Cleanest Sounding Bass Amp

[and lombardini]

Pretty broad generalisation, isn't that? The MB 104HR is at least much closer to the truth than any SWR cab I've owned (4x10 G I, 2x10 G Jr II, and 8x8)

However, I guess that all bass amps, and especially the cabs, are going to colour the sound one way or another. Somebody here posted that he uses a BOSE sound system as bass amp. That could be a solution to get bass' "uncoloured" sound.

Markbass make a lot of great gear...being italian I know the company since it was called Parsek and made wonderfull gear (if you find it on ebay go for it)...but I feel I need to generalize on the cabs since I don't dig them as far as accuracy...neither SWR (exept the three way cab)...I like the heads a lot but not the cabs, the way they are tuned (boomy) and the shy tweeters.

speaking of trasparency and accuracy I will say ACME, EA, Accugroove and an italian brand called ATS (check it out)..

speaking of taste I am mostly using a closed Hartke (and an old Walter Woods head)...which is far from trasparent but I really like it.

..in the end a real transparent sistem is pain in the ass when used in difficult acoustic enviroments....like strange sounding rooms or bands with many keys or guitars...the sound is killer alone or in the studio but if you have to carry your system to a lot of different venues and bands the benefit of a system that sounds more consistend gig to gig is amazing.

and

 

[Brim]

Edens are clean but have a slightly "warm" coloring to them. None the less, they are "hi-fi" heads. Markbass is also another super clean amp.

 

[Oldtoe]

I take my 410 cab to the car wash when it starts to get too dirty. The spiders inside hate that.

 

[Psychicpet]

sorry Oli, didn't mean 'monitor' but rather the smaller to mid sized 1x12" + horn powered PA speakers that can also be used as wedges like a little powered (older) Mackie/EAW/etc.

being that most PA cabs, although they do have their own 'colour' , are a lot more full frequency and closer to flat than a bass cab.

 

[GGK]

You may want to take a listen to some of the Genz Benz products. I have a very small 2 pc. combo STL 3.0-8T and it very clean. The removable amp is a nice little feature under 3 lbs and very portable. Very clear and precise, really made me aware of how much more work I need. I know they make some more powerful gear which may be more in line with your needs. This little rig puts out 175 watts with the 8" speaker (under 15 lbs total) and can go to 300 with an extension cab.
Cheers!!!!

 

[maddog]

Nelson Pass has some good ideas, but from experience (yesterday) I can report that it didn't really do too well as a bass amp.
Ok i played through the INT 150, but I was expacting more than I got...
Funny how you can do silly things like that at work and get away with it lol

how did you plug the bass in and what speakers were you using?

any compressor, limiter, etc?

 

[bradfordws]

Walter Woods Ultra - 1200 @ 4 ohms - sounds the best to me - and I've tried them all + the WW is small and light - been using WW since 1996. I have other amps by GK and Euphonic Audio and Carvin, but they are all strictly backup amps and the result of G.A.S. The best bang for the buck is the Carvin BX1200 for $599.00. I bought one of these last year after my original WW was stolen. I scrambled for something cheap to handle my gigs while I searched for another WW. The Carvin sounds great - plenty of power (1200W @ 4 ohms) and I run it pretty flat since with a 3 band MM bass, you can dial up a good tone right on the bass itself. I run various cabs with 10's and also a single 15 built by a local audio shop - Gregs Pro Audio - master. Usually a 15 and a 210 cab are all I gig with. A quick fact - Greg made cabs for Schroeder for the first few years, until Schroeder opened up his own shop. Greg is now making a 310 and a compact 15 and 210 that are not pictured on his site. I have one of each of these and they sound great!

 

[jlepre]

You may want to take a listen to some of the Genz Benz products. I have a very small 2 pc. combo STL 3.0-8T and it very clean. The removable amp is a nice little feature under 3 lbs and very portable. Very clear and precise, really made me aware of how much more work I need. I know they make some more powerful gear which may be more in line with your needs. This little rig puts out 175 watts with the 8" speaker (under 15 lbs total) and can go to 300 with an extension cab.
Cheers!!!!

+1
I just picked this up for my kid and I used it for rehearsal last night. paired withmy epifani ul112 it rattles windows with sweet tone.

 

[martin shane]

acme = super clean speaker (but) it takes some power to push them . .

 

[cky4ever]

in my opinion anything that split the signal and sends differet frequencies to different speakers is going to be the best at reproducing a bass's sound...

what exactly ids what we call flat anyway... if its clear notes all the way around... id say a good gk biamp head with multiple size speakers should do it. i ran that rig about a year ago and its the cleanest ive heard...

 

[strummer]

how did you plug the bass in and what speakers were you using?

any compressor, limiter, etc?

I plugged the bass in through my computer with a Creative labs soundcard that has an external part for all the connections

Spreaker wise I tried it with a GS112, and also B&W Signature DIamond (Don't tell B&W lol), Energy Veritas 2.4i and a bunch of sperakers we currently had on test.

No compression, no limiter.

I do this quite often at work, different amps, different speakers, and it's proven to be a quite eye opening experience

 

[Lonnystingray]

For voting reasons I would say definately try Glockenklang.

I traded my Glockenklang, because it didn't sound like the 'rock' sound i'd like to have, and bought me an Aguilar (one of the first in Europe).

 

[freddy]

I played my SR5 through SWR and Eden gear at church for several years and, IMO, got a good clean sound. Then I joined a funky blues band and did a few local gigs-- totally different animal once you really fire it up and let it loose. With the rig shown below I get a kind of 'clean' sound that brings out the SR5's personality and seems to be appreciated by band members, dancers, etc.

 

[Pkomor]

Why not just plug your mixer into a power amp, then you have no eq's or anything to worry about!

 

[Psycho Ward]

This is my clean rig...

 

[freddy]

This is my clean rig...

That LOOKS clean!!

 

[Psychicpet]

This is my clean rig...

ya big show off




Great looking rig!!!

 

[tkarter]

I heard about a kid with a 1978 transistor radio that he made into a killer bass amp. 9 volt battery not included.

tk

 

[salmonilla]

Try This

I use an Ampeg PB 250 (portabase 250watts) head and a Portabase 110 cab with my sterling H. Very versatile, clean and that Ampeg tone for practicing and small gigs and love it. You can also DI if you had to. I have also plugged this head into my Traynor 8x8 cab with great results. You guy's have to try some Traynor gear, they are indistructable. I still use my Traynor Monoblock from 1975 and never needed anything but cleaning some dirty pots. I now use a Traynor YBA 200 all tube head through the 8x8. I have too much gear and won't even tell you whats stacked in my closet.