Jump to content

Bass Amp you wish you had.


Conformer

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Here's one. The warmest, fattest, most organic sounding tube amp ever. There weren't many made. If I ever find one...
:cool:

 

A Rumble Bass! This is the first time I've ever seen a photo of this mythical beast. Cool.

 

I'm not sure I can decide, but It's got to be between a Hiwatt DR405 and SE320 4x12, or a Fender 400 PS and a whole assortment of cabinets definitely including a folded horn or two. Both of these amps are brutally overdesigned and to me represent the ultimate evolution of valve bass amplification, but with two very different approaches. They're like engineering artwork...just take a look at the wiring inside any Hylight era Hiwatt. My desire for a 400 PS has not gone down since I first found out about it.

 

Backside shot showing tubes:

 

20010108_400PS_Rear.jpg

 

 

On the other hand, for a solid state setup, if I had a reasonably unlimited supply of cash(lottery winnings, as suggested?), I might just DIY the whole thing and get what I couldn't get commercially. Monstrous power transformer, massive power supply capacitance, fully regulated power supply with a seperate regulated front end supply for the power amp(find THAT in a commercially available amp!), JFET preamp, audiophile grade components inside, VU meter for fun...ohhhh yeah.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 74
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Moderators

A few months (weeks??) back someone posted pics of a new or updated Peavey amp with little blue lights around it... Anyone remember? Has it hit the market yet? It looked interesting... Anyone seen or tried it?

 

Is this it? Peavey VB-3 perhaps?

 

PeaveyVB-3TubeBassHead.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yes. Wanna pay for it? :poke:

Sure. :) I'm mean it too.

 

Last year, an FOH guy (also a bassist) at a casino I play at spotted a used one at the San Bernardino Guitar Center. A friend of mine at the Covina store had it shipped there so I could check it out. They plugged it in and it immediately blew a tube. They replaced the tube, but the same thing happened again. They sent it to their (GC) repair center. It never came back. Like it fell into a black hole or something. :cry:

 

I want one badly. :mad:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

Sure.
:)
I'm mean it too.


Last year, an FOH guy (also a bassist) at a casino I play at spotted a used one at the San Bernardino Guitar Center. A friend of mine at the Covina store had it shipped there so I could check it out. They plugged it in and it immediately blew a tube. They replaced the tube, but the same thing happened again. They sent it to their (GC) repair center. It never came back. Like it fell into a black hole or something.
:cry:

I want one badly.
:mad:

 

I don't have anywhere near the time to even look carefully at it at the moment, but to get parts for something like that and build it by hand as a one off would be several thousands of dollars. One of the major keys is finding transformers appropriate for the task. I would be willing to do what I can, but it would take a long time to get it all together and it would be more expensive than most people would find reasonable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I don't have anywhere near the time to even look carefully at it at the moment, but to get parts for something like that and build it by hand as a one off would be several thousands of dollars. One of the major keys is finding transformers appropriate for the task. I would be willing to do what I can, but it would take a long time to get it all together and it would be more expensive than most people would find reasonable.

If you ever see it as a serious project, let me know.

 

I will keep looking for one. :wave:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I want an amp that weighs less than 10 lbs with head & speaker that is very small sizewise, but has the power volume and sound like a GBE-1200 and 4 - Neox 212T's. Ultra portable and adequate for any size gig as a stand alone...

 

Of course this doesn't exist yet....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators
I want an amp that weighs less than 10 lbs with head & speaker that is very small sizewise, but has the power volume and sound like a GBE-1200 and 4 - Neox 212T's. Ultra portable and adequate for any size gig as a stand alone...


Of course this doesn't exist yet....

It looks like between you and me the GB crew has a few new projects to work on. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The VB-3 is 37 pounds? Are they using a switching power supply? Eliminating the power transformer and filter choke would shed a lot of weight.

 

it is a switching power supply. it was a guitar amplifier in a previous life, the second of three aborted george lynch signature amplifiers, the x300L:

 

PEAVEY%20X-300L%20HeadE.gif

 

it should be pretty sweet. the kid who designed the VB-3 and VB-2 is really smart and very clever.

 

this is the amp i would like to own:

 

front.jpg

 

does anyone remember the merlin 550 head? it sounded like a really cool idea, and bass player still uses one for reference. never got to hear, see, or touch one, though.

 

robb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I want an amp that weighs less than 10 lbs with head & speaker that is very small sizewise, but has the power volume and sound like a GBE-1200 and 4 - Neox 212T's. Ultra portable and adequate for any size gig as a stand alone...


Of course this doesn't exist yet....

 

 

Umm..well the head does. The name is Walter Woods.

 

 

Dan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

it is a switching power supply. it was a guitar amplifier in a previous life, the second of three aborted george lynch signature amplifiers, the x300L:


front.jpg

does anyone remember the merlin 550 head? it sounded like a really cool idea, and bass player still uses one for reference. never got to hear, see, or touch one, though.


robb.

 

I think Peavey has to give it a break with the signature amps. They've beat the 5150 to death, they've got JSXs galore and now George Lynch? Are they going to go around signing up every big name guitarist till their entire product line is signature this, signature that? I hope not. I do think the switching PS is cool though and I'm glad someone finally put 2 and 2 together.

 

I remember seeing Godlyke ads in Bass Player advertising the Merlin amps. I think Jazz Ad actually got to try one sometime and IIRC he said that it was good, but not Jesus in a rackmount chassis. I'd like to hear one sometime though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...