# Bass amp for drop tuning help!



## RMcHugh (Mar 30, 2015)

What bass amp heads and cabs would be more suited to a low drop F tuning? I now have enough money put aside to move on from my 350 watt combo to something with a better sound and more watts.

I've been looking into Hartke and Mark Bass but what are your suggestions for the perfect head and cab for really low drop tunings.


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## Fretless (Mar 31, 2015)

A good ampeg SVT. Can't go wrong with the low end one of them.


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## cGoEcYk (Apr 1, 2015)

You basically want a ton of power.

Mesa Carbine or Titan would probably be my top choices. Both amps have a ton of muscle and great grindy tones on tap. On the cheap (~$600) you might be able to find an SVT-4 which should deliver the goods too.


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## eyeswide (Apr 2, 2015)

Want a straight answer? Literally none of them. Hartke, Ampeg, Markbass, Fender, Orange etc. etc. etc., stuff is just not designed to go that low, and all of them will perform about equally.

Now, that being said, you can take steps to alleviate issues, starting with your bass. Make sure that your bass is properly set up, using proper gauges of strings. Also essential is that your pickup heights are adjusted - your low strings are going to be putting out significantly more signal into the pups than your higher strings, and getting a good balance is an art form.

As for amp? Doesn't matter. Literally doesn't matter. One guy recommended Ampeg - that's actually one brand I'd say to stay away from. They stopped making their amps in America and started sourcing them out to China/Asia and their quality control has gone to ..... There is a reason why there was a mass exodus of their pro players to other amp companies.

Beyond that, there's lots of good options. Markbass makes quality stuff. Hartke isn't bad. Your tuning won't be "handled" better/worse by any amp option and I stand by that.


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## TheEmptyCell (Apr 2, 2015)

Greenboy fEarful/ fEarless cabinet, a power amp with thousands of watts of power, and whatever preamp sounds good to you. Throw in a good high pass filter like the fdeck HPF and you've got a killer rig.

But if you're just playing roots along with the guitar, get whatever is big and loud and cheap because you don't need actual note definition for that sh*t anyway.


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## Fretless (Apr 2, 2015)

eyeswide said:


> As for amp? Doesn't matter. Literally doesn't matter. One guy recommended Ampeg - that's actually one brand I'd say to stay away from. They stopped making their amps in America and started sourcing them out to China/Asia and their quality control has gone to ..... There is a reason why there was a mass exodus of their pro players to other amp companies.



There are a lot of good used ampegs that are still from their made in America runs.

Personally I use my kemper with an ampeg profile. Makes my life easy.


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## RMcHugh (Apr 3, 2015)

eyeswide said:


> Want a straight answer? Literally none of them. Hartke, Ampeg, Markbass, Fender, Orange etc. etc. etc., stuff is just not designed to go that low, and all of them will perform about equally.
> 
> Now, that being said, you can take steps to alleviate issues, starting with your bass. Make sure that your bass is properly set up, using proper gauges of strings. Also essential is that your pickup heights are adjusted - your low strings are going to be putting out significantly more signal into the pups than your higher strings, and getting a good balance is an art form.
> 
> ...



There's been a small number of shows where I've borrowed gear and the rigs I used sound marvelous, I setup all my instruments professionally, I'm currently running 175's for the low F on a 34 scale bass (I have done tests on a 35 scale bass and to me the scale is no issue) and the pickup heigh is adjusted properly. I totally understand your opinion though with the amps handling the same.


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## RMcHugh (Apr 3, 2015)

Fretless said:


> A good ampeg SVT. Can't go wrong with the low end one of them.



I'll have to give one a go man cheers!


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## eyeswide (Apr 6, 2015)

RMcHugh said:


> There's been a small number of shows where I've borrowed gear and the rigs I used sound marvelous, I setup all my instruments professionally, I'm currently running 175's for the low F on a 34 scale bass (I have done tests on a 35 scale bass and to me the scale is no issue) and the pickup heigh is adjusted properly. I totally understand your opinion though with the amps handling the same.



Yeah, at first blush and with everything set flat, some amps are going to be better. But, spend some time on any amp and I'm certain you can get something usable. I wouldn't be comfortable with a statement like "use Mesa if you are doing low tuning, but not Fender" etc.


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## iron blast (May 3, 2015)

Most amps will be fine it's tonal preference but the scale length of the bass, string gauges , and your cabs make the biggest difference. I reccomend looking into a Phil jones cabs they handle down to low f on most of their cabs and go even lower on the big boy cabs another option is greenboy fearless/fearful cabs both of these are abit pricey but if you want clarity on your low string you need a cab rated with proper hz response For your tuning keep in mind the lower tunings require way more wattage to hit volumes that are compatible to guitar rigs


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