Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I plugged in my Ampeg AVT-3 and SVT410HLF cabinet and enjoyed it! I bought an Ashdown ABM500 EVO II head and two Aguilar GS112 cabinets to replace the Ampeg since I thought the new rig was more dynamic and had more bottom end. Now it sounds like I'm losing low end articulation with the Ashdown and the Aggies seem a bit scooped in the mids. Maybe I'll hear something different tomorrow.

Man I hate this!

It's tough finding that "perfect sound". For me, I went thru Ampeg, Peavey, Sunn, several others before settling on GK. Love their stuff.

I've been through different combos of just about everything out there. It is frustrating to keep missing the tone you are after but it is out there somewhere. I found mine finally but that could change tomorrow if my tastes change.

May not be that one is better than the other. your ear might just appreciate the change.

Ron, Sound is such a wierd one. I have a 78' that sounds totally full range, powerfull, etc:, yet with my band it sounds a bit thin & lacking in pitch (only a tiny bit, but enough) I have a 80' bass that sounds a bit wooden and lacking in scale compared to the 78' bass, but with the band really cuts through and is my favorite gigging bass.

I use Ashdown kit and find that on a 4001 if the neck P/U volume and the tone pots are just turned down a bit then I get the best tone for a bit of mid punch.

I tried an Aguilar GS-112, I liked it, but I hated it. It sounded good, very portable, but Im used to playing through an Ampeg 410 HLF as well, I think if you like the punch and aggressive response that you can with 10's, its hard to change.

10's for life for me.

There are other factors that play an important role too. The acoustics of the room, is the cabs close to the wall or a corner, how far away from the rig are you, if the stage is hollow or solid. In my experience the same rig and instrument may sound quite different from location to location.

Absolutely in agreement Lars. Every rig I've had sounds different at virtually every gig. One of the things I liked about my Trace Elliot gear was the flexibilty it had to enable you to fine tune your sound. I'm now using Ashdown and love the tone but seem to be finding it harder to fine tune, although that could be lack of familiarity. With regards to speakers, I really like 10s but due to ongoing back problems a 4x10 (or larger) is out of the question. I've ended up trying the Aguilar GS112 (partly on Ron's recommendation) and will shortly be buying another, and then will probably be moving on my ABM combo and will be sticking with my Ashdown ABM500 head and the 2 Aguilars. I found the GS112 was a good compromise in depth and response, and for portability it's difficult to beat. Not the perfect cab, but a great all rounder, and at a great price. I guess I'll just have to see how it works out in the long term, same as with everything else. And I also agree with Brian; my tastes can change at the drop of a hat, which doesn't help. Also you never really know what gear is like until you've gigged it a few (or more) times, so you can end up buying something you think is going to be great which often doesn't work out. The only rig I've ever been 100% satisfied with was my original early Trace head and Mk1 4x10 cab (pre Kevlar), which was perfect for the Ricks. Unfortuntely I had to sell the cab when the back problems started; I've never been completely satisfied since.

With regards to basses, my CS sounds the fullest of my Ricks but is very scooped sounding, which means sometimes it's hard to get to cut through on stage in my current band. My 72 is much more Squire-esque (ironically) and so cuts through a bit better -and is my best sounding Rick and the one I tend to record with- but my 4000 cuts through anything. If you compare the other 2, even just on back pickup, they don't come close to the aggressive cutting nature of the 4000. Don't know if mine is unusual (I've never played another so I can't compare), but it is SO big and cutting. So that tends to be the one I use live.

My bandmates agree with that. My 4000 cuts like nothing else through every amp I've used: Peavey, Traynor, Fender, & SWR. You might want to give SWR a try though.The amps have good useful features & the 4X10 cab is killer! There are also 2X10 cabs so you can get 4X10 & portability as well. The 4X10 weighs 97 lbs. & the 2X10 weighs 60 lbs.

I used many rigs over the years. I am the most happy with what I have now.

For me, bottom end of two SVT410HLF cabinets just cannot be beat. I just hope I don't need back surgery for carrying them around.

Always get the singer to help carry them! Our singer is a prison guard, so he's pretty handy to have around. Also if there's trouble, he's our goon! He's a good guy but he doesn't take any **** from obnoxious drunks.

Nothing ever settles. Recently I sold an Ampeg SVT 3 Pro head because I just didn't like it. I had every intention of buying a G-K 700rb.

But since I was already using my Bass POD XTLive as part of my stage get, I decided to go with a power amp instead. So I bought a Crown [mumble]. It's the one with 400w per side stereo. 604, 406 dunno off the top of my head.

The kicker is that the power amp was $329 out the door at GC. The GK head was $600 and had about the same amout of power.

I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be buying any more bass heads in the future. If I get bored I'll fine a nice used bass preamp to couple with the power amp.

I thought I had my rig all set a few times over the years. And then I have a different sound in my head, and off I go in search of new gear! I was quite happy with my GK 800-RB for a long time, but then I wanted a more vintage sound, like an SVT, so on an impulse I tried out and bought a used Mesa 400+ head, and then later a matching 4X10 Mesa cab. I liked the sound, but the GK was louder and cleaner at high levels, so I ended up keeping both heads.

Then I started playing a church gig, and the Mesa was too heavy to carry and I didn't like the GK anymore. So I traded the GK head (plus some $) for a Trace Elliot BLX-SMC combo, which I like, except for the odd way the speaker is set up. It's all bottom and top.. no mids. So I'm thinking of adding something like a 6" mid driver.

But then one day I went to jam with some people, and the guitar player had a Hartke bass head plugged into a Yamaha PA cab, with 1 12" and a horn. Man, did that sound great! Tight, punchy, and growly! I tried the Trace through the same cab and it sounds similar, but the Hartke is punchier.

So now I'm on the fence again as far as amps! I used to use a 4X12 VOX cab which was great, and I think 12's are really underrated for bass.

I recently saw Jeff Berlin play, and he was using a MarkBass combo with 1X15. Sounded really good. I'll have to try out some of these new fangled amps soon!

John, that sounds like an interesting way to go also. I've been thinking of the pre/poweramp rout myself. Just can't decide on a preamp.

I love the pre/power combo. My preamp of choice now is an Ampeg SVP-Pro. I have gone through a Blue Tube by Tubeworks, Sansamp RBI, ART Nightbass and took quite a few others for test drives. I like being able to maintain the amount of power that I need but switch out the tone shaping aspect. It is also cheaper to buy preamps than "all in one" units. I even for a short time used two different preamps in my rig with an A/B switch to get vastly different tones on the fly. I have since settled on a nice standard tone and rely on stomp boxes to add flavor.

I use a Tubeworks Blue Tube floor pedal for overdrive. It works well for that, but it doesn't have enough headroom to use a preamp though. As it is it's sometimes hard to get anything less than full out distortion at unity gain! Very sensitive unit. At one point when I wanted it for "warming" and not distortion, I replaced the 12AX7 tube for a lower gain 12AT7, or even a 12AU7. The other problem it has is the output impedance is too low, so depending on what you plug it into, you might get very little level. I suppose it would sound similar to an Alembic preamp, since they are both based (loosely) on Fender amps, but the Blue Tube breaks up a bit too early... unless you are looking for that of course!

Personally I'm staying away from tube preamps at the moment. It's a bit too much coloration than I'm going for.