Building a bass rig?

[slavehack]

Where does one begin?

I want to build a versatile bass rig, but not break the bank, but I'm clueless as far as rack mount gear goes.

What are necessities? What should I watch out for?

[SmittyG]

The approaches are almost limitless with a multi-part rig instead of an all-in-one combo amp, which is, of course, the whole point. One of the most versatile and inexpensive rigs I've ever put together was a BBE BMax preamp (used price $100), a PV1500 power amp (used price $200), and then I already had a 2x10 cab in my possession. You can go with a head (pre and power amp in one box) which still gives you the ability to mix and match speaker arrangements but makes the sound generation a single unit affair. But, I figure if you are going to start from scratch, having separate pre and power amp allows you to pick (and later replace) one element at a time. Very cool when you decide to upgrade things a bit. And the preamp and the poweramp are the two "requirements", but the "options" are all over the map with rack gear. The only limit you really face is how much money you have to spend.

[Rebel_Yell]

Just a few months ago I was on here asking the same thing. The best thing I can tell you is to start by finding one piece of equipment you REALLY like, or get a REALLY good deal on. I started off playing bass through an old peavey musician 200watt guitar head and an upright 2x12 cabinet. I found two cabinets (a 18" carvin and a 2x10" acme) in hot springs, and then got the rack gear that I thought would do what I wanted to match them.

To start off, what kind of music are you gonna play with this rig, and don't say a little bit of everything, cause no rig does everything perfect.

Are you worried about portability, like heavy bulky cabinets?

How loud are you going to need to be? It takes a lot more speaker and power for a bass rig to compete with guitar rigs. Your average 20watt tube amp will smoke a 100watt bass amp quick.

How much are you willing to spend?

How equipment savvy are you? Can you find your way around a processor easily within a few minutes, or would you rather set an EQ and compressor and just play?

Write yourself thoughtful answers to these questions, and you'll have a good idea where to start looking, just be willing to be flexible if you don't find EXACTLY what you want, and have a little extra cash for when you do and it's a little more than you thought.

[Räj]

A good starting point is to go see other bands. When you hear a bass sound you like, see what that bass player is running. Just remember that tone comes first from the wood (quality of the bass) secondly from your hands, and thirdly from the rig.

[slavehack]

Rebel_Yell:

1. Mostly hardcore/metal. You can listen to us by following the link in my sig. I don't downtune at all, except drop d (if you even call that downtuning lol.)
2. As far as size goes, I'm thinking of running a 4x10 cab, with *maybe* a 15" extension cab. Might upgrade to a 6x10 in the future if I ever feel the need to.
3. Loudness: Not incredibly loud, just enough to fill up with two distorted tube heads (a 5150 II and a line6 tube, soon to be a 6505). I do like to hear myself play, and we trigger our drums with a pa if that makes any difference.
4. Price: Not sure. I'm looking for a job, and will be able to work full time with no bills to pay, so it can cost whatever, but I'd like it to be a realistic goal to reach in a month or so.
5. I really like setting an EQ and a compresser and playing, so I'm not too equipment savvy lol. I've never messed with rack kits before, so I'm pretty much a "professional" gear noobie.

Thanks for the responses guys! So basically Smitty, is I can find a decent preamp, and then find a power amp big enough to comfortably (and safely) power the speakers?

[SmittyG]

That's the idea. The preamp sets your tone. The power amp is your horsepower. And it sounds like you have the speaker concept covered. Try as many as can to find what you do/don't like and go from there.

[Rebel_Yell]

If you want the extra BOOM from your low end, then definitely go with at least a 15 on the bottom. The 10's project really well and have a nice full mid sound, but they can't throw sound as far or quite as deeply as a 15 or 18 can. Combining sizes like that is a good was to get a fuller sound. If you can afford it, I would also look at getting cabinets with "neo" speakers in them, your back will thank you.

With everything else you said, I would actually recommend getting a bass head rather than a rack kit. I would look at somewhere in the neighbor hood of 350+watts. BE mindful to watch your OHM loads on the amp and head so you don't over do it though. Jared from Psylo has a Peavey Firebass head that is just badass and has headroom for days. If you just want a simple setup that would be a nice way to go.

The best thing to do though is go to every music store and pawn shop you can and play on everything they've got. Never know when you can find a deal on something you didn't know you'd like.

[SmittyG]

The best thing to do though is go to every music store and pawn shop you can and play on everything they've got. Never know when you can find a deal on something you didn't know you'd like.

I can't back this up enough. You can read through the magazines and the online bass player forums and the only thing you are going to figure out is: There are a million and one ways to get the job done and everybody is pretty much convinced their way is the best while everyone else is dead wrong. Well, if any one solution were really "the best" there wouldn't be a million and one options on the market. In the final analysis, your opinion is just as valid as any other and the *only* one that matters when talking about *your* gear.

You have to balance three main factors:
1) how is sounds -- if you don't like the sound of the system, you won't enjoy playing through it and you will waste time and money replacing it that you could have saved just getting something else to begin with;

2) logistics -- a classic Ampeg 8x10 cab sounds like rolling thunder, no doubt, but without a way to get it from the practice room to the gig, it really doesn't do you damn bit of good, you have to get what you can carry and haul; and

3) finances -- always the final say in just about any decision unless you are just filthy stinking loaded, there is some gear I would just *love* to have but it ain't never gonna happen unless I win a lottery or something so it just makes no sense to spend much time thinking of the stuff.

Good luck.

[slavehack]

I'm reviving this thread a little bit.

I agree with the concept of me having just a single head, but I'm getting to the stage where I enjoy to improv on my own, and really want to develop my own "signature" sound. As much as I hate using that term, I love going to shows, and realizing all the other metal bassists sound the same way I do. I really want my style and sound to stand out.

Right now I'm running through a Behringer BX300T bass head, with a matching Behringer Ultrabass BB410. Simple little rig, decent power for where we play, but I really want to shape up my sound a LOT. I know most of this comes from the current bass I'm using, a Yamaha RBX170, but this thing has a surprisingly decent tone from something so cheap.

I'm not sure what I will be getting next. A new bass, or more gear. I might pick up that Aural Exciter from Altdude, but I'm not sure for now.

The main things I'm looking at right now are a decent rack eq (because I can't get near the eq I want with my current head), or even just go with a simple modeling preamp/power supply.

I'm really open to options, and hearing your opinions, and I'm still learning about building effective rigs to suit my style, and that don't look to bad while making me sound good.

Thanks for all the previous information Smitty, Rebel, and Raj. You guys have already cleared up a few of my questions, and now I'm coming back with more

[JimiSparx]

Here's how I cipher it. I always spend the most money the closest to the origin of the signal chain and work my way out to the speakers. Hence, my sound is the result of 1) a nice, zingy set of quality new strings. I have recently switched to DR Marcus Miller for all my basses. 2) A great quality set of pickups set to the proper height. 2) The next most important thing is a correctly set up piece of wood. A mediocre bass with good pickups and neck and pickup adjustment will always sound better that an expensive one without quality pickups, neck and pickup adjustment and intonation settings. Without the intonation set you can't properly tune an instrument. 3) Preamp. Some amps have good preamps built in (Ampeg, Fender, SWR, Eden, Markbass, GK, etc...) There are also some good stand alone models. I like to pick one with a really good basic sound and I can use that sound all night just making small adjustments on the bass or turning the compression or shape knob a few degrees. I don't like alot of effects. To me they can sap the tone. 4) Clean power amp. I always buy twice as much as I think I need. I run one side of a QSC PLX 1800 on about 5 to power my rig. That way it always has headroom to give away, runs cool and I can always get real loud if I want. 5) Speakers. I am using an 8x10 that I had made by a guy in Michigan. Anyone who knows me knows that I have been playing 8x10's for many years and my go to cab before was a Peavey. (Which I will sell cheap to anyone with $300 and a pickup truck.) I got the new one because it is 75lbs lighter. Lighter plywood and lighter speakers. It sounds cool but not all that different from the Peavey. Looks nice though.

Consider that a 57 precision will sound pretty good through an all Peavey rig but a Wal-Mart special would still sound like crap through an SVT.

Here is my current Rig:
2000 American Standard Jazz with DR Marcus Miller strings(the heavier gauge)
2007 Yamaha TRB6PII with DR Marcus Miller strings
Eden Navigator Preamp (I bought used on Ebay)
QSC PLX 1800 (1800 butt-thumping watts and only 20lbs)
Low Down Cabs 8x10 bass cabinet (Weighs 100lbs)
Oh yeah, some nice heavy cabling too. Don't get cheap on the wire.

[Rebel_Yell]

The reason most people use the same "sound" or "setup" is because it usually works well. If you want to break out of the mold, you need a reason to. A while back Smitty and I talked about our shared disdain of Ibanez basses. Every bass player has an ibanez, every ibanez looks the same. There is nothing wrong with the actual instruments themselves, they are actually very good and an excellent choice if your starting out cause you can get a good one for next to nothing. We just both really hate the fact that that is all you ever see people using.

If you want your tone to stand out, figure out what you think is lacking, then compensate. Personally, I think a lot of bassists don't have enough high end in their sound, so I compensate by setting mine higher and getting a little brighter sound where you can hear a little of the string noise slapping around when I use my fingers. Some players use chorus in their sound most of the time, still widely done, but might make you stand out a bit. It's all in what your looking for. If you really want to get into playing with effects, get a basic little effects unit (the ZOOM pedals are a good start) and just play around with it. You may find you are an effects genius in the making, you may never use it again after the second practice, either way, you know where to go from there.

[JimiSparx]

I like to focus my sound in the low-mids. I get plenty of bottom but I like to really contour the low-mids so that the bass really cuts through the mix. It is a part of the mix where you don't run into alot of competition. Bass drum is down low, guitar up into the mids and high-mids.

[SmittyG]

Like Jimi, I tend to go with a simple setup of solid components. When playing around on my own, or going for something really off the wall, I'll use my Zoom B2.1u Mulit-Effects system, but with a band, 99.99% of the time, bass to cable to amp is it. Also like Jimi, similar musical backgrounds I guess, the low mids is where I really make my mark. Jimi is using the Eden tonestack to sculpt his sound as do I. With variable EQ centers (semi-parametric EQ), we have the ability to pinpoint which frequencies we boost or cut. Since my main gig axe is also a Fender J, I would find it interesting to see exactly how our EQ settings compare.

For me, it isn't about cutting through the mix, it is about sitting in the mix. The bass is the foundation of the band. When you look at a house, you don't "notice" the foundation. Build a house without a foundation, however, and you will notice that absence real quick.

[JimiSparx]

In general I find myself cutting the overall EQ ranges (bass, mid, treble) and then boosting at certain points on the parametric to bring out certain tonal centers. On the bottom I try to complement the bass drum, in the middle I like a fart noise that really cuts (pun intended), on top I like those glassy highs. I try to eliminate frequencies that made the stage rumble, sound like a crumbling paper bag or fingernails on a chalkboard. The big bottom to fill the room comes from our FOH. He has two double 18's that do a much better job of that than my 8x10. I play pretty loud but only because it is loud on our stage and I have to be able to hear myself.

[SmittyG]

Even though I have a "modern" bass rig, I am still most influenced by the bass tones of the 60s and 70s and will gravitate towards those regardless of the band/music itself. I will vary things depending on the room a bit but one standard is that I like a little bump around 120-180 and I like a pretty good cut around the 650 and 2.4k marks. That's with roundwounds. With flats, I'm far more likely to run the EQ flat. My stage reproduction is the opposite of Jimi's. I will put a little signal to the PA for some extra dispersion and in case the guys want some in the monitors (so far, they never have), but 90% of the bass sound you hear out front is coming from my rig. Of course, I don't play near the size venues or for the number of people that Jimi does in RSJ.