I have a 4003 bass and I need amp advice

joshrockit · Post by **joshrockit** » Tue May 11, 2004 12:05 pm

I got a 4003 bass about 8 months ago and have been using a crate bxh (the model escapes me now). I dont think the crate does my bass justice. Does anyone have any suggestions on what heads sound good with the rick?

jps · Post by **jps** » Tue May 11, 2004 12:14 pm

Welcome Joshua. You are opening a can of worms as there are innumerable choices out there. How do you plan on using the amp? Practice, gigging, etc. Combo, head and seperate cabinet? Try and tell us more about yourself, your music, experience, you know, the whole dosier!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue May 11, 2004 2:24 pm

If you have the money and don't mind lugging and want the best sound money can buy(IMHO of course) 69 to 79 Ampeg SVT with one or two SVT cabs (8 X 10's). This combination will knock over a wall if that what you want. In other words it's an amp for all occasions, I've used them from small clubs to civic centers ( many more small clubs than civic centers unfortunately), and also has the nice warm tube sound, because it is an all tube amp, and has all the punch you could ever want. You can almost walk on the sound it's so thick.
And the best part is most people who use this combination never buy another amp, except maybe a smaller cab for small rooms, which is what I did.

jps · Post by **jps** » Wed May 12, 2004 1:28 am

If you get an Ampeg, you will have to change your Username to Joshampeg!

joshrockit · Post by **joshrockit** » Wed May 12, 2004 6:56 am

Ok, background info...
I'm 24, I've been playing the bass since I was 17 but never really cared about sound back then because i just wanted to be loud and louder. I'm good at improvising with bass and I'm trying to make myself better at playing rhythms that compare to the 60's 70's mowtown scene (i love the funk brothers, and on a side note if there is anyone in maryland who wants to start up a mowtown cover band let me know). When I was younger I used to be pretty good with identifying music theory in my playing, but I havent taken a theory class since my freshman year of college. Right now I am in a rock/indie band similar to the style of the foo fighters, and I like to be loud, but not to the point where the audience cant make out the notes I am playing. my first bass was a fender squier which was fine for my angst ridden youthful bands, then I got a G&L 2000 about 3 years ago. I liked the G&L but I have always had a thing for the rickenbacker look and sound, so last september against my better financial judgement I went all out and bought a brand new jet-glo 4003. I love it, and I never want to get rid of it.
wow, this is getting long. ok so right now I have a crate head, and an ampeg 4 X 10 cab. I plan on using the amp and cab for club gigs. so thats my story, i just want to get my rick to get a better sound than it has now. ive been looking at a mesa M-pulse 360, is anyone familiar with these things?
thanks for your help.

joshrockit · Post by **joshrockit** » Wed May 12, 2004 7:03 am

oh and I need new strings soon. what do you think is a good brand?

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Wed May 12, 2004 10:13 am

Hey Bob, you might add a couple years to the good SVT's there and include the MTI era? I've got one and a friend had one and a 6146 equipped original early SVT. We compared all of them and his MTI sounded the best, with my MTI second best. Both of his amps had been gone through and had all caps replaced and what not, while mine is completely original. I believe mine is from '81 or so as it is an early MTI.

Josh, you can't go wrong with a Rick through an SVT. The only negative is teh cost of the tubes when they need to be retubed (not THAT often) and the size and weight of the setup. Even the modern transistorized SVT heads sound good, but I've heard of problems with their reliability. The all tube vintage SVT's set the standard for reliability. Some other good sounding bass amps would be a B15(you would need to mic this one), or an old SUNN 200S or 2000S. If you need LOTS of power, but you still want clean, then a transistorized bass amp is probably best there as the tube stuff will distort at high volumes. A lot of people like GK, though I can't stand them.

bigbajo60 · Post by **bigbajo60** » Wed May 12, 2004 10:15 am

Since you've already gone for the Ampeg cab... chuck the Crate head and get an Ampeg.

They have quite a line of amps... from reasonably priced, solid-sounding solid-state'ers... all the way up to "OMG-priced" glorious-sounding tube jobs!

For rock/indie... can't go wrong with the Ampegs.

As for strings... try Thomastik-Infeld Powerbass... or Dean Markley SR2000. I get some aggressive sounding growl off of those sets.

admin · Post by **admin** » Wed May 12, 2004 10:47 am

This section is being moved to The Others topic as it is not about Rickenbacker amplifiers. Here is a Traynor bass head and cabinet that is afforadable something to consider.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed May 12, 2004 10:55 am

Josh if you want to play Motown, first thing you gotta do is get rid of the roundwounds and put on flatwounds. the closest I have gotten to the James Jamerson sound with a 4003 was with Fender SS flatwounds. They are stiff as hell and take some getting used to but they have that sound (they also take some truss rod tightening) I have used both med gauge and med. light gauge, I recommend the med. lights as they are in no way med lights compared to anything else. The older they get the better they sound. You need the stiffness for that tight sound he got out of his P bass. He started on upright bass and still played like that on the electric. you can get that sound with these strings, I too love those guys and play a lot like that with that sound, I also love Duck Dunn, the Stax guy. With these strings, a 4003 and an Ampeg you can out P a P bass (IMHO)
There are a lot of different flats around and you will get lots of differing opinions, but to really get "the" sound you need the telephone cables on there, and don't worry the neck can take it. You want a quick decay string, lots of thump, and especially when these get old they are quick decay. You might want to try the mute lightly also, I cut mine in half and jam it right up against the bridge side of the mute compartment. Jamerson left the covers with the foam on his P bass (I don't know if the foam was still in there, but it sounds like it when I listen to him.) I use two 4 ohm B-15T (early 90's) cabs with an SVT head and it sounds like a giant B-15, no need for a B-15 with this setup and no need for miking it either. I've owned several old B-15's 60's and 70's and this set up sounds much better. (IMHO)
He is probably my all time favorite electric bass player. He was unbelievable.

Greg, I've never tried an MTI head, only have seen pictures, I know some people prefer them over magnavox heads because they are supposed to be more refined sounding? and have never heard a 6146B head either but would love one. I went through a late 70's head here in Lima and it sounds great, really punchy. I got an 87 reissue head at home, it sounds good but doesn't sound as good as the 70's heads to me. I think a big part of that is the 12DW7 preamp tubes in the 70's heads. What did MTI use, 12AX7's or 12DW7's?.
If you use 8 X 10 cabs with an SVT you gotta be pretty loud to distort the head, especially with two cabs, I used two cabs a lot with one particular band and there was no way I was going to distort that head, it was just too damn loud. I used to shake things everywhere, And these were clean notes not mud. I think 300 tube watts sounds like a 1000 SS watts.
Joshampeg? That's a great name!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed May 12, 2004 11:01 am

Do you own one of the Traynors Peter? I remember when those first came out, a friend had a YB something or other with a 4 x 10 cab (I think) and for the time (67?) it was a loud amp.

joshrockit · Post by **joshrockit** » Wed May 12, 2004 1:42 pm

where on the internet can i get some flatwounds and Thomastik-Infeld Powerbass?

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed May 12, 2004 4:09 pm

www.juststrings.com expensive shipping, but quick.

vintagebass@aol.com never tried him but is supposed to be cheap.

Power bass are round wounds, I don't think you'll get a Motown sound out of those. I use the TI jazz flats sometimes and they are nice strings but also don't give that old thumpy sound, and actually go dead kind of quick. Pyramids are another nice flatwound, but they are expensive. I would try either the Fenders (preferably) or the Pyramid flats. Pyramids are more than double the price.

loendmaestro · Post by **loendmaestro** » Thu May 13, 2004 2:36 am

I just purchased the Traynor's cousin, the Yorkville XS400H head with a 12AX7 tube preamp:

http://www.yorkville.com/products.asp?id=247&cat=15&type=32

And the matching XC115 cab w/ tweeter:

http://www.yorkville.com/products.asp?id=199&cat=15&type=32

I just got this rig last week for well under a grand & I'm very happy with it so far. Booming lows, great punch, & tube warmth for a reasonable price. My 4003 snarls through it...

It also pleases me that they are a Canadian company too. I'm a HUGE Maple Leafs fan & love the city of Toronto!