Marcus Cornall

I should have added that I am hearing the hiss sitting a couple of feet in front of the speaker.Not where I would be for playing I know and it isn't as bad standing in front of it facing the right way.

Am going to plug my FB head in as soon as its decent to do so (7.30 am here right now!) 

I will probably find even bigger amounts of hiss from it that I didn't hear before for lack of tweeter! 

Thankyou agedhorse.I know from reading this and other forums how great your experience is,and why. Deepest respect for taking the time to respond.

I have nothing between the bass and the amp.

I did wonder if it was a matter of the tweeter being capable.ef 'unnatural' relative  amounts of treble. I presumed that to get a 'flat/balanced relative amount from the woofer and the tweeter; I would have to turn the tweeter fully up.

But from what you are saying it could be then that to get the relative balance I should turn the tweeter down some.

And someone with a similar issue on a forum was also told that treble frequencies don't take as much power to amplify and maybe that's also part of this. 

I haven't had an amp this powerful before either so maybe am not used to the relatively higher starting 'noise floor',if that's the right term.

Hello all,

I have taken the plunge on a rig upgrade (after consulting on Basschat at length)

I bought a used Barefaced Big Baby II gen 3 

And a used SVT 7 Pro.

They seemed a good pairing.

They both arrived today ,and ...

The BB is STUNNING ! Only at home volumes ,but to me,coming from years of an old nameless ported 1x15 with a 200w speaker..the difference is astonishing,and I am so glad I chose it

The SVT ... I love the sound.I love Ampeg.And even by the odd sneak up of the volume  so far,I can tell it delivers huge bass ,and coupled with the cab..seems a great match.

I have got used to the fan noise .a bit much at home but this was to be a gigging amp so OK with that.

BUT the problem is ,if I turn the volume up beyond ten o clock the amount of hiss becomes really noticeable .that's with the amp flat/all eq at 'noon'

The hiss  is there irrespective of gain. Turning the treble up makes it worse.  

Yes it goes away if I turn the treble right off ..but i surely shouldn't have to.

And yes,all the above was with the BB tweeter fully on,and yes ,the hiss goes away if I turn that nearly all the way off,but,,,same thing..what if want treble?

And some of the mid settings accentuate the hiss too.

But it's directly linked to how high the volume is.

And yes,it's a 'rev H ' ..I did my homework on that.

I play Reggae at the moment ,and would have the treble off anyway, but I  ought the amp with the equal intention of using it with my clattery Fender Jazz with roundwounds for rock too.

So questions are,, could it be the cab tweeter at fault?

Many learned forum people,and Alex the BF designer,say that a speaker cannot hiss,only an amp.

Could it be solved by a speakon? 

I dont have one  but am ordering.

OR is the tube going? Never had a tube so don't know,but the other thing is I can't make the input gain clip until it is more or less full.i would've thought it should break up before that?

OR is it this- I have spent 2 decades with a 1x15 and no tweeter! And have now gone to a fantastic tweeter (and cab) - is it just that the SVT 7 pro ,and other amps ,hiss as a normal thing but I have never noticed?!

I will also own that with the gain up at noon or beyond ,it is probably a lot louder than I am realising,because the sound is so pure,devoid of that low mid bulge of normal cabs.

I was warned of this in another thread. But I was expecting to be ..well I thought the amp would sound hugely loud,but some of that may be psychoacoutic stuff...so maybe you set the gain high and you only need the  volume up to 9 o clock,

although I would've thought a knob should remain usable through its entire travel,not just hideous if it goes beyond a quarter of it's rotation.

I also realise it won't matter once the playing starts..to me..

But it's noticeably irritating when not playing ,and thats at home . At rehearsal vlou e I imagine it would be really noticeable and off putting, if the volume was above halfway.

And given the amp evolution since the peavey firebass head I am replacing with the SVT! I had sort of expected silent treble at flat setting.

 I have a Phil Jones 120w combo and it is devoid of teble hiss. 

To give an idea how loud this hiss is.,,.

Going by how loud the fan is,since that's fixed and you reading will,if you e got a 7 pro,know how loud that is ..... at 12 noon (half ) volume  the hiss is louder than the fan. 

I tried a passive Cort B2 and an active HB Marquess 5 through it so far.

Same hiss issue with each,but then the hiss is there even if no bass or instrument cable is plugged in.

Any help appreciated, as I will only have a few days in which to declare to the seller that I think the amp is faulty.

And yes sorry I missed out Reggaebass! Thanks to you too!

Hello everyone ,

 I thought I would update you about my amp and cab quest.

After MUCH deliberation I decided to get used things to extend into the best quality levels.

I found a used SVT 7 Pro for £550- not much over half the price of a new one.

I figured the 600w it gave out at 8 ohms had to be more than enough,and while I had been deciding a used BB and BT had both appeared for sale and gone !

So i thought I would get a PF115 either lf or he  and have a more trad cab sound.

The Pro would.be great for the 1x15 ,as I don't play that loudly, and I play clean so I wouldn't be pushing the amp anywhere near it's 600.And if another used BF ever came by, I'd be ready.

Also thought the tube preamp would be nice ,even though I know it doesn't behave like an amp with power tubes, but this is my first tube of any kind so it's still momentous for me.

And yes , the Pro is a Rev H 01 ,stamped on the board!

I just cursed myself for  not moving quickly enough on one of two used BBs that had been on ebay and reverb.

AND THEN...

Incredibly ,after just 48hrs of avid site monitoring , another BB II gen 3 came up used for £699  so I jumped on it straight away!

So after a couple of months of steep learning, I suddenly got the ideal rig within 24 hrs.  Total weight is 20kg amp and cab! Less than my current HEAD! 

Far smaller , more than twice as powerful,and with far far better lows  and tone altogether. 

I know the  BB will be BIG enough for any gig I will be doing in the near future , maybe ever. 

Now eagerly awaiting amp and cabs arrival!!!

I wanted to thank everyone who kindly contributed to this thread.i truly could  of have begun without the help I have recieved.

Particular thanks to Fretmeister,Bill Fitzmaurice, and Jazzyvee for the patience and interest. It wasn't wasted.

Thankyou all and sorry if its needed reiteration for me to get it.

There's a lot to it.

Thankyou Bill for the answers,and I realise you had already said how to work out the amp power.i didn't pick up it's fundamental (!) significance as there was a lot to take in from scratch.

Apologies Downunderwonder for not using proper terminology for things.

Actually, people who KNOW about this stuff may take certain fundamental things as obvious to those who don't,but they may not be- actually no one has ever told me that you can never put too little power into a cab!

Another ignorant presumption of mine that maybe if you didn't apply enough,it might not make the speaker operate ..erm...properly.

And yes it is an excellent learning thread for me and I'm deadly grateful.

Its just like the thing Bill said about 'the tube sound' coming from the power stage.- I have not seen that simple truth stated on any of the things I have read up on trying to understand it on my own.

Bill have you ever thought of writing "Bass Amps For Dummies"??!!!

Seriously man.I'd buy it immediately. 

I've already screenshot all advice and have started an amp notebook,and I'll continue learning.

Jrixn1 Thankyou- that is an interesting alternative and I hadnt thought of it at all.

I think I remember reading an interview with Jimmy Johnson saying that he did that at one stage.

Thankyou Mcnach that has put the cat among the pidgeons! The specs are great, and they're really reasonably priced. Could get a new one for the same as the BBII used i have seen

Hi Mario- yes it is worth keeping in mind. To be honest , I know there's no one sound/tone -there were and are hundreds, on all the classic records.

Being extremely careful  what terminology i use here-I just look for a useable fairly loud and round sound!

Thanks all.

46 minutes ago, itu said:

I was working in a broadcasting company long ago. I had the chance to use some high end equipment then. I opened my then MG Quantum SPi 5 custom. She had triple (neck) and double (bridge) coil bartolinis which I decided to analyze.

 

With the system (I think it was Philips or Rohde & Schwarz, but anyway something that cost awfully lot!) I measured 50 Hz - 10 kHz. The -6dB limit was already passed at 1 kHz, and from 2kHz the response went down really quickly. At 6 kHz the signal was 25 dB (!) less than at 50 Hz depending on the coil.

 

If your amp is capable of boosting 5 kHz surroundings by 15 dB, there will be something, maybe. On the other hand: is it feasible to go to the g-word and keys territory? I try to avoid that area, because there simply is not too much space there. Bass is a low frequency instrument, we are filling lows. Mark King may disagree, but he is an exception.

Thankyou thats most interesting.

The treble is just off with the gig i do now,but I also play jazz basses set up to be as 'clattery' and zingy as possible (think Geddy Lee or Chris Squire), and the highest 'zings' of brand new steel roundwounds is what I would be trying to emphasise when using the fb in that way.

However I realise I would probably need additional tweeters to go with a BBII for that kind of stuff. 

11 hours ago, alexa3020 said:

@Marcus Cornallsounds 

Apologies.Bill, but there is something wrong with the quote button my end,but to answer you,

Thankyou yet again for describing something to me in a way I hadnt had it before

And I stand corrected because you obviously know exactly what you are talking about,so I humbly and sincerely bow to your superior knowledge,and thankyou for your time explaining.

I will revise my internal conception and external talk to that of 1st  order harmonics.

And perhaps I should have chose  my word better in the first place and said that that was what I was trying to emulate with my bass sound.

But I am also now aware that when I am going that I am actually dealing with higher orders.

It' a profoundly helpful graph too.

an anecdote that may amuse...

in the late 90s i had the good fortune to get a session  recording job for Producer John Rivers in Leamington.

he had a fantastic studio.

After i had recorded a couple of parts he invited me in to the control room  to listen.

He had two enormous speakers shaped like seashells ,and a massive 48 channel desk,custom made.

He played back a part of mine that was open G,the A and C above it , with some sustained notes and some short.

The weight and purity of the notes was amazing especially the sustained ones.

So much so that I asked him if he had put an octave divider on it.

He  chuckled and said "No son,that's what your instrument (a Ric 4003 ,just neck pickup,tone open) ACTUAL,Y SOUNDS LIKE!!!.

These Nautilus speakers cost half a million pounds each,and the channel you were recorded into - they're custom built and cost 30 thousand each!

The thing is though,you'll never hear it like that again! °

And so far that has sadly been the case  

Dare I ask you two more questions?

1. I am considering an amp containing a tube.I have never had one before. Try not to laugh! 

I didn't have the income for a proper amp before either.

I am considering it because I would like a more 'vintage ' sound,which at the moment is what comes out of my Cort-essentially a rw P bass

But in the near future I may have to go to a 5string,as the band are possibly going to introduce so songs that have 5 string or synth lines.

So the question is- could an amp that is just tube (like the LM Vintage) cope alright with an active 35" scale bass with humbuckers,and stay clean if  the gain isn't pushed too far? Or should I go SS to futureproof?

2.first ,to try to give you an idea,as that's all I can really do,of how 'loud' I am at gigs-

We usually play to rooms around 500 capacity, but sometimes nearer 1000.

They're indoor. The only monitors are for the vocalists,and the guitarist and keyboard player are not overly loud with their amps on stage.

Its loud enough onstage that although I do get some of the actual drums and hat by standing next to him but get (and need) the sound of the kit from the drummers  monitor.

My current amp gives 475 w at 4 ohms ,which I was told the cab was (no specs anywhere!!) And that its 200w 15in speaker.

At a typical gig i have it gain around 11 o clock,vol around 1 or two o clock.with low almost fully up,mid swept to lowest (200hz) and up to tenor eleven o clock.treble off. Any more than that and the cone starts to 'fart'.

I  dont need it any louder, but would like more weight/low ,just for me and the others to feel onstage.

I know that's not an exact enough explanation, it's all i can do. 

Question 2  is ...what size of wattage of amp would you use with a BB II in those circs?

Disclaimer- its still my responsibility ! You're just giving advice .But despite trying hard to understand, I still don't enough to decide the amp power.

Its because you very kindly credit me with more conceptual and electical understanding than I actually have in think

The thing is ,everyone said Barfaced,and I know from you that a BBII would be more than enough as a cab,and I can get one used.

So I am working backwards from that.

And I'm post (failed) spinal fusion,and really need to replace my rig ASAP.

And you have been so good, and helped so much,and have deep knowledge of the subject.(no pun intended ) 

RESPECT ,as we say in Reggae circles, and very sincerely and genuinely meant,Sir.

5 hours ago, alexa3020 said:

@Marcus Cornallsounds like you are at the start of a journey most of us have been through (and are still on). I certainly didn't get it right first time and I'm guessing it's the same for many others.

I think some excellent advice here, particularly from Bill. I think the most important thing is to trust your ears and go and listen/play through some of these cabs.

I bought some high end cabs and on paper they were perfect (and others absolutely love them), but I really didn't like them. I ended up with cabs at a fraction of the price and I'm pretty pleased with them.

Of the cabs I tried, the Aguilar dB range seemed to go pretty low. They are heavy, but they do have a lightweight range - I haven't tried those yet. I've always found the markbass stuff pretty good too.

Thankyou ,and yes I have only just realised the size of that journey too! 

It's good advice to try cabs,but there aren't going to be BBs anywhere here.

There was a general consensus that that cab,or Barefaced ones,are the best bet for the type of thing I do.

But yes,I am  to try others locally.

I may have somewhat unusual desires for my sound too- I spent yrs doing synthesis,breakbeat and D n B, and I routinely operated with sine or Square waves between 10 and 40 hz as basslines.heard through some stunning high end systems.

I fell in love with the sub register,and my Reggae bass taste personally is to sound as purely 'fundamental only' as possible, a bit like hearing and feeling it through the wall from next door's party. 

People say you can't hear things that low.

You hear it with your whole body! But you can hear those freqs.i can anyway.

I have to dial in more than those freqs of course,otherwise thered be no attack or punch,but I only add just enough to do that.

So I really do desire LOOWWWW more than most bass players would deem necessary. I dont need that to be loud,just powerfully felt.

Seems Barefaced cabs do that better than any other from what people here say.

But I do agree with you...it might theoretically be 'right' ,but it still might not work out for YOU.and you can only really know by trying.

If I got a BBII and for some reason didn't dig it,I could resell it and get what I paid, so I may end up doing that.

There are a couple going online for 700-750 in excellent condition.

8 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Ping as in scratch, dosh, moolah, readies, disposable...

 

I think Mr Bill answered that one already. I wouldn't bother with 1200w myself. 800w would wake the dead. Another 400w would mostly go in heat if it was being used in anger ( after someone blew up your subwoofers ).

Ahahaha! 

In my neck of the woods, 'ping ' is used as a verb,meaning to send someone a pm or text! And Fretmeister had just done so about his ST, so you can see where the confusion arose!!!

And I wasn't going to get an amp that big,but I was reasoning that if I did get a ST ,since they're 1200w, you'd have to put that much in.which probably goes to show I still don't get it yet.but I will do ...or will keep trying . I'm going to reread all that has been said,and once again,I really do appreciate all contributions.(and yes,especially Bill!)

6 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Nope. Omni directional means exactly that. All power in every direction, another reason you need so much power putting into sub frequencies as they spread out everywhere they waste an awful lot of it giving a bass massage to the hotdog stands out the back.

Well theory's one thing.in my experience with this band and this pa (65 gigs so far) I have not FELT the subs on stage.i can hear those frequencies from the PA of course ,but I don't feel the on stage. The stage and the floor the subs rest on are two different levels.SOME may come through the flooring,but is  not the same ..as Bill said..SOME,but not a usable amount 

6 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

All speakers are below the frequency where the baffle is one wavelength across. Above that they shift to directional. As you keep going higher the radiation angle keeps shrinking. Since a wavelength at 100Hz is 3.4 meters it takes a large cluster of subs to be directional.

It depends on how far the backline is from the subs. But by and large if you're getting a lot of output from the subs on the stage it's mostly below the frequencies that your backline cab is producing, the fault of a sound man who doesn't know what he's doing. IME the #1 fault in concert sound today is sound men pushing the bass at lower frequencies and higher levels than they should. I had the pleasure of seeing 'Tower of Power' tonight and the sound man actually got it right. It's a good thing, if he'd turned fabulous funk bass into a boomy unintelligible mess I'd have had no choice but to hogtie him and hijack the board.

Well said ! 3 times I saw Rush here in Birmingham at the NEC,and all 3 times I felt but COULD NOT HEAR Geddy.All boom and no mids.and the kick drum was like a bloody wwi stage mine going off.terribly disappointing as you must imagine .

We run our own PA.Its a Jamaican Reggae band,and we play for dances,so the clientele expect Old School Sound System bass for the night-from DJ and band.So there is a lot of sub bass .But it's perhaps a unique situation- something of a cultural tradition here that goes with the music. 

But we aren't ridiculous with it, and it's a specialist Sound System PA rig.

But I agree that in virtually any other case it is too frequent, and really ruins things .

Re amps- I still don't fully understand ! I have read that the BBII should ideally have 600w put through it to drive it properly.(This from the Barefaced designer himself,via someone on the Barefaced thread mentioned earlier)

So I would need an amp that did 600w at 8 ohms.

That seems to mean I get an 800w ,because some of those give 600 at 8 ohms.

I tried to get that right !

And by saying the subs are in front of the stage,I don't mean at the front on the stage ,I mean in front of and therefore BELOW the stage,and not physically abutting it,so there's no way they can reach us really.

27 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

 

 

Hi @Bill Fitzmaurice

My understanding is that subs are omnidirectional.  So everything under, say, 100Hz will be heard on stage from these huge subs.  In that case, is there any point in any speaker on stage (backline or monitors) reproducing frequencies below 100Hz?

Hi jrixn1 ,

Well,I don't know about their supposed omnidirectuonality.

I would say really i FEEL those freqs as much as hear them,but I certainly  cannot always feel them from our subs,because they are usually not ON the stage but in  front of it on the ground L and R . And being at the back of the stage and near the middle of it, i can be quite far away from them.And even if they are heard (if not felt) it is at a much lower relative volume .I dont use a monitor,so all I hear and /or feel comes from my own cab,and I want and need to have plenty of sub 100hz.

Generally,although I can hear from the stage that to FOH is a lot bigger than my rig,it has no immediacy or detail or presence in ANY part of my frequency range, and the sub frequencies dont reach me any more effectively from the  PA than my mids do ,such as they are,and thats another thing- I use as round and fundamental a tone as poss -full bass,just enough low mid so that you can  hear the a and d as well as the e, and no mid mids,hi mids or treble.-like my amp was down the street and underground but impossibly loud!   and I do whole gigs without ever going as high as the open g string!!! Its heavy roots SO since low is about all I put out,I want to hear it CLOSE to me and BIG ENOUGH

Hi Downunderwonder,

well, I AM deadly grateful to get the ping but it was on an ST, not a BT.

If a BT i would've bought it in seconds flat,except that

its collection only ,I live miles away and have no transport! 

Which unfortunately pretty much tears it. 

The current band I am in has it's own substantial and good quality PA with huge subs.ALthough I would like power in reserve of course! 

And I do have reservations about a cab with no tweeter.Not so much for my current gig,but for others.

And i can get a used BB for £150 less,which can be shipped to me free.

Ideally I would get a BT but can't really run to a new one,since i also have to get  a decent amp.And that's the other thing..if i had a 1200w cab,how big would the amp have to be to drive THAT properly?

Thankyou again so much Bill.That's just educated me anew. You truly know your stuff.

Trouble is ,it keeps showing me new gaps in my understanding,so hope you will forgive that :)😃 

It still seems strange to think I really might need less amp watts than I thought.

But erm, the driver in the BB has a thermal rating of 500w ,so I would need 1000w to have twice as you suggest for headroom.

It would seem that if I ran a 500w into it, giving ,say 350 really (like the Ampeg PF500) it wouldn't be enough then?

I also read about sensitivity on the Barefaced site,and saw how much difference that makes (their driver rating 97db as opposed to 94 dB from the competition ie the other main two neo drivers),and also that apparently having two of their 12s gives 3db more sensitivity than one ,and how that means you can get the same loudness with half the wattage apparently!! 

Brain explosion! But I see why two drivers now.

But it would also seem from what you say,that running ,say a 500w amp actually giving  say 350 into the single BB 12  wouldn't be enough to drive the driver properly then? Or does a better sensitivity allow for this? Am I anywhere nearer getting this?

I am still confused though as to why we need something like a BB and big wattage amp if 125w is theoretically enough for a good dB level?

Is that about how the low frequencies are  projected, or are we all just being Rambos and thinking "MORE POWER" without really listening?

Part of me now still sees a BB or Supertwin and 1000w amp,

But another part thinks why not run a 200w head and cab(s) like an Ampeg mini stack and let the PA do the work.

Do I really need to be as 'louder as I thought onstage?

If at this stage you have had enough and bid me go to 'Amp Camp'  and stop bothering you,do say!

Or just advise which amp size/make would work with a BB if that's easier!!! Seen a used one on Reverb here in UK for a good price, or there's the ST option as Fretmeister has one going .(there are collection  issues ,but bass love will find a way..its just I'd be unsure about going without a tweeter.having that as well would facilitate the other styles I do).

If I have to use a class D ,is it worth pursuing one with a mosfet power supply as opposed to the other type (is it smps?)

8 hours ago, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

No, and for that matter chances are you may never put the full 800 watts into it. The first 100 watts are the most significant, and in most cases you won't put much more than that into it, other than as short transient peaks.

Erm...I dont understand but I feel I need to!

In my ignorance I thought..if it's an 800w 8ohm cab (say,if I get a BB), and so I ought to get an amp that puts as much of that in..thinking that a MB LM800 or 800T might be good since they still give 600w to the cab at 8 ohms.

But from what you have said,would I be equally well off with a 500w amp or even lower?

Seems the extra watts are not as important as I thought.

There's obviously a fundamental thing I don't grasp here.

I considered it a linear thing...the more the watts the 'louder/ 'more'/'better's

Apologies for my ignorance, and please feel free to point me at a site which explains it ,if it's saving you the job of all this 😀 

I still don't know whether to get an ampeg or one of the Markbass ones,or something else,but I need to understand this first!

I nwo suddenly realise I have no idea how "loud" I have been playing !!!!

I am beginning to realise that I know NOTHING about amps and cabs! 

All these yrs I just plugged into the old stuff I had .it made a bass sound.

But then I started pre-internet,then taught for yrs and played through the amps there,or my old stuff,and didn't KNOW all this great lore !(particular thanks yet again Bill Fitzmaurice-learning so much from you)

Heres another dumb question..it seems if I had a BB II and a 1000w amp,most of them give 500-600w to the cab since it has 8 ohm resistance.

So you don't have to put the full 800 into the cab to get the best sound +/ loudest output from it then? 

And I was just getting to which amp....

Thanks Fretmeister for the tip re the AG1000 because that got me thinking about the whole question of eq types and centre frequencies.

I dont fully understand the connotations of the low one being the 40hz of my FB compared with the 60 or 65 of these heads.

There's quite a range of different mid and high mid centre freqs across even just the different Markbass heads now I look.

My FB has a sweepable mid going from 200hz to 2k and I find that really useful for dialling in for different rooms. One thing I would miss with one of these little class D heads.

The hf is only 7khz.No matter for Reggae but slightly limiting for my gritty Jazz bass.

The other thing I would miss is the 'contour' knob on my FB.

It can give a huge round boom esp when combined with the low up full

But alas! The manual enigmatically says that is "a special preset eq" but won't TELL you WHAT!

thanks Bill Fitzmaurice again. That's a small but highly significant piece of info.

Thankyou so much to you all for your input.

I dont know how to respond to individuals,so I'll put it all in this one comment.

Reggaebass thankyou for the initial advice ,and the link to the vid.

Loz196 thanks for the amp idea.in the old days of my tnt130 I didn't think much of Peavey,but the FB changed all that.

Jazzyvee thankyou for the pic.what an awesome rig.(and bass!) And thanks also about your gigs.i will try to make one.(incidentally ,how do I message individuals outside of a topic?-i'll arrange it with you). Its really good to hear a thing in use,and to hear another new-to-me band and fellow player. 

Thanks Fretmeister for the amp idea .

Bill Fitzmaurice thanks so much for the technical explanation,which I was sorley in need of.Knowledge is power, literally in this case!

I've got several amps to look into,but when it comes to cabs there is consensus!

I have started to take in the info on the Barefaced site in order to further my knowledge.

Their cabs are so powerful but so light! It's science fiction ! 

Thanks again all for helping ,and when I have got amp and cab I will report back.

Thankyou Reggaebass for your help. I don't know those items,but will go and check them out online straight away,especially the cab.

Hello everyone! 

This is my first ever post ,but I have read great advice on so many threads here.

Now I am hoping you can help with advice for me.

Sorry if this is long but I have learned it pays to help those trying to help you ,by providing the right info.

I am in a Reggae band ,and have for the past 3 years used my Peavey Firebass 700 going into my cab, an old front ported one which says 'Artiste Professional' on it.a 1x 15 ,which I think is a 300w speaker.i have never had it apart to see what impedance the speaker has.

I'm playing a Cort B2 headless (with flats),as I have a back injury and its very light..It has a split P pickup ,and I play with tone off for the deepest roundest tone I can get.Settings are : low almost full,low mids quarter to halfway,hi mids and treble right off.contour on full 'roundness'.      I LOVE the sound of The Firebass but it is heavy,as is the cab.

I want a light rig but that can still deliver the biggest deepest bottom  end.i do plan to use it to put my other Fender basses through for other styles,and hope for something which will also suit vintage type Fender J tones.

I am thinking this probably means a class D amp? Or could there be a light(er) SS one out there?

I use an Ampeg PF 500 in rehearsals going into a 4x10(unbranded and old),and that delivers more than my own rig,which I sometimes do have to push bit.

But I have also looked at the Little Mark Tube and Vintage amps (although never tried them.-do I need a tube stage for better vintage tone?

I want an amp that adds 'colour' like my SS amp does.The PF seems to do that with the lows.

As for cabs ...PF ? They're light ,but Markbass are even lighter! At what point do you start sacrificing bottom for lightness?

For what I do ,I need to put as much out between 0 and 120 hz as poss.I may also have to use a 5 string soon.

I just ended up with my current rig.I didn't really pay attention to a better one as I never had the money,and didn't gig much for several years.

So I also don't really know about impedance ,despite trying to get it,nor about pairing amps and cabs,nor what the differences are in sound and power between a 4x10 and a 1x15!

ANY advice would be really gratefully recieved,and sorry I am asking a few things at once.

Hello ! Is this bass still for sale ?