Re: Amp heads: What has amazed you....

On 2009-09-08, JoeSpareBedroom <newstrash@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
...when you upgraded and said "Ah ha! This is what I was looking for."?

I'm using an Ampeg B2R (200 into 8 ohms, 350 into 4 ohms) with a 1x15 Mesa
cab and a 2x10 Eden cab. Together for bigger gigs, just one for other rooms.
The Ampeg's all solid state. Thinking of an upgrade soon, not so much for
more volume, but for the elusive "more balls" or something. Just some more
low end richness. Or something. Can't decide if a LOT more power is really
what I need to think about, or tube driven preamp section, or what.

Or what?



I started out playing through a Peavey Pro Bass 1000 preamp into a home-made
350W ->4ohm power amp. EV TL15 box.

then i found two dead ampeg SVT-II's on ebay for a song, fixed them up, used
either one for a couple of years. some time later i bought an Eden 410XST
cab - then i really learned about the "pants flapping" effect that i had
read so much about here beforehand.

After lugging the ampeg around for a couple of years, i upgraded to an
Acoustic Image Focus 2R Series III head - more pants flapping, great clean
sound, excellent for double bass - the notch filter on this is a revelation.

just recently, i picked up a Walter Woods Ultra High Power (blue light). no
need for the acoustic image anymore, although i have to run a parametric in
the effects loop to emulate the notch filter on the acoustic image.

each upgrade was an incremental improvement in sound/power. I've still got
all the amps except the peavey/home made PA which i sold to a young up &
coming player here in town. I used that setup for about ten years before i
found the ampegs. Clearly i didn't really know what tone was until the
ampeg/eden days, now i'm in walter woods/eden land & am pretty happy with my
tone & setup.

i still use the ampeg occasionally, the eden is always there, i still have
the EV Tl15 & sometimes use both speakers for larger outdoor gigs.

probably the first "Ah ha!" came with the ampeg & eden setup - i could have
nice ampeggy tone with it's characteristic dirt when driven, & could keep up
with the guitar player with ease. come to think of it, the ampeg with the
TL15 wasn't as huge a revelation as the ampeg/eden...

my last (& current) "Ah ha!" was the walter woods. tone all around, oodles of
power (1200 watts! holy crap!), & i don't hurt my back like the ampeg.

a lot of power can be a good thing, you don't always have to use it, but
it's there when you need it (ie, outdoor gig with small vocal pa system -
guitar boy can get away with his fender twin, but two speakers & shitloads
of power can be really handy for bass)

valve preamps can be nice, but not essential - the acoustic image & walter
woods heads i have both sound beautiful - clean & warm with good eq sections
to help. the ampeg is a sound all it's own, and i especially like the dirt
you get when it's pushed a bit.

probably if you're looking for a huge change in your sound, you might want
to look at different speakers. I'd say that for me, by far the biggest
improvement in tone/volume/low end richness came with the Eden 410XST. Since
I've been using it, i've upgraded amps a couple of times, with obvious
improvements in portability/back health, but no huge leaps in sound quality.

sorry about the long-windedness of my reply, however, to sum it up, my
biggest "Ah ha!" was the Eden 410XST.

HTH,

cheers,

timbo.


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http://www.skyrockats.com
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