argle

Some really helpful ideas there people—thanks for the suggestions.

Thinking in terms of portability for a moment, how much would I sacrifice if I went for a 2x10 instead of a 4x10?

Thanks guys - looks like a sansamp + cheapish head + 4x10 is the sort-of consensus. Any reason for specifically looking at Peavey stuff: just because they're cheap, or do they have a particularly pedal-friendly sound?

First post here, and unsurprisingly it's asking for help choosing a bass amp rig... Essentially what I'm looking for is the opposite of what a lot of people on these boards seem to like: I [b]don't[/b] want an uncoloured, hi-fi sound a la Markbass, I want a slightly gritty lo-fi rock sound. If I've understood these things correctly, this is the typical Ampeg-type sound, but a proper valve Ampeg is a bit out of my price range. Other names I've seen mentioned in the same context would be Gallien Krueger, about which I know nothing, and Trace Elliott, which I have played in the past and found a bit too nasal for my liking. A further complication is that I have an unusual bass, which is a Fender Mustang short-scale. Normally these sound pretty unimpressive, but I've replaced the pickup with one from Aero, and that's really improved the bass response. It can still sound a bit woolly at the low-end, though, presumably just by virtue of it being short-scale. So, any ideas? Just some sort of guide as to what brands to keep an eye on would be good. I play with a pick, and in a three-piece (guitar/bass/drums) so I don't need to worry [b]too[/b] much about having to cut through the mix. I've no preference for combo vs head/cab, though it'd be nice to have something that isn't too difficult to move around. I'm only likely to be playing small-to-medium size gigs for the forseeable future, and I'd prefer not to spend more than £400-ish.