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My bass head isn’t quite doing it for me...


iain_psb

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Evening all,

i have this niggling issue around my bass head. It’s a TH500 and it’s great. I run it through a barefaced super twin. 

I play in a green day tribute band and it doesn’t have that high end that I really want. I’m not sure if it’s the head or the cab. 

When I borrowed a friends orange terror bass head I absolutely loved it and I’ve never got close to that since. 

Should I consider a hybrid head? If so which one? Should I stop being a Richard and get on with it?

please help!

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The problem I found is getting all the contenders together in one room. I managed to do that at Drew’s Great British Bass Lounge, before it changed hands, and  ended up buying 2 x Tech 21 VT500s. They’re great. I’m actually considering selling the spare (never used) to help fund another bass as most of the time I use a VT Pedal and no back line live, so my amp is mostly used at home. I’ve tried many of the Class D heads (including the Orange) and I like the VT500 best.

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I love my 1000w Orange TB, I tried a few and it was the one for me. If you like it then keep an eye out for one and try a few others if you can. Nothing else I tried mixed the clean sound I wanted with the perfect growl the TB gives. I did change the valves for AT7s just to tweak the sound a little to suit my taste even better.

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Sounds like you're looking for an amp that goes higher. GK amps do that. The Mesa D800+ and Aguilar AG700 do too.

I run an AG700, which I like a lot, but if you have tried the Orange and like it that much, why would you want anything else. That's what you should get. 

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19 hours ago, 4000 said:

The problem I found is getting all the contenders together in one room. I managed to do that at Drew’s Great British Bass Lounge, before it changed hands, and  ended up buying 2 x Tech 21 VT500s. They’re great. I’m actually considering selling the spare (never used) to help fund another bass as most of the time I use a VT Pedal and no back line live, so my amp is mostly used at home. I’ve tried many of the Class D heads (including the Orange) and I like the VT500 best.

I've read some good stuff about the Tech 21 heads.

Got me quite curious, as to if you can really get that extra crunch without running a pre-amp. Usable crunch, rather than flat-out distortion.

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Ive got one of these, it’s great for low gain crunch, I keep my amp slightly fuzzy as the main sound all the time. I still use a few different fuzzes/overdrives for different textures. It’s a really versatile head and not crazy money. 

Edited by jonno1981
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21 hours ago, iain_psb said:

Evening all,

i have this niggling issue around my bass head. It’s a TH500 and it’s great. I run it through a barefaced super twin. 

I play in a green day tribute band and it doesn’t have that high end that I really want. I’m not sure if it’s the head or the cab. 

When I borrowed a friends orange terror bass head I absolutely loved it and I’ve never got close to that since. 

Should I consider a hybrid head? If so which one? Should I stop being a Richard and get on with it?

please help!

If you used the Terror with your own bass and own cab and loved it, getting one has to be the answer.

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On 06/07/2018 at 17:33, spongebob said:

I've read some good stuff about the Tech 21 heads.

Got me quite curious, as to if you can really get that extra crunch without running a pre-amp. Usable crunch, rather than flat-out distortion.

My go to sound is in Machinehead-era Roger Glover or Chris Squire territory (although typically a little less trebly than Chris). It’s great for that sort of thing and, at least for me, does it far better than anything else I’ve heard/tried. I don’t use full-on distortion at all.

Edited by 4000
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Hi lads, cheers for all the responses. Seriously considering binning off my Aguilar for one of the tech21 heads. Also fancy changing my cab out for something with a bit more bite. The barefaced supertwin is beautiful but it’s such a flat response and I barely get my amp above 9 o’clock in most gigs I play! Decisions, decisions!

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On 05/07/2018 at 20:59, iain_psb said:

I’m not sure if it’s the head or the cab. 

 

6 hours ago, chris_b said:

Change one thing at a time.

Good advice. Change both at the same time and you will never know which one was the problem. I had a TH500 for a while and found it a bit "dark" (i.e. lacking in real top end). I was also running it with a Barefaced cab (and old Big One) and the combination was not great.

As others have said, if you like the Orange - get one! It might be perfect with the BF cab :)

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On 05/07/2018 at 20:59, iain_psb said:

 

When I borrowed a friends orange terror bass head I absolutely loved it and I’ve never got close to that since. 

 

 

On 05/07/2018 at 21:06, 4000 said:

Without wishing to state the obvious, why not get an Orange?

 

On 05/07/2018 at 21:54, Jazzjames said:

If you like the terror bass, get one! I think they’re cool.

 

On 05/07/2018 at 22:10, T-Bay said:

I love my 1000w Orange TB, I tried a few and it was the one for me. If you like it then keep an eye out for one and try a few others if you can. Nothing else I tried mixed the clean sound I wanted with the perfect growl the TB gives. I did change the valves for AT7s just to tweak the sound a little to suit my taste even better.

 

On 06/07/2018 at 18:20, Lozz196 said:

If you used the Terror with your own bass and own cab and loved it, getting one has to be the answer.

Surely this is the answer?  

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Just sayin’ but...

 

2x12 TB combo up in the for sale now. Will give you the sound you want, all compact and give you readies left over for what I’m asking if you moved on you TH and BF... 😬😬😬

 

In all seriousness though, the TBs are great and do ‘that’ Orange tone beautifully. Had it not been for the pull back to Ashdown I wouldn’t be moving mine on. If you decide to go just for the head they (the 500w) seem to be cropping up on FB groups a fair bit lately for £300-£350...

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