About to buy a Peavy vb-3

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by cableguy

Don't get me wrong, I love my BDDI. But why would you run one in front of a tube amp? They are designed to emulate a tube amp. Maybe if you use it for a 2nd channel sound or distortion pedal. Good luck with whatever you decide and happy NAD.

Personally, I use my VTD for a distortion pedal.

[AdamR]

Im gassing for a Fender 300T Super Bassman

[zachreh]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Personally, I use my VTD for a distortion pedal.

would running a good distortion or overdrive before an all tube amp sound much better then going before any normal solid state?

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by zachreh

would running a good distortion or overdrive before an all tube amp sound much better then going before any normal solid state?

I have both and it sounds a good bit better to me through a tube amp.

[CL400Peavey]

Originally Posted by zachreh

would running a good distortion or overdrive before an all tube amp sound much better then going before any normal solid state?

Subjective. A lot of guys run an all tube amp to get the distortion from the tubes, not a pedal.

Does it sound better? Thats up to the beholder. There is nothing inherent to any amp that makes it better than another. Its all personal preference.

If I was planning on getting all of my distortion/tone from pedals, I wouldnt bother with a tube amp. If I was getting my tone from the power section of the amp, then I would get a tube amp.

[zachreh]

interesting thanks for the help so far guys, ill be going to samash this weekend to see what i can do

[spankdaplank]

I've owned a VB-3 for 1 1/2 years now. I have owned just about every tube bass amp at one time or another in my 50 years of playing bass. This includes the first edition of SVT, and later versions. I tried the VB-2 and The Traynor; owned a Sunn 2000s (sweeet), 70's B-15 and the list goes on.

I bought the VB-3 for a few of reasons: I wanted an all tube amp (I didn't currently own one). I needed a reliable amp that could work on 220v and 120v. I was intrigued by the SMPS power section which equals light weight (two back surgeries).
An most importantly I got a super deal from GC's used website. I think I paid about $800 for a mint unit.
I will cut to the chase here: The amp is well worth $800, in my opinion it is WAY overpriced at $1800.

Here is my impressions; YMMV.
I am not a fan of EL34 tubes in bass amps. To my ears they always soud thin and distort too easily. This was less obvious in the VB-3. But on the recommendation of BbyBld I put in a matched octet of EHX 6CA7 big bottle tubes which made a big improvement (for $180). I also tried 6L6's whic were nice but not as good as 6CA7's.

I currently use it with a Mesa Scout 15 cab.

The features are pretty good. Foot-switchable channel select, compression, mute and graphic.

Compressor is fair, not great but usable. The control should be less sensitive only the first 1/4 turn is useful.

The graphic is a bit of a tone suck,I don't use it, my active basses (Dingwall and Carvin SB5000) are fine for eq compensation.

The tone stack takes a little work to get used to, but the resonance and presence controls can be dialed for just the right amount of "tubieness".
Power is adequate.

I also have an SVT-IIP preamp that I run into the effects return (using the Peavey power section) which can almost (but not quite) get the SVT tone.

One last comment. I always thought of the VB-3 + Scout combination as a more "vintage" rig to use with the Carvin SB bass. The other day I tried the Dingwall with this combination and spent some time dialing in the tone stack and especially the resonance and presence controls. For my ears, the tone, the tubishness, that dynamically driven envelope sound that only an all tube amp can deliver was all there. And I hereby claim this as my "signature" sound! LOL

[zachreh]

Alright just got back from samash, after trading in my pf 350 and negotiating with the salesman for a bit I got $300 off a new Peavey vb 3. They had to order it direct from peavey so I should have the amo by the 7th. If I don't like it within a month I can return it for a full refund.
Im very excited for this amp and looking forward to using it live

[BbbyBld]

Congrats! I'm sure you will enjoy it.

[zachreh]

Originally Posted by BbbyBld

Congrats! I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Thank you

[rodl2005]

Great stuff. Return policies are great.
Hope you really like the VB-3.
Interesting post above re the 6CA7 tube swap etc.

[spankdaplank]

I think I may have to offer a bit of a retraction of my previous post. While I still think this amp is awfully high priced, I have spent at least 8 hours between today and yesterday playing through the VB-3 with my various basses. The tone that I have finally dialed in is absolutely addictive.
In the 70's I owned a Fender Dual showman head that had this chewy sweet, slick, tubey sound. The problem with the Fender was its lack of power. The VB-3 is able to cop this tone at any volume. For the first time in a long tome I'm running my active bass's eq completely flat.
In the past, I guess I was trying to find a growly type tone and in my tunnel vision I missed what this amp really offers. It is definitely not an SVT, but it certainly has its own signature sound.
I have to thank BbbyBld again for his guidance with this amp. His suggestions about the tubes were right on. Now that I've found the magic tone I am tempted to try the 6L6's again (ala Dual Showman) if I still have the tubes on my shelf somewhere.

If the OP is interested I'll post the settings on the eq.

[JimmyM]

Good luck with the new VB3, bro...hope it works out for you!

[zachreh]

Originally Posted by spankdaplank

I think I may have to offer a bit of a retraction of my previous post. While I still think this amp is awfully high priced, I have spent at least 8 hours between today and yesterday playing through the VB-3 with my various basses. The tone that I have finally dialed in is absolutely addictive.
In the 70's I owned a Fender Dual showman head that had this chewy sweet, slick, tubey sound. The problem with the Fender was its lack of power. The VB-3 is able to cop this tone at any volume. For the first time in a long tome I'm running my active bass's eq completely flat.
In the past, I guess I was trying to find a growly type tone and in my tunnel vision I missed what this amp really offers. It is definitely not an SVT, but it certainly has its own signature sound.
I have to thank BbbyBld again for his guidance with this amp. His suggestions about the tubes were right on. Now that I've found the magic tone I am tempted to try the 6L6's again (ala Dual Showman) if I still have the tubes on my shelf somewhere.

If the OP is interested I'll post the settings on the eq.

Yes please, wow that's some really great news, I don't have the option to play one in person so that really helps me out a lot. Im really glad to hear the amp is versatile but is still capable of sounding great

[zachreh]

and here is just a demo of the tone I have now with the ampeg pf 350, sansamp, and mxr bass comp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJsB1...RG6hLA&index=1

[JimmyM]

Gnarly!

[spankdaplank]

zachreh, I just viewed your youtube vid- Saweeet!

When I was writing down the actual numerical position of the tone controls, it seemed like I have a "smiley face" eq thing going on. But this tone stack is passive like a Fender which usually means a flat setting equals treble and bass dimed and mids at minimum. For what it's worth, I arrived at these settings by ear - I wan't looking at the knob positions.

Here are the settings I am using now on the VB-3:

Input pad: out
Bright: off
Low: 8
Mid: 5 Mid freq: 600hz
Treble: 8
Compression: 2.5
Resonance: 6.5
Presence: 5

One thing I didn't mention is the overdrive channel. Overdriven sound is usually not my thing, but I did fool around with the OD cahannel and it seems like the compressor can really be used well in this case.

Zachreh, after hearing your tone on the video I think you will have a ball with this amp. Take your time, use your ears and not your eyes when you're tweaking it. I've had this amp for over 1 1/2 years and it wasn't until two weeks ago that I became really satisfied tonewise. Mostly because I didn't follow the above advice. LOL

[zachreh]

Originally Posted by spankdaplank

zachreh, I just viewed your youtube vid- Saweeet!

When I was writing down the actual numerical position of the tone controls, it seemed like I have a "smiley face" eq thing going on. But this tone stack is passive like a Fender which usually means a flat setting equals treble and bass dimed and mids at minimum. For what it's worth, I arrived at these settings by ear - I wan't looking at the knob positions.

Here are the settings I am using now on the VB-3:

Input pad: out
Bright: off
Low: 8
Mid: 5 Mid freq: 600hz
Treble: 8
Compression: 2.5
Resonance: 6.5
Presence: 5

One thing I didn't mention is the overdrive channel. Overdriven sound is usually not my thing, but I did fool around with the OD cahannel and it seems like the compressor can really be used well in this case.

Zachreh, after hearing your tone on the video I think you will have a ball with this amp. Take your time, use your ears and not your eyes when you're tweaking it. I've had this amp for over 1 1/2 years and it wasn't until two weeks ago that I became really satisfied tonewise. Mostly because I didn't follow the above advice. LOL

wow thank you so much for you help and support, I really appreciate it. The resonance and presence controls will be interesting to work with. I will try out your settings as soon as the amp arrives. With my style of playing I really do think this amp will be a great fit for me. Im excited to experiment with the amps overdrive and my sansamp im sure I will get a great tone out of it im very very excited lol

[Downunderwonder]

Originally Posted by spankdaplank

... But this tone stack is passive like a Fender which usually means a flat setting equals treble and bass dimed and mids at minimum.

That's a massive mid cut.

[spankdaplank]

I stand corrected on the tone stack position. From what I could tell using the Fender tone stack calculator (from Duncan Amps website) - "flat" is treble and bass set to minimum and mid control set at 50%. So from what I can tell by the graph, the mids are neither cut or boosted, but the treble and bass are moderately boosted with the settings I'm using. Of course I am ASSuming the passive tone controls on the Peavey are similar to the Fender's.

Anyhow I found the tone in that VB-3 that really works for me.