My Crate BX 160 has given me many, many years of good service, but I am looking to develop a warmer sound with equipment that has more adjustability - a combo that can span a lot of genres and I will use forever. Does anyone have some suggestions? Should I augment this old guy, or consign it to the practice room and go for an ampeg stack? Should I go SWR or GK or TE? Something else? I've played with plenty of amp / cabinet combos, but never owned one. I guess that my favorites have been classic Ampeg or Fender set-ups. In addition, I feel like my bass guitar outreaches my amp at this point, as I play a nice Peavey Cirrus.

Any suggestions? Phil?

Follow-up. What's the one pedal that a formally trained bassist who has never owned a pedal would need, covering the broadest range of genres?

Squirrgle's vote for amp:

Eden head, if $ isn't an object. Man those are nice. GK head if $ is. No tubes, warm enough sound (can use a tube pedal to warm things up a bit too) and solid state reliability.

Cabs... again, eden. I once had a 2x10 and it was deeelicious for its size. Bloor has it now. Ampegs sound nice, but they weigh a ton, and still partially ride on their 70's reputation, which was built on the back of the mighty SVT, which weighed 90+ lbs (just the head!) and went through about $150 worth of tubes every year with regular gigging... but sounded oh so wonderful, and would blow out a car window at 100 yards.

Pedal: Get one of those pods. Everyone else does, so there must be something to it I guess.

How much did you drop on your head / cab set-up?

I'll answer that, since I bought the Capn's old setup (come to think of it Ky, don't I still owe you some $$$???? PM me) I believe he payed 200-300 for a used GK 400RB head and 550-600 for a new(?) Dave Eden 2x10.

This setup by itself (i do use one of those cheap Zoom processors and a SansAmp Bass DI most recently but that mainly to add a bit of chorus and compression) is perfect for most practice/small club gigs. I add a 1x15 underneath the Eden for any decent sized gig for some rumble. (it also helps your drummer out).

On a decent budget, I would try to get a good used GK800RB and a n Eden 4x10. I think tube bass amps are overrated.

I know Phil uses really high-end gear and might poo-poo this, but yo---he plays in Liquid Soul, and is a much different kind of bassist than moi, and come to think of it, one of the best Jazz/Fusion/Rock bassists that I've ever had the pleasure of hanging with (David Walden, one of those Berkley guys) uses a pretty similiar setup. Its pretty much my setup but bigger, thus negating the need for the 1x15.....anywhere bigger you will be using you DI into the house system anyways.

Mesa Walkabout - $600-$800 new depending on who's got it.
Mesa 2x10 - $750

Or the Mesa Walkabout Scout is pretty sick. I saw a used one for $800 or $900.

300 watts, tube pre, mos-fet amp. It was my main head for 4 years till i got the Mesa Big Block 750.

I would generally say don't get a combo, get a separate head and cabinet.

That said, I like Mesa heads and cabs, SWR cabs, Ashdown heads and cabs, Eden (although the defeat circuit really bummed me out during shows, i tend to play with people who make me run my rig hot), G-Ks are bright, but good for punk/rock/funk, they're just to bright for my hard attack. I can't get a good sound out of Ampeg, but you might.

My sincerest advice to you is to play around till you find something you like regardless of price. Then figure out a way to make it happen, since you'll just spend more money over the years trading up to what you really want anyways. Stick with the Crate till you can get what you want.

And I use a Sans Amp Bass Driver DI. Try getting one of these and see what it does for your crate.

I can't say I've gotten anywhere on actually playing my bass but I do like my setup.

nice rig

Why do you say that?

I can probably field that one. With a combo, you're stuck for the most part with what you have, and it cannot be huge, or it wouldn't be transportable. With a head / cab setup, you have several advantages:

1. Easier to carry a 150 lb rig in chunks than all at once.
2. Got a head and 2 cabs, and don't need both cabs for a gig / practice? Leave one at home.
3. Want to change something? No sweat. Higher wattage means just a new head. More low end or tighter mids means a cab swap / addition.
4. And the 2 pc setup doesn't neccesarily weigh more. My old gear was a gk 200rb (about 12 lbs) and an eden 2x10 (about 75 lbs), which wasn't awful.


Combos are fine, but there's something more permanent about them, and most aren't large enough to fill the stage volume requirements of a guy in a big band on a big stage.

Brilliantly put. Also, if your speaker blows and you have a gig, you've got to find another combo. If your head is separate, all you have to find is a cab. And vice versa.

And the amp unit in combos, in my experience, tend to overheat much more easily and result in more frequent repairs.

I have a SansAmp TRI-AC that I use for my bass. It feed right into my mixer (as it should, being a DI box and all). I have to say, I'm pretty happy with the range of sounds you can get out of it.

ahhh that makes sense.
Thanks for the info.

I could write a whole book on this subject right now...

I'm actually selling my V-4 all-tube '72, despite many outcries from the local music community. I actually had 2 people stop me at a store where they were pricing my equipment and go "what ARE you doing selling that thing?" (I have an Orange twin that I am now using, that's why) V-4's are pretty sought-after amps in the Boston and NY scenes right now, so I can fetch $500 for the head, even though I bought it cheaper 3 years ago.

Anyhow, keeping in mind that I wouldn't dream of trying to sell you on something that I am actually selling (because who's gonna pay to ship this?), I really think you might want to give a V-4 a spin (or the V-4B, of course). It is the most versatile head I have ever played and my bass friends around Boston are all defaulting to these things (as are many guitarists). I have it going through an Ampeg 410 cab (tweeter disconnected), which gives it a lot of kick - not the same as the low-end punch of an SVT, but not too far off. If anything, that's the drawback - it's a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

Keep in mind, versatility comes with a price - patience. You have to put some work into getting the sound you're going after...

My bass player is using a Fender combo studio bass amp, which he loves...I rarely see them around, but for a combo unit, it's plenty loud (easily competes with my V-4) and I think retails used around $500. He also plays a practice-space/small gig w/DI Ampeg Rocketbass, which is a solid-state. I think I recommended that as a good, very portable amp in another thread this week...Anyhow, he has never had repair issues with either, aside from the usual tube changes and various wear/tear issues.

But hey, if you're sick of carrying shit around, don't have much space at home/the space, and aren't playing out much, I'd strongly consider a combo for the convenience and practicality over a rig.

Good luck. My first amp was a Crate...

KPH