I Have a New Bass! I Have an Amp Question!

[Len]

I just bought a new to me 4003. It was Jeff's JetGlo, now it's mine! Heh heh. It's a great bass, and Jeff was great with the transaction. The pearl-look pickguard is a nice upgrade.

I haven't played bass since about 1994. I've been playing guitar but wanted to get back to bass playing for a band that I'm in now. My new bass is going to be perfect. I need an amp though. What I'm looking for is the Mike Mills sound on Murmur. What amp do I want? My band, we are rock and roll but not too loud. We will play out, but nowhere too large. I'm going to GC this weekend to try out a MarkBass head with a 2x10 cabinet. I might well go with that. Light, portable, and reliable.

Craigslist in my area has a number of '70s Bassman Ten amps available. There may be a good reason for that. I think I can get a good deal on one with new tubes and caps, then replace the speakers with modern real bass speakers such as the Eminence B102. Then I will have a vintage bass amp and my total cost will be about half that of a new amp.

I know about the weight and portability issues, and that some feel that the Bassman is not loud enough. But what about sound? Do you have any experience replacing the speakers in a Bassman? I can play the amp as-is and decide whether or not I like the tone. But it's the Rickenbacker plus the amp with new speakers that I can't try out until I buy the amp and do the work. Any thoughts on whether I will get the sound I'm looking for?

Thanks!

Len

[woodyng]

i can't comment on the fender amp,no experiemce there,but markbass is excellent stuff. if your band is not all that loud,you might want to consider the 1-12 marbkbass combo instead of the 2-10. it is more than sufficient on its own for most situations,plus you can add a 2nd cabinet and have a really loud powerful rig if needed. you should have no problem getting a great tone with that combination! oh murmur is just the best -love mike mills tone and playing on that album.

[rickboy88]

If you can tell want kind of amp this is from the David Letterman show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ykp0Vq77IBw

An important aspect of the sound is the bass itself & its pickups. It'll have the .0047 cap installed, which gives that more trebly "Ric" sound. The pickups from the 70's and through the early 80's had a more crystaline sound as well. By the late 90's, the pickups had more bass output.

It sounds like Mike is all treble pickup, but a check of his switch settings would confirm. His pickup cover is removed and he plucks between the bridge and treble pickup.

I modified my 1998 4003 to put two of the caps in to get more rolloff to compensate for the "bassier" pickups. The newer push/pull pot Rics allow you to put the cap back in the circuit, but the sound isn't quite the same as the older Rics like Mike would have played.

[rickaddict]

... It'll have the .0047 cap installed...

I wonder about that assumption. At the time of the Letterman performance, the bass was around 10 years old and it's bridge had been replaced. Who's to say that someone hadn't bypassed or removed the bass-cut capacitor?

When I got my '73 4001 a few years back, it was filthy, had rusty strings, and looked like no-one had played it for 10 years. And it had no bass-cut cap. My guess is that there were probably quite a few luthiers and/or people with electronics know-how back then that were capable of figuring out what that capacitor was doing and how to bypass it.

So was it there? Maybe. Probably. But not definitely.

[woodyng]

really enjoyed that link/performance-great! i should also mention i have been playing practices with a drummer and 2 guitarists using a micro mark-you dont have to have a huge rig to be heard if the overall volume level is kept down-i am going to try playing an upcoming gig with my ampeg sb-12 which is like a 40 watt tube amp with 1-12' speaker. the bassman amp you're talking about is that a 50 or 100 watt amp?

[Dave12]

Looks like a Sunn on the clip.

[teeder]

IIRC, the Bassman 10 is 50 watts with 4X10's. That was the first amp I ever had, and I don't miss it. It was a gutless amp.
Just my humble opinion.

[rickenbrother]

Newer bass cabinets are made to be much more efficient than those old Bassman amps. You'll get more output/weight and size with a new cab.

[jps]

Wow, a new bass, Len! Never figured you for a bassist.

Enjoy it and make lots of subterranean noise with it.

[RicOSoundMan]

I like tha amps put out by Accoustic Control Corp.... I have a B-260 Mini Stack. They are affordable and yet sound great. It has a 100 watt head and a 10" speaker in a custom port cabinet. sound great for small venues. I play at my church and we have nice big auditorium and it fills it nicely. here is a photo of it

[Tarrbot]

Congrats on Jeff's bass. I've got one of the black pearloid pickguards and I must say that they're a great addition.

In your amp options, are you looking at combos exclusively or are you looking at mix and match head/cab setups? Or both options?

It may not be "vintage" but I'd suggest looking at Avatar for cabs if you can find them. Specifically the Neo cabs. Dave (from Avatar) sells them on ebay from time to time, has over 8000 transactions and 100% satisfaction last I looked.

I don't have the Neos but I don't move mine around that much either so I don't require the light weight that the Neos offer.

With that said, you almost can't go wrong with Markbass. They do make some awesome amps.

[Len]

Thanks for the amp advice. I have not decided yet whether to go combo or head and cabinet. I like the combo because it is more compact, and with the MarkBass adding another cab is pretty easy.

This is weird but I saw Mike Mills tonight. He was standing behind me at the Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3 show. It was a super fantastic show. And too loud to ask him about his amp.

[paologregorio]

I went to see two bands this past Sunday and both bassists were playing out of those retro looking ampeg bass cubes or whatever they're called. Good for a small to medium sized venue with the 1x15 speaker. I thought the sound was pretty big for such a small looking amp.

[Fabiob]

Thanks for the amp advice. I have not decided yet whether to go combo or head and cabinet. I like the combo because it is more compact, and with the MarkBass adding another cab is pretty easy.

This is weird but I saw Mike Mills tonight. He was standing behind me at the Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3 show. It was a super fantastic show. And too loud to ask him about his amp.

Hi Len,

My personal suggestion is Mark Bass (I'm italian, eh eh eh... ) with the TA503 head (tube pre-amp in there) and a 4/10HR cab, whose weight & dims are not that bigger than a 2/10FR...Should you soon or later need more punch than the one for a small club, you'll have it. When gigging, I use a trolley, and the light weight + the trolley make it very easy to move ! Light weight is finally another +1 for the MB cabinets, and the TA503 head would result in a very extra fine tone adjustment, sporting 2 separate EQ (1 general + 1 semi-parametric), allowing any possible tone for your 4003. I use the 2/10FR in very small clubs, the 4/10HR in
larger ones, and finally both them in open air gigs or large venues (500 watts at 4 ohm). Do your choice, and whichever is, enjoy your axes !!
Love. Fabio

[jps]

As I have mentioned previously, Markbass! If you want a killer tiny combo amp get the Minimark, perfect for home, office and smaller shows.