The Ric Is Coming - Looking for some Amp Advice

[faceman]

Evening everyone,

After my last post, I made the jump and purchased the Blueburst 4003 and it should be arriving tomorrow or Saturday. I simply can't wait. Since I started playing playing bass when I was 15, a Rickenbacker was always what I wanted on the basis on looks and tone, without every playing one. After playing for four years and been through some Precisions and Jazzes, the time cometh! The only Ric I have ever played is a fretless Mapleglo 4003 last week and it felt, just so amazing! Fingers crossed that Parcelforce get their act in gear and it will arrive tomorrow

Now, I'm thinking of upgrading my amplification to go with this new bass. At the moment, I've got an Ashdown Electric Blue 12" 180W and it's been fine but I really want to get some better to match my new bass. My budget is £500 maximum and I can't really afford to spend more than this. I'm looking for advice on anything - I'm not adverse to either combos or separate amp/cabs. I've been to my local guitar shops and some of the things I've looked at are Ashdown MAG 2x10" 300W, Ashdown MAG 2x10" with Little Giant 350W head and an Ampeg 15" combo, which sounded awful! To be fair, it was a Squier P-Bass but still it was hollow and lacking in term. I'm going to be playing small to medium venues so need to something to hold it weight with guitar and keyboards. I spoke to a friend and he suggested finding a Hartke LH500 (half tube, half solid state) 500W head with Ashdown 4x10" MAG cab, any thoughts on this?

All advice is gratefully received! Any thoughts or directions on where to look will be great!

Seb

[VRICKY63]

One of those new Hartke Neo combos might be cool.

[cheyenne]

I dont know what you have in your area, but I'm real happy with Gallien-Krueger. I have the GK 700RB II running through Avatar 210 Neo and Avatar 212 Neo cabs. This rig rocks!

I've also had great results with Carvin bass amps, (used them for years), great sound and power if your on a budget.

[badeggs]

Hartke's are dependable amps, they get the job done. SWR makes some nice stuff too. Personally I'd kill for a '70s Ampeg SVT/Sunn "Geddy rig," but I like the old stuff best...

Congratulations on the bass. I started playing when I was 11, after getting into Yes and realizing I wanted to play that bass. And about 8 years later, I finally got one...

[ricnbacker]

My Ric sounds awesome through an Ampeg B100R

[FretlessOnly]

I've found that a 2x10 (or 4x10 if you can afford it) sounds worlds better than a 15. This is true for all of my basses, but the punchy sound of 10s is just perfect for Ricks. I have a Gallien-Krueger 700RBII as well (with an old G-K 4x10 - so old I can't tell what model it is), and I really like it, but I feel that it works a little bit better for my other basses as opposed to my Ricks.

You mentioned playing a fretless; did you buy a fretless, or will yours be fretted? I ask because it makes a difference in amplification. With fretless, you really need a good growly mid sound; while nice on a fretted, it's absolutely necessary to get the true fretless sound.

G-K pioneered a mid scoop that cuts mids and amplifies bass and treble, which works great for a round-wound really live sound, but you can also roll this contour off to boost mids. I'm good with the mid sound on my G-K, but an Ampeg tube would really look nice on my front stoop.

[cjj]

I agree, 10" makes a big difference, but I like to add a 15" too, I think it rounds out the bottom end better. My current setup in a Sansamp RBI on the treble PU, a Sansamp RPM on the bass (I'm thinking of going with 2 RPM's though), Roc-O-Sound mode, of course. These two preamps feed into a stereo crossover, the high outputs are mixed and run to a 2x10 cab with horn through one channel of a Carvin DCM2000, the low outs are mixed and run to the other Carvin channel and to a 15 cab. Sounds pretty awesome, and you can adjust it for just about whatever you want...

[FretlessOnly]

I agree, 10" makes a big difference, but I like to add a 15" too, I think it rounds out the bottom end better.

Sure does, but the orig poster sounded like he was on a budget. I'd go with 10s over a 15 any day was all I was getting at.

When I run ROS, I actually use my G-K w/ 4x10 for the neck pickup, and run the bridge PU through a Fender Stage 185 with a BagEnd 15 as an external off the fender guitar amp. That gives the treble pickup some serious punch, and I get plenty of low end from the G-K 4x10. Plus it dilutes the wattage enough that the 15 (rated at only 200W) doesn't sound like someone's hacking away at it with a machete.

So, I end up with 4 10s, a 12, and a 15. And I'm still not happy.

[ram]

I run an old Carvin B2000 2x15 cab and a Peavy Delta Bass with a 4x10 cab. Depending on venue either or both... 15's on the neck pup + the 10's on the bridge pup = wow!

[pflash4001]

I am really happy with my GK800RB. It ain't the world's sexiest amp...no fancy blinking lights or anything like that, but it has just about all I need...built in X-over, biamping, eq, f/x loop, DI out, etc. I agre with what was said earlier about 15's vs 10's. !5's, in my opinion tend to get muddy in a big "live" room. The 10's tend to hold their definition a bit better. I am using my 800RB to push a Hartke 410 on top and a Hartke 215XL sub. The X-over really lets you tailor your sound to any room. Plus, you can find this stuff at fairly decent used prices. I have never had any issues with my GK. I bought it used about 12 yrs ago. It hasn't given me any trouble. The one issue I had was with the Hartke sub. I started to get this awful rattling for a while. I couldn't figure out what it was...it sounded like loose hardware. I checked all the hardware and tightened up every screw I could find. It remained...so I took out the drivers and checked them out...there was no visible damage..nothing loose...I took the raw drivers and connected them to an amp and tested them...one of them gave me that noise without anything nearby to rattle. I figured I was going to have to send it into the factory for a recone because I couldn't find anyone to recone it with an aluminum cone. I was literally getting ready to tape the box shut and take it down to the UPS Store when I decided to check something else online. I found a thread somewhere (I can't remember where) about the dust caps on these aluminum cone drivers coming loose over time. Apparently over time the glues used to hold the dust caps in place gives out because it doesn't adhere too well to aluminum. They suggested removing the old dust cap,,,just take an X-acto knife and cut an X into the dust cap and peel it off...remove all residue...clean off the glue residue with 100% acetone, let it dry off and replace it with a new $0.80 dust cap using Allene's Tacky Glue, available in the arts and crafts are at Wal-Mart for about $2.00 per bottle. I did that about 2 yrs ago...haven't had trouble with it since....and a friend of mine recently had this same issue with some of the GK GoldLines...GK's metal cone speakers. Same trick, same result. I love my rig. My buddy with the GK Goldlines has 2 410 Goldline cabs...I told him I thought he screwed up and should have gotten a 410 and 115. After he played thru my rig, he agreed. Sorry about the long post, but I know how much of a pain it was for me to find this info too. I just hope it helps someone.

[cassius987]

You were talking about Ashdown MAG--+1 to this. Their "B Series" is basically 99% as good as their "A Series" and "A+ Series".

Also, as for cab diameter, I really like 10s for fretted bass and 15s for fretless for some weird reason. But if you are playing loud enough (>300 watts) both sound equally responsive, IMO. I gigged my 4003 fretted on a 1x15 last night and I packed the house with it! It was a real booty shaker for a jazz show.

[spongebob]

Hi Seb

Well done on the 4003, sounds lovely.

Can I reccomend the Markbass stuff? I've had mine for a week (121P), and it has blown me away with the clear, Ric-pure tone.

After playing Trace Elliot for years, and much advice on this very forum, I'm a Markbass convert!!

[Mr. Meaty]

I just bought a new Acoustic rig . I was looking for a smaller more portable rig . So, i checked out the new Acoustic bass amps . In short . THEY RULE. They have that same meaty tone that their 70's counterparts had. I went with the B600 head . The B200 sounded great but just didnt have the headroom . But the B600 has that in spades. I went with the single 15" cab .It sounds fantastic. But their 8-10 cab really smokes .I had to remind myself i was seeking portability lol. The price was ubber right too. 499.00 for the head and 199.00 for the cab .

[faceman]

Thanks for all the advice guys! Just to say, I was playing a fretless because that was all the shop had in stock. My 4003 is fretted I checked with Parcelforce today and thanks to the guy selling using Parcelforce 48, it won't be here till Monday! Why is life always like this - oh well, just another weekend of waiting!

I think going for some 10" seems the best move - just out of interest how does a 2x 10" compare to 4x 10" on the basis of tone and power? Obviously, getting 2x 10" would be better for portability and such but I don't want to buy something massively inferior. Unfortunately, the Ashdown MAG 4x10 is £249 (cheapest I can find online) which doesn't leave much left for a head. The only things I've been able to find in that range are the Ashdown Little Giant 350W, the Ashdown MAG 300H, GK Backline 600, Hartke LH500 and the Hartke HA3500 (this is the very top range of what I can afford) - any thoughts on any of these? The Hartke ones have a tube pre-amp, which sounds tasty as I've heard lots of good things about tubes and Rics but the Ashdown LG's are more compact. Mark Bass looks very nice, although the only thing I could afford is a Little Mark 250 but on eBay these are £400 so that's pushing my budget a little too far.

Argh, buying on such a low budget isn't fun! If I go the Ashdown Combo route, the 2x10 MAG is only £379 vs. £449 for the 4x10, which is around £50 than doing a LG with cabs. Let me know what you think of any of the heads mentioned, plus any general advice is well received!

[faceman]

Well I was woekn at 8:58am with a lovely big parcel in bubble wrap. I found inside a beautiful 4003 that is just fantastic. It's Blueburst, first time I've seen this colour before and it looks stunning. I played for a while, which turned into an hour Beyond that, I decided to remove the bridge pickup cover and realised it was a mistake. I spent the past !@£!@£ hour getting it back together, talk about a complicated system but I know how it works now, and how to adjust the pickup height I plugged it back in and had some minutes of fear when I was only getting a sound from the neck pickup. Great, I've just spent the best part of my life savings on a guitar and broken it on the first day.

Thankfully, I had plugged in the Ric-O-Sound, so that solved that one. How many others have made that mistake before

Just a few quickies

1. What are the general settings with knobs? What are common/recommend settings to give a go?

2. I've been to my guitar shop and these are the offers I have on amps at the moment - first is an Ashdown ABM-500 EVOII head, 575W with tube preamp and a 4x10 Ashdown MAG cab, whole lot brand new for £610. Second option is from the same fellow I bought the Ric from - it's an Ashdown ABM 2x10 combo (575W again) with a 1x15 extension cabinet. He said in very good used condition for £450, but this requires a two hour drive to meet him to pick it up. Final option is the cheapest - Ashdown MAG-4x10 combo for £449. Obviously this means no tubeism but is the most portable. I'm not sure the 2x10 + 1x15 is the most practical as my band are going to baulk at the size of whatever I get

3. Any general advice or hints on playing? For finger style, I've rested my arm on the curve in the body and played over the neck as well as down at the bridge too! I think the mutes might come in use for one song we do

Thanks again!