New Amp To Match My Cabs...

[BeckyBass]

Apologies if this topic is more suited to the "Items Wanted" section - but I'm not exactly sure what I want yet and would like some advice! Please move the topic if necessary.

I currently use an SWR WorkingPro 400 head with 2 2x10 and 1 1x15 cabs (not all at the same time though!)... But I'm looking for a head that isn't SWR that I can use with the same cabs - I can't afford to change them all and I quite like having small, light cabs that I can mix and match.

All the cabs run 200W at 8 ohms. Does anyone know of other heads that would match this impedance? Or even better, does anyone know someone who is selling a head that would work with this setup? I'm pretty skint so would like to buy second hand.


All tips and advice for where to look and what else to look out for are very welcome... This is my first post on this board but I hope to stick around. Cheers!

[Evil Undead]

I have no answers, but welcome!

[fretmeister]

Hello!

What bass are you using?
What sound are you looking for / influences / music played?
Do you have a budget in mind?

It seems like any pair of your cabs will cause a rating of 400W with a 4ohm total load. So there are plenty of heads to use.

My current favourite is the Genz Benz Streamliner. Small and light and a nice valvy tone.

Mark Bass Little Mark 2 or 3 would be good too, the mk2 are available used for a good price now

Hartke LH500 has loads of clean headroom and is cheap as chips. No grit / drive at all though with that.


The more info you can give, the better we can help.

[chris_b]

All amps will work with 8 ohm cabs.

What's wrong with the SWR head?

What's your budget?

There's a Puma 350 in the FS section, or you could look at the Aguilar Tonehammer TH350.

[BeckyBass]

Thank you for the responses already! I use a Rickenbacker... I mostly play rock and metal but do a lot of function gigs also doing pop and funk so an adaptable amp is required, I don't really have a sound or influence in mind!

My budget is around £400, possibly £500 max at a push - but if I can get something of good quality for less than that, that would be wicked! I'm probably asking for too much, but that's why I'm definately looking at second hand gear.

Would it change much if I used just one cab? I have found for most shows that just one is more than enough (usually got a lot of other gear in the car too!) so would most amps be ok to run through just one cab? (I have read many conflicting things about impedance, I have no idea what to believe).


My SWR head has been muting itself at seemingly random intervals... I've had a few different people look at it and they couldn't find any problems so I think it's time to move on! The past few months of gigs have been ok but I am worried that it will happen again at the worst possible time.


But thank you to everyone so far who have made some suggestions, I will have a good look around! Cheers!

[fretmeister]

Any 1 of your cabs will give an 8ohm load. Any 2 will give a 4ohm load.

The difference is that when the cabs have a higher impedance the amp will be a little bit quieter for any given settings - so More cabs = lower impedence = a bit louder.

As your cabs are 200W rating or 400W with both you couldn't crank many modern amps all the way up, so you'd have to be sensible on the volume control of a higher powered amp. Not a big deal though. My cabs have a total handling of 700W and I use a 900W head.

Your budget is plenty for a good choice.

If I was you, I'd look at this Streamliner 600 : [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/214165-fs-genz-benz-streamliner-600/"]http://basschat.co.u...treamliner-600/[/url]


Vid review of the 900W version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-27szg61bw


The Streamliner is my weapon of choice, It's a great amp and weighs next to nothing.

Edited March 24, 2014 by icastle
Link fixed.

[Merton]

Welcome!

Plus 1 for the Streamliner, heard one last night at gig volumes for the first time and it was astonishingly lovely. I really rate my Gallien Krueger MB Fusion too but not sure if there are any 2nd hand right now...

Nice Ricky btw

[Lozz196]

For an adaptable versatile amp, I`d look at TC Electronics, the RH450 or Classic 450.

For a warm thick sounding amp, Aguilar Tonehammer or Genz Benz Streamliner.

For a clear yet warm in the mix amp, Markbass Little Mark.

For clean and aggressive, Gallien Krueger MB range.

All within your budget. But the best thing I`d recommend is go and see a few bands locally, and when you hear a bassists tone you love, see what amp they are using. That`s how I ended up with Markbass - every time I saw a band & liked the bassists tone, invariably it was a Markbass rig.

Ears hearing the bass in the mix is a good way to decide.

[iceonaboy]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1376050639' post='2169018']
Hello!

What bass are you using?

[/quote]

you ARE joking surely? I mean BOTH pictures on the OP's post have Ricks

[fretmeister]

[quote name='iceonaboy' timestamp='1376071715' post='2169442']


you ARE joking surely? I mean BOTH pictures on the OP's post have Ricks
[/quote]

And mine is a QR code, but I don't play electronica.

The pics could have been aspirational rather than something she owned.

I don't like to assume.

[BeckyBass]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1376059424' post='2169179']
Any 1 of your cabs will give an 8ohm load. Any 2 will give a 4ohm load.

The difference is that when the cabs have a higher impedance the amp will be a little bit quieter for any given settings - so More cabs = lower impedence = a bit louder.

As your cabs are 200W rating or 400W with both you couldn't crank many modern amps all the way up, so you'd have to be sensible on the volume control of a higher powered amp. Not a big deal though. My cabs have a total handling of 700W and I use a 900W head.
[/quote]

Little bit nervous about potentially breaking my cabs... I blew a speaker last year and I guess because SWR are a relatively small company it was a mission to get the right stuff to fix it. I don't really want to be worrying about hurting my gear during a loud gig. But thanks for expanding on how it all works... I might look around for a 500W amp so I wont need to worry much about driving my cabs too hard, then when (/if I ever) have some more money I can invest in some cabs that can take more abuse. Does that make sense or is that a science that only works inside my head?

[Lozz196]

Thing is, if for example, you bought a 500 watt Markbass Little Mark, and connected both speakers up, if you ran that rig on full, I think your ears would explode before your cabs. These little 500 watt Class D amps are incredibly loud - I`ve had a good few of them, and in a punk band doing noisy punk classics, I`ve rarely had to go above 3 on volume, 4 if playing a very big stage.

As with any cabs, use your ears to determine if they are being pushed, but I would doubt you`d need to push them to their handling capacity.

[nottswarwick]

Yeah, 500 watts will be ample, I am sure, even if you are doing big rooms and without PA support. I often use my LM3 at 350w into one 8 ohm cab, and also my GK mb200 which only gives out about 140w into one 8 ohm cab, and both are loud.

[Dood]

Hey ya Becky! Great to see ya here

[xgsjx]

The best thing to do is use your ears when looking for & using an amp.
The amp that matches your cab is the one you like the sound of the most.
How loud it's gonna be is determined by the sensitivity of your cabs. If you're running out of volume, back off on the lower frequencies & you'll be able to increase the overall volume.

Have fun trying out amps, I did.

[Stealth]

I play a rick for rock and metal through an TC RH head. It the nuts very adaptable as clean as dirty as you like. Built in tuner too and built very well.

3 prgramable sounds i setup Pic / Grind / Dirty

Always poping up second hand here

Your welcome to try mine ?

[BassTractor]

I fully agree with Evil Undead.

best,
bert

[Conan]

[quote name='BeckyBass' timestamp='1376132355' post='2170004']
Little bit nervous about potentially breaking my cabs...
[/quote]

If you run a 500W head through them, with every control on full, then this is a genuine risk... but when would you ever need to do that?!?

Presumably you get enough volume with your current set up? As you talk about only needing one cab on some gigs, I would assume this to be the case.

500W seems to be kind of the "industry standard" at the moment. However, some manufacturer's ratings are pretty unreliable and, added to that, the power rating is not necessarily a good indication of volume! It gets really complicated - which is why the best advice is to use your ears!

If you have a taste for technical stuff, have a read of this: [url="http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information/understanding-power-handling.htm"]http://barefacedbass...er-handling.htm[/url] and this: [url="http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information/mythbusters1.htm"]http://barefacedbass.com/technical-information/mythbusters1.htm[/url]

At the £400-500 price point (second hand) you have loads of choice. If it was me, I would look at a Hartke LH500 or even LH1000. Loads of clean, clear power. More volume than you will ever need. If you need some dirt/grit/drive you can always add a decent processor (SansAmp type of thing) with the rest of your budget. A used LH500 will usually be around £200.

Good luck!

Edited August 13, 2013 by Conan