So, I recently bought an Eden Nemesis 120 watt, 15" combo amp...played it for a week or 2, liked it ok, took it to play, and I had it pegged just to keep up with the band. What gives? I don't know, I just know I didn't like the sound of it.
So....today I am in a music store, and try out a Yorkville BassMaster 200 combo. This thing KICKS! It's smaller than the Eden, (which was big and heavy), but louder and had better tone. It also has an out for an extension speaker and XLR out. Very happy with it thus far...traded the Eden for it
"They make great f***'n basses". - Lemmy, NAMM 2009
I've been playing an Eden nemesis 2x12 combo with 320 watts, it's very strong with great tone and clarity, and handles the low B on a 4004 conversion very well. I use a sansamp rbi in front for adjustable "geddyness" and it gives you a great range of tone combinations. It does weight 58 lbs but it has wheels and has side and top handles. I haven't heard a lot of good things about Eden 15's, most players are usually rave about the 10's and 12's.
73 Feb 4001, 73 March 4001, 73 April 4001, 73 May 4001, 73 June 4001, 73 July 4001 04 MM Bongo 5HSp, 07 MM Bongo 5HS, 09 MM Bongo 5HS, 09 MM Bongo 5Hp, 11 MM Bongo 5H
Yorkville is the best kept secret in bass amplification.
I had an old Bassmaster 200 combo years ago (with the blue carpet) that I foolishly sold. That was enough to make me get the XS400 head with the matching XC115 cabinet.
200 to 300 watts is good for bass ... it is not a matter of turning up real loud but rather headroom ... since I use the bass pod I need a good clean amp with headroom ... with overhead I can turn the volume up to 3-5 range and be plenty loud ... the other night I played through a small GK and the master vol was on 10 and the bass was on 10 ... when I plugged in my pod it was too much gain and it sounded bad ... in other words not enough headroom and it distorted in an unpleasant way ...
many companies make good high end amps and not so good combo amps ...
Like Jeff said, 200W is absolute minimum for bass. Mine's rated at 200 into 4 Ohms & frequently it's running at 7-8 on the master, around 8 on the preamp to get a nice grind out of it.
Sometimes I run lower (around 5) in quieter settings, but to compete with drums, two guitars, & vocal monitors any less would be working too hard all the time & still not loud enough.
Humidity seems to play a big role in how well the sound travels around the room, & so how much stage volume you need to feel comfortable.
I have one of the older Nemesis 2X10 220 watt combos. I've used it on club gigs and it "just" has enough power. The newer combos with 300+ watts is definitely an improvement.
I used to have a full Eden rig - 300 watt head with 2X10 and 1X15 cabinets. It sounded great on it's own, but I could never get a tone I like when playing with a band.
My amps have always been the opposite, sound annoying alone at home, or at low volume rehearsal, but great with the band.
My latest (SWR) is the best one so far.
You guys are making me curious about those Ampegs, though!
