I have been able to keep my G.A.S. under control for the past couple of years, but once I started playing more at church and now playing gigs with Tyler Bender, I needed a change.  Previously I was playing through a Carvin R1000 powering a Carvin RL410 and a Carvin RL115.  The head provided a lot of power, but lacked any distinctiveness in its tone.  I wanted something with some character.  The 4X10 and 15 did basically the same thing, high power handling but no personality.  They could be any ol’ cabinet.  

I sold the rig to my brother-in-law and set out to find some new gear.  I am not at a point where I can start going after some of “dream” quality gear, such as a 70′s Ampeg SVT head or an Orange head, because I just don’t have that kind of money.  I wanted to find something that would add something to the sound but be somewhat affordable (i.e. Used) and also be lighter than my previous setup, which I couldn’t even fit into my car.

I ended up with a GK 700 RB II powering an Avatar B210 Neo.  Even though it was a small rig, it had a lot to offer.  It sounded fantastic but was still light and easy to move around.  It worked really well for playing at church giving me a much better reference to go off of compared to the monitoring from the Avioms we use.  However, as soon as I got asked to play a show with Tyler Bender, I knew it wouldn’t be enough to cut through the drums and a Vox AC30 on stage.  I ended up borrowing the previously sold 4X10 from my brother-in-law and it served it’s purpose but still wasn’t what I was looking for.

It took several months for me to finally find the cabinet I wanted to complete the rig.  I picked up an Avatar Delta 212.  Ideally, I wanted a Neo 212 but the price on the cabinet made it worth it and the option to go the Neo route later is still there.  The cabinet provides some incredible bottom end that really fills out my sound.  Where the 210 and 410 provided a lot of punch, there was nothing to really support the E and B string.  The 212 is fantastic in the low range.  During the first outing with the cabinet, I could finally feel my sound through my feet as it resonated throughout the stage.  It was fantastic and really helped improve my playing during the show.  

I now am very happy with the head and cabinet combination I have.  Sadly, G.A.S. has no permanent cure and I can already feel a bout of it coming on.  I have no effects, not even a good tuner, so might be time to pick up a rack and some nice effects to compliment the current rig.

Flash forward several years and I am no longer playing with a band, which is depressing and something I hope to fix soon. I also was living in an apartment and so I came to the realization that my rig was not practical. It was too big, too loud, and didn’t really meet my needs as a bass player. I wasn’t getting any tone from it. The R1000 has two stages of EQ, both which tend to frustrate you more than help, because you can mess with it so much. I tried for a long time to get a sound I was really happy with but just ended up settling on something that worked. I know that amp can produce a good sound, I just never had the time to get there. I decided to try and sell the whole thing and look for something that would have a smaller footprint but still have some guts.

I initially posted it up on a local music website, but received no interest whatsoever. However, after mentioning to my brother-in-law that I was looking to get rid of it, and him having played it a few times, he said he would take it if I could wait for him to make some money. I agreed and a little while later I was amp-less and a little richer.

I knew I wanted a 2X10 for a couple of reasons. First, I could never fit my rig into my car. I also had to rely on someone with a van or truck to help me get it to wherever I was going. It made it to two shows during my years at Ball State University, but after that it mainly sat in my room collecting dust. When I moved back to Indianapolis, a friend from high school started asking me to come play at a church he was working at. Welcoming any opportunity to get out and play, I gladly accepted the invitation anytime he needed me. I was never able to use my rig because I simply could not get it there. So my next setup would need to have a degree of portability.

Second, I wanted punch. It seems a lot of venues, whether they are churches or bars, are moving toward running the bass straight to the board and letting their PA subs handle the low end. That is fine, it is there job to make it sound good out there but I still like having something on stage, even if I am using in-ears, which we do at the church I play at. A 2X10 has enough punch to cut through the drums and really allow me to hear and feel my playing. I am always surprised how much sound can come from such a compact unit. So I was decided on what type of cabinet to get, now it was time to look at what was out there.

Enter TalkBass.com. I use forums all the time for all kinds of different subjects, but for some reason I had yet to seek out a quality bass forum. TalkBass is an amazing resource for bass players. There are people from all different backgrounds both musically and personally, with a wealth of knowledge on any subject you could think of. They were able to guide me toward some different options as well as answer some nagging questions I had about my bass. After getting a decent idea of what was out there and finding something in the classifieds, I finally found my cabinet.

Avatar 210 Neo Cab

I picked this up from a fellow TB’er who happened to live south of my in Kentucky and was letting it go for a good price. I had wanted an orange one so when I saw he had that exact one; I knew I had to get it. I didn’t have an amp yet, but I wanted to hear this thing, so I borrowed the amp I had just sold to my brother-in-law and hooked it up and was blown away. The cabinet had so much punch and sound, I was shocked. I was very satisfied with my purchase.

I didn’t have a ton of money left over for my head so I had to abandon my plans to pick up a Eden head. Someday… I started looking at some Gallien-Krueger heads and decided that a 700RB should be just what I need. It had the right amount of power I would need but also had a more distinct sound than the R1000. Gallien-Krueger is known for their growl, especially in the 700RB so that was a plus.

And today is the day. The amp is on the truck so I will be able to finally see if this combo is going to work out. I will have a full review of both the cabinet and the amp after I have some time to live with them both for a while. I will definitely be looking at what kind of power the 700RB will put down compared to the R1000. Obviously it won’t be as much but I am hoping it is enough. I am also going to explore the tone of the 700RB and see what kind of voice it has. I am getting the older version of the amp, so there could be some substantial changes between it and the new one, but I haven’t had a chance to play their latest line so I have no comparison to base it on.

Stay tuned…