Orange Amps Forum

So I've bought a bass guitar,(Fender Geddy Lee Signature Jazz),and am getting re-aquainted with the instrument.I started my rock music journey on bass as a 16 year old. So anyway,I have a Rocker 30 head and a 1x12 cabinet I've been playing through,and have been surprised at how good it sounds.Trouble is,I don't want to turn up too loud,and pop the 12" guitar speaker in this cab.

I've thought about picking up an OBC115 to run into.....any thoughts on how this would sound?

That's a pretty expensive cabinet to run with a 30w head. You won't get hardly any headroom. The money may be better spent on an actual bass amp IMO. Depends what you're wanting to do I guess. It definitely wouldn't hang with a band unless it's acoustic stuff.

yeah, i very much doubt you'll get up to band volumes even if you add a better cab. you'd be better off grabbing a bass terror combo or something like that.

Do you use it for a dirty bass sound? If so, i guess should work just fine. A friend of mine who's also a guitarist A/B's between two amps for bass, one of them is a AD30 combo which he uses for dirt. I would have to check if he uses the combo's speakers or uses an external cab live, but he does use the A/B setup live at gigging volumes.

edit: http://www.facebook.com/themadtrist/photos_stream" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

judging from the pics, he uses the AD30 combo's speakers.

My original amp is a 50-watt (2 6L6s) Silvertone bass amp from the early 70s with a 15" speaker. It is totally awesome for guitar when you get it loud enough (no separate gain knob in those days), but it is not enough power for bass. Sounds pretty anemic. Probably cool when alone or in the studio, but will not cut it live.

the orangewizard wrote:So I've bought a bass guitar,(Fender Geddy Lee Signature Jazz),and am getting re-aquainted with the instrument.I started my rock music journey on bass as a 16 year old. So anyway,I have a Rocker 30 head and a 1x12 cabinet I've been playing through,and have been surprised at how good it sounds.Trouble is,I don't want to turn up too loud,and pop the 12" guitar speaker in this cab.

I've thought about picking up an OBC115 to run into.....any thoughts on how this would sound?

You're right, the R.30 actually sounds great for bass. (Again, it really reminds me of my OR120 used that way too.)
And you're right, you probably don't want to blast the single speaker (a V.30?) too hard - you might just overdo things on the cone excursion front and damage it.

Depends what you expect. Loud 30W guitar amp or not, 30W really isn't much for bass at all. Fine for mucking about by yourself, maybe small rehearsals if you are keeping things very quiet (and don't have a drummer). But otherwise you are just going to get lost as a marginal indistinct burble in the background, even through a good bass cab.

Of course if you pick up an OBC115 to use with it at home you can always get a more powerful dedicated bass head later on for away matches. There are plenty of very affordable and decent sounding amps out there now, many of them weighing only 2-3Kg or so. That won't make a 30Kg cab any lighter, but even so things are good on the bass amp front these days.

How's the Geddy Lee? I've never actually played that model, but do love my Japanese Fenders.


Andy.

a.hun wrote:

the orangewizard wrote:So I've bought a bass guitar,(Fender Geddy Lee Signature Jazz),and am getting re-aquainted with the instrument.I started my rock music journey on bass as a 16 year old. So anyway,I have a Rocker 30 head and a 1x12 cabinet I've been playing through,and have been surprised at how good it sounds.Trouble is,I don't want to turn up too loud,and pop the 12" guitar speaker in this cab.

I've thought about picking up an OBC115 to run into.....any thoughts on how this would sound?

You're right, the R.30 actually sounds great for bass. (Again, it really reminds me of my OR120 used that way too.)
And you're right, you probably don't want to blast the single speaker (a V.30?) too hard - you might just overdo things on the cone excursion front and damage it.

Depends what you expect. Loud 30W guitar amp or not, 30W really isn't much for bass at all. Fine for mucking about by yourself, maybe small rehearsals if you are keeping things very quiet (and don't have a drummer). But otherwise you are just going to get lost as a marginal indistinct burble in the background, even through a good bass cab.

Of course if you pick up an OBC115 to use with it at home you can always get a more powerful dedicated bass head later on for away matches. There are plenty of very affordable and decent sounding amps out there now, many of them weighing only 2-3Kg or so. That won't make a 30Kg cab any lighter, but even so things are good on the bass amp front these days.

How's the Geddy Lee? I've never actually played that model, but do love my Japanese Fenders.


Andy.

Yes,I had considered getting the OBC115,and running the R.30 head for the time being,and picking up something like a MarkBass Little Mark Tube 800 down the road when need,and funds allow.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie ... s-amp-head" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LOTTA power there,perhaps this would be plenty!!!!

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie ... s-amp-head" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



I've also been looking at the Marshall MB hybrid series....I like the idea of something like this-

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie ... amp#review" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Geddy Lee is very cool.It's also fitting as this week Rush finally gets into the HOF,and Master Lee was the individual responsible for inspiring me to want to take up bass as a teenager. If I recall correctly,it was the POWER WINDOWS album that nailed the choice of bass over guitar at the time,(though I of course took up guitar later on down the road)!!

the orangewizard wrote:The Geddy Lee is very cool.It's also fitting as this week Rush finally gets into the HOF,and Master Lee was the individual responsible for inspiring me to want to take up bass as a teenager. If I recall correctly,it was the POWER WINDOWS album that nailed the choice of bass over guitar at the time,(though I of course took up guitar later on down the road)!!

Hah, Geddy definitely got me into playing bass. I was learning the bass lines on Caress of Steel and 2112 before I even had a bass. I'd retune my violin to EADG and sit it on my lap...


Andy.

The Getty Lee is based on the '72 jazz bass, the only year they had the black painted inlays on fret board. My college roommate has a '72 jazz bass and it is incredible. Perfect neck, perfect balance. You will be having fun.