Bass Rig
 

Okay, heres the story

Currently i am playing through a Trace Elliot AH400sm 400watt head unit, into a Trace elliot non fancy 4 by 10 box. In the past i have been happy with my sound, however recently i cant seem to help thinking that i could be getting a much better sound out of my Stingray and Bongo. So, out of your experiences, what would you guys reccomend as a good option to go for. The Criteria being:

- I Live in Brisbane Australia and its quite hard to get a good range of options
- I am a poor uni student and if i sell my trace stuff i pobaly have between 2500 and 3000.

Thanks in advance

i have no clue re: availability of gear is aus (i just know stuff is hard to come by) ... but i just got a new 4x10 cab and in the process chose the Aguilar gs410 over a mesa powerhouse 4x10 and a couple trace elliot & swr boxes.

but, then again, we all have different ears and you may hate what i love

Rhys, a few questions to help with some ideas -

What type of music do you play?
Are you in a gigging band? If so, how many guitarists, and what type of amps do they use?
What size venues do you play?
Do the venues you play run the bass through the PA, or is your rig supposed to carry the room?
Is the AUD$2500-$3000 your absolute price range?

As for prices in Australia, http://www.proaudio.com.au in Canberra will beat any price in the country, including delivery, and an get almost anything you want. Also, you'd be surprised at the prices that http://www.bassnw.com/ can do for international customers. I know some people who have bought amps and cabinets from them, and the prices including shipping and GST were still cheaper than Australian prices.

If you answer the above questions, I'll throw some ideas at you.

A cheap helpful fix would be to try out a SansAmp DI box or the RBI (rackmount) model by Tech21NYC both of which can be bought online. You can pick up a used SansAmp DI box on ebay for pretty cheap ($100). The rackmount unit is a little bit more, say about $250-300 (USD).

Though I'm very happy with my current setup, I've read rave reviews of the SansAmp helping many achieve the sound they're looking for....

Unfortunately, no dealer in the US will sell a 240v/50hz version to an international customer, and the Tech 21 distributors down here sell the rack mount unit for around AUD$899 (US$630).

The SansAmp DI box can work off of an internal 9V battery or phantom power (through the XLR connection)....

Then there are always step-down transformers.....

I understand that. I was talking about the rackmount unit. Stepdown transformers are bulky, and mean additional cables. Cables are the weak point of any stage rig.

There are plenty of other preamp options for Rhys, hence my earlier questions.

okay Aussie mark,

1. I play regular pub current rock covers, and originals which are alternative rock.
2. I am gigging in a band, only one guitarist, uses a marshall 100watt (i think) head with a 4 by 12 speaker box, its got quite a bit of volume when it wants to.
3. Venues range from small to large pubs and venues. No concert halls stadiums or entertainment centres (not yet anyways ).
4. Usually i D.I from my Amp to a mixer through a front of house, however occasionally and quite alot recently i have been using the rig to carry the room
5. 2500-3000AUD is the price that i would be happy with. but then again i always end up spendin more on equipment than id really like to so i suppose the answer is not my ABSOLUTE minimum, but it would be nice.

Thanks

Thanks Rhys for the extra info. A good 4x10" cabinet should be perfect for your needs, so if I were you I'd be on the lookout for a used SWR Goliath or Eden 4x10, which will set you back around AUD$1200.

That leaves you another $1300-1800 for more power, so a preamp/poweramp rack would be the way to go. You can score a decent used power amp putting out 600-1000 watts in bridged mono mode for around $1000 (eg. Yamaha, Crown, Australian Monitor, Perreaux, Peak), or you can buy a new Chinese made power amp for under $1000 (eg. Phonic, Behringer, Alto, Crest).

For preamps, you can spend anything from $250 (Behringer tube mic preamp, great value for the money) to $800 (used Demeter or Alembic from ebay US or Bass NW, new Sansamp rackmount pre). In between, there are used preamps like the Yamaha PB-1, Roland SIP-300, Blue Tube, ART etc).

There's nothing wrong with your current rig other than I suspect you're running out of headroom. Some more power should fix that for you and allow you to get the sound you want from your MM basses.

Thanks heaps.

next time ive got some free time ill go hunt some of those down and try them out.

Stingray into an SVT is sonic bliss. If I needed something that big, that's what I'd jump on.

I like my F#nd#r 300 watt all tube head, it's a bit heavy but has a warm full tone and the price is right on as far as tube heads are concerned. I play thru an Eden 4x10 and 1x15 cabinet. Ampeg are also killer.

Ps I had a Trace Elliot set up that i wish i still had....so don't sell it!

This thread is from 2004, wow!

best advice i have seen in an age Mark !
i used to use this set up and if you want more power and head room this is the way to go.i do still love the trace gear mind you as thats what i giged for much of my youth.

LOL, well that was in 2004 :D

Things have changed a lot since then with all the lightweight options these days, but the basic advice rings true. A pre/power amp rig is still a great general purpose gigging option, especially given how light power amps from QSC and others are now. My Alembic F1-X and QSC PLX1804 pre/power rig weighs under 30lbs in it's rack case. I know that's heavy compared to say my 6lb LMII, but it's still a lot lighter than the 80lb racks I lugged around in the 1980s!