Let's see your guitar and bass gear!

Beer Baron 🍺 said:

Thanks. I'm hoping this all works and everything jells well. The drummer and I seem to be in synch, and that's important. I know my friend and I from dance get along

Antihero said:

How did the 40w hold up against the drummer?

Meh. I had it up to 3/4 and I could hear what I was playing when I stood next to it. Next session I was going to crank it up to full and probably still patch it into the PA that we used for our accompanying track.

Congrats on the new band forming, it's a fun time.  I know it seems like we are raining on your parade on the amp but if everyone is like me, I've played some E36 M3ty venues and I've seen good bands fall flat because the bass player was trying to go for "small and compact" rather than " I can be heard".

Nah. If it's going to be something I regret getting, I'd rather be steered away from it. This deal is available through every major retailer (at least GC, Sweetwater, and Amazon) and will be through the new year. So I'm not in a rush, but don't want to miss this if it's the right choice.

The goal is to eventually get the right setup. But I think that will evolve over time and am not worried in advance. If that's a head and a cab, then cool.

Just quickly looking, I don't see any Mark IV's for sale locally. On Reverb, they're going for $350 - $400.

Having a head and leaving cabs at different locations may or may not work. The rehearsal space is shared and we just rent time there. But, I know there's equipment that lives there and I could probably get away with leaving something used and functional.

It's kinda silly, but aesthetics are also a factor. My practice space is in our basement, which is also a nice lounge space to listen to records and sip alcoholic beverages. Having bulky, older, kinda grimy used equipment is not going to make my wife happy.

If the market on Mark IV has gone up that much maybe I should sell one of mine since I'm in a gear purging mood lol

I'm not saying the Mark IV is the end all and be all, but , Pete,Tony and barefoot can probably back this up, I've never heard anyone say they hated them. Maybe it wasn't the best amp they've ever played but it's hard to see a lot wrong with Mark IVs. They can be bi amped, they have 2 channels you can use together, they run at 2 ohms and are loud as berkeley. I used it in our tiny band room at one point to amp the bass and 3 sets of keyboards with a stereo guitar amp for highs. Sounded great and I personally have.....$145 into that and the cab.

I haven't played any of the Katanas but they seem like great practice amps, I'm not sure how great they are in a band setting. The fact that you can even be heard with 40w is a good sign that the drummer has control, I think I can clap louder than a 40w amp lol.

I will say onboard effects are kinda cool to play with at the start but individual pedals are usually a whole hell of a lot better. God help you if you get into fuzz though, there is no amount of fuzz that is enough fuzz.

They make some nice looking cabs too for home decor reasons, pic at the bottom even though I've never bought anything from them. I've never had that problem, I use Shure Vocal Master columns for home sound and my wife thinks they look cool.

Beer Baron 🍺 said:

In reply to Tony Sestito :

There are a bunch of things with specs that I don't fully understand. Like I really don't get the deal with class A/B vs D, but in reviews comparing the Boss Katana to comparable Fender amps, the Katana has a *much* thicker tone.

This one is 160w continuous rms, but 300w peak. I don't know how to compare that to other other "300w" amps.

The options on separate heads and cabs seem to be going for a lot more than $450. Especially since in has a built in Comp and Chorus, and lots of other pedal modeling options.

The class d thing is kind of weird. Technically a watt is a watt is a watt but it also is totally wrong.

Sometimes they will massively overrated them or use some tricky math to make it more powerful.

Tube amps are rated before distortion so that 150w Bugera plexi have? It consumes 600w turned up, I actually tested it .

But mostly it's the tone. If an amp has a lot of ass AKA low mids and bass , it'll sound significantly louder. Even if it's a good tone it'll sound louder.

But class D sounds ....one dimensional. I haven't played every one but all short of the Ampeg have been bleh. It's hard to say unless you hear it.

And older Peavey stuff is underrated. I have a 60w bass amp that I guarantee is louder than the Katana, and gives the Mark IV much more of a run for it's money than it should.

And don't even get me started on a Sunn Beta Lead, 100w my ass, someone forgot a zero or 2

Watts can be confusing. My first amp was a Marshall mg15dfx. 15w. That's always been my reference point. 
 

My current "big" amp is my Orange B.H. Terror. 15w. 
 

Not even the same species. In fact, I've used the orange as a bass amp through a 2x12 with a loud ass punk rock drummer and didn't get lost. 

Antihero said:

Also what kind of music? And scaling your amp to what the guitarists play is a good idea, especially if new amps add to the eyerolling you mentioned, you probably don't want to upgrade again in a month or 3.

Got response back from my friend about their gear. They've been playing as a family, with her dad on drums, and sister on bass.

Guitarist is using a Roland JC-40. Her sister has been using a Hartke HD-50 for bass.

I suspect the drummer I connected with is probably louder than her dad. Going to see how things go on Monday to judge what the balance is like, and if this is even likely to be a longer-term group. If I need more oomph, I can plug into the PA mixer for a bit.

I don't think it's going to be quite this situation...

Antihero said:

But class D sounds ....one dimensional. I haven't played every one but all short of the Ampeg have been bleh. It's hard to say unless you hear it.

Yeah. That's a lot of what has me intrigued. I listened to some head-to-head reviews comparing the Katana 110 to comparable power/price Fender and Ampeg amps... and it's not even close. The Katana is just a lot thicker.

On the Class D weirdness... 

Yeah, that's the trade-off for portability. It's really basic, flat sound, even with EQ. A DI or effects processor might help with that a bit, but it's not going to replace the tone of something like an Ampeg SVT Classic or anything like that. 

The Peavey Combo 115 I have sounds decent for what it is all by itself. It has a 7 band EQ and a bunch of other features that are really handy. The biggest "feature" is just how loud it is. It's a single 15" in a ported cab with 200W running it (not Class D). That thing moves some air; Up about halfway is all it needs to be heard with other instruments. It's no 8x10 cab, but it cuts through in a band setting. If you can find one, they are pretty cheap too. I bought mine new for about $300. They don't make them anymore, and the old adage "ALL PEAVEY $100" may apply. The TKO 115 is its little bro and can be had even cheaper. And do not be afraid to buy used! 

That Katana sounds like a great amp, and Boss/Roland know what they are doing, but I'd still go old school Peavey over that thing for a full band practice setting and get a good effects processor to mess with. Then again, I am a card carrying member of the Peavey CVLT, so YMMV.