Ampeg SVT is shocking me!

[David Schwab]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the distortion issue?

Personally I think a tube amp is great used in conjunction with a direct box, that way you can mix the tube tone with the punchiness from the DI box. Great live set up, but I play guitar and do sound occasionally, not really a bass player.

I use a clean SS amp (Trace Elliot) and have an old Blue Tube pedal for distortion. The damn sound men never get enough bass through the system anyway, so that's not an option for me. I want to hear a clean sound on stage.

I don't record with an amp.. and the fact that the direct box was invented at all (for Sgt. Pepper), shows that recording bass with the available amps at the time wasn't a popular idea... Bass amps used to sound like crap until the 80's.

For guitar, tubes are the way to go.

[Rick Erickson]

The damn sound men never get enough bass through the system anyway,

That's because the bass is usually overpowering the band at the soundboard. Sometimes this is a location thing. I've mixed in rooms where I literally had to mix the bass extra heavy at the board so it would sound good in the rest of the club.

[David Schwab]

That's because the bass is usually overpowering the band at the soundboard.

Well I have been accused of playing too loud!

At the same time however, I hear drum heavy mixes all the time.