New amp needed - which way to go?

[Ashgray]

Hi all

It's looking like my 25 year old Trace Elliot 1x15 combo is at death's door - or at least, drawing its pension!

In considering a suitable replacement, I'd really appreciate the views of the forum members here, as it's many years since last I auditioned a new bass amp and I'm aware that technology has move on in leaps and bounds since I bought my TE. I'm also aware that new TEs are quite different sounding amps to my original TE, due to changes in ownership, specs, components, etc. I therefore need to look for something else that would be suitable for use with mainly my three Ricks (V63, fretless and 8-string) but also to a lesser degree my two custom fretful and fretless 6-string basses. The replacement amp would therefore need to be able to handle quite a wide frequency range well. I prefer a warm, vintage-style tube sound. Compact size and reasonably low weight is a factor, but not a crucial one. One company that interests me at this early stage is Mark Bass, with their modular design.

What are you guys using with your Ricks? I'd be grateful to hear your views and experiences.

[Colonel Sanders]

I am using an Orange AD200B tube head with a 15 inch cabinet and/or a 4x10. Yeah its big, cumbersome and all but the sound puts a smile on your face...

I did want a TE bad in the late 80ies.

[jps]

Are you looking for another combo amp or a head and cabinet(s)?

If separates, for the tone you are looking for check out the Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 (or 350 for a smaller version) amps. As to speakers, there are a whole lot of choices; in your own neighborhood I would investigate Barefaced cabinets made by Alex Claber.

[woodyng]

Hard to go wrong with Markbass. I have the cmd121p combo,and an additional Avatar 1-12" cab,it's light,modular,and with 500 watts,plenty of power for most gigs.

[Ashgray]

Are you looking for another combo amp or a head and cabinet(s)?

If separates, for the tone you are looking for check out the Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 (or 350 for a smaller version) amps. As to speakers, there are a whole lot of choices; in your own neighborhood I would investigate Barefaced cabinets made by Alex Claber.

Hi Jeff

Ideally a combo, but separates would be fine if they're sufficiently compact and light.

Gone are the days where I'd happily hump around my Sunn Concert Bass amp, Acoustic 6x12 cab and Cerwin Vega 1x15 & horn PA bin (my old rig 30 years ago!) - I've aged somewhat snce then and had a hip replacement...

[jps]

I hear you! Are you still gigging or is this mostly for home practice, low volume jamming, etc.?

[Kopfjaeger]

Ashley,

What about Orange?? Being in the UK, the price is much better than what Orange sells for here in the USA. I have both the Ad200b Mk3 and the TB 500. The Ad200b is one heavy piece of gear!! I love the warm tone I get out of it and the way I can really dial in grit to taste!

The TB500 is 11 lbs and about the size of a breadbox. It puts out insane volume and is a hybrid design, 2 12AX7 preamp tubes and a solid state power section. I've gotten nothing but compliments when I switched to this rig. It comes with a padded bag that you can wear on your shoulder to make things easier. Check it out to see if it's right for you.

I swear by the Orange gear.

Sepp

[Ashgray]

I hear you! Are you still gigging or is this mostly for home practice, low volume jamming, etc.?

The amp would be solely for gigging, as I have a small 30 watt Marshall for home practice. Gigs tend to be small to medium, so I won't need a stadium blaster - a minimum of 250 Watts should be enough.

Sepp - good suggestion. Ironically, I used a old Orange amp with my original Rick back in '75.

[Badanovski]

If you like that warm tube sound you won't be impressed with the new light solid state amps. I have a markbass & I love it but it's a completely different sound than tubes. You can get most of these with tube preamps. But without output transformers and tubes in the poweramp they sound very accurate but somewhat sterile compared to all tube amps.

[Kopfjaeger]

Ashley,

A lot of people will slag Orange. While I do wish Matamp was still hand wired heads for Orange, I can't fault Orange for moving away from their association with Matamp. Their TB series hybrid heads had a series of bad capacitors that had the habit of exploding but that seems to have been sorted out. That run was confined to a certain batch produced during a certain time frame. If you go TB, pick a new made example. I'm not going to mention the TB1000. 500w is stupid loud. 1000 is unfathomable to me !!

Either one of my Orange amps is a perfect match with my Rickenbackers! I'm not as "in love with their cabinets, although I own a OBC 4-10 unit.

Sepp

[AndyM]

no matter which amp, large or small, combo or stack, don't forget the massive tone-shaping abilities of the Sansamp. For $10 more, the programable one saves 3 distinct setups. It'll make any amp sound immensely better and of course you can send the affected signal to the PA to be mixed in with everything else.

[vulcan_creedler]

Well - all the good guys from Trace Elliot left and set up Ashdown! I have 3 (yes three!) Ashdown Mag300 heads (no fills 307W transistor amps) that are hugely under-rated. Huge tonmal range with a lot of drive. You can get em on T'bay for about £100 a piece. I also have a Mag 210T cab, and an ABM 210T and an ABM 115 cab.

It is a well kept secret that the MAG heads are as good as the far more expensive ABM heads, for a fraction of the price.

All ahdown amps run at 4 Ohm for optimum performance, and the cabs are mostly 8 Ohm, so 1 head will drive 2 cabs for optimum sound.

Th ABM cabs are well made, properly tuned, made out of glued/screwed ply, with buffalo hide covering and quality metal grills I do believe they use eminence drivers now as well., Mine have the older HF "Blueline" drivers, which are really punchy.

The Mag cabs are made from ply, with cloth grills and plastic tolex and Chinese Eminence drivers. but the older ones had metal grills and heavy black carpet covering, and Italian Seca blueline drivers.

Ashdown have just released a large range of valve amps, starting with the 30W "Little *******", up to full blown roof removers.

I'm seriously pleased with my Ashdown collection!

I have the ABM210 and the ABM115, along with 2 heads stored with my band kit, and the third head and the MAG210 cab stay at home for practice, and also for"Side Project" my secret other band!

http://ashdownmusic.com/products/1/Bass-Amplification/

[T28]

Check out the new line of Tecamp combo amps. They are made in Europe.

I personally run a Tecamp PUMA head (less than 3#) and a Glasstone LiL'Gcab (about 30#).
Great sounding rig for any type of genre that I play.

[rickenbottom]

For gigs I,m using a Traynor cabinet with two tens and a fifteen. Powered by a Traynor Dyna bass 400H. Lots of power and fairly reasonable price wise.

[bigbajo60]

I prefer a warm, vintage-style tube sound.

If this is the case, make sure to at least 'try out' a Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout combo. I've been actively gigging through one and the matching extension cab for about 4 years now and just LOVE the tonality it imparts to any of the basses I play through it, including my 4001C64S.