Things to look for when buying a bass amp

[mojew]

Hey There,

I'm going shopping for a pro bass rig with my band's new bass player. I'm planning on pushing her towards the ampeg svt classic with a 4x10 cab. (I'd love the 8x10, but logistically it would be impossible for us right now.)

I've never bought a bass amp before. Is there anything I should be looking out for when trying stuff out?

 

[lpdeluxe]

You want one with the tone you like. Then too, it's got to have the sound. Did I mention tone? Three Zillion Watts of bad-sounding bass is not better than 30W of great tone.

Almost forgot: make sure it sounds good.

 

[mshilarious]

What's the style of music & size of venue?

 

[AGCurry]

Good sound. Very subjective and difficult to know for sure in the music store, but still the most important thing.

Durability (will its design and build stand up to hard use?).

Sufficient power. A 100-watt amp won't make it in most rock venues.

Portability. If you can't carry it or put it in your vehicle, what good is it?

Reputation. Why you don't see a lot of Crate bass amps onstage.

 

[Be Loveless]

A 100 watt amp is fine for most venues. How many places are you going to play that don't have a PA? Look watts are a little tricky and used as marketing ploys. I've read it several times before but can't remember where, but watts are not alinear 2+2=4 kind of thing. You think that 200 watts is twice as loud as 100? Wrong . You need something like 500! to be twice as loud as 100. Now really check out a 100 watt combo and crank it, you'll probably turn it down before you turn it up all the way. Think about the out options that the amp has too, for recording purposes.

 

[Adam P]

An Ampeg SVT Classic and 4x10 cab should work really well. Plenty of power, and great sound. The only thing I would be concerned with in using a 4x10 cab is self-monitoring. I used to use a B2R and 4x10 cab, and once I got a 1x15 cab to go under it, it was a world of difference. You might be able to do better by just getting the cabinet up off the ground and closer to ear level, but those suckers are heavy.

As a sidenote, I eventually sold the 4x10 for $350 so I could buy an SVT810 for $550 (not a bad deal if you ask me). I'm currently using, for my live setup, a Boss bass overdrive and SansAmp Bass Driver DI, split into a silverface Bassman pushing the 8x10 and a Sovtek MIG 50 pushing the 1x15.

 

[mojew]

Thanks everyone!

We ended up getting her an ampeg svt-4 pro and a mesa 410 cab. The classic was just barely out of her price range, and we were amazed by the svt-4 anyways.

 

[DJL]

Thanks everyone!

We ended up getting her an ampeg svt-4 pro and a mesa 410 cab. The classic was just barely out of her price range, and we were amazed by the svt-4 anyways.

Well, it's not cheap to re-tube the all-tube big boys like the SVT Classic either (it's got 12 tubes). I think the Ampeg SVT-4PRO has two 600-watt outputs (1200-watts)... how many watts (RMS) is the Mesa 410 cab rated at?

 

[mojew]

600, so it's close to pushing it, but i doubt we'll need to crank it to 10 at any venues we'll be playing in the near future. plus, by then she'll have traded it in for a WALL of ampeg 8x10's!!! HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA!!! oh boy!