Hi Guys,

I'm a big believer in the theory that the whole signal chain needs to make sense aand there needs to be good Bass / Amp synergy

Eg. Fender with Flats / Valve amp / 15' Speakers..... etc etc

It's easy to draw on the Status / Trace / Ashdown connection for inspiration but my question for thisa thread is...

What Amp do you use with your Status & Why ?

I once had a mini Bass Bash at my house with some pals and an amazing collection of Amps Caps

We tried my Status Stealth I through an EBS HD350 / Proline 410..... good god never hears such a thin nasty harsh tone, couldn't do a thing with it !!

Plugged the same bass into an Eden Metro combo...... tone heaven !!!

Look forward to hearing your thoughts

Mark

I use a EBS Fafner head, it sounds very clear and doesn't colour the sound of the bass. It has a valve in the preamp to ad some warmth. I use the same proline 410 cab you are talking about and a 15F cab and this because I always play five-string and need the extra deep frequenties. I don't know how you tested your EBS stuff but I've played a lot of Brands over the years and my EBS rig is the best I've ever played... Good punch, clear sound even at very high volumes and no colouring of sound, etc...

Greetz
Dirk

Hi Dirk
I love EBS gear...... Just thought with the ultra clear and crisp tone of the Stealth it got a little to sterile and brittle sounding...... I think the Fafner is a very different beast to the HD350.

I'm using a Pro-line 410 just now, great live cab...... some people seem to get hung up on the fact that it's only flat response down to 70Hz, live that can be a blessing !!! Limits the low end rumble on a boomy stage if there's a little bit of Roll off in my view.... I guess with a 5 String you'd notice that more..... The EBS 15 is a great little box and certainly makes an EBS 410 more of a "Full Range" solution....

ATB

Mark

Great thread.

I think the choice of your stack depends on the sytle of music you play. So, of course, if you use a Fender with a valve amp and a 15'', you're most likely not going to use it in a Level42-like band.

Now my personal thoughts about the gear are:
I like the amplifier to be quite "linear" without shaping the sound too much. I'm more after a "clear amplification" and a quick response (funny how those topics tend to become "philosophical" quite quickly).

On the other side, the cabinets are real "soundshapers" and there're big differences between two 4x10'' cabs from different manufacturers. Personally, I can't tell from the specs how they're going to sound - I always have to try them.

So the gear I use right now is:
For reggae/big stages, it's a solid state MarkBass SD800 together with SAD (<- small german manufacturer) 4x10'' and 1x15'' stack. Those cabs give a nice "3D-sound" as the 4x10'' gives a well defined sound at close ranges and the 1x15'' kicks in, if you move further away from the stack, adding some warmth and a LOT of bass-frequences to the sound. Funnily enough, on those stages, I'm always using the DI-out, so the cabs are really just for the stage-sound/fun or rehersals/recording.

For occasional smaller gigs, I use the same head or an old Gallien RB800 with two or a single cab out of my 4x10, 1x15, 4x8 SAD collection - depending on the musical style.

Regardless of the music, I always dial in a small "dent" around 0.9-1k.

For even smaller/jazz gigs, I use the SWR "Baby Blue" and contrary to what I've said before, I use a lot of EQ there: Cutting treble a lot, big hole around 1k and use of the SWR "aural enhancer" (which adds some mids for high notes, while pushing some lows for deep ones).


Some gear, I do not own, but am very fond of:
The big Ampeg fridge ( SVT 8x10'' ) seems to be the mother of all cabinets. It's always fun to play it, but awefully large, so if you don't have your personal roadie - it's just too large to be practical.

As mentioned before, EBS is very nice, too - just as Glockenklang. I once played a Glockenklang (the 3HE monster, I think it was the "bass art" ) with two 1x12'' which worked amazingly well for reggae.

Concerning Combos: The "MarkBass-Cube" Mini-CMD (with 1x12'' ) is a real treat, awefully loud ;)


For everything else soundwise: My beloved Status does the job ;)

EBS man here to, great punch, StatusRay=use with a pick for rock/metal full on well defined sound or finger style and slap=full on FUNKY! Great amps and cabs.

Markbass 2x10 combo...the best multi-pupose,lightweight gigging amp I've ever owned.
Can compete easily with a full-on drummer without blowing up or farting,switches on every time,runs at virtually room temperature after 2 hours of thrashing and you can carry it with one hand (if you have to.)
Stick an extra 15" under it,delivers a full 500 watts and it sounds amazing.Totally tells it "how it is" when it comes to the sound of the Status.
Can't recommend it highly enough.:D

Loadsa stuff!

Main rig is a MarkBass mini 15 combo with a 2x10 traveller cab, both with hf horns and the usual 500w at 4ohms. Total weight is 30kg for the two! Heaven :)

Secondary rig is an Ashdown Mag Evo II 300w 15" combo with a 15" extension cab. I keep this in the tour bus of one of the bands I play with. (Don't want the MB left in there!)

Jazz/Shows/BigBand amp is a Roland Bass Cube 100. Plenty for most jobs I do in these particular fields!

Rich.

Ah, you guys and your Markbass gear.....
I'll put my Eden up on any Markbass for quality hifi sound.

Used to use Trace Elliot V-Type stuff, recently moved over to a Hartke LH500, which is essentially the same preamp without the "overdrive" gain valve but stuck to a higher powered amp section.

I'm still using Trace cabs:



In the past I have used a Trace 12-band head and an Eden Nemesis head. Both sounded great but not quite "right" - the V-Type/Hartke is the perfect amp for me at the mo tho :)

Here's mine.... -


Yes the Eden is probably the best tone I've had with a status.... and with a few other basses also.... but I'm unloading this rig to save my poor back. Anyone wanna offer me any light weight options in trade??

I always used my Trace Elliot Series 6 combo with 4x10 but for the same back problem mentioned above I now use Markbass 2x10 combo and I'm going to add probably another cab.
I don't have the knowledge and experience to go deep down technical details but I can tell you that I don't miss my Trace anymore.

Christ this debate could go on forever:D
probably like most of you...I too have owned lots.

My current rigs are a Marshall400wDBS with custom built 1x15(Guass) with prototype celestion HF Driver, and a small 150w Marshall combo with 2x10 for jazz.

http://www.marshallamps.com/product_range.asp?productCode=MB150

My best sounding rig I had was an SWR Redhead. How the Marshalls will sound with the Status is yet to be revealed, they don't have great finesse but they are bloody loud. I don't think I would ever use either of them to record with, I have several preamps for that but I usually prefer straight in the desk, pure sound of the guitar.

ebs td 650,ebs neo 2x10 and ebs neo 2x12(for sale).....hopefully adding a neo 4x10 soon!

MarkBass F1 + Epifani UL-210 (4 ohm) = 500W of clean power.

I am developing a custom pre (more on this later).

if only i had the money thats my dream rig!!

My stage rig consists of Ashdown abm 4x10 500 combo
coupled up to 1 ashdown abm 1x15 500 cab. they are both mk1 ashdowns so have Celestion speakers. I put my Status s2 and my Fender jazz through this and it kicks ass.
For rehearsal I use an Ashdown Abm 2x10 500 combo wich also kicks ass. Just a bit on the heavy side really but worth it IMO.
Great thread by the way.;)

My rig consists of Thunderfunk 550-B amp and 2 Euphonic Audio CXL210 cabs

Markbass 2 x 10 combo, stunning bit of kit!!! Used to have a LMK head and 2 4 x 10 cabs..but his combo, is INCREDIBLE!

EBS all the way!!

James.

And 3 basses that have come my way! You need some new photos!! :D