New Gear

If you don't know me or know anything about me, knowing that I play bass guitar for a living is important to understanding this blog. I love playing the bass but I've never really been much of a gear guy. You know the kind of person who knows every brand and model of every guitar ever out there. It's not that I don't want to be; it's just that my brain isn't wired that way. Lately I've been thinking I should at least try to learn a little more about my instrument and its history. The electric bass guitar is one of the youngest instruments around so you don't have to go too far back to learn about it. Anyway, that's another blog. This blog is about my new amp!

For the last almost 5 years I've been playing through my Euphonic Audio, iAmp 600. I have a 2x10 Euphonic Audio speaker cabinet that I used to play through too. Three years ago I picked up an Ampeg 8x10 speaker cabinet (this just means really big speaker) to boost my volume and make me feel more like a man. It worked!

Over the past 5 years since I've been playing bass full time, I've had the privilege of playing many different amps and speaker cabinets. It seems the sound I really like to hear in an amp has changed in that time. My iAmp 600 could be considered a “boutique” amp, a real high fidelity amp that only amplifies the sound and doesn’t change the sound of your instrument at all. This is the sound I really liked a few years ago. I guess my tastes have changed now though. What I’m really digging now are tube amps. The tube amps that I’ve played have such a great warm sound, plus you have the ability to overdrive the tubes to get the perfect crunch.

So, all that said – the iAmp and cabinet are being retired and sold (money for a new Jazz bass). The new amp I decided to go with was the Fender Bassman 300. Forgive me for talking bass amp shop for a minute, the Bassman is a 300 watt all tube amp very much like the classic Ampeg SVT. The difference is, it has two channels (one for clean, one for crunch) and lots of tone/compression controls. Plus, it’s less expensive!!

So anyway, I haven’t had a chance to play it at a gig yet but it is definitely LOUD and it sounds great. For the bass players who read this, I can’t wait till you have a chance to hear this thing and maybe even try it if we have the opportunity.