Cheap giggable bass amp

ICBM

crunchman said:

If you don't mind extreme weight then older Trace or Ashdown 4 x 10 combos fetch very little money at all.

Because repairing them can cost a fortune. Avoid Ashdowns with blue speakers in particular… English is a confusing language - 'blue' and 'blew' sound the same .

(That applies to the 15"s even more than the 10"s - total crap.)

mart

octatonic said:
...

I've also never heard a Trace Elliot that sounded better than 'Ok, I guess'.

You're not the first person to say that. I remember Mark from BassDirect saying they had graphic EQs only because it was so hard to get a good sound out of them.

But back in the '80s they were THE sound to have - absolutely everybody seemed to be playing through Trace. 

Was that just a collective failure of taste, or a lack of decent alternatives?

octatonic

Does anyone gig with an 8x10 these days unless they have a crew?

octatonic

mart said:

Was that just a collective failure of taste, or a lack of decent alternatives?

This is a good question.
In all seriousness, I think the problem is that many people listen with their eyes.

mart

Maybe. There was certainly a fashion element to it. And maybe in the era of slap bass they needed that sound. 

ICBM

mart said:

octatonic said:

I've also never heard a Trace Elliot that sounded better than 'Ok, I guess'.

You're not the first person to say that. I remember Mark from BassDirect saying they had graphic EQs only because it was so hard to get a good sound out of them.

I found them very easy - they always sounded great without the GEQ. But they absolutely *had* to have the mid pre-shape turned on or they did indeed sound flat and lifeless. The clever thing was that the pre-shape is pre-DI even if the DI is set to "pre-EQ" so it's on the feed to the PA as well, so if you set the DI to pre-EQ you can use the GEQ to adjust your on-stage sound without infuriating the soundman while still having the proper tone through the PA. (Although I did have arguments with soundmen who wanted to DI the bass directly, before the input of the amp instead.)

When I played guitar in a band with another bass player who used my AH250, she never used the GEQ either - but she liked to set it in some artistic shape and then leave it turned off, just to confuse people .

Once again that does apply only up to Series 6 though - I've never heard a later one that sounded all that good.

And I've never, ever played slap bass...

mart

ICBM said:

... she liked to set it in some artistic shape and then leave it turned off, just to confuse people .

....

I like the idea of that!

ICBM said:

... 

And I've never, ever played slap bass...

Nor me, and I suppose the hidden meaning of my comment was basically that crap bass playing maybe needs a crap sound.

ICBM

I have to admit I associated Trace with that sound initially and it put me off them for a long time... until I had to play through one at a shared-backline gig, and it was a revelation. Huge, effortless clean power and bottom-end.

Even better, I just turned the GEQ off and got 'my sound' straight away, without needing to mess up the other chap's settings.

This is actually making me want another one... but the good ones are just so heavy, even for me.

MrT

Bringing back this old thread ...

I ended up picking up a cheap Ashdown Root Master C201T-420  to tide me over for the time being. It's slightly odd as it just says RM420 on the front of the combo while all the others I've seen are badged MAG420 but it seemed OK at rehearsal last night. Its small and light enough for my needs for now (I may change my mind after I've lugged it up and down stairs for a few weeks)! 

I did like the look of the small TC Combos but was really put off by the fact they don't have a speaker out on the back (although actually I think the 2x8 might).