What to get for next level.

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 07:13:30 PM

Been playing bass for a few years and have been in and out of small bands. Currently I use a Mexican Fender J-Bass with noiseless pickups, and a Peavy 115 60w combo. I'm looking to bump my rig up the next level so give me a rundown. I really don't know a ton of shit about gear and that's why I started this. I want something relatively cheap, easy to find, sounds good and LOUD, and is pro. Also drop some knowledge on my ass about gear while i'm here.

Edit: I know a lot of you want to recommend vintage shit, which I love the sound of, but honestly it's either too expensive or too hard and nervewracking for me to find on Ebay and whatnot. I'd rather have stuff that I can walk into pretty much any new/used place and get a reliable stock piece.

RAGER · October 20, 2011, 07:16:00 PM

pro gear/pro attitude.

that's all I got for now. Goin drinkn. be back in a couple hours

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 07:16:31 PM

this guy

Hemisaurus · October 20, 2011, 07:17:01 PM

You want cheap fun, cheap traditional, traditional or overkill?

Cheap Fun = Preamp Pedal and a Power Amp

=2800W for $400

Cheap Traditional Bugera BVV300 = $700 SVT Classic http://www.bananasmusic.com/productdetail.asp/pid_16537/productname_Bugera-BVV3000-Vintage-300-Watt-All-Valve-Bass-Amp-Head =300W of tube

Traditional = SVT Classic http://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass/ampeg-svt-cl-classic-bass-head =Same 300W of tube double the price, but nicer badge

Overkill =

= Far too many cabinets to fit in the tour van.

Then you have to decide speakers 10"s if you like mids and tend to play with a pick
15"s if you like a more bit of bottom end
18"s if you like loosening bowels

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 07:18:33 PM

Links and explain all of that to me please.

Hemisaurus · October 20, 2011, 07:34:44 PM

Updated.

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 07:44:16 PM

What do you recommend? I can hire someone to murder Al and I can swoop in and steal his shit all horrorshow. But then no more Sleep, no more Om. Looking to spend 300-500 but want it pretty pro and good sounding so what do? How do you work the preamp pedal and power amp. What kinda cabs do I need?
IM NOOB

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 07:44:50 PM

MAYBE 700 if it's worth it.

Hemisaurus · October 20, 2011, 07:51:46 PM

How many cabs are you willing to lug about, the more cabs, the louder (very rough rule of thumb) I take 2 2x15"s generally, other people take 8x10's or 2 4x10's or whatever.

Preamp's are easy, plug your bass into the preamp, plug the preamp into a power amp, plug the power amp into some speakers. Done. It's one more step than the all in one amp.

$400 is not going to buy you much new. Used, but not necessarily vintage might be the way to go, especially for cabs which seem to cost a small fortune new, and yet can be picked up dirt cheap used, I've bought 2x15's for $50, though $100-120 might be more realistic.

New you can get a 200W amp and a 1x15 from Acoustic (the new company) for $400 or from Gallien Krueger for $474.

Where are you at, so we can scan your local craigslist?

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 07:55:11 PM

The thing is I don't have any money now. I have $0 dollars. So I wanna plan on something to buy. So lets say in a few months I can manage to save up 400-700. With that what would you buy?
I would be willing to wait a bit and search Craigslist and used stores in a few months when I have the money to buy a cab. What do you recommend?

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 07:57:57 PM

The Preamp Power Amp option seems the most appealing, but is it worth it?

Hemisaurus · October 20, 2011, 07:58:49 PM

Something like this maybe:

http://nashville.craigslist.org/msg/2631497003.html
http://nashville.craigslist.org/msg/2631497669.html

or

http://nashville.craigslist.org/msg/2651322430.html

Peavey 2x15 nice solid cab, you can either couple it with the Peavey head, or go the new preamp and new power amp route, which would run you $150 for the cab, and $400 for the pre/power amp pair, but then you'd have way more power for that cab than you'd need, so unless you plan to start a cab collection, or get a really high powered cab in the future, maybe just a mid-range head would work.

Is it worth it, is very subjective, I swing back and forth, I was dragging a 6U rack, a 4000W amp, an 800W 4x10 and 600W 18, for a while, and then a 500W Peavey amp and the 18, then the 500W Peavey amp and a pair of Peavey 2x15's, the latter two rigs were just for punk bands though. Now I'm thinking of building my own preamp pedal, putting the 4000W amp in the 2U case the Peavey uses, and using that instead. Probably with an 18" and a 4x15, maybe, perhaps.

If you're a bass player, in a band, it also depends on what everyone else drags, and what you play. If you are competing against two mad guitarists with Marshall full stacks, or even one mad guitarist and Mesa Boogie combo (those are loud buggers) then you need something fairly loud. If you're guitarist likes jamming on a little combo or something, maybe an 4x10 or a small 2x15 (Fender style) or single 18 would suffice.

VOLVO))) · October 20, 2011, 08:02:04 PM

Peavey. Just sayin'.

Get your mom to put a sweet deal on her credit card, religiously check GC.com and musicgoround.com

Look for Sunn Concert basses/leads/slaves, beta basses/slaves/leads.

Acoustic 140, 450, random other numbers.

Mostly can be had cheap...

Peavey Mark IV heads...

I got a peavey 8x10 for a hundred bucks. Sounds great...

Hemisaurus · October 20, 2011, 08:07:22 PM

How reliable are your Beta's though? Aren't they always breaking down? They may sound good, but reliability has got to be a factor. Amplification is cheap, cheaper than speakers anyway, used for cabinets, but new for amps is a safer way to go IMHO.

Man, what kind of sad case is over 20 and still living with his mom, and doesn't have a GF

VOLVO))) · October 20, 2011, 08:10:27 PM

Quote from: Hemisaurus on October 20, 2011, 08:07:22 PM
How reliable are your Beta's though? Aren't they always breaking down? They may sound good, but reliability has got to be a factor.

One of them is a problem child, but it's because it's two different betas originally. My first one I bought had a blown/trashed preamp, my buddy had one with a trashed poweramp. We franked 'em up, and it has quirks yearly, right now the volume comes and goes with a small tap on the top of the head. It's just my bedroom amp, these days. (I'll buy broken betas, for parts, y'know?)

The other one hasn't gone down on me EVER, it's earned it's place as my bench amp. It's played many shows at max volume without a single hiccup.

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 08:10:34 PM

So what are the advantages/disadvantages for the preamp/power amp thing? What are the advantages/disadvantages to the head?
I want to start a collection. I want to have something to build on and I want to start with this 400-700s.
And is that peavy cab gonna get busted to shit and be irreparable?
Head?
And the sunn's and the vintage stuff come and go and i'd PREFER to have something that more commonplace so it wouldn't be a fuckjob to get it fixed if I needed to, and it'd be cool if I could have something rocksolid so I wouldn't have to worry about that. Like emperor cabs you can fucking throw down a staircase and it's fine, but they are way too expensive.

Hemisaurus · October 20, 2011, 08:22:56 PM

OK, the preamp power amp is cheap.

You can buy a preamp pedal for $100-150, or you can use a cheaper Behringer one for $40, or you can use a Fuzz/Booster/Overdrive pedal, just whatever you need to get the instrument signal hot enough for the power amp.

Power amps start new at $150 for 300W or so, $200 for 1000W, they also have two channels, so you can run bi-amped in the future, and for now use that other channel to run monitors, PA, or just leave it doing nothing.

Speaker cabs on the other hand are costly new, $200 gets you a bottom end 1x15 or 2x10, $300 for a 4x10, these are cheaper cabs, cause they usually don't handle a whole lot of power, from those craigslist ad's $150 gets you a 2x15, though it looks like Nashville prices tend to the high side for music gear.

Amps can be broken, they can buzz, have scratchy pots, etc. Speakers tend to either work or not, if they have a rattle it's usually just a loose screw somewhere.

These are massive generalisations, you might find a good deal new on cabs, you might find a good deal used on amps, but you have to know what your looking at. I've bought used amps, because I can fix them, I don't worry as much, my power amp, I bought new, why bother with used, you can get huge amounts of power for so little cash.

There are also the new lightweight bass amps, that fit in a gig bag, but they tend to be more expensive than your budget.

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 08:26:58 PM

What do you mean by get the instrument signal hot enough for the power amp?

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 08:39:12 PM

Also how do these preamp power amps sound?

giantchris · October 20, 2011, 08:40:47 PM

Quote from: SunnO))) on October 20, 2011, 08:02:04 PM
Peavey. Just sayin'.

Get your mom to put a sweet deal on her credit card, religiously check GC.com and musicgoround.com

Look for Sunn Concert basses/leads/slaves, beta basses/slaves/leads.

Acoustic 140, 450, random other numbers.

Mostly can be had cheap...

Peavey Mark IV heads...

I got a peavey 8x10 for a hundred bucks. Sounds great...

^^^^^^^
This. You can get used Peavey cabs like a 1516 or a 1516 usually for a hundred or 2 usually. You can also find used old acoustic control heads fairly cheap if you're patient. Peavey Mark IVs are really cheap and good too.

At_Giza · October 20, 2011, 08:44:58 PM

I'm sure this is all being explained as I type this in great detail, but "hot enough" just means powerful enough. Most pedals put out piddly signals that aren't amplified much, and far less that is needed for being a preamp. Getting it hot enough just means powerful enough for the power amp to only be doing the volume/headroom/power/whateverthefuckthetechnicaltermis portion of the amplification.

Also, preamp/power amp configurations done right sound fucking awesome. They're just the whole amp in two pieces instead of all in one box.

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 08:49:45 PM

Who are some kewl musicians that use a similar setup? I'd like to see their setup.

At_Giza · October 20, 2011, 08:53:41 PM

Me, but then again I don't have it set up right now. I run my betas' preamps into poweramps (basically taking all the work done by the in-beta power amp and putting it on what was the... exact same power amp...). Kind of stupid, but it probably saved my beta lead's power amp more than once.

I can't think of any off the top of my head, though I am watching Top Gear so I'm totally spaced out from the real world. everyone else should answer that question while I am zoned out.

Dr. Skeeter · October 20, 2011, 08:55:41 PM

Someone school me on inbeta blahblahblah

At_Giza · October 20, 2011, 08:57:56 PM

That was just me not wanting to say "the power amp already in the beta lead"