Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

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GAZINGUK
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Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by GAZINGUK » Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:18 am

Hi everyone,

I recently got a MIJ Bass VI (I'm putting in Novak Bass VI pickups and changing the pots). As I am a guitar player not a bass player, I really don't have any experience with BASS amps. I play the Bass VI like a guitar, but it's also very good as a bass. So I can do both when I want to. I just wondered what Bass VI owners on here, use for an amp? I have a Marshall JCM800, which sounds fantastic. I recently sold a VOX AC30HH AND V212 cabinet as I'm looking for a Fender Tone Master at the moment (hard to get hold of here in the UK). But what else sounds good with the Bass VI. I don't want to wreck the speakers in my guitar amps, so I always use it with the thin switch on. I'm not a huge fan of the Fender Bassman, although I hear that's good. Any other recommendations?

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by JSett » Sun Feb 06, 2011 11:22 am

I was gonna say bassman, but you already said no.

I reckon anything with a 15" speaker is a good start. What about one of those Peavey Delta Blues with the 15"?

What kinda music do you play? do you need mega volume? Can you carry a heavy amp? ...all of these important Q's

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by therizzla » Sun Feb 06, 2011 12:03 pm

Blackface Showman and a cab with either one or two 15" speakers (JBL or Weber Californians) depending on your needs.
reverb.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by GAZINGUK » Sun Feb 06, 2011 1:33 pm

Thanks for getting back to me, music wise mainly shoegaze, punk (Ramones) and surf. So clean and gritty would be good. I'm may be playing live in the near future so volume is good too. I've never really liked the Bassman not sure why, but I always cared for the Twin more. I was thinking about the Showman. That has a 15" speaker doesn't it? I haven't heard much about them to be honest and I've never seen that Peavey before, which looks very interesting. So I am going to see if there are any youtube clips of them.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by JSett » Sun Feb 06, 2011 1:40 pm

Maybe get a Fender Bandmaster head and find a 1x15 or 2x15 bassman cabinet to kick out the jams? They are built for guitar & bass so should be fine for a Bass VI

Most bands wont need more than 40/50watts of tube power onstage. I have a twin because we play really really loud... any reason why you'd prefer one of them?

Do you want it to get naturally gritty or rely on pedals?

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by mongoose » Sun Feb 06, 2011 2:03 pm

Robert Smith swears by the Peavey Musician Series amps. He's replaced everything in his arsenal at one time or another; but always used that amp for the VI. They're usually really cheap if you find one too (true of all that black-series Peavey stuff... so far).
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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by jimboyogi » Sun Feb 06, 2011 10:44 pm

A long shot, but a Fender 75 combo or head could be a good choice. 75W (or 15W "low power switch"), 15" EV speaker in combo, all valve (except rectifier), massive OT so can handle bass frequencies well. Produced from, from memory, about 1978 - 1980, so not over-valued in the used market.
Also has an ultra-linear output section so can do high volume cleans very well, which can suit bass. Or flick the switch for 15W for guitar. Built-in spring reverb, foot-switchable reverb and "lead" channel.

Very heavy in combo form, but VERY loud if you want.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by ohm-men » Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:01 am

therizzla wrote:Blackface Showman and a cab with either one or two 15" speakers (JBL or Weber Californians) depending on your needs.
+1

I tried the bass VI on a lot of amps, but the Showman with the 2x15"s make it sounds HUGE...esp. the JBL's give it a killer sound.
But this rig will kill your back. In my old band our bass VI player used the SF Showman rig with the gigantic 2x15 Fender cab....And it was heavy lifting to get that thing on stage...But once there...it was jawdropping....

He later used a UL 135 W Showman wich was even bigger in sound...(after we downsized to a smaller 2x15 Neo Jensen cab with less heavy speakers).

Best sound with the Showman, but rather impractial on the road....

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by GAZINGUK » Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:35 pm

Thanks for all your help here guys. Some really good advice and I appreciate it. I was listening to some samples of the amps listed here. The Peavey Delta is okay. Not really my thing. It just seems to lack a little 'jangle'. However the Showman and Bandmaster seem really good. I'm leaning towards the Fenders. But am going to try and look for the Peavey Musician before I decide what to do. By the way anyone used an Ampeg amp with a Bass VI. I think Placebo used this?

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by ourworldisgrey » Mon Feb 07, 2011 7:12 pm

I would think an Ampeg V4 would sound awesome. A low wattage SVT that you could get some tube saturation with and not have to ruin your hearing.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by pacemaker » Mon Feb 07, 2011 7:16 pm

I used to have a silverface Vibrosonic - it's a combo with a 15" speaker that pedal steel guys swear by because of the almost infinite amount of clean headroom it provides. It will definitely have the sparkle/jangle you're looking for, and the 15 will handle the bassy tones, but it was hard to get any sort of grit out of that amp at non-human-decimating volume. Might be something worth looking into if you can find one; you could always add some dirt with pedals.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by kalipigeon » Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:50 pm

I really prefer the tone of my Jaguar Custom Baritone through a guitar amp into a bass cabinet. That way I don't worry about blowing guitar speakers, and they tend to have a slightly smoother tone than a guitar cab. I usually go Egnater Rebel 20 or Renegade into a Volfenhag 1x12 aluminum auto subwoofer or a Hartke 4x10 aluminum cabinet.

I really want to get one of these new Avatar 15/6/1 bass cabs and see how it sounds for BassVI/baritone:
Image

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by GAZINGUK » Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:23 pm

Everyone, thanks for the help! I've been reading the posts here and trying to find sound samples on the web. Also been trawling eBay over the last few days. I'm tempted to go for the guitar head into a bass cabinet. I have a few thing I am hoping to win (ending in the next seven days) and a few I am going to try out at some stores, so I'll get back to you soon. Hopefully with a new bass/guitar amp! Going to look at that Avatar cabinet and the Vibrosonic seems like they could be good.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by LHR » Fri Feb 11, 2011 11:27 pm

Since you are fond of Twins, how about a Twin Reverb Custom 15? That should handle your bass VI all right. That Eminence (like the Commonwealth 15) is a pretty stout speaker.

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I play my Danelectro Six String Bass through a Twin Reverb with a Weber California 15 and it sounds great.

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Re: Best Amp For A Fender Bass VI....?

Post by GAZINGUK » Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:07 pm

LHR wrote:Since you are fond of Twins, how about a Twin Reverb Custom 15? That should handle your bass VI all right. That Eminence (like the Commonwealth 15) is a pretty stout speaker.

Image

I play my Danelectro Six String Bass through a Twin Reverb with a Weber California 15 and it sounds great.

Hey, that's interesting! I didn't even know they did that! I'm going to look for it now!

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