Orange Amps Forum

what are some notable heads besides orange that arent too pricy?
how are mesa,ampeg,gk?

whats not too pricy and what are you looking at tube, ss, or tube preamp?

i have no idea im not looking for one, but my bassist is hes just using a combo bass amp right now. we play post hardcore type stuff i.e. tbs, thursday, at the driven in. we want something that will sound good in a mix with my AD140 and a dual rec and drums without overpowerment. something pretty boomy and versitale. it doesn't really matter what brand as long as it sounds good. so any reccomendations would be fine.

nice.. well if you like the sound of those bands your looking at an ampeg.. a pretty obvious but still awesome tone.. svt 2 pro's and classics.. other then that.. marshall vba 400, mesa 400+, sadowsky sa200($).. im not to big on ss heads.. gk 800rb is supposed to be nice?

thursdays bassist uses(d) a 78 p-bass
atdi- stingray
tbs..im not sure i haven't* followed them since john left.. i wanna say jazz bass

http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/20 ... X1510.html

Traynor 200watt tube amp, under a grand USD, amasing warrenty and killer sounds.. look into it

I don't know how it sounds, but the Traynor amp does look like a sweet deal. http://www.traynoramps.com/products.asp ... =40&id=263
Traynor products are always reasonably priced and in my experience with the guitar amps anyway, they sound good and are built like tanks. And look, tubes!

i would check out the tubed ampegs...my friend has a old tubed ampeg head from the 70s, the same as the anniversary series but not a reissue, its the real deal, and man i havn't heard too many other bass tones that compare. but then again i havn't heard an orange bass amp....

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Austin_OLaughlin</i>
<br />what are some notable heads besides orange that arent too pricy?
how are mesa,ampeg,gk?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Those are all top makes, therefore pricy. Though right enough being in the US you'll get Mesa and Ampeg stuff for prices that would probably make me weep... [:p]

You need to think about cab(s) as well as heads of course. Power isn't <i>quite</i> everything, but if getting anything below perhaps 200 - 250w ampwise he'll need pretty efficient speakers to compete with an AD140/ Dual Rec. (Ampeg cabs for example are great but usually not the most efficient so need plenty of power to go loud.) Probably better with 15" speaker(s) first if you're needing 'boomy', maybe a 410 too later for more punch, if needs must. You'll often get away with just 15"ers for many styles though.

If a valve head / cab rig from those top makes is going to be too expensive than you'll probably need to go solid state as there aren't huge numbers of bass valve amp makers. Carvin and Peavey both put out very capable gear which'll get the job done - no bother. Their cabs are usually very good indeed for the money. And again being US companies I'd probably be vomiting all over the US list prices. One thing to be careful of with solid state gear is that the power outputs will vary depending on the total speaker impedance load you are running. You'll normally see that in the specs, but be aware of that when choosing cabs...

Yeah, Traynor from that wee land just north of you do do some very good gear, including valve / ss hybrid bass amps. And that 200w valve bass head the YBA200 looks very interesting.
http://www.traynoramps.com/products.asp ... =40&id=263

Couple of thoughts anyway.


Andy.

^my bad i thought they stopped making the traynor.. didnt peavey come out w a 400w tube amp recently?

GK: I used to own one, horrible cold and harsh sounding thing that liked to be in the repair shop. Some people swear by them, but they are usually "hifi" players doing very different things to what you play.

Mesa: The tube ones are ok, but the solid state ones I would compare to GK. The big chain store in NZ pushes the M Pulse heads so everyone has them, funny because they are more expensive than Ampeg yet all the people here who have them seem to want the "Ampeg sound".

If you go the solid state route, you probably shouldn't go under around 500 watts @ 4Ohms. I would maybe look at the Ampeg SVT-3 pro (450 watts) or the bigger SVT-4pro, or that 600 watt Ashdown head.

But in my experience, tube bass amps just sound so much nicer to my ears. SVT-CL or SVT-2 Pro is a safe choice, and their tones would probably suit the style you play. They just don't have the rich low end you get from the Orange. Watch out for the impedence the head runs at, ie a 300 watt SVT can't run an 8 ohm load.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by cassiopamusic</i>
<br />i would check out the tubed ampegs...my friend has a old tubed ampeg head from the 70s, the same as the anniversary series but not a reissue, its the real deal<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

The Anniversary SVT is just an SVT-CL in different cosmetics, your friends amp will be quite different, most would say better. Ampeg did recently do a "vintage reissue" head which is much more similar to the original.

the Traynor YBA200 is an awesome amp for the buck. the bass player in my band "the Easter-BloodHounds" uses this amp and it cut's right thru the mix just right. a perfect amp for hardcore, we are a very loud band., and this thing is great.

OOH!, and you will NEVER beat the price on this amp. look it up.

Jon

Traynor and Peavey both have economical tube heads. Mesa 400's can be had used if you're lucky, but they are very expensive to retube since they use 12 6L6's! I've never heard an SVT sound bad, and there are a lot of used units on the market. Although the Orange sounds great, it's pretty expensive, and you won't find many used ones.

In the cab department I would suggest 4x10's for cut, 8x10's for cut with massive air movement, or even something in between. I have an Aguilar DB410 with my Orange and it sounds incredible. It's very efficient so the rig gets very loud, but it sounds like we're probably a bit quieter than you guys. Aguilar also have a 4x12 which sounds huge and you could match that with a 1x15 or 2x10 and get a huge presence. In the end you might want to consider 8x10. There are plenty of folks that take an 8x10 with a solid state PA power amp like a Crown or QSC and run something like a Sansamp RBI in front for grit (Geddy Lee runs a similar rig currently). You still won't get that tube amp sound completely, but you'll have plenty of power. Just some ideas.

I recently bought a Carvin B-800 and it exceed all my expectations for such an low price (we can't talk prices on this forum). Please check one of these out if you are on a budget!!! I run mine through the Orange OBC115 cab and it is awesome.