Hybrid Bass Head help and options

[TBBassist2011]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if you could all give me some opinions and information on a couple of heads and your personal preferences.
I'm looking at getting a 550w+ hybrid head at Christmas and cab at Christmas as my first head and cab, upgrading from a 300w combo that I'm having a couple problems with, with a price range of about £300-£400 for the head.

At the moment I'm between the Ashdown 550 Spyder and a Hartke LH-1000 and wondered if anyone had any personal experience with these heads at all, what cabs work well with them and what sort of performance/tone/versatility you can get out of them. Personally, I'm a prominently slap/funk player and in a rock/funk band currently and want an amp that would suit this sort of playing.

If anyone has any other suggestions, they are highly welcomed.

Many Thanks, Nick.

[domjohnson]

Also in a similar situation, but also considering the SS heads TC BH250 and Ashdown's Little Giant. The (330) Spyder is going for £250 from GAK with a free multiband compressor though (anyone know how long these deals last for?)

Edited November 19, 2012 by domjohnson

[Mr. Foxen]

Do you need much eq to get your sound?

[domjohnson]

For me, this'll be my first amp - I have a broad feeling of the sound I like (generally a warm sound, but not boomy), but have only used 2 other amps so far, both very low power (30W and 65W Marshall and Laney respectively). It would be nice to be able to dial in a kind of dub bass tone from time to time (i.e, very, [b]very[/b] little mids and highs) but generally I don't use huge extremes, if that makes sense? It would be nice also to have some versatility, but also need to be able to quickly change on stage - a huge 10 band EQ probably wouldn't be great for me, methinks.

My budget is also a bit smaller - £200 to £250. 300 absolute tops.

Edited November 17, 2012 by domjohnson

[Mr. Foxen]

Valve eq are pretty limited in sweep, so you can spin the knobs and not stray too far from a sensible sound. From knob positions they'll look like a lot of eq, but because flat isn't in the middle, it tends not to be.

But, if its first rig, the cab is vastly more important than the amp, because they are a major limiting factor in your sound, loads of eq tends to be to compensate for the deficiencies of a cab.

[domjohnson]

How come flat isn't in the middle? Is there a general rule as to what "flat" is? Is it quite a way away or near the middle (just intrigued).

And I have my cab already - Peavey TX410. I'm pretty much set on the Ashdown 330, too. Tried it out in guitar shop the other day, its beautiful.

The only thing was, I couldn't get that kind of dub sound (although, as there are so many variables, perhaps I might if I have more time) - if I did choose, one day, to play bass in a reggae band, could I use an EQ pedal, or would this spoil the 'tube' sound?

Edited November 19, 2012 by domjohnson

[barkin]

Google "Fender tone stack". The Hartke LH amps have a scooped eq with all knobs set the same. Flat is someting like bass=3, mid=9, treble=3.
At first glance it doesn't seem very versatile, but the controls are somewhat interactive (eg to boost the mids, back of the bass & treble and crank the volume) and changing one knob can make quite a difference to what the others do.

Don't know if that helps...but I do find the "lack" of EQ controls quite liberating - it's almost impossible to get a bad sound, and consequently spend less time fiddling and more time just playing.

I find my Lh500 to be a very nice sounding amp, if you like a very clean, warm tubey sound . It is VERY clean though - You'd need a pedal if you want even the slightest hint of dirt or grind, IME,

And it goes stupid loud