I go the other way.
i like the sound of bigger speakers and i have all the treble i need at the amp.
My basic live set up is a Vox 1x 18 Foundation (Goodmans 18) and a Vox Sovereign 4 x12 (Oxfords).
This is driven by a Hiwatt Custom 100 head. I never turn the treble more than half-way up and it's plenty bright enough; but with great bottom end and growl as well.
I've also used just two Foundations, also works well but with less of the growly part.
I just don't like the barky quality that 10's have.
But it's taste, naturally.
SansAmp RBI and similar preamps with RIC basses
Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4
My choice was based on wide frequency response as I planned on using it with something like the SansAmp, and it is loaded in a modified Marshall AVT20 so that I can emulate a tube amp being driven hard without going deaf or being evicted.
BTW, William, isn't that Hiwatt 100 a guitar amp head also? I know that a lot of bassists used Hiwatt 100 or 200 watt heads, just like guitarists used Fender Bassmans or Traynor YBA's. In my small practice room, I get lots of "room boost" in the deep bass. I once had a 1X18, and it was a disaster in a small room. I'm only playing at home. The AVT20 is more than loud enough and gets some really radical bass sounds, as well as a growly midrangey Marshall sound when cleaned up. I have the SansAmp hooked up to my bedroom stereo now, and it is playing through a couple of Polk RT5 monitors with 6.5" Polk woofers. The bottom cutoff was advertised as around 40 Hz, so no problems with farting out at sane levels. Both woofers equal a single 10" in surface area, and you can get an excellent pair of RT5's on eBay for $150, and they were top rated by Stereophile back in the early to mid 90's in the under $500 category. They are 90 dB efficient, which is amazing for such small speakers with such extended bass response. 10 watts gets you 100 dB of SPL. They are more efficient than my Vandersteens and mate well with small tube amps. These are excellent modeling speakers for bassists or guitarists when teamed up with a SansAmp type preamp and clean amplifier, and look nice in the home or studio, and have a wall mount bracket on the back. The modern version is the RT35 or RT38i at last glance through the Polk website, and they have even more extended response. Really nice for the price, and heavy for the small size. A Bass Driver DI or RBI, solid state integrated amp, and the Polks make a good modeling practice rig for home use, and then double as a home stereo rig when you're finished by adding a CD player and tuner. The RBI and DI were primarily designed to be used in clean systems, so a bass guitar amp is totally unnecessary, but mine works well in that application also.
An RBI owner can plug into anything that has enough low end response and get good sound. It only adds 5 pounds and the weight of interconnect cables to his equipment load when he heads out the door for a gig or studio session. The studio will usually already have the interconnects available. It made sense to me.
BTW, William, isn't that Hiwatt 100 a guitar amp head also? I know that a lot of bassists used Hiwatt 100 or 200 watt heads, just like guitarists used Fender Bassmans or Traynor YBA's. In my small practice room, I get lots of "room boost" in the deep bass. I once had a 1X18, and it was a disaster in a small room. I'm only playing at home. The AVT20 is more than loud enough and gets some really radical bass sounds, as well as a growly midrangey Marshall sound when cleaned up. I have the SansAmp hooked up to my bedroom stereo now, and it is playing through a couple of Polk RT5 monitors with 6.5" Polk woofers. The bottom cutoff was advertised as around 40 Hz, so no problems with farting out at sane levels. Both woofers equal a single 10" in surface area, and you can get an excellent pair of RT5's on eBay for $150, and they were top rated by Stereophile back in the early to mid 90's in the under $500 category. They are 90 dB efficient, which is amazing for such small speakers with such extended bass response. 10 watts gets you 100 dB of SPL. They are more efficient than my Vandersteens and mate well with small tube amps. These are excellent modeling speakers for bassists or guitarists when teamed up with a SansAmp type preamp and clean amplifier, and look nice in the home or studio, and have a wall mount bracket on the back. The modern version is the RT35 or RT38i at last glance through the Polk website, and they have even more extended response. Really nice for the price, and heavy for the small size. A Bass Driver DI or RBI, solid state integrated amp, and the Polks make a good modeling practice rig for home use, and then double as a home stereo rig when you're finished by adding a CD player and tuner. The RBI and DI were primarily designed to be used in clean systems, so a bass guitar amp is totally unnecessary, but mine works well in that application also.
An RBI owner can plug into anything that has enough low end response and get good sound. It only adds 5 pounds and the weight of interconnect cables to his equipment load when he heads out the door for a gig or studio session. The studio will usually already have the interconnects available. It made sense to me.
Just to present an alternative experience - most every gig I play these days is as a multi-instrumentalist (keyboard/guitar, keyboard/violin, bass/violin, bass/synth, etc.), and I don't always want to haul around two amplifier rigs (and there often isn't enough room on the tiny club stages for both, anyway). Last weekend I did a bass/violin gig for which I brought a Roland KC-500 (150W solid state keyboard amp) and my SVP-PRO preamp. The preamp was emitting an awful hum (sounds fine back in my studio rack, go figure), so I had to eliminate it and play bass straight through the keyboard amp (which, fortunately, has one input for a low-output-impedance microphone/passive instrument).
Even with no eq to speak of, and no tubes or amp-emulation circuitry, the 4003 sounded great both onstage and in the audience (received several compliments on the tone). Of course, there's no tone versatility except as controlled by the bass' pickups/controls, but the sound was perfect for this band (sort of a 60's folk/psych vibe, "Incredible String Band meets Crazy Horse" is our "stock" description).
All things considered, though, I'd still rather go *with* a preamp than without one.
Even with no eq to speak of, and no tubes or amp-emulation circuitry, the 4003 sounded great both onstage and in the audience (received several compliments on the tone). Of course, there's no tone versatility except as controlled by the bass' pickups/controls, but the sound was perfect for this band (sort of a 60's folk/psych vibe, "Incredible String Band meets Crazy Horse" is our "stock" description).
All things considered, though, I'd still rather go *with* a preamp than without one.
My basses are Rickenbackers. My synthesizers and recording gear are analog.
audYes, Doug, a GOOD bass guitar can sound great into a LINEAR amplification system. I once tried to play my P-bass through a phono preamp. Major disaster, since it is an equalization preamp with way too much gain for bass guitar. Too say it was overly bass heavy is an understatement. It might work for some kind of NuMetal tone if an input pad was used. The rolloff of highs would emulate a folded horn cab to a certain extent. It is down 20dB at 1 kHZ relative to 40 Hz. Some of you radical guys might want to try it, but you need to pad the input of the phono preamp down about 20 dB (cut the voltage to a tenth). Rolls once made a nice little battery operated stereo phono preamp you could stick on a turntable and drive a line level input.
I have decided to get another SansAmp RBI and probably something like a Crown stereo power amp further down the road. The instant choice of tone would be RBI #1, RBI #2, RBI #1 + RBI #2, RBI #1 + RBI #2 inactive, RBI #1 inactive + RBI #2, RBI #1 inactive + RBI #2 inactive, either RBI inactive alone. Seven instantly accessible tones with no digital programming; eight if separate type speaker cabs are used. I like the Crown K series, but a bit too high priced for me right now and awfully powerful. www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/kinside.htm It could quickly blow a quad of 2x12 cabs without ever breaking a sweat. Maybe Crown will downsize this amp series to where it is feasible for single instrumentalists. The technology seems to be what I'm looking for. The B&K stereo amp works great for now.
I noticed that Geddy Lee used the RBI on the new Rush album. He was featured in a SansAmp ad in Bass Guitar Magazine. Bass guitar players need gobs of clean power in a live gig situation, and it's a fact that PA amp and speaker design has progressed beyond guitar standards. The PA market is so much bigger, and Crown has more money for R&D than any bass guitar amp manufacturer. The smart thing is to get your tone in the guitar/preamp combo and go "clean" after that. Of course, in the recording studio, anything goes that gets your tone. Regular guitar/bass amps need to shrink back to manageable practice sizes and have DI jacks (like the AVT20) for hooking up to PA's in a live gig situation. High quality in a small amp sure beats the big pile of sonic trash I once owned.
I have decided to get another SansAmp RBI and probably something like a Crown stereo power amp further down the road. The instant choice of tone would be RBI #1, RBI #2, RBI #1 + RBI #2, RBI #1 + RBI #2 inactive, RBI #1 inactive + RBI #2, RBI #1 inactive + RBI #2 inactive, either RBI inactive alone. Seven instantly accessible tones with no digital programming; eight if separate type speaker cabs are used. I like the Crown K series, but a bit too high priced for me right now and awfully powerful. www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/kinside.htm It could quickly blow a quad of 2x12 cabs without ever breaking a sweat. Maybe Crown will downsize this amp series to where it is feasible for single instrumentalists. The technology seems to be what I'm looking for. The B&K stereo amp works great for now.
I noticed that Geddy Lee used the RBI on the new Rush album. He was featured in a SansAmp ad in Bass Guitar Magazine. Bass guitar players need gobs of clean power in a live gig situation, and it's a fact that PA amp and speaker design has progressed beyond guitar standards. The PA market is so much bigger, and Crown has more money for R&D than any bass guitar amp manufacturer. The smart thing is to get your tone in the guitar/preamp combo and go "clean" after that. Of course, in the recording studio, anything goes that gets your tone. Regular guitar/bass amps need to shrink back to manageable practice sizes and have DI jacks (like the AVT20) for hooking up to PA's in a live gig situation. High quality in a small amp sure beats the big pile of sonic trash I once owned.
Also, if you go to the Talk To The Toneman section, you will find the SansAmp RBI settings for my homespun Marshall AVT20/Eminence B102 combo practice amp if you want to "give it a spin" without actually having to put it together yourself. The thread is: DIY All-Purpose Amp For Guitar, Bass, and Organ
Dedgoat - I tried your email link from your profile to answer your question... but keeps getting returned. My email is JBlakey@geotec.net
Well guys, I bit the bullet and ordered my second RBI the other day. It will be fun to plug an RBI into each channel of a stereo amp and play an emulated SVT through one channel while playing an emulated Marshall through the other channel.
I need a lightweight rackmountable stereo power amp to go with them. I was thinking about a Stewart World 1.2 or World 1.6 power amp. The 1.2 puts out 350WPC in stereo or up to 1200W in bridged mono operation and weighs 11 pounds.
www.stewartaudio.com/worldSeries.html
I need a lightweight rackmountable stereo power amp to go with them. I was thinking about a Stewart World 1.2 or World 1.6 power amp. The 1.2 puts out 350WPC in stereo or up to 1200W in bridged mono operation and weighs 11 pounds.
www.stewartaudio.com/worldSeries.html