Amp Help

[34 Blues]

I own a Sting Ray 4, a Fender MIA Jazz 5, & a Jack Casady Sig bass. Had my taxes done today, & will be getting about $3000 back. Only thing I own that is not paid off besides the house is the Sting Ray, which will be shortly. I play Reggae, Rock (GNR, Floyd, Cream, etc) & Motown for the most part. I'm quite happy with the 3 basses, but am looking to upgrade the Amp. Currently have a Mesa Walk-about-Scout 12, which is fine for small clubs, unplugged (sorta), most acoustic basses can't be heard without some type of amplification. But I am looking to get an amp that I won't have to upgrade for a long time.
I am leaning towards a Fender Bassman 300, with what speakers, I have no idea. My other thought is, would it be better to get a seperate pre-amp & power amp combination? I've been to all the music stores around my area, but none of them carry the higher-end gear. Mostly like GK, Fender combo's, & the like. I am wondering what y'all have tied to your MM's & WHY.

Thanks for any suggestions, help. I come from a Guitar playing backgroud, & have only been playing bass for about a year now. Have Guitar equipment that could play just about any venue I would encounter, but unfortunately, it's not suitable for bass.

[syciprider]

I use an Ampeg SVT to an Aggie 810. The Aggie's lack of a tweeter tames SR's the highs just right so I'm not constantly reaching for the treb control. Still acceptable for funky tunes though. The huge midrange roar of all those cones seem perfect for classic rock and the big bottom coupled with some judicious treble roll off nails a great reggae sound IMO.

Oh and a Fender Bassman 300 deserves a fridge.

[Vinny D]

I switched to Eden bass amplification last January and have never looked back. I am not a fan of combo's but they make a great deal of them if thats what you are interested in. I prefer seperates as you have many choices for heads and cabs and can always add stuff down the road. One plus about buying high end gear is that it usually holds it's resale value for a long time.
For seperates from Eden I would start with a WT550 or WT405 for a head and either a 210xst cab or two 112xlt cabs depending on your taste.
I have some pic's of a few setups that I use in my sig. I am waiting the arrival of a new WT1205 and a Wt405 head myself.

[JimB52]

The Bassman 300 is a great amp. I have the older Sunn version, the 300T. I use Musicman HD2x10 & HD 2x12 cabs with it. Drawback - it's no walkabout. The rig weighs about 240 lbs, but it sounds more like it weighs 500 lbs.
Jim B

[Dr Stankface]

If you're looking for GK products (Numero uno in my book), check out www.rmcaudio.com

Great site with a very friendly crew.

Andrew

[shamus63]

I just scaled back my rig to a GK 700RB (modded to 540w @ 4ohms) run through a GK 115BLX-II and 410BLX-II.

If I had to really drive it, the 700RB would be a bit underpowered (600w combined cab rating @ 4ohms), but not by much...considering how power efficient they are.

Got my sites on a 1001RB-II. I also use a SansAmp Bass Driver DI to color my sound a bit.

For smaller gigs (bigger than a combo would handle), I run the 700RB through my SVT-15EN cab...warm!

[Tony Renaud SR5]

I'm also on the GK bandwagon myself. I use a 400RBII head, and a pair of Neo 112s. I often get away with just one cab. This is a great sounding rig, and the cabinets are so light that I actually smile when I have to move them around. Good match for a Stingray, I think. Handles a B string with no drama, as well. I look for a solid, clean, and clear sound with flexible, musically based EQ. There's too few manufacturers that can actually deliver that at reasonable prices, but GK does. Without implying that GK ever offered substandard gear, they've really turned a corner with the designs and products they've been offering in the last 5 years or so.

Just to add to the positive dealer experience, www.riksmusic.com has the best prices I've personally come across, and they ship unbelievably fast.

[sultrabass]

I also had a Sunn 300T. It's a great sounding amp. A/B'd against my SVT it could get 95% of the SVT tone with more/better grind than any bass amp that I have heard. Plenty loud too. I used mine with 3-way cabs. To me, full range cabs are the way to go with that amp because you can use it for slap and metal grind, and you can use the compression balance controls to dial out high end response for more traditional tones. It plays louder clean slap tones than the SVT. I had bias problems with my Sunn. After three trips to the shop with like 4-6 weeks turn around time each, I unloaded it. I think I just got a bad one, though. or bad techs...

[Fuzzy Dustmite]

GK here as well 800RB through an Ampeg 610 for the gigs, through a SWR Goliath JR 210 for practice.