amp help please.

[tbird freak]

 Honestly I don't know enough about them, when mine went out( a old crate a freind had laying around his garage. gave to me) I just went down to a used music place close by and they had this peavey on a cabinet alot like mine so I tryed it out. I was wowed! came home and started looking online and thats how I found the Hartke, AMS has it, had good reveiws and same price, also new! Everytime I buy something used electric it goes out on me in 2 or 3 days. I'll check around for anything you all suggest, I gotta lot to learn, and want to learn, so am listening to all you have to say, just not alotta cash right now, so am trying to stay cheap. $250.00 is all I really have right now, resently laid off, so am sure I don't have to many to choose from.

[Pilgrim]

There are a couple of outfits that refurb older Peavey bass amps and sell on Ebay - they usually run less than $300 for amps in the 250-300W range.  Pretty good buys!

[tbird freak]

Hey just found a acoustic b200h, $119.00 are they any good? how do they compare to the peavey mark VIII? found another 1 of them just trying to talk him down. He wants $275.00 I'm thinking thats alittle high.

[rahock]

I played at an outdoor party a couple of months ago on an Acoustic B200 combo and I thought it was great. I didn't do any tweaking , the other bass player who owned it had it set and did a couple of adjustments while I was playing , but it worked real well. Good sound , lots of bottom, plenty of volume to cut through 3 guitars, keyboard and sax in an outdoor environment. The owner of it used to use an old Ampeg V4 and 2 15" cab that I've played a few times in the same setting. The B200 had 1 15" at got the job done just fine. I even took a solo that cut real well, he bumped my volume up a hair, but it cut real well with 1 15" outdoors. I was impressed
Rick

[godofthunder]

Yep buy the Peavey  !

[tbird freak]

Ok all I finally got me an amp! $150.00 bucks, sounds great! shook pictures off the walls upstairs. Lol. Here It is, What do you all think? And uh......... anybody know much about it? I sure don't

[rahock]

Late 70s is when I saw the first ones, if I remember correctly. 600watts at 2ohms, 350watts at 4ohms . I've seen them paired with 4 12" and 2 15" cabs, both worked pretty well. Solid and dependable, great bang for the buck. My observations on solid states with a 2 ohm rating is that that is the sign of a strong and solid amp. A lot of solid states don't even have a rating at 2ohms because running them at 2 ohms tends to blow them up real quick. Still, even though the manufacturer stamps a 2 ohm rating on it, my experience tells me it will last a whole lot longer running at 4 ohms. Stuff just starts to break at 2 ohms . Tube amps tend to handle a 2 ohm load better. I'm no tech but I do have considerable experience in blowing stuff up
Run it at 4 ohms and it will likely outlive you . Run it at 2 ohms and you'll likely find its weak points
Rick

[nofi]

it must be good. look at all the knobs and jacks.

[Dave W]

They're probably the best bang for the buck in the used market. Paired with a good speaker, they sound good. They're usually very reliable. You did good.

Sometimes having a lot of knobs and levers doesn't do much. My limited experience with the Peavey Mark series is that these do have quite a bit of useful EQ.

[Pilgrim]

You did great, tbird freak!  Before I got my hands on a Sunn amp, I would have jumped on that one for the price.  That's a solid amp that ought to do just about anything you need...and having the EQ is a real plus.

Here's a link to the owner's manual - I suggest you study it and download the file for future reference: http://www.peavey.com/media/pdf/manuals/BassMKVIII.pdf

[rahock]

.

Sometimes having a lot of knobs and levers doesn't do much.

WHAT
Nothing is more important than knobs and levers..............except maybe buttons and switches.......and lights, lots of different color lights
Rick

[tbird freak]

Thanks all! And Thanks to pilgrim, for the manual hook up! I needed that. Rahock, Thanks for info on watts, I have an old no name 2x15 cab I'm running it through, its 4 ohms so I should be ok. Ya it has more knobs then I know what to do with right now, I keep the eq flat and just mess with the shelving knobs, get a good deep solid sound, with just enough punch to get your attention. Still trying to learn it though, am sure the eq will help get some better sounds outa all my epi tbirds too. Thanks again all!

[luve2fli]

I keep the eq flat and just mess with the shelving knobs

....... If I was you, I'd do the exact opposite. Use the EQ and leave the shelving controls flat - work from there.