Let's talk bass heads

ofajen · Post by **ofajen** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 4:45 pm

A National Acrobat wrote:Look no further...

http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com ... D=26039693

Based on the Sunn 300T which, once purchased by Fender, became the Bassmann 300.

It almost has too many options and has always been a pleasure to record. As far as reissues go, this is it.

Dials in the most convincing 'vintage' SVT sound and it's just inside-out versatile. Oh yeah...loud too.

Just rip that stupid Fender logo off and you're all set.

Looks like a great amp. There is the minor detail of the price. Seems like $1700 is typical. I think I got my Traynor amps for a bit over $200 each. But, hey, it's only money...

Cheers,

Otto

rty5150 · Post by **rty5150** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 2:46 pm

GK and eden fan over here!

rich

wookie · Post by **wookie** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 10:51 am

Check out the Markbass little mark II. It's 500 watts, 5 pounds or so, and has a very warm sound. I use it when I need more volume/headroom. When I don't, I use an ampeg portaflex.

fazeka · Post by **fazeka** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:00 pm

I run mostly vintage Ampeg ('69 B-25, '73 V4B) through a mid 70s 4x10 Ampeg B-40 cab. For me, it's tough to beat that "ol' school" sound.

I also use a GK RB400 with a BagEnd 1x12 cab.

Last week I tried my B-25 with the 1x12 and was pleasantly surprised from a tone perspective!

against88 · Post by **against88** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:16 pm

i am going to back the ampeg V4 option. vibe of the SVT, but you can get dirtier if you want. if you're recording, i can't imagine having and SVT head up past 3.

fazeka · Post by **fazeka** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:30 pm

against88 wrote:i am going to back the ampeg V4 option. vibe of the SVT, but you can get dirtier if you want. if you're recording, i can't imagine having and SVT head up past 3.

If you want even more "dirt", especially at lower volumes than the V4(B), try the "1/6 SVT" B-25.

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 2:01 pm

The Traynor bass amps are nearly all called YBA. BA as in bass amp.
The YBA-1 and YBA-3 are the really good ones. Especially the YBA-1a. The YBA-1 that I used to own put out about 100 watts or so from two EL34's. This is supposed to be impossible so it is probably why it burned through tubes so fast. It also can only run 8 or 16 ohm cabs.
The YBA-3 is similar to the YBA-1 except with twice the power output tubes and a master volume, it also can run 4 ohm loads.
You can snatch up either for around $400. Which is a steal for a handwired, all tube head from the 60's.
The Acoustic heads are good especially the 450. Though the sound is not as "fast" as you would expect from a solid state amp. They do have interesting fuzz circuits built in to a lot of their bass models.
the GK 400rb (and 800RB are both excellent amps. I know several guys that own an ampeg SVT and a GK, and use the latter more often just because its lighter and sounds 90% as good as the ampeg, without any reliability issues.
Sunns are a mixed lot. Some are legendary for tone, but I also have seen plenty blow up, real good.
I wouldnt even go near SWR. I have know several guys that have had to return theirs. Non-functional right out of the box!
The Ashdown's made in UK are awesome. Wish I had bought one when those were cheap. (reminds me of the whole TFpro-Meek thing).
Me personally I love my Mesa Boogie.
It does a pretty darn good clean for a tube amp. It gets kinda dirty too. Especially if you run both inputs. And they get very loud. If you get the 400+ thats about 400 watts of utter mayhem. My mere bass 400 only has 6 tubes so it only goes up to about 200 watts. But it certainly gets noise complaints.
about the tube pre/solid state amp thing. This is very popular. It seems that almost every amp out there has a tube "channel" in it. This will not get you tube sound though. "Real" tube heads also have a tube power section with a big transformer that saturate and compress ever so slightly (or not slightly). More importantly, a tube amp usually has a passive tube EQ which sounds way different than an active solidstate eq!
What really disapoints me is that Mesa Boogie has discontinued its all tube bass heads and only sell "hybrid" heads.
But a used 400 is still a great deal. Mine is easily over 20 years old. I have had it for 15 and beat the daylights out of it, still ticking along.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 2:21 pm

I have heard that Ashdowns sound good, but see the shop a lot ...

kdarr · Post by **kdarr** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:34 pm

vvv wrote:I have heard that Ashdowns sound good, but see the shop a lot ...

You know, I saw a lot come in when I worked at a repair shop too. For some reason mine has been problem free for 5 years now, and it's taken it's fair share of bumps & spills. Supposedly the English made ones (like mine) are more reliable. I don't push it super hard, that probably helps.

They're easy to service at the very least... clean layout and the box is quick to get in & out of.

[<|>]

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 4:18 pm

Man....my head is swimming.

I need to get off the computer and get down to the music store????

I'm still interested in the Ampeg and the Eden.

The Ampeg because all the old school bass players I love played them.

The Eden because everyone I've played with who played Eden had a perfect tone and balance.

Are the new Ampegs and Edens any good or do I have to go back a few years?

What about the Mesa Big Block 750? anyone know this amp?

Maybe I should just line out of my Baby Blue into a Crown Like someone said? The Baby Blue does have a sweet preamp.????

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:29 pm

Nobody laugh a me, but on the cheap, could you do something like get a really basic and small power amp then get a sansamp bass di for tone/grit/whatever? Some people get annoyed with the somewhat generic sounding tone of that thing, but I've been thankful to be able get such a generic good sound consistently since I've got mine. Granted, I use it for recording, but is it not reasonable to assume it might serve you in the live realm?

Just a thought.

Brett Siler · Post by **Brett Siler** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 6:14 pm

I've had a good share of bands that have come through with a cheap SS bass head and the Sansamp in the FX loop or in front and it usually sounds good. There are limitations to this setup but if you don't have money then you can make it work.

IMO if you are gonna go ampeg, go with the SVT Pro or V4. DO NOT get one of their cheaper SS amps. They mights sound ok just straight clean, but if you put a dirt pedal in front man does it sound awful.

qued · Post by **qued** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 6:36 pm

Harry,

I own a late 90's eden WT300 and like how it sounds live and recorded, people always seem to go out of their way to mention they do too. Definitely in the category of pleasantly clean, you basically hear the tone of the bass coming through. For live, it?s loud enough for a 200 person venue, and small enough to transport easily. In the studio it's versatility is a bit limited, as in the mic'd cabinet sounds pretty similar to a clean DI tone. For this reason, i usually just leave it at home and record with a DI. I got mine for $400, my best deal on a piece of gear, paying full price for a new one though...

As a bass player I've also used umpteen ampegs as backline. The SVT definitely gives you "this is what an p-bass is supposed to sound like". If you want and SVT for the distortion though, you'll find once you have the master dialed to the point of breaking up, it is insane how loud the amp gets. Any venue less than 1000 capacity turns to mud, and it will bleed into everything in the studio.

I've used (and loved) the small traynor's and sunn's as well. They give a wonderful "bouncing" sort of tone, which is nearly impossible to replicate any other way, and is the antithesis of mud. For studio use, one of these for retro sounds and a nice DI for modern and you've got everything covered.

Last but not least, I've demoed mesa's as well. I found the Big Block to be a bit too obvious; the distortion just sounded fake. The mesa M-pulse 600 on the other hand is probably the nicest sounding bass amp i've played through. It could do everything i've mentioned at any volume. Only problem is they are shockingly heavy and expensive.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 5:26 am

Last but not least, I've demoed mesa's as well. I found the Big Block to be a bit too obvious; the distortion just sounded fake. The mesa M-pulse 600 on the other hand is probably the nicest sounding bass amp i've played through. It could do everything i've mentioned at any volume. Only problem is they are shockingly heavy and expensive.[/quote]

I kind of guessed the big block distortion might sound fake..

The M-pulse looks very interesting...thanks for the heads up on that one!

Jim Williams · Post by **Jim Williams** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 7:36 am

I've got a couple in the oven now over at Basson Sound here in Carlsbad. One is a 2x10" combo at 700 watts RMS with 1k watt drivers and a horn.

The stand alone head is 2000 watts. Those are to match the 2000 watt 8x10 cabs like Nikki Six uses. Both amps are light and are Class D outputs.

Both have similar front ends. I used a unique discrete jfet in front of a super low noise, low THD opamp for -115 dbu noise. Input impedance is 2 meg ohms.
It has a 4 band sweep EQ with hf shelving. The low band is switchable bell or shelf. They sweep from 20 hz to 20 k hz, a full range EQ. There is a dbx 160X style compressor with that 2080 VCA's and a balanced effects loop.
Add to that a 12AX7A tube stage with adjustable drive for early 60's Jack Bruce bass sounds. There are line and mic level balanced outputs and all functions are foot switchable via quality relays.

Frequency repsonse is 2 hz to 200k hz. These amps avoid the early low end roll-offs found in all commercial bass guitar amps that are used to prevent clipping and power loss. Pull a low E upand down and those speakers follow. Wack it with your thumb and it's a blast of air like off a kick drum. Brush the string and boost 20k hz and it's acoustic sounding. Crank up to 2000 watts and you need to take a bathroom break.
Soon come.

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