best bass combo between £300 and £500

[bonnp]

like the look of the genz benz ctr 500 or the ashdown rootmaster 210 t
any recomendations? i qm into the JJ burnel early sound but thats a bit too narrow, can u give me some choices pls

Edited March 15, 2014 by bonnp

[bagsieblue]

Peavey BAM 210 gets my vote for the best.

A tad big and cumbersome but very very good.

(How's the Ray?)

[bonnp]

thx bib, u know ur stuff i shall have a look, ray is great!!!

[HowieBass]

The Genz Benz Contour combos seem to be very well liked and have been absolute bargains at £299 recently (prices were slashed across the board) but you might struggle to find one new as it's a discontinued product line - Fender's new Rumble range are supposed to have pretty much the same design innards as the Genz Benz units (Fender own Genz Benz) but you'll not benefit from the discounts that many of us happy Contour 500 owners have enjoyed.

[xgsjx]

If you're willing to go 2nd hand, you may get a Markbass combo in budget. There's a few good things 2nd hand.

[Lozz196]

Agree re Genz, if you can source one for that money they look to be real bargains. Also agree re Markbass, there are a couple on here at present, around the £500ish bracket. Quality gear, great tone, great volume, and easily portable.

[Myke]

[quote name='bagsieblue' timestamp='1394921534' post='2396819']
Peavey BAM 210 gets my vote for the best.

A tad big and cumbersome but very very good.

(How's the Ray?)
[/quote]

One like this?

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/232326-peavey-bam-l350/page__pid__2397715#entry2397715

[Fionn]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1394964990' post='2397078']
Agree re Genz, if you can source one for that money they look to be real bargains. Also agree re Markbass, there are a couple on here at present, around the £500ish bracket. Quality gear, great tone, great volume, and easily portable.
[/quote]

Everything he said

[bonnp]

thanks guys

[Gaslion]

Warwick BC series are great. Own the BC20 abd BC300 and i prefer Warwick than MarkBass, sound more clear.

[JTUK]

For pure quality but without consideration to the sound you want...I would look at s/h
Markbass 102 and SWR Redhead.

Accept they may be a bit too clean but the QC would trump that IMV.

[edward]

I will only use a bass combo that has the controls on the top. I play double bass almost exclusively so anything wi' t'knobs at the front am no damned good. I bought a Roland 100 watt cube a few years ago and its a good 'un. If I need to make a thunderous din I can plug in a larger cab, in my case a great hulking Fender 2x12 plus horn from a redundant pa and that is mucho whompharama.
The Roland has all the knobs fx and flashing lights etc and is in my humble giggin' opinion a light reliable versatile wee box of goodness. You might also consider an old Peavey tnt combo. I had one for 20 years and it never failed. I bought a new Ampeg B115 in 1974. It blew its speakers until I put a Fane in the brute. It died of terminal output disease in about 1990. Before that a Selmer Treble and bass driving a Goliath 18'' cab. Now I prefer to play without the body building workout before and after every gig. moral of the tale? Buy something that is not quite new that has only seen bedroom use, plenty cheap and run in. Ed.

[bonnp]

thanks guys, still looking!

[Japhet]

I'd head straight for the For Sale section and snap up the Tecamp Puma 2x12 that's on there! A bit over budget but a real quality bit of kit.

[Weststarx]

I've always used Laney amplifiers.

When I first joined a band my dad gave me this big old huge laney 4x10 combo which is older than me (I'm 21) and to this day its the best amp we've both used (He's using a trace elliot rig now), but as its older than old I thought it'd be best not risk using it in a gig incase it breaks down - Eventhough it never has!

So I went and recenly brought a Laney Cab and Head (which i've linked below) for £500 altogether and it is absolutely awesome - lighter to carry as well.

I know you're asking for combo amps but if you can afford £500ish i would highley reccommend this Laney rig...

Laney RB9 Head - 300 Watt
[url="http://www.laney.co.uk/products/product_details/128"]http://www.laney.co.uk/products/product_details/128[/url]


Laney 4x10 Cabinet
[url="http://www.laney.co.uk/products/product_details/123"]http://www.laney.co.uk/products/product_details/123[/url]


Thats my set up.. and I am seriously pleased with it for the money.

[TheGreek]

If you can find an EBS Gorm combo (should be in your price range) I can guarantee you'll be hard pushed to find a better tone - trouble is finding one...IIRC Bass Gear has one before Xmas - check with Molan to see if they still have it..

[goblin]

I really like Peterson combos, not so easy to get hold of nowadays but they sound great. I use my dads a lot, and it sounds great. Punchy, easy to use and I've not yet had a sound I don't like out of it.

[krispn]

What sort of volume do you need and is it a combo you need due to limited space/transport considerations?

Loads of great head/cab options 2nd hand that you're potentially missing out on. If weight size aint an issue old Trace combo's are great for the money and will have all the eq'ing you'd need to get a heap of tone options!!

Edited April 1, 2014 by krispn

[Sharkfinger]

I wouldn't mind some advice on this, as I might be in a similar boat as the OP. Looking for a combo to downsize from my TE head / BF Big Twin. Need something that can keep up with a fairly noisy rock band with 2 guitards and a loud drummer. Sounds like a lot to ask.

Ideally something 25KG or under and physically smaller than my BF cab.

Looking to go in-ear for my monitoring, so mainly for FOH and the lower register stuff on-stage.

Hope that makes sense and sorry if I'm thread-jacking.

Edit: Those GB combos are getting quite hard to find, so it looks like a shoot-out between the GB contour (if I can find one), the Fender Rumble 500 (V3) and the Ashdown RM-MAG-C210T.

Edited April 3, 2014 by Sharkfinger

[Horizontalste]

I use a contour in a loud rock band & I find I have to crank it to keep up. It's loud enough but just lacking the headroom if you know what I mean. The limiter was lighting up more than I would of liked but if you compress your signal a bit it sorts that out. You could add the extension cab & it's a completely different animal then but defeats the object somewhat.

[Sharkfinger]

[quote name='Horizontalste' timestamp='1396539582' post='2414869']
I use a contour in a loud rock band & I find I have to crank it to keep up. It's loud enough but just lacking the headroom if you know what I mean. The limiter was lighting up more than I would of liked but if you compress your signal a bit it sorts that out. You could add the extension cab & it's a completely different animal then but defeats the object somewhat.
[/quote]
Sounds like it's going full pelt to keep up. Not ideal. Seeing as the Fender Rumble V3 is based on the contour (correct me if I'm wrong), it may be prone to the same thing. That leaves the ashdown.

Perhaps I should be looking at one without a switched mode power supply, maybe that's the problem.

[Horizontalste]

[quote name='Sharkfinger' timestamp='1396555810' post='2415145']

Sounds like it's going full pelt to keep up. Not ideal. Seeing as the Fender Rumble V3 is based on the contour (correct me if I'm wrong), it may be prone to the same thing. That leaves the ashdown.

Perhaps I should be looking at one without a switched mode power supply, maybe that's the problem.
[/quote]

I didn't mean to sound negative about it, in fact I love the tone and portability of it and it serves me well and I'm keeping it. Just try one if you can.

[HowieBass]

I think the Ashdown puts out 350 watts, not sure if you have the option of an additional external cab; the Genz Benz Contour 500 is 300 watts (500 with extension cab); the Fender 500 V3 is 350 watts (500 with extension cab).