In a separate thread @Hoopscoach asked for advice regarding Bass amps and pedals, both stand alone and multi effect. This is the same road I had to navigate a month or two ago when I decided to take up the Bass and I thought it best to start a new topic that showed what I ended up doing.
To begin it has to be said that, equipment choices are just as subjective as choosing a Bass and what one person wants/likes will not be for everybody. It sounds corney but as long as YOU are happy with your choices do not worry about what other people think. YOU are the one that will be spending your hard earned money and countless hours perfecting your sound and technique so you might as well spend that time with equipment you enjoy.
I have been involved with music for over 60 years and own just under 10 guitars and ukuleles and have never sold anything off. And, yes, I still play them all from time to time. Why is this, because when I initially purchased them I researched and purchased what I wanted and did not compromise or worry what others thought about makes, models colors etc.
The only time that this came back to bite me was when I decided to take up the Bass and made my Bass and Bass equipment decisions.
I quickly discovered that the lower frequencies the Bass is in made a big difference in Bass and equipment choices.
My first Bass was a Yamaha TRBX304 which is an active Bass. Within a short time frame I discovered that I could not get the sound/tone out of it that I wanted. So I came to the forum and had the idea that I wanted to add an active/passive switch to the Bass. I got involved with many discussions with @howard and the final result is that I upgraded to the Yamaha TRBX504, which is an active/passive Bass, and discovered the sound I was looking for.
I initially purchased the Rumble 40 as my Bass amp but upgraded to the Rumble 100 within 2 weeks. I did this for two reasons: 1 - The Rumble 100 has a larger speaker (12") and to me sounded a lot better probably because it is moving more air, 2 - I will be playing at weekly jams and small venues and also wanted the additional power (overhead).
As far as pedals are concerned, I have never been a fan of individual pedals or modelling amps. The only pedal I owned up until two months ago was a Blues Driver pedal that I used on my 6 strings.
When I decided to learn Bass I discovered that my headstock tuner was acting up because of the lower frequency range of the Bass so I purchased an in line tuner. Note: I cannot emphasize how important it is to tune your guitar at the beginning of every session. I have walked out of jam sessions because people would not tune their instruments. If you don’t check the tuning, every time, chances are it will be off and the resulting sound will be off and sound terrible. We usually get a minimum of 20 people at each jam session so you can imagine what that would sound like if nobody tuned up. We actually did a demo of this for new players and at the beginning of a session it was decided that we all would just play without tuning just to see what it sounded like. This sure drove the point home of everybody playing in tune.
Now on to pedals.
I decided that since a lot of the time I do not have access to my amp I would use a headphone amp. There again I discovered that my 6 string headphone amp did not sound very good with the Bass, with the much lower frequencies. I checked out the Vox Bass headphone amp which in Canada runs about $100.00 after taxes and shipping. I again went on the forum for advice.
I discovered that a lot of people were raving about the Zoom B1 Four or the Zoom B1X Four.
This was only about $20.00 more than the Vox headphone amp and included effects, amp models, drum machine, tuner, looper and could also be used as a headphone amp.
There again after discussions with several members on the forum I chose the Zoom B1X Four because I wanted the pedal.
So in the end I am using a Yamahaha TRBX 504, into a Zoom B1X Four, into a Rumble 100 amplifier. The only thing missing now is some recording equipment.
I realize that not everyone can do what I did because of their financial situations and I feel for them because when you compromise your equipment purchases it affects your overall attitude to your practicing and continuing on down the musical path. All I can say is to get the best you can afford and stick with it until you can finally afford what you want.
I also have to say that if I had not discovered @JoshFossgreen, the BassBuzz forum and the Beginner to Badass course I probably would not have taken up the Bass.
As my dad used to say “I have not had this much fun since ma caught her boob in the wringer”.
