What kind of amp do you guys play out of?

[Igor Lepak]

I play thru a Genz benz shuttle max 12. Its 6.5 pounds ! I play it thriugh a 4ohm Swr 2x10 cab with Carvin neo speakers. Nice for that medium venue and great as a monitor.

[Anton Hasias]

Hi All,
No kidding I have tryed about everything and I decided to build my own rig considering the things I like to a bass rig (pure tube sound at a high quality and db level); So my main amp part is an Ampeg SVT-VR with a Mesa Powerhouse 1200W 4x12" and a slave part, only for powering this setup, which is an Ampeg SVT4 PRO with two boxes Ampeg SVT-410HLF and an Ampeg SVP 1600 with two boxes Ampeg SVT-18E. (all US made of course). This means 2300W RMS of pure and wild Smith sound.

Btw, the live sound technicians hate me and I have no neighbours, they left town...lol

Best regards

[Dave Martin]

Since my last reply, I've been using a Fender Bassman TV 12. It's smaller and lighter than the SWR, it's retro look fits perfectly with the gigs I'm playing, and (with a Fishman Platinum Pro preamp), the sound is exactly what I need to have.

[Christopher Rhodes]

I recently played through a bass rig with the Shuttle 12.0 and 2x12 Aguilar. Wow! This amp really fills up a space nicely and not too big.

[Brian Hewett]

I've been using an Eden WT800C with an Epifani UL2 4x10 for the last couple of years since getting back into playing professionally. This setup works very well for me and I've been very happy. In the Early 90's I used SWR equipment and it was great stuff and actually helped my playing quite a lot because the amps and cabinets were so clean that I could suddenly hear EVERYTHING I was doing. Before then I was used to playing through junk which was essentially hiding some bad faults. So, the SWR equipment was great for my playing but I find that the Eden amp is a bit warmer which I like a lot and it's just as clean and punchy as the SWR stuff. I can generally leave the EQ settings quite flat on the amp and can simply dial in many different sounds using my Smith bass EQ controls and varying the the way I pluck the strings by either shifting the location of my right hand or changing the the angle of attack or changing the strength of the attack or putting more or less meat of the finger into the attack or combinations of all the above.
The Epifani cabinet has a great smooth sound in all frequencies and for me it really shows off the beautiful sound of the Smith very well, at least to the best of my fingers abilities to make it sound as good as it can. I have another 4x10 cabinet of the same power rating as a backup cabinet although I don't like to have to play through it because the sound is not nearly as lively as the Epifani. It's more dull sounding and the highs and mids more harsh sounding to me. I'm open to trying other amplification equipment out there but there isn't much in my area in stock to try.

[Scott Pope]

Carvin. No, don't laugh -- really! It's great! I've been playing Carvin since @ 1993 when I was single and had all the cash to get whatever I wanted, and after trying literally everything out there, what worked best for me was a PB300 head through a variety of cabs over the years with Carvin drivers, and an SWR Triad cab for most of that time.

Fast forward to present: needed to get rid of the weight of the cab and get a rig I can run both EB & DB through. And now, with wife & son, limited budget, of course.

Where to go: back to Carvin. Their new MB12 with a 1X12 + 1X6.5 + tweeter is the most neutral sounding amp I have ever played through. Just plug in and go, with minimal tweaking necessary. When I need that bottom 1/2 octave, I put it on top of a homemade ported 1X15 loaded with - you guessed it - a Carvin driver from @ 15 years ago that I used to use with the PB300. For price/performance, it beats all of the better known names and the "boutique" amps hands down.

Everyone on both the EB and DB side of the bands I play in are all really impressed with its clarity, tone and presence. For me, it is very easy to use, intuitive, has the best usable contour curve I've ever used that really brings out the character of instruments, not just some engineer's idea of slap tone, and very versatile, with two parametrics. It also has all the features we've all come to expect from an amp, including onboard compression and a really clean and quiet XLR line out. No, it doesn't have an fx loop, but I've never used one on bass, anyway.

Save yourself several hundred dollars on your next amp purchase and look into an MB12.

[Lou Laurenti]

Originally Posted by Desmund Nichols

Hello all Ken Smith bass players. My question for all you talented bass players is what kind of amps do yall play your basses out of? I for one have an Eden head, with a Goliath III cab.

I play out of Epifani there the best and you can see them or purchse them at basssouthwest.com

[Dirk Blarinckx]

Head :
EBS XD 750 Fafner II

cabs:
Hevos Powerset (2x10 + 1x15)
Hevos is a Dutch company. They design and build High Tech Amps and cabs!

[Tim Bishop]

Originally Posted by Dirk Blarinckx

Head :
EBS XD 750 Fafner II

cabs:
Hevos Powerset (2x10 + 1x15)
Hevos is a Dutch company. They design and build High Tech Amps and cabs!

Nice rig.

Wow....noticed the Smith top. Rare but great looking top on your Smith. What top wood is that? Looks like and reminds me of the Flamed Redwood that was used on the 20th. Ann. Models.

[Dirk Blarinckx]

That is correct Tim! It's a KSA-5 20th anniversary in Flamed redwood!
its a Wonderfull bass! :-)

Dirk

[Allan Todd]

Has anyone here used an Eden navigator wp100 with their smith bass ?
I've been offered one & I have a behringer ep4000 power amp that I could use with it through an Eden 4x10 xlt cab,
I'm just wondering what kind of tone the nav would produce compared with my trace Elliot ah600smx,

[Andy Robertson]

Since I first posted on here my rig has changed a little. I'm still using the black tiger elite as main bass, but my main amp is the SWR SM900 and I'm using some Bag End cabs- two D10BX-D cabs and a powered S18E-D with the low frequency integrator. An amazing set up for me, and I can split the rig for different sized shows. I get a clear, uncoloured sound with a stage shaking rumble when I use the full rig!

[Desmund Nichols]

Originally Posted by Andy Robertson

Since I first posted on here my rig has changed a little. I'm still using the black tiger elite as main bass, but my main amp is the SWR SM900 and I'm using some Bag End cabs- two D10BX-D cabs and a powered S18E-D with the low frequency integrator. An amazing set up for me, and I can split the rig for different sized shows. I get a clear, uncoloured sound with a stage shaking rumble when I use the full rig!

That sounds awesome. I can imagine the growl and snap it brings.

[Andy Robertson]

Hey Des, it sounds killer! If you get chance, try the Bag End cabs, you'll love them! Very complimentary to the Smith I feel.

Cheers for now bud!

Andy

[Chris Fox]

Here's my rig:

-Alembic F-1x tube preamp
-dbx 160x
-Stewart 1.2 power amp (1200 watts at 4 ohms)
-Bergantino HT-322 (1x12", 2x10", and compression horn)



Loud, punchy, lots of detail and sparkle. Great match for the '95 CR-5 (zebra over mahogany). Slap machine!

[Desmund Nichols]

It sucks they don't make the HT322 anymore.

[Andy Robertson]

This is the 'heavy weight' rig. A TC Electronic Blacksmith that powers two 2x10 BAG END cabinets. The 18" BAG END sub is self powered with a 1000 watt amp, combined with the 'Infra Sub' processor in a rack that pushes the sub down to 18 hertz! It's not often this full rig goes out as I've normally got more than enough power with the Blacksmith and 2x10 cabs. Those BAG END's are incredible and really do represent the Smith basses superbly...no colouring of sound (IMO).
It's quite something when I've got the 18" sub hooked up and hit the low B on the Black Tiger!!