Solid State Bass Head over Tube

[drchopps]

I am currently playing in a technical metal band and regularly gigging fairly large venues.

At the moment i am playing a Warwick Corvette through an Orange AD200 MK3 Bass head and Orange 4x10 and 1x15 cabs, but this doesn't seem to sit in the mix as well as i would like, and even when using my sansamp bass driver pedal feels as if it needs more bite and to be honest, less warmth.

It is for this reason i am thinking of selling my rig and getting a solid state head and new cabs. One of my thoughts was the Markbass Little Mark III and another was the Ampeg SVT pro 7. Also i was intrigued by the Kustom groove 1200 used by Paolo in Trivium but i have not played through one of these myself.

Has any one got any suggestions or even arguments for the use of my tube amp that may change my mind as i am kinda stuck.

cheers

 

[MatrixClaw]

To be honest, the AD200 is one of the grittiest bass amps I've used, and enjoyed. How loud are you turning it up? Maybe we go for a different sound, but I couldn't see adding a bass driver to that amp, it'd be too much.

FWIW, if you want to go solid state, the Mesa M6/M9 Carbines are fucking epic IMO. By far my favorite bass amps right now

 

[Fifth_Horseman]

Well, I play the Little Mark III and am as happy with it as can be. But I do like and play with a totally clean sound. If you want grit, you either need a pedal or that head is not for you, I think.

 

[guitarguru777]

My fave bass amp of all time is solid state: GK 800RB! Fucking WORKHORSE of an amp. It fucking slays!

 

[PhilTheBeard]

My fave bass amp of all time is solid state: GK 800RB! Fucking WORKHORSE of an amp. It fucking slays!

That amp does slay!!!! it is before GK turned into a big pile of shit....

 

[drchopps]

Cheers for the replies.

The thing is I cant turn my amp up too loud as it completely destroys the 2 guitars either side of me so I only have the gain up to like just over a quarter of the way.
The reason I got the SansAmp was so that I could bite through the mix a little more as with the presence up on that thing it seems to bring a really nice tone that sits a lot better with the guitars.
The place we practice however has both a little mark III and an SVT pro 7 and when I use these the tone is so much better, biting through just enough whilst still keeping a really solid low end response.
The AD200 mk3 has been really great to me and the tone has been perfect groove rock and punk bands but I feel it is just lacking the ability to cut through in the world of technical metal.

Those Mesa Carbines look the nuts btw , cant seem to find the Gallien 800rb for sale any where though. Any ideas on what they go for these days?

Another amp I was looking at was a Gallien Kruger 2001rb actually. Has anyone had any experience with these?

uke:uke:uke:uke:uke:

 

[amarshism]

To be honest, chances are your whole bass rig is just for stage sound lol

 

[drchopps]

To be honest, chances are your whole bass rig is just for stage sound lol

I don't really reckon that is true

obviously the rig plays a huge part in the onstage dynamic, and the overall sound onstage is extremely important but the everything minus the cabs is sent via DI through the FOH and also is sent back through the foldback and therefore this must sound right in order to sit well in the mix.

Additionally the rig will play a large part during recording as I tend to re amp any DI signals I have previously recorded and place this into the mix

 

[amarshism]

Alot of sound guys take a di straight out of the sans

 

[drchopps]

Alot of sound guys take a di straight out of the sans

This is true and Is something I do rely on when I have a rig that does not sound right but I feel it is better to have the tone of your head involved in the overall sound sent through the FOH.