Modern Rig for 70's Rock?

[Pirellithecat]

Hi, 

Anyone moved to a lightweight Bass Rig which excels at that 70's Rock /Rhythm and Blues sound (Ten Years After/Alvin Lee, Early Jeff Beck, Robin Trower, and all that 70's guitar led stuff).   I'm looking for a solution which has the "thump" I want, allows the notes to be heard (Leo Lyons), but doesn't do that smile thing where there's no mids and a clanckey top end.   Using a P Bass. 

It might be that I just need to work at it a bit more with my current  (new) rig, add something or change something and will experiment more.  However, I thought I'd see what those more experienced than me might suggest. 

So rather than say what I currently have I'd be interested to find out what others use for this type of sound.

Cheers all

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[la bam]

If by lightweight you mean class d or under 10kg, for me, it's a quilter bb800 and add a helix stomp (or something like a vt pedal) if required.

Literally any sound you want. With heft and only about 5kg.

[hooky_lowdown]

Fender rumble 500 v3. Punchy as hell and lightweight. 👍

[Lozz196]

Yep, Fender Rumble, Ashdown RM, Ampeg PF will all get there nicely. For a few more quids add in Aguilar Tonehammer and SL cabs.

[Pirellithecat]

Thanks.

I think "lightweight" means cabs less than 25kg (or 2 smaller ones) and for the amp, I'd rather not limit myself to D class so up to 15kg ish ........... if that makes sense?

In terms of power I'd rather have a bit (lot?) of headroom so amp cabs - which rate at the 500/600W region at 4 Ohm.

But really it's a genuine enquiry as to what works for this kind of music based on fellow basschatter's experience.

I'd prefer separates to a combo I think .......

[Muppet]

I'm using an Ashdown EVO IV ABM 600 in to a Barefaced Super Twin for this type of music. With a Precision. Sounds brilliant. 

 

 

[Burns-bass]

I'd recommend the Aguilar stuff. 

Given the guys in the 70s would all have been using valves, you could look into a valve pedal. When I was playing a lot of 70s rock stuff (festivals, tours with a few of the names...) I used to use a Sansamp Bass Driver DI which was a great piece of kit. I also had a DHA too which was great. 

[Paul S]

Another Quilter BB800 fan here.  I've started using mine in preference to the Trace Elliot heads I have as it is just so easy to shift about and set up.  Put it through a Barefaced Supercompact and it has, er, heft.  The gain on these is useful because you can control the breakup point very nicely to reach that 'overdriven but not distorted' vibe.

[thodrik]

To be fair, any number of different combinations would work for 70s rock. 

In terms of the mainstream brands. Geezer Butler has been using Ashdown stuff for a while (with a Lakland P-bass no less). Roger Glover used TC Electronic for years. Orange has really been trying to capture that 'modern' 70s rock revivalists with a slightly retro vibe (I think Glenn Hughes endorses them). Fender Rumble stuff is good too. The new Gallien Krueger Legacy series heads look really nice as well. 

For the 'plug your own gear' part of the post, for 70s rock tones I love my old Mesa Walkabout. It is 'only' 300 watts so there is limited headroom compared to a 600 watt amp. However from owning a 600 watt amp, I discovered I really didn't need that much headroom anyway. The 'kinda' new version of the Walkabout is the Mesa WD800 and it will cover similar tones to the Walkabout but with a lot more headroom and capability for tonal variation. It will hurt your wallet at £1300 though (don't even look at the price of the matching Mesa cabs...). 

[Skybone]

Or.....

A reasonably priced amp (Ashdown 300 2x10 combo, for example), and an amp modeling preamp.

[jacko]

My hard rock band are happy for me to use my markbass LM800 and 1x12 traveller at very small gigs and rehearsals. Easy enough to get a good SVt /Mesa style sound by tweaking the VLE and VPF knobs along with the standard bass-mid-treble controls.

[artisan]

I play classic Sabbath tunes in my main band & general classic rock covers in my second band.

I find my Darkglass MT900  into a Markbass NY212 cab is just the job with with either my P or J bass.

I do add a little dirt with a Sansamp YYZ pedal though.

Loud as hell,punchy & very easy to carry around.

 

Edited September 17, 2019 by artisan

[EliasMooseblaster]

You can go all-valve without breaking your back these days. Depends on the size of the gigs you're playing of course, but if you're in small-ish venues, or have good PA support, there are always options like the Ashdown CTM-30 / Little Bastard / Little Stubby. They go a surprisingly long way with a well-voiced 2x10 or 2x12.

Or if you need more power, go hybrid: Orange do the Terror Bass, or you might be able to get a second-hand Mesa/Boogie Carbine - both of these are tube preamps with a transister power stage.

[Pirellithecat]

Thanks everyone,

As a main rig, I'm a bit reluctant to go full valve, - a bit of valveyness in the pre would be fine.

Something like the Little Bastard sounds like fun for jams and home use though.

In terms of cabs, I have a pair of Vanderkley 112EXT's, which I very much like for practice, but they seem a bit "modern" when used in anger.

I see there's a thread discussing Barefaced 10's and I have just bought a BB2 - so far, I'm not sure about it - plenty of low bass, but a little missing in the middle so there's punch, but maybe not the distinct note information (is that "Mids"?) that I'd like.   Used it on Saturday, but paired it up with one of the EXT112's - much better!! (no "tweeters" turned on) And out front it sounded good, but on stage ..... not so sure.  However, it's new and it certainly improved over the evening and back home.   It was used by three bass players over the evening so was on the go for around 6 hours.

So I guess one of the questions is whether it's likely I'll end up liking the BB2 on its own or will need to augment it with something or move it along in due course.  Does anyone have experience of using a Barefaced BB2 with a second BB2 or Super Compact/Midget??

Hey Ho!

[wateroftyne]

HandBox WB-100. 120 watts of valve heft - yes, heft - in a small, relatively lightweight box.

[Defo]

Don't like it personally but Aguilar stuff is made for this circumstance 

[4000]

I a/b’d various class Ds (inc Aguilar) and chose the Tech 21 VT500 and Barefaced One10 (although you may need more cab-wise). The One10, Two10 etc are “vintage” voiced (i.e. sound more like old school cabs), and the VT is very flexible. I liked them so much I bought 2! I also have a VT Bass DI which I use a lot. 

[Guest MoJo]

On 16/09/2019 at 12:24, hooky_lowdown said:

Punchy as hell

 

On 17/09/2019 at 14:37, artisan said:

Loud as hell.

I'm confused. Is hell 'punchy' or 'loud'? I need to know before I get there

Another vote for the Fender Rumble 500v3, grinds up nicely and is loud/punchy enough for any hellbound gig

[Jack]

If you've already got that nice Vanderkley rig then just stick a Sansamp in front of it. If you simply have to buy new gear for that genre specifically it'd certainly be a Handbox head into a BF Six10 for me.

[JPJ]

I’ll throw in a vote for the Orange Bass Terror here, or the newer OB-1’s. Both a pretty much one trick ponies but it’s a hell of a trick and both cover that 70’s rock sound beautifully to my ears.

[stewblack]

7 hours ago, JPJ said:

I’ll throw in a vote for the Orange Bass Terror here, or the newer OB-1’s. Both a pretty much one trick ponies but it’s a hell of a trick and both cover that 70’s rock sound beautifully to my ears.

Yep ☝️

I used an Orange Terror through a couple of Markbass 1X15  cabs for this sound. 

Punch, heft, loudness, grind, volume, definition, thump and all the other words. 

I now use Ashdown CTM 100 through Barefaced Compacts, but (and I know this is a horribly controversial opinion around here) for 70s rock I absolutely preferred the Markbass cabs. 

[EliasMooseblaster]

2 hours ago, stewblack said:

I now use Ashdown CTM 100 through Barefaced Compacts, but (and I know this is a horribly controversial opinion around here) for 70s rock I absolutely preferred the Markbass cabs. 

*grabs "Controversy" control and dials it right up*

Is the amp or the cab going to be more crucial to getting the "right" sound? 

I'm not going to pretend that cab voicing and driver combinations don't make a difference; having tried a few, I'm very aware that they do. But if we're talking about amps which really colour the tone of your guitar (and for a '70s rock sound, we surely are), then I wonder if the choice of amp is going to be more important.

As a fellow Ashdown CTM junkie, I feel like the character of those amps was still shining through, whether I was playing through my cheap Laney 1x15 conversion, or my Berg 2x12. There's no doubt the speakers make a massive difference to the tone, but I would have EQ'ed differently for each cab, and I don't think I ever lost the amp's voice as a result.

This is my opinion at 09.29 on Friday, anyway. Wait until I've had some coffee and there's a chance I'll change my mind completely...

[Raggy]

9 hours ago, JPJ said:

I’ll throw in a vote for the Orange Bass Terror here, or the newer OB-1’s. Both a pretty much one trick ponies but it’s a hell of a trick and both cover that 70’s rock sound beautifully to my ears.

Going to add the Orange Four Stroke to this, very flexible.

[stewblack]

On 20/09/2019 at 09:29, EliasMooseblaster said:

*grabs "Controversy" control and dials it right up*

Is the amp or the cab going to be more crucial to getting the "right" sound? 

I'm not going to pretend that cab voicing and driver combinations don't make a difference; having tried a few, I'm very aware that they do. But if we're talking about amps which really colour the tone of your guitar (and for a '70s rock sound, we surely are), then I wonder if the choice of amp is going to be more important.

As a fellow Ashdown CTM junkie, I feel like the character of those amps was still shining through, whether I was playing through my cheap Laney 1x15 conversion, or my Berg 2x12. There's no doubt the speakers make a massive difference to the tone, but I would have EQ'ed differently for each cab, and I don't think I ever lost the amp's voice as a result.

This is my opinion at 09.29 on Friday, anyway. Wait until I've had some coffee and there's a chance I'll change my mind completely...

I think is all on the money. 

[dannybuoy]

Orange Terror Bass gets my vote.

Just remember the EQ is an old school passive tonestack that's scooped with the knobs at noon. Flat is with the bass and treble off and the mids maxed. Bit weird to get your head round but dad easy to find a great sound with minimal twiddling.

There are also a ton of pedals you can use to get that sound out of any amp.