Bass Amp Recommendation

[winstonia83]

Hi guys. I'm looking for a bass amp for my church. Budget should be around 1K-2K. Can anyone give me some good recommendations? Right now we are using a 25 inch Trace Elliot Combo. I am considering both heads + cabs or combos alike. I was thinking of getting a separate head instead. I need the oomph from the bass amp cab. haha...

 

[Indigo_blues]

can check out the ampegs at music plaza. pretty decent.

 

[jbarks]

25 inch? That's pretty big leh.

Try the Genz-Benz combo amps at Davis. Not bad for the money, and if you tell them you're buying for a church (with proof, of course) they might give you a discount.

 

[exin]

you can try luther too .. tell them it's for a church with proof and they'd be likely to give you a good price ..

EBS at Davis .. can't go wrong man .. good stuff .. =)

 

[ahkiatt]

25 inch is huge... my church is only using like a 12 incher la...

 

[reyrey]

Hi guys. I'm looking for a bass amp for my church. Budget should be around 1K-2K. Can anyone give me some good recommendations? Right now we are using a 25 inch Trace Elliot Combo. I am considering both heads + cabs or combos alike. I was thinking of getting a separate head instead. I need the oomph from the bass amp cab. haha...

you wanna get a GK head and cab? GK 1001-II RB and backline cab =)

 

[winstonia83]

Ermm.... I think i made a mistake. My TE is 15 inch not 25. 25 is like frigging big i think. What is a GK and what does backline cab mean? What is EBS?

 

[Colarndo]

You lack the oomph from the bass amp cab?
Are you unable to get the results from adjusting/tweaking the combo?
Have you tried different setup?Eg: Bass w/o efx or Bass+Efx/Mod Processors?
Are you certain that the Trace Elliot in your church is not functioning well that it has to be replaced?
Do other bassists in your church have a problem with it?

If the answer is yes to all, than I gladly support you using 1-2K of the church money to blow on the combo. (Hard to get head+cab at that price).

 

[reyrey]

Ermm.... I think i made a mistake. My TE is 15 inch not 25. 25 is like frigging big i think. What is a GK and what does backline cab mean? What is EBS?

its gallien krueger,you can check it at www.gallien-krueger.com,used by flea,duff mckagann n tom hamilton
i got 1001-rbII head and backline 115 cabinet with me...if you willing,coz the price is within your budget range =)

 

[jbarks]

What Colarndo said. I've gotten a pretty punchy tone out of a 12" TE Commando combo before, so you might want to check your EQ first Again, a 15" cone is pretty damn big in itself already and should be able to provide you with good tone, seeing as to how it's a Trace amp.

Those Ampeg 2x10 combos look pretty decent though...

 

[Indigo_blues]

yeah its quite strange you're not getting enough ooomph from such a big amp.. check your cables or your guitar.. maybe add a compressor to get more oomph if u want.

I usually can't get past 3 or 4 on my bass amp in church before everyone starts screaming.. and the hall's pretty big. I'm using either a hartke combo (140watts) or a peavey TNT combo(160watts).

 

[litford]

i support a 2x10 choice, awesome punchy tone, tight arse as well.. well, if that's the sorta sound you dig.. might loose some of that low subwoofish bass, but if you got another slave out, connect another 15" cab to it, and run everything via the combo preamp.

i'm playing an eden nemesis 2x10, and its great.. but in my church setting, it makes more sense to go DI.. in fact, most church set ups would be going through DI as well.. unless you're playing a small venue, 2x10s, 1x12s fill up a small room/chapel pretty nicely..

the eden nemesis has got a pretty clean DI if you wanna give it a whirl -)

 

[ahkiatt]

how big is your church btw. why need such power amps.

 

[exin]

alot of times it's the placement of the amp that plays a huge role in how you perceive the sound ... don't you hate bass frequencies?

especially acoustics. My current church has really bad acoustics and resonance .. so the bass frequencies goes bouncing all over the place .. really bad .. we're embarking on a redevelopment project soon though ..

try messing around with the placement of your amp. Rule of thumb is that the further your amp is off the floor the less "ompf" you'd get, not a HUGE drop but if you want that rumbling sound try to couple your bass amp to the floor .. helps alot in transmitting those low end frequencies .. =)

 

[winstonia83]

Yah...actually the oomph is okay. I think I didn't make myself clear. The sound is not what I imagined it could be after i plug in my church gnl bass. It can be very muddy (and loud). Ít's also fighting with the overheads to give the volume. However, my church's sound system do not have sub woofers. That's why I thought a bass cab might actually do the job for our thousand seater auditoriumThat'what i meant by having extra oomph. To kind of like make up for what my sound system cannot produce.

I heard that eq settings are used to remove problems from the sound. Not to tweak or sweeten it? Is that true? I hardly use the eq settings though because I am already using my bass podxt as the ef processor.

The TE amp is good no doubt. However TE brand has already been bought over by another company. That's why i'm looking for alternatives to the TE.

No, the TE is not faulty, we are getting a new main bass amp to replace our TE so that our youth service can use the TE for practice.

What's the price range like for a head+ cab bass amp?

 

[Indigo_blues]

hmm, EQ is VERY important in fixing bass frequencies. Try experimenting with it if you have not first..

 

[exin]

hmm, EQ is VERY important in fixing bass frequencies. Try experimenting with it if you have not first..

Agreed ...

Yours is a thousand seater .. that's quite a fair number of people. You'd consider getting a 4X10 with head ... it'll help quite a fair bit ... also you must understand that people soak up sound waves ... so when you do a sound check without anyone in the place and when they come in .. it'll sound very different .. i tend to let my bass ring and make my sound guy complain that i'm too loud, but when the people come in it'll sound just nice .. =) .. i'm using only a 60watt Fender Bassman for a 200 seater place and my volume is only halfway up usually .. or a little more ...

but that's quite bad because the amp is a little cranky, any more pass 7 or 8 the noise will be quite bad ... and i can't push it without it rattling ...

 

[jbarks]

Agree on the 4x10 with head... I use a Trace GP12SMX head with 4x10 cab in my main hall and it fits in pretty well. Then again, that head was way before they got bought over and all.

 

[exin]

Agree on the 4x10 with head... I use a Trace GP12SMX head with 4x10 cab in my main hall and it fits in pretty well. Then again, that head was way before they got bought over and all.

what's your head rating???

 

[Colarndo]

Dear winstonia83, I did sound for a few years in church before, I too owe a GnL Bass, played through 1X15"s before(though I prefer 12"s), I also have a head w/o cab(LOL)and I have the following advice to spare.
Your problem appears to an acoustic problem or rather the lack of a suporting sub-woofers in your church. A thousand seater? That's Huge!(God bless your church for multiplying)Will the new setup create more problems? As bass frequencies travel, they become muddier. Those people sitting at the back will experience a slight audible delay if they were to rely on a single bass combo/Head+cab blasting from the stage. Not accounting for the ppl who absorb the sound as those frequencies travel. Those at the front will hear the bass very loudly, those at the back, little.
Is the stage elevated? Be careful where the amp is facing, I can guarrantee if the amp is facing upwards(45% usually in kickbacks)the sound will reflect towards the ceiling(some churches have high ceilings) and bounce here and there resulting in a nice "reverb/echo" sound. A nightmare of course.
I know how exciting it is to buy new gear, but you must seriously consult the sound engineers in your church for better advice on how the new setup will affect the overall sound.
Note: OVERALL SOUND. Will the sound engineer's mix be affected by the new bass setup? He doesn't have control over the bass sound AT ALL.

Not trying to be negative here, but I hope you can see the whole picture here. you can buy the best setup in town, but if it doesn't fit the church, money is wasted.
Seriously, look into a budget into buying sub woofers. A long term solution.