Let's talk bass heads

[kdarr]

I've got a couple in the oven now over at Basson Sound here in Carlsbad....
...Soon come.

I heard about these heads almost 4 years ago when we sold the cabinets at the shop i was working at. still vaporware thus far.

the cabs were cool but we never seemed to have a regular bass head in stock powerful enough to really drive the 4x10. 1kW RMS @ 8ohms, yikes.

i thought the 2x12 sounded pretty amazing in the lows, almost bought one but the tweeter had an on/off switch instead of an attenuator. tweet was super crunchy bright (yuck) and the xover was in such a place that the 12's lacked snarl and high-mid punch on their own. The 4x10's would probably fare better but having to rack up a 2 channel power amp with 1000W per side (8ohm cab, so no bridging channels) along with a whole separate bass head (to use as a preamp, since standalone bass pres aren't super popular) was kind of a hassle, from both a retail and end user's perspective.

hopefully the amplifiers will finally come out and pair up for a cool rig. it all sounds good in theory. on the other hand, making an 8x10 cabinet that can't be powered by an SVT or any other competing all-tube head always struck me as marketplace suicide.

[<|>]

[calaverasgrandes]

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.

I can has?

[Harry]

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.

UPS guy just showed up with my M-pulse 600
In less than 30 seconds I was in bass heaven! the range of tones just with everything flat and only using the gain and master knobs is all anyone could ask for...I don't imagine the comp/EQ/Solo or any other features will do any harm once I get into it more.

The only amps I was really able to play 1st were the Eden and Ampegs and I liked them both but it was either one or the other as far as sound goes. A Ampeg wont go into Eden sound and Eden wont get into Ampeg sounds
The Boogie can go anywhere....Crystal clear to a very nice sounding overdrive. Warm and FAT!! and(I can't believe I'm saying this) More than enough power!!!

Thanks qued for your post.( and everyones input) This amp was not on my radar until I read this...Then everything I read about it sounded really good so I took a big chance and it worked out great.

TOMB does it again!
Thanks
HArry

[Snarl 12/8]

I second the preamp into a power amp recommendation. I'm using an Ashly BP41 into a Hafler 110watts/channel (8 Ohms) into two thiele cabs (1x12 and 1x15) Built in DI in the Ashly, can biamp (or not) right now I'm running the low out into one side of the Hafler into the 15 and the full range signal into the other side of the hafler into the 12. For a long time I was just going full range into the Hafler bridged into both speakers. Versatility for days.

Also, that pre seems made for modding. A nice long line of socketed opamps down the middle. I only replaced the first opamp (the gain stage) and noticed a nice difference. It was a bad difference until I added a couple caps to my mod.

If you've already got a pre you like, picking up a power amp could be a simple way to go.

[calaverasgrandes]

you wont like the m 600. its terrible. Oh wait you already bought it and you like it? just goes to show you, it doesnt matter a whole lot what a bunch of armchair bassists think of an amp.
I cant stand those amps, but then the solid state bass amp that I like hasn't been made yet.
I suppose if flexibility is your goal than a hybrid amp such as that will do you best.
Just for old times sake I have to mention the Peavey MK IV. These along with the GK 400rb/800RB are some of the best deals for bass heads. Often found under $400. Very flexible, very loud, good clean tone. Models differ as to features included. Some have a flanger, some dont.
I used both the GK's and Peaveys and much preferred their solid state tone to Ampegs SS heads and even SWRs (really).
I never could get the right tone out of an eden or an SWR. Even the models with tubes in the pre sound too harsh to me.
They dont get the right kind of midrange grunt the way a even a cheap peavey or GK will.
But then a traynor yba1a is all grunt, and a boogie bass 400 grunts like a pig.

[qued]

Glad you like the amp Harry, news of your M600 has definitely rekindled an itch update my setup!

Calaverasgrandes, to each their own I suppose, but it?s a bit of a stretch to call the M600 terrible. Personally that midrange ?grunt? of GK/Peavy is exactly what irks me with most cheaper amps. I've always found to get grunt from a "clean" amp you can just pick the right bass. I?ve never managed to get anything but that farty pig noise from a ?grunty? amp at any appreciable volume.

[JohnDavisNYC]

the mesa stuff is cool, i used one of the new hybrid heads on tour and it was loud and great sounding... personally, i love aguilar stuff... it is made by bassists here in nyc, and i can go over to the office if something goes wrong, or if i just want to hang out or something. great company.

john

[calaverasgrandes]

Glad you like the amp Harry, news of your M600 has definitely rekindled an itch update my setup!

Calaverasgrandes, to each their own I suppose, but it?s a bit of a stretch to call the M600 terrible. Personally that midrange ?grunt? of GK/Peavy is exactly what irks me with most cheaper amps. I've always found to get grunt from a "clean" amp you can just pick the right bass. I?ve never managed to get anything but that farty pig noise from a ?grunty? amp at any appreciable volume.

I guess I have always been a guitarist trapped in a bassists body.This impacts my worklife, friendship, relationships. Women just dont understand.
It always seemsed to me that if all you want is a clean sound just get a power amp and a preamp-DI. I like an amp to color things up and have a bit of character. I dont like peaveys and GK's honestly, but in their price range they arent bad and you can get more than one sound.
It's like musicman stingrays. They dont do a clean sound, they always have a little bit of fuzz or something in the signal but it sounds great.

[Jim Williams]

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.

I can has?

Probably mid/late next year. I'll have the 2k watt head at Namm if any of you want to stop by and check it out. If you hear a low rumble in Hall B that sounds like the engine room of the Enterprise, it's me messing with people on the low B string. I'll probably just filter out everything above 50 hz and crank 20 hz up and let the compressor sustain it all day. It's below the measurement pickup of those Namm cop audio meter readers so I can get away with mondo low frequency SPL's in there without "detection".

I do plan to take numerous bathroom breaks.

[Snarl 12/8]

I do plan to take numerous bathroom breaks.

That thing does sound like the ideal amp for a "brown noise" generator.

[slam]

I've been using the Mesa Walkabout Scout for a few years and I love it. It is powerful enough for my reggae band if I use an extension cabinet and sounds great. For any other situation it is plenty loud by itself.

I bought it because it was the loudest, lightest combo amp I could afford at the time. For my needs it is very nice.

[bestmixerever]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that this thread is about recording(this being tape op and all). Nothing beats an Ampeg B-15 for overall tone, but doesn't travel that well. While not appropriate for screamo/growlo/emo/speedo-core, it never fails to deliver a fat&meaty sound that leaves the fans smiling.