It sounded great for about 10 minutes and then the head amp blew up on me.
Really disappointed at the moment. First Behringer product that has failed on me, almost right out of the box.
that bytes. I have several Behr'r items, and basically they've all performed flawlessly. Considering it looked like it'd been messed with before you got it, it probably was a lemon. Hope they get it right this time...
Got the head amp shipped back on a RA ticket early this evening. Should get the replacement head early next week. Plan on cranking up that head and really putting it through the grinder before I'll have any confidence in the unit.
First Behringer product I've had any trouble with at all. Still have my old Behringer mixers and they all work as good as new. Oh well, one more try before I give up on that Behringer bass stack idea.
I think, no matter what, I'll have to keep my GNX4 in my setup just for backup purposes. If the head amp dies, I can still go straight to the board with the GNX4. If the GNX4 dies, I still can go directly from the head amp. Covered both ways.
Heck, like I said, I just saw an 8X10 Ampeg stack die at a concert over the 4th of July. But that guy had no backup plan and ended the last two songs of the night playing \"air\" bass.
I will say that I really like the Behringer BB410 (paper cone) cabinet (1200 watts). It sounds really good to me. Also, it has a built in tweeter with an On/Off switch. For playing bass, I liked to have the tweeter turned off. After I blew my head amp, I plugged in another amp and hooked up my mp3 player. When I turned on the tweeter, the music sounded great. I was amazed at the high frequency response. So even if I end up not keeping the Behringer bass head, I might just keep the cab and use a different head.
Honestly, Behr'r is decent gear for the money. So hopefully your new head will take the beating.
BUt the guy's Ampeg stack shows to go ya that any gear can fry. Heck, on UTube there's a vid of a RUSH concert where they're jamming along, and Alex's amp blows up in the middle of a song. :shock: And you KNOW he's playing through pretty tasty gear..
Got my replacement head yesterday. Plugged it in and jammed for about an hour. So far, so good. Plan on really abusing the head before the 45 day AMS warranty exchange period ends.
The Behringer Ultrabass BX4500H (450 watts) with the Ultrabass BB410 speaker cab (1200 watts) really kicks butt. I had the house shaking last night at about half volume. Currently I have the head and cab in the kitchen while testing it out. I would have turned it up even louder, except I was afraid I would start dropping my wife's pictures and decorations off the wall. So I'll move the stack into the music room this weekend and have at it. Plan on having my 80's shredd head brother-in-law over and jam on some Judas Priest or Metallica. Maybe lay down some Black Sabbath too.
Also, my brother-in-law has been around the music business for about 30 years (compared to my 3 years experience), so maybe he can give me an honest thumbs up or down on the Behringer stack. I think it's a keeper, but I'd like to get his opinion too because he has played in a number of bands and has played with some guys with great bass equipment. Like I said before, I'm comparing this B' stack to my 120 watt Rogue 15\" bass amp. So just about anything would be an improvement over what I currently use.
In case anyone is interested, I ended up getting a Dean 10-A bass. It has active electronics. Out of the box it felt pretty good. Had some buzzing going on so I had to have the neck tweaked a bit and also raised the action on the middle two strings a touch. Plays great now, sounds better than my old Kramer and with a number of discounts, coupons, and such I had at MF, I got it for less than $150. It will be fine for our bar gigs. Remember, we often host open mic nights as part of our gig at some places so I really did not want a guitar that I was unable to hand over to someone else to play....
Just an update to add, my Dean Edge 10A bass guitar blew out a machine head tuner (G string) last Friday night. When I opened up the assembly, I saw that the metal teeth had broken off on the gear. So I ended up playing a three string bass at last Friday's jam (fortunately not a real gig for us).
I sent an email off to Dean asking if I could buy a new tuner for the guitar, and they said they would just mail it out to me for free. I thought was more than decent. I have no complaints about my Dean Edge 10A bass. I have been gigging with it for about 2 years now and this was my first malfunction. I have always liked the sound of it and the action was just so much better than my old Kramer.
Anyway, I have decided that maybe I need to bring an extra bass to the gigs with me just in case I blow another tuner (or break a string). Recently I have been looking at a Ibanez SR300M active bass which blows away the Fender P and Jazz basses at the same shop. The Ibanez SR300M costs about $300, but it just plays so much better than any of the Fenders in the shop which are more than twice the cost. I don't know why the shop does not set up the Fender basses. The action on the Fender basses is about 1/2 inch+ at the 12th fret and almost impossible, for me, to play. The Ibanez was 1/4 inch at the 12th fret and the playability was great. I have actually improved my bass playing and now I regularly play notes on the 12+ fret. I'm still a hack bass palyer, but I'm hacking away higher on the fretboard these days.
Appreciate the reviews and suggestions you guys have offered on the Ibanez bass guitars. I'm seriously looking at picking up Ibanez SR300M soon so that I have a couple of good active bass guitars in my war chest for gigging.
FWIW, that Dean Edge 10A active bass guitar that I paid $150 for (after discounts) made it through many, many gigs and added about $3000+ to my equipment fund. So I have no regrets, or tears, for the workhorse job that bass has done for me.
From my personal experience with the Ibanez SR series, you really can't go wrong with them. Very cost effective, but play like (or even better in some cases) much more expensive instruments.
I have the SR-706 which was my main bass while I searched for something with a smaller neck. I ended up with a Fender American Deluxe Precision 5 string as well as a MusicMan Stringray 5 HH, and I gotta tell ya...the Ibanez sounds better than either of those and has far better/lower action than either as well.
I just have to wear the thing so damn high up on my chest in order to have full reach across that big arsed neck. That thing has some serious real estate you gotta traverse if you plan on playing anything lower than the E. It's for that reason that I really use the Stingray for most of my stuff these days. If I'm just sitting in my studio recording I'll break out the Ibanez though.
Having a backup is always a great idea. My very first live show *ever* back in 84...first power chord on my brand new Kramer Pacer Imperial....<PLINK!>...broken low E string. Ever since then I've always taken at least two guitars/basses with me.
Another show in '92, we had some really dirty power running to the stage at an outdoor music festival we played just before SxSW. It took out my only rack mounted power amp (back when I was running all rack stuff, ADA MP1, Alesis Quad, etc). Ever since then....yep...I even keep a spare amp/head on hand, just in case.
From my personal experience with the Ibanez SR series, you really can't go wrong with them. Very cost effective, but play like (or even better in some cases) much more expensive instruments....
Yeah, the Ibanez SR300 I tried out played better than the Fender's costing more than twice as much. Also, the Ibanez just sounded so much better to me with its active electronics. For me, going with the Ibanez is a no brainer. I'll probably order a SR300 sometime soon and start bringing both my basses to our gigs.
I do have backup amps, but if I fried my mixer - it's game over. Don't have a backup plan for blowing the mixer itself. Used to carry a small 400X400 all in one mixer/amplifer, but just don't have the room for it in my small van.
Yeah, the Ibanez SR300 I tried out played better than the Fender's costing more than twice as much. Also, the Ibanez just sounded so much better to me with its active electronics. For me, going with the Ibanez is a no brainer. I'll probably order a SR300 sometime soon and start bringing both my basses to our gigs.
I'm an Ibanez fan-boy. Great planks for the money. I have two, plus I useta have a binez bass (before I got my Cirrus), and an acoustic too.
I do have backup amps, but if I fried my mixer - it's game over. Don't have a backup plan for blowing the mixer itself. Used to carry a small 400X400 all in one mixer/amplifer, but just don't have the room for it in my small van.
I'm sure it'd be great to have a backup EVERYthing...but who has space, money, or back strength for that? Better to have versatile gear that can do more than one job, in case something fries. Then you can swap things around when needed. Sounds like you already have some of that going.
Thanks for all the feedback on the Ibanez bass guitars. I ordered a Red Sparkle Ibanez SR300 RSP with a new Ibanez case this morning. Should be here soon.
I hope it gets here in time to set it up and gig with it on this coming Saturday night. I am also waiting on a replacement machine head for my Dean Edge 10A bass which customer service at Dean said they would send me. Unfortunately, Monday is a holiday and that might interrupt both deliveries.
Still have my old Kramer bass in case neither of the other guitars is gig ready. The high action of the Kramer will cramp my style, but it'll do if it has to for one gig.
Again, thanks for the comments on the Ibanez bass guitars. I still consider myself a hack bass player and don't know much, but as I said, the Ibanez, IMHO, just played, and sounded, so much better than the Fender's on the rack. Actually, I was disappointed in the Fender basses, but it might just be that they had not been set up at all and the action was about 1/2 inch at the 12th fret. I can't do that anymore.....
I got the Ibanez SR300 bass and a case from Musician's Friend yesterday. The case had a bad buckle on it, so that's going back. Worse yet, the guitar is not working right. There is something funky going on with the plug where you jack in the guitar cord. It's not working right. I was playing the new bass in my music room, turned around, and the bass went dead. I jiggled the cord and it came back to life. Jiggled it some more and it was dead again. Tried three different cords and had the same problem with two of them. Bottom line, I can't afford to be on stage and having the bass cut out on me. So my new Ibanez is going back, too.
Too bad because the SR300 plays great, sounds great, and only required a little tweaking on the intonation and it was set up. So, it's back to my old Kramer bass. I tweaked the neck and adjusted the intonation, and it'll have to do for this weekend. My Dean Edge 10A is waiting for the new turners to get here so that is out of commission this weekend.
Well, I don't know if I will ever get that Ibanez now. I'm returning it for a full refund. I needed it for this weekend but that's not going to happen. So when I get the Dean, my main bass, fixed, I'll probably just carry my old Kramer as a backup. Since the rush is over and past, I'll just keep my eye open for any specials on the Ibanez SR300 in the future. It sure is a good sounding bass - when it did not cut out. Anyway, this experience has been a bit of a bummer.
Taus- the jacks they use on import gear are crap. Maybe you should look into replacing the jack.
When I got my PRS SE years ago it had open spots on the pots right from the factory. They sent me new pots and new pots were scratchy and noisy. I bought some better quality pots for it.
IDK if you remember the $99 blowout MF had on those OLP Petrucci model guitars (reg $399)? Anyway, the body and neck were fantastic. The electronics and tuners and jack were all crap. $80 in parts and that guitar is one of my favorites.
Point is, if you like the guitar, maybe just get a new input jack.
Good news....I'm an idiot. In the light of day, I decided to take another look at the jack situation on the guitar. On the Ibanez SR300, there is a slot to insert the cord into the guitar and you can't easily see into the end of the slot. Well, in the light of day, I held the guitar up into some good light and looked down into the slot. I discovered that the plug was still about 1/8\" from the inside ring. So I shoved it in even harder and it snapped on the tip really tight. That sucker was going nowhere. No more cut outs while playing. It took almost two hands to pull the cord out, but I guess it was so tight because it's a brand new guitar and has not been broken in yet.
So I think I'll keep the guitar and just send the case back for an exchange. The Ibanez SR300 bass plays really well, feels great, and sounds fantastic. I'm taking it to our gig tomorrow night and trying it out. If it works well on stage, it will probably be my main bass. If it doesn't work out so well playing live, I still have the option of sending it back because I already had MF send me out a return ticket on the whole package.
Yeah, I felt a little foolish about not inserting the cord all the way into the jack, but honestly it felt like it was fully inserted. All my other guitars have external jacks and you can easily see if the cord is inserted all the way. And, with my old guitars, the jacks are broken in and the cord snaps in without too much effort. This new jack on the Ibanez was really tight and I had to jam that cord down into the slot/jack before it was fully inserted. Anyway, operator error. Can't blame Ibanez for my stupidity.
I never had much desire to \"upgrade\" from my Dean Edge 10A bass until I broke the tuner a couple weeks ago. But after breaking that tuner, I was thinking I better carry two good basses with me in case one guitar breaks while on stage. So I'll fix my Dean when the new tuner comes in the mail, and I should be set with two great bass guitars for hitting the stage. That's my plan.
Yeah, I felt a little foolish about not inserting the cord all the way into the jack, but honestly it felt like it was fully inserted. All my other guitars have external jacks and you can easily see if the cord is inserted all the way. And, with my old guitars, the jacks are broken in and the cord snaps in without too much effort. This new jack on the Ibanez was really tight and I had to jam that cord down into the slot/jack before it was fully inserted. Anyway, operator error.
Good one, Shredd. I guess I teed that one up for you.
As to the Ibanez, I used it last night at our gig and it worked great, sounded great, and I even got comments on how great it looked. I got the Sparkle Red model. When I first unpacked it, I thought maybe it was too red, too sparkly. But I let it sit for a few days because my other bass (Dean) is flat black and maybe I was overwhelmed by the new look. Anyway, on stage, I guess the guitar looked super cool when the stage lights would flash on the guitar and the sparkles on the bass just jumped out from it. More importantly to me was that the bass played really smooth with a low, fast, action and it had a super deep bass growl to it which really filled out the bottom.
So, the bass guitar is a keeper. I'll probably exchange the case for another and call it a day. You can put me in the Ibanez fan club. They really did a great job on the SR300 I just got. Take care.
Comments
First Behringer product I've had any trouble with at all. Still have my old Behringer mixers and they all work as good as new. Oh well, one more try before I give up on that Behringer bass stack idea.
I think, no matter what, I'll have to keep my GNX4 in my setup just for backup purposes. If the head amp dies, I can still go straight to the board with the GNX4. If the GNX4 dies, I still can go directly from the head amp. Covered both ways.
Heck, like I said, I just saw an 8X10 Ampeg stack die at a concert over the 4th of July. But that guy had no backup plan and ended the last two songs of the night playing \"air\" bass.
I will say that I really like the Behringer BB410 (paper cone) cabinet (1200 watts). It sounds really good to me. Also, it has a built in tweeter with an On/Off switch. For playing bass, I liked to have the tweeter turned off. After I blew my head amp, I plugged in another amp and hooked up my mp3 player. When I turned on the tweeter, the music sounded great. I was amazed at the high frequency response. So even if I end up not keeping the Behringer bass head, I might just keep the cab and use a different head.
BUt the guy's Ampeg stack shows to go ya that any gear can fry. Heck, on UTube there's a vid of a RUSH concert where they're jamming along, and Alex's amp blows up in the middle of a song. :shock: And you KNOW he's playing through pretty tasty gear..
The Behringer Ultrabass BX4500H (450 watts) with the Ultrabass BB410 speaker cab (1200 watts) really kicks butt. I had the house shaking last night at about half volume. Currently I have the head and cab in the kitchen while testing it out. I would have turned it up even louder, except I was afraid I would start dropping my wife's pictures and decorations off the wall. So I'll move the stack into the music room this weekend and have at it. Plan on having my 80's shredd head brother-in-law over and jam on some Judas Priest or Metallica. Maybe lay down some Black Sabbath too.
Also, my brother-in-law has been around the music business for about 30 years (compared to my 3 years experience), so maybe he can give me an honest thumbs up or down on the Behringer stack. I think it's a keeper, but I'd like to get his opinion too because he has played in a number of bands and has played with some guys with great bass equipment. Like I said before, I'm comparing this B' stack to my 120 watt Rogue 15\" bass amp. So just about anything would be an improvement over what I currently use.
Just an update to add, my Dean Edge 10A bass guitar blew out a machine head tuner (G string) last Friday night. When I opened up the assembly, I saw that the metal teeth had broken off on the gear. So I ended up playing a three string bass at last Friday's jam (fortunately not a real gig for us).
I sent an email off to Dean asking if I could buy a new tuner for the guitar, and they said they would just mail it out to me for free. I thought was more than decent. I have no complaints about my Dean Edge 10A bass. I have been gigging with it for about 2 years now and this was my first malfunction. I have always liked the sound of it and the action was just so much better than my old Kramer.
Anyway, I have decided that maybe I need to bring an extra bass to the gigs with me just in case I blow another tuner (or break a string). Recently I have been looking at a Ibanez SR300M active bass which blows away the Fender P and Jazz basses at the same shop. The Ibanez SR300M costs about $300, but it just plays so much better than any of the Fenders in the shop which are more than twice the cost. I don't know why the shop does not set up the Fender basses. The action on the Fender basses is about 1/2 inch+ at the 12th fret and almost impossible, for me, to play. The Ibanez was 1/4 inch at the 12th fret and the playability was great. I have actually improved my bass playing and now I regularly play notes on the 12+ fret. I'm still a hack bass palyer, but I'm hacking away higher on the fretboard these days.
Appreciate the reviews and suggestions you guys have offered on the Ibanez bass guitars. I'm seriously looking at picking up Ibanez SR300M soon so that I have a couple of good active bass guitars in my war chest for gigging.
FWIW, that Dean Edge 10A active bass guitar that I paid $150 for (after discounts) made it through many, many gigs and added about $3000+ to my equipment fund. So I have no regrets, or tears, for the workhorse job that bass has done for me.
I have the SR-706 which was my main bass while I searched for something with a smaller neck. I ended up with a Fender American Deluxe Precision 5 string as well as a MusicMan Stringray 5 HH, and I gotta tell ya...the Ibanez sounds better than either of those and has far better/lower action than either as well.
I just have to wear the thing so damn high up on my chest in order to have full reach across that big arsed neck. That thing has some serious real estate you gotta traverse if you plan on playing anything lower than the E. It's for that reason that I really use the Stingray for most of my stuff these days. If I'm just sitting in my studio recording I'll break out the Ibanez though.
Having a backup is always a great idea. My very first live show *ever* back in 84...first power chord on my brand new Kramer Pacer Imperial....<PLINK!>...broken low E string. Ever since then I've always taken at least two guitars/basses with me.
Another show in '92, we had some really dirty power running to the stage at an outdoor music festival we played just before SxSW. It took out my only rack mounted power amp (back when I was running all rack stuff, ADA MP1, Alesis Quad, etc). Ever since then....yep...I even keep a spare amp/head on hand, just in case.
Yeah, the Ibanez SR300 I tried out played better than the Fender's costing more than twice as much. Also, the Ibanez just sounded so much better to me with its active electronics. For me, going with the Ibanez is a no brainer. I'll probably order a SR300 sometime soon and start bringing both my basses to our gigs.
I do have backup amps, but if I fried my mixer - it's game over. Don't have a backup plan for blowing the mixer itself. Used to carry a small 400X400 all in one mixer/amplifer, but just don't have the room for it in my small van.
I'm sure it'd be great to have a backup EVERYthing...but who has space, money, or back strength for that? Better to have versatile gear that can do more than one job, in case something fries. Then you can swap things around when needed. Sounds like you already have some of that going.
I hope it gets here in time to set it up and gig with it on this coming Saturday night. I am also waiting on a replacement machine head for my Dean Edge 10A bass which customer service at Dean said they would send me. Unfortunately, Monday is a holiday and that might interrupt both deliveries.
Still have my old Kramer bass in case neither of the other guitars is gig ready. The high action of the Kramer will cramp my style, but it'll do if it has to for one gig.
Again, thanks for the comments on the Ibanez bass guitars. I still consider myself a hack bass player and don't know much, but as I said, the Ibanez, IMHO, just played, and sounded, so much better than the Fender's on the rack. Actually, I was disappointed in the Fender basses, but it might just be that they had not been set up at all and the action was about 1/2 inch at the 12th fret. I can't do that anymore.....
Too bad because the SR300 plays great, sounds great, and only required a little tweaking on the intonation and it was set up. So, it's back to my old Kramer bass. I tweaked the neck and adjusted the intonation, and it'll have to do for this weekend. My Dean Edge 10A is waiting for the new turners to get here so that is out of commission this weekend.
Well, I don't know if I will ever get that Ibanez now. I'm returning it for a full refund. I needed it for this weekend but that's not going to happen. So when I get the Dean, my main bass, fixed, I'll probably just carry my old Kramer as a backup. Since the rush is over and past, I'll just keep my eye open for any specials on the Ibanez SR300 in the future. It sure is a good sounding bass - when it did not cut out. Anyway, this experience has been a bit of a bummer.
When I got my PRS SE years ago it had open spots on the pots right from the factory. They sent me new pots and new pots were scratchy and noisy. I bought some better quality pots for it.
IDK if you remember the $99 blowout MF had on those OLP Petrucci model guitars (reg $399)? Anyway, the body and neck were fantastic. The electronics and tuners and jack were all crap. $80 in parts and that guitar is one of my favorites.
Point is, if you like the guitar, maybe just get a new input jack.
So I think I'll keep the guitar and just send the case back for an exchange. The Ibanez SR300 bass plays really well, feels great, and sounds fantastic. I'm taking it to our gig tomorrow night and trying it out. If it works well on stage, it will probably be my main bass. If it doesn't work out so well playing live, I still have the option of sending it back because I already had MF send me out a return ticket on the whole package.
Yeah, I felt a little foolish about not inserting the cord all the way into the jack, but honestly it felt like it was fully inserted. All my other guitars have external jacks and you can easily see if the cord is inserted all the way. And, with my old guitars, the jacks are broken in and the cord snaps in without too much effort. This new jack on the Ibanez was really tight and I had to jam that cord down into the slot/jack before it was fully inserted. Anyway, operator error. Can't blame Ibanez for my stupidity.
I never had much desire to \"upgrade\" from my Dean Edge 10A bass until I broke the tuner a couple weeks ago. But after breaking that tuner, I was thinking I better carry two good basses with me in case one guitar breaks while on stage. So I'll fix my Dean when the new tuner comes in the mail, and I should be set with two great bass guitars for hitting the stage. That's my plan.
As to the Ibanez, I used it last night at our gig and it worked great, sounded great, and I even got comments on how great it looked. I got the Sparkle Red model. When I first unpacked it, I thought maybe it was too red, too sparkly. But I let it sit for a few days because my other bass (Dean) is flat black and maybe I was overwhelmed by the new look. Anyway, on stage, I guess the guitar looked super cool when the stage lights would flash on the guitar and the sparkles on the bass just jumped out from it. More importantly to me was that the bass played really smooth with a low, fast, action and it had a super deep bass growl to it which really filled out the bottom.
So, the bass guitar is a keeper. I'll probably exchange the case for another and call it a day. You can put me in the Ibanez fan club. They really did a great job on the SR300 I just got. Take care.