What is the basic bass rig for somebody starting out to get some kind of a Phil-like tone? Not going to be able to spend a fortune; just wondering what kinds of things I would keep in mind looking at used amps?
I played plenty of bass rigs and the current one I use is a Mesa Boogie 400+ power head and a Mesa Boogie 4x10 Powerhouse cabinet combined with an 18" SWR subwoofer. The 4x10 provides plenty of low end bass on it's own and is really clean and punchy in the high and midrange. If Mesa is too expensive try other 4x10 cabinets. 4x10's are easier to transport than the 2x15's or the 8x10's and are suprisingly responsive to low end. Just as important (or more important) as my rig is my volume setting on the bass, I play with the volume control on 9 out of 10 and fingerpick heavy gauge strings strongly to get maximum gain from the bass. This gives the sound a slightly overdriven quality. For slower tunes I push the bass control knob on the bass almost all the way and cut the mid and high range controls back to get a more acoustic bass sound. In summary the Mesa equipment is LOUD and provides lots of headroom for the Phil sound.
My philosophy on bass sound is that it should be thick and warm all over the stage but not overly loud. The audience wants bass, it makes them move....that's the coolest thing about playing bass.
G. Dad