Bass guitar amp??

[mattsk8]

A good friend of mine is a bass guitar player and he's been following what I've been doing and he's super interested. He asked me if anyone on this forum knew anything about, or where to go to find out about building a bass guitar amp. He told me yesterday what he wanted to do and if I remember right he wants to rebuild a cabinet for one of the amps he already has for starters; then if he has fun w/ it and can find the right parts maybe build one from scratch. Thanks for any help I can pass along to him!

 

[A9X]

To be perfectly honest, speaking as a former bass player, that making the (power) amp section is a real waste of effort unless you have some really specific needs. Buying one of the new light weight 'Class D' 2RU amps and building a preamp to suit your needs is a more useful option.

Most preamps don't have all that much in them, and I rarely needed anything more than my Yamaha B1. A bit of front end gain, a tone stack (whichever of the half dozen varieties you prefer) a switchable FX loop and a small PS all mounted in a 1RU case will suffice for almost all live trad bass roles. All of the above, plus a tuner all in a 4RU case served me well for years.

Separating the amp sections and the speaker cabinet make for easier load in/out especially if using a car for transport.

If you want to make all of it, there are plenty of amp modules available. Specify power and features (mainly for the pre) and I could assemble some ideas over the holiday break. Places like Rod Elliott's site have some easily adaptable pcbs to make life easier.

I encourage DIY for the learning and fun, but it is seldom cheaper than what you can buy carefully second hand.

 

[highfigh]

A good friend of mine is a bass guitar player and he's been following what I've been doing and he's super interested. He asked me if anyone on this forum knew anything about, or where to go to find out about building a bass guitar amp. He told me yesterday what he wanted to do and if I remember right he wants to rebuild a cabinet for one of the amps he already has for starters; then if he has fun w/ it and can find the right parts maybe build one from scratch. Thanks for any help I can pass along to him!

There's not enough info in your post to even begin to start. What style does he play, what sound does he prefer (deep bass, scooped mid-bass, more mid-bass, lots of treble)? Who are his favorite bass players? Is he playing out, only at home, small gigs, large gigs? How loud does he want/need?

 

[redgirl]

I encourage DIY for the learning and fun, but it is seldom cheaper than what you can buy carefully second hand.

I definitely agree; I just bought a 12" 38 Watt Sunn Stinger for $30 used at a music store down the street. They tested it in-store and it came with a 30 day warranty so if it stops working I can bring it in and they will fix it for free. I'm sure you can find some decent used stuff for sale nearby.

 

[mattsk8]

There's not enough info in your post to even begin to start. What style does he play, what sound does he prefer (deep bass, scooped mid-bass, more mid-bass, lots of treble)? Who are his favorite bass players? Is he playing out, only at home, small gigs, large gigs? How loud does he want/need?

Dan Maines, Lemmy, Steve Harris. He loves Clutch and Iron Maiden. Listen's to a lot of Slayer, Motorhead, ZZ Top, etc. He's been in a couple different bands over the last decade. His band Five Year Echo won battle of the bands here in West MI and they toured quite a bit. They had a different sound than the bands he seems to love, more pop rock to me; kind of an Incubus sound. He left that band cuz he couldn't commit to where they wanted to go so lately he's been doing some smaller things.

For starters he was mainly just looking to rebuild his current cabinet. Was just curious if anyone here has done it because I see Parts Express sells woofers for bass amps but I wouldn't know where to start on helping him cuz I know nothing about em. I could help him rebuild his cabinet exactly the way it was but what fun would that be unless the things beat to death (not sure, maybe it is and that's why he wants to rebuild?). I did ask him what kind of amp it was and what style he plays but haven't heard back yet. I can post that when I hear from him.

Far as the DIY statement about it being cheaper to just buy new, if you were referring strictly to bass amps I don't know anything about em. But as speakers go I strongly disagree. I think you can build a fantastic speaker for at least half the price of a similar design in the store if you already have the right tools for the job.

 

[lsiberian]

Dan Maines, Lemmy, Steve Harris. He loves Clutch and Iron Maiden. Listen's to a lot of Slayer, Motorhead, ZZ Top, etc. He's been in a couple different bands over the last decade. His band Five Year Echo won battle of the bands here in West MI and they toured quite a bit. They had a different sound than the bands he seems to love, more pop rock to me; kind of an Incubus sound. He left that band cuz he couldn't commit to where they wanted to go so lately he's been doing some smaller things.

For starters he was mainly just looking to rebuild his current cabinet. Was just curious if anyone here has done it because I see Parts Express sells woofers for bass amps but I wouldn't know where to start on helping him cuz I know nothing about em. I could help him rebuild his cabinet exactly the way it was but what fun would that be unless the things beat to death (not sure, maybe it is and that's why he wants to rebuild?). I did ask him what kind of amp it was and what style he plays but haven't heard back yet. I can post that when I hear from him.

Far as the DIY statement about it being cheaper to just buy new, if you were referring strictly to bass amps I don't know anything about em. But as speakers go I strongly disagree. I think you can build a fantastic speaker for at least half the price of a similar design in the store if you already have the right tools for the job.

Isn't a Bass Amp just a speaker all the specialized bass amp processing Swapping out a driver would depend on the T/S parameter probably.

 

[highfigh]

Dan Maines, Lemmy, Steve Harris. He loves Clutch and Iron Maiden. Listen's to a lot of Slayer, Motorhead, ZZ Top, etc. He's been in a couple different bands over the last decade. His band Five Year Echo won battle of the bands here in West MI and they toured quite a bit. They had a different sound than the bands he seems to love, more pop rock to me; kind of an Incubus sound. He left that band cuz he couldn't commit to where they wanted to go so lately he's been doing some smaller things.

For starters he was mainly just looking to rebuild his current cabinet. Was just curious if anyone here has done it because I see Parts Express sells woofers for bass amps but I wouldn't know where to start on helping him cuz I know nothing about em. I could help him rebuild his cabinet exactly the way it was but what fun would that be unless the things beat to death (not sure, maybe it is and that's why he wants to rebuild?). I did ask him what kind of amp it was and what style he plays but haven't heard back yet. I can post that when I hear from him.

Far as the DIY statement about it being cheaper to just buy new, if you were referring strictly to bass amps I don't know anything about em. But as speakers go I strongly disagree. I think you can build a fantastic speaker for at least half the price of a similar design in the store if you already have the right tools for the job.

What has he been using for an amp and what speakers has he heard that he likes? This is far different from building a pair of speakers, where the response can be modeled relatively accurately. A live rig will be moved and, like stereo speakers, it will sound different in every room. Personally, I would recommend that he go around to a lot of music stores to try out different rigs and find what he really likes, then copy it.

BTW- a bass rig isn't always designed with anything approaching the precision of a speaker that's used in a music reproduction system. Sometimes, the final version can be due to slapping a speaker in a box, then closing the back (I did that and it actually works very well for bass).

 

[mattsk8]

What has he been using for an amp and what speakers has he heard that he likes? This is far different from building a pair of speakers, where the response can be modeled relatively accurately. A live rig will be moved and, like stereo speakers, it will sound different in every room. Personally, I would recommend that he go around to a lot of music stores to try out different rigs and find what he really likes, then copy it.

BTW- a bass rig isn't always designed with anything approaching the precision of a speaker that's used in a music reproduction system. Sometimes, the final version can be due to slapping a speaker in a box, then closing the back (I did that and it actually works very well for bass).

He said this was the sound he was going for...

Clutch - The Drifter - YouTube

His amp is a 350 watt that ranges from 40hz-10khz. Right now he has a 1x15 amp and a 4x10. He said they're very responsive and good for 'Chili Peppers bass sound", but he's looking for a speaker w/ a little more grit, but not mud (if that makes sense to any of you bass players). He thought about a 2x12, tighter than tens but not as muddy as a 15.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I looked at PE's website and for what they call bass guitar speakers they only have 10's and 15's, no 12's. They do have 12's if you search bass guitar speakers, but the speaker's description doesn't say "bass guitar speaker" like the other speakers did. Thanks for the input BTW!

Edit: After talking to him, guess I was wrong. Sounds like he's interested in just building new

 

[A9X]

Far as the DIY statement about it being cheaper to just buy new, if you were referring strictly to bass amps I don't know anything about em. But as speakers go I strongly disagree. I think you can build a fantastic speaker for at least half the price of a similar design in the store if you already have the right tools for the job.

I agree WRT DIY cabinet value, if, you know what you're looking for and how to engineer the sound to achieve that.

As for electronics (my background) then new or good used is often much, much better value, unless you really know what you're looking for. Learning is great, but reliability counts more than tone.

Cloning some other player's gear will not get you their sound. That is mainly them, with some related to the gear. For example Lemmy's tone is mainly how he plays, the old Ric and the stack of modified Marshall amps and 4x12's. trying to get that sound even copying his style and using a Ric on say my old system, would be like micturating into an oncoming gale.

 

[highfigh]

He said this was the sound he was going for...

Clutch - The Drifter - YouTube

His amp is a 350 watt that ranges from 40hz-10khz. Right now he has a 1x15 amp and a 4x10. He said they're very responsive and good for 'Chili Peppers bass sound", but he's looking for a speaker w/ a little more grit, but not mud (if that makes sense to any of you bass players). He thought about a 2x12, tighter than tens but not as muddy as a 15.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I looked at PE's website and for what they call bass guitar speakers they only have 10's and 15's, no 12's. They do have 12's if you search bass guitar speakers, but the speaker's description doesn't say "bass guitar speaker" like the other speakers did. Thanks for the input BTW!

Edit: After talking to him, guess I was wrong. Sounds like he's interested in just building new

If that clip was actually recorded in the Jam Room, he's going to need a rig like the big Ampeg SVT in the back corner of the room. Also, I seriously doubt it was recorded with a Ric- sounds more like a Fender Precision, possibly a Jazz bass.

Have him go to TalkBass.com - Bass Guitar and Double Bass Forums: Basses, Amps, Strings, Effects and look in the DIY section.

 

[mattsk8]

So I can surmise that buying a bass speaker or two from Parts Express and building a cabinet for it would be quite a risky venture because there's just not enough info out there for cabinet dimensions and what not to achieve the sound he's looking for?

I went to that site and it seems they're mostly discussing technique, strings, sharing vids, etc- stuff that would be interesting to my friend but probably wouldn't lent much info on the subject he's looking for; not much by way of custom bass guitar speakers.

Thanks to all for the info!