 Bass Speaker Cabinet

Gallien Krueger 810BLX

Fender® Bassman 810 Pro Bass Cabinet

 

As for a preamp, I'll need something with enough power to push these monster cabinets. I was told to get that fat old sound I should look at tubes.

Who makes a good tube preamp?

Does anyone have any feedback on the above mentioned cabinets, and can I mix my preamp with them? i.e. could I use a Behringer Cabinet with an Ampeg preamp?

 

Peace

 

Gormans Gast

[jeremy c]

You have your terms a little mixed up. A preamp doesn't give you power, it gives you tone. A power amp gives you the power.

 

The V4BH is a "bass amp" which has a preamp and a poweramp both incluced in one box. It's only 100 watts which really is not enough power to push an 8x10 cabinet.

 

If I were you, I'd get one 4x10 cab and get another one later. Have you ever tried to carry an 8x10 cab up a flight of stairs? Or load it into a car?

 

You can mix brands without any problem.

 

High power tube amps are very heavy and generally expensive. Ampeg makes them, Boogie makes them, Aguilar and Glockenklang (if you have really big bucks).

[way2fat]

Is your name a reference to the books by McPeake?

[Gormans_Gast]

Yeah it's a McPeake reference. It's a great series.

[cloclo]

(OT: didn't they (BBC?) make a movie or television series of the book? i remember my surprise when i noticed Irmin Schmidt made the music for it. he was the keyboard-player of the famous german krautrock band CAN)

 

anyway, listen to what jeremy c said. go for the 4x10 first. if you choose behringer choose the one with the paper speakers, not the aluminium ones, they sound too harsh for what you want. paper sound warmer.

 

tubes sound warmer yes, they add harmonics to your signal and when you push the preamp (you could say 'overload' it) it gives a nice growl to your sound.

 

you could also buy an amp where the preamp is with tubes and the poweramp section is solid. tubes have to be replaced and are more fragile when gigging/touring. in practical terms less tubes is better (lighter, more reliable). i'm NOT talking about taste here.

 

maybe try the ampeg svt-pro3 with behringer 4x10?

 

harmony central can be handy to check some user reviews. i don't know how much faith one can put in those reviews but taken with some salt, it can give you some insight.

 

whatever you do, try to test stuff out in the store with your bass. you know what you want soundwise...

 

good luck!

[davio]

If you're going to stick with the 810 I (personally) would go with the Ampeg, Peavey or Gallien Krueger. Not many people around here are too keen on Hartke and Behringer and from my experience with my Bassman 410 and 115 I can tell you that it'll to the job but you can definitely do better.

 

If you're not tied down in the 810 frame of mind I'd go with Jeremy's advice. He's a pretty practicle guy.

 

If you're looking for a tube preamp to pair with a power amp I've got a Fender TBP-1 for sale. PM me if you're interested. It wasn't my thing but you might like it if you're into tubes.

[Fred TBP]

Originally posted by jeremy c:

If I were you, I'd get one 4x10 cab and get another one later. Have you ever tried to carry an 8x10 cab up a flight of stairs? Or load it into a car? You can mix brands without any problem.

Again, jeremy scores a home run!

[Gormans_Gast]

Thanks everyone for your advice! It was fantastic and will help me narrow down my choices. I'm going to starting shopping in the new year for some new equipment. I am currently playing through a XM200 - Bass Combo - 200w, 15 inch / Tweeter by Yorkville. It's okay, but I've already replaced the sub woofer once, and I've never really liked the sound I get when the Scoop feature was turned up (always buzzing). I'd like to keep this amp at home as my practice amp and then have a larger and better sounding rig when I'm gigging. New equipment that is heavy won't bother me as I seem to have inherited the task of packing and unpacking all of our PA, drums, stands, and some amps (sometimes it sucks to be the only one in the band with a truck!).

But I appreciate the thought about starting with the 4X10 and then building from there. It seems like my best option.

I'm also looking to upgrade my bass guitar. I've played an old Samick mostly and keep a Viola Epiphone on hand if something goes wrong. Both have gotten pretty beat up this past year from gigging and won't make another year's worth of shows. I played a Fender Jazz Bass a couple weeks ago and was sold! BUT now that I've been looking for one, I'm confused as there are soooo many different Fender Jazz Bass'....there's vintage '65, '66 which I've seen for up to $9,899 on ebay, but most are hovering around the $2,000 mark. The fella who owned the bass I played said he paid about $1,000 for his bass. I'm not trying to be cheap just realistic, and I know from playing his bass how well it played and sounds. What should I be looking for?

 

Peace

 

Gormans Gast

[way2fat]

Yorkville's model XC115X 15" extension cab is made for your combo, that should give you plenty of stage sound, check it out at Yorkville's website. That way you could put your money into a good instrument. Which you should get first so that when you audition gear in the future you'll be playing the bass that will hooked up to your stuff. Great bang for the buck values can be found in used gear, like Yamaha BB series, or G&L, or Fender MIJ: they can be as good as basses costing triple their price. Then get your cab and amp and move the Yorkville stack into your bedroom. BTW, try setting your amps tone controls flat before you start using the scoop feature. It should help accent the lows without robbing a lot of power.

[ian101]

All of my basses(except my BTB 405) I bought used. I did a little upgrading on parts on most of them. In the end I got five basses that feel and sound great and none of them cost over 250.

 

My advice would be to learn to do any and all the upgrading you can, lurk on ebay for a month or two and make a killing.

[Rick Hoffman]

Find a MIJapan or MIMexico Fender jazz in your local music store, thereshould be a few...play as many as you can before you buy. I am leery of buying basses over the internet.

 

You can find a pretty damn good tone on those MIJ/MIM especially if you have something like a Sansamp BDDI or MXR M-80.

 

In another thread I just said the exact same thing, only I plugged Behrenger and Peavey amps.