I played acoustic guitar casually for about ten years before making the leap to electric. When I went electric, I was lucky enough to have a good friend looking to dump his dual 200w Line 6 amp & shortboard, which included a huge bank of effects and digital amp emulators, so I never actually had to learn anything about amps or effects, I had all I needed.
At some point I started playing bass for fun on the side, and ended up playing in a couple of different bands I hosted in my garage. (Note to those who want to know how to get a band together - buy a cheap PA system and clean out your garage… you’ll find a band will magically materialize and occupy it within a few days :)) A year or so has gone by and one of these bands has gotten surprisingly good - we’ve cut a demo and are getting requests to play gigs left and right. Cool!
Suddenly I find that what worked fine in my garage, namely playing my bass through my Line 6 guitar amp (at low volume, didn’t want to tear the cones) it is no longer acceptable. I find myself in the odd position of being a reasonably competent bass player in a pretty sweet band who A) doesn’t own a bass amp and B) knows nothing about amps whatsoever.
So I’m digging into the whole amp thing, and the terminology is a bit confusing. I think I’ve grasped the concept that a combo amp is an amp+speakers, a plain old “amp” is just a free standing peice of equipment that is useless without speakers, and a ‘speaker cabinet’ is a set of speakers specifically geared to take the output of a bass amp. What is a “Head”? What is a “Pre-amp”? How does all this stuff fit together? What other kinds of things should I be thinking about?
And before anyone asks “Did you actually cut a demo with that reprehensible sound set up?” the answer is no - I’ve been borrowing a friend’s amp. He doesn’t know anything about amps either, he just went into a shop and plunked down a bunch of money for the nearest amp in reach - I want to be a little more thoughtful than that.
So whatever system you have, the basic chain is instrument>preamp>amp>speaker.
My first bass rig consisted of a footpedal a/b switch (a was on, b was off) with a volume knob and a footpedal EQ plugged into a big Acoustic cabinet with a 300 watt slave amp.
Now I just have a little Gallien Krueger combo. I don’t play out.
Considerations are how big are the venues you’re going to play, will you be able to put the bass through the PA, size, weight, how much money do you want to spend. From what you’ve posted so far it seems like a combo should do the trick.
I’ve seen some guys who use one head for everything, then use one or two speaker cabinets depending on the gig.
A head is what you are calling an amp. I have a Fender Head (300 BXR) and an Ampeg (don’t remember ) that I switch between two cabinents, an Ampeg and a knock off depending on mood.
A preamp is all the stuff like eq, bass/treble/tone, effects, etc. Only on the biggest rigs will you find this seperate from the amp.
I don’t have time and will come back, but if you are going to “play out”, you need at least a 200w amp. Doesn’t matter if it’s component or head and cabinent seperate. The 300 BXR is kind of the Honda Accord of the bass amp world, I’ve never been in a store that didn’t have at least one.
One last thing, when you go get your combo amp or cabinent, stop at the hardware store and get some casters if it doesn’t already have them. You will now be the owner of the heaviest crap in the band.
A friend strongly recommended I get a small Gallien Krueger combo myself. He told me that every place that has bands playing has a PA to take a line out from your amp, so it’s ridiculous to get something backbreakingly huge. It sounds like you guys disagree?
As a follow up, I looked up Gallien Krueger at harmony central, and the reviews were atrocious. Most of them advised never to buy from Gallien Krueger. As attractive as something like the 300BXR looks, the price tag is a little hard to swallow. You guys have any feedback on Gallien Krueger?
I spent almost 8 years as a touring bassist, and currently still make my living as a professional musician (although not on bass)
If you’re looking for something small and light, the Gallien Krueger is the way to go. It’s pretty much the industry standard for jazz and other upright players.
The others are right about the DI, to an extent. Any good tech will take a DI, but almost none will take it right off the amp - they’ll prefer to use a Direct Box to grab your signal. Also, the DI outs on most bass heads aren’t very good, the G-K being the best of the lot.
The problem with the small out/DI theory is that most clubs will have plenty of bass in the front-of-house, but will be hesitant to throw too much into the monitors, for multiple (valid) reasons. Consequently, you won’t hear sh*t of yourself.
If you’re looking to go for a big head, I strongly recommend the Ampeg SVT III. They sound great and I never had a problem with it at all, in four years on the road with that model.
I also recommend Trace-Elliot, Bag End or Ampeg Cabinets. Do not buy Hartke cabinets, no matter how good they sound. They will die on you, guaranteed.
It’s a tough call. Some club sound guys are very conscientious, some don’t give a crap, and in some clubs the bartender turns up a PA that just carries vocals when the band starts and that’s that. The upshot is unless you know exactly what’s going to happen you’re going to want to err on the side of bringing too much power. If the sound man’s great, then fine. You can turn down and he’ll handle it. If the soundman’s inattentive or non-existent, then you might need more power. We had a situation once that picker described where the sound guy insisted the bass sounded fine but the bass player couldn’t hear himself, so he turned up his volume on stage but now that was too loud for the mix and it was just a big mess. And we’re trying to perform while all this is going on.
BTW A long instrument cord lets you go out in the audience to see how the balance is.
If you’re looking for fairly solid budget-minded gear, Peavey’s good.
Hmm, well I’m a cheapskate, but I also know that buying cheaper equipment now usually means paying more to replace it later. I’d really like a solid setup that I could buy and then forget about all this amp business… I’ve seen people who get into the fun gear-buying cycle, where you just have to have that new FX pedal with the bad horsie wah wah and the new tube fx kit. It ends up costing worse than a crack addiction (and it doesn’t make you play any better.)
Second that. If you’re on a budget, best bet would be to find a good used Peavey setup.
The Gallien Krueger stuff is all superb - again, you should be able to find a bargain on used stuff. When shopping for used, make sure you don’t get ripped off by taking an experienced person along when shopping. That person doesn’t have to be a bassist - could be a good guitarist or PA person to check for blown or damaged speakers, bad electronics, etc.
As the others have pointed out, the equipment you choose is really dependent on the venues, and the type of music, that you perform.
) that I switch between two cabinents, an Ampeg and a knock off depending on mood.
It’s my bank account that’s having trouble fitting this.
(and it doesn’t make you play any better.)