I put a Glockenclang in my SIMs testbed bass for this very reason, haha. Wanted to hear what the pickups sounded like.
What I bought was a Rumble 40 cause I wasn’t so sure about the whole bass thing, it was really a side thing to sax (now it is a bit more than the sax side, goes back and forth).
Then I traded that for a Studio 40 to try all the flavors of amps over time.
I was heavily leaning to an old school B15N and an Ampeg SVT (cover two bases), but found myself playing the GK sim the most, the cleanest one on the Studio 40.
So after a lot of great advice here, I realized I want clean so I can hear each bass/pickup/string combo for what it is, and then color the crap out of it later.
I picked a Bergantino B|Amp and was going to get their 12" cab, but instead went for a Fearless F112. I was side by siding them for about an hour, both were amazing in a slightly different way, but ended up picking the Fearless. Also, the Fearless can be used as a monitor, and can be angled on its long side up at you. It is a very impressive cab.
I have a VT Bass DI to turn it into the B15N or SVT and that works super well.
I would LOVE to put a 2x10 on top of this but have zero need or use for this.
I think some of it comes down to this being a beginner forum and choosing an amp to work out your live sound with a band comes a bit later.
For most of us, playing alone in our homes, it’s not that hard to use inexpensive gear to get a pretty damn good bass tone and going the route of preamp pedals or multi effects are more affordable for trying to figure out what you want.
I get the question though. I want all the amps and cabinets. Not practical but it would be really cool.
Is this a new cabinet? For some reason I thought you had a pair of 12’s or a 12 and a 15.
I normally play through the Aguilar SL410x (4-ohm), although it seems a lot more expensive now than what I pretend to tell myself I paid for it. I remember ordering the wrong cabinet on sale by mistake and then asking S2O before it shipped if I could get this one instead for the same discount. They are so nice to me
I’ve always liked a 410 configuration because it has both the LF extension and still stays tight in the midrange. At one point I (and half the audio systems engineers on the planet) worked on the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. I’m the one responsible for the era (love it or hate it) when the mains were JBL6310 cabinets. This was the same loudspeaker as the 6315 (with 15" woofers), but with the 15 changed out to a 4x10. Shortly thereafter a quite well known audio systems consultant chose and installed the same system for Jazz at Lincoln Center in NY. I approve of this approach, like now, slap.
I went through my phase of liking that Genzler full range cabinet with the tweeter line array and was considering a 12" in that one because it actually sounded better than their 2x10 to my taste. I was liking Joerg’s strategy of having a single 12 for portability and then stacking another 12 for those bigger times. When I got it home, I just couldn’t give up my 410 after hearing them side by side and I didn’t want to pay for the second 12. It was getting out of control. My 410 is terrific and I had enough other scrap gear sitting around to top it with a full range speaker without changing the whole system.
I do have the least expensive GK15 they make and it sounds amazing, especially for the price. I had bought it because my daughter kept watching movies in my 410 practice room at the time. The GK15 has now been relegated to be the movie remote end table and should probably go on reverb if I could find a replacement end table, but I don’t want to buy an end table when I already have one.
You’re right. The initial post is not about the first practice combo newbies buy. I started with a Fender Rumble Studio 40 too, which is a great practice amp.
Many of us upgrade their equipment after some time, buy new basses and increase the number of pedals on their boards.
What I wanted to point out: you can buy the best bass in the world, the best strings and the best pedals but if your amp sounds poor, the best bass in the world will sound poor too.
An unsatisfactory sound can be caused by a wrong decision, if amp and speakers do not match the music style or the playing technique or just lacking the output power needed to prevail in a band.
Well that’s a can of worms. We want different things. Huge amp is nice but if you live in a shared environment it’s not a good fit. I can handle some volume but I’ve not seen my 1000w gallein Kruger in ages now.lol.
I’m not into cab sims, it’s not my genres of music I just like my clean channel. I record them both ways direct and mic. Both have pros and cons, sometimes I even try both. If I was younger and still gigging maybe I will look at things differently now it’s more small performance and jamming party, smaller high performance amp is my kind of thing.
Right now I love my Genzler bass array, they offer neutral sounding which is a big plus for me, since I own multiple basses I can choose a bass for a particular sound I’m after. Sure you can probably make any bass sound like any other bass you want but then you just need one bass, what’s the fun in that?
At some point if you own a decent bass you’d want a capable amp to deliver the optimum sound quality. At the very least get a good headphone amp, you owe it to yourself to know what’s your bass can produce.
I’ve downsized from my beast of a Peavey to the small but mighty Nux and I’m very happy with it.
Computer stuff really fuddles my brain so I do avoid it but I have noticed that I can mess around with the Nux and use my phone to set up a few cab sims and effects. Nowhere near mastered it yet but I am having fun
I typically use my headphone amp in the morning. Infestedin a good pair of sennheiser headphones and very happy with that. I don’t have my computer tied in, and I don’t have pedals or any other effects. I simply just play a clean channel all the time. Is it a waste of effort? Who cares. I Judy love playing.
As for an amplifier, I have my hartke hd75. Plenty of range and volume for my simple needs and it doesn’t require a personal loan from your financial institution.
I’m not in any bands, so it’s just for me. As for performing, I wouldn’t know. Uploading: 0902211949.jpg…
Wow, nice rig! Would love to hear you playing it live
