Mixing Modern and Vintage Equipment

[DJ Bebop]

Guitar Center and Goodwill got together and had a baby and
named it my Music Room

I was down there cleaning and came across some old gear.

An old Standel Bass combo it used to have a SS head that is gone but the speakers 2x12 are still there in it's original ported cab.
I plugged in a GK1001RBI head into it and it actual sounded good! Gigable good!

Then I tried my Ampeg B15N head into my Aguilar GS112, sounded good too!

Anyway, have any of you tried mixing vintage equipment with new and how did you like it.

Like maybe a MB Fusion head with a Sunn 200s bottom or, a Ampeg B15 with say a Phil Jones Pure Sound 6T bass cab.

Discuss!!!

[rodl2005]

I do all tha time.
Fender Studio Bass 200 > Bergantino NV412/ 3015 modded Ampeg PF115FHE x2
Sounds great!

[JimmyM]

B-15 into an old Tube Works 410 I have was excellent and pretty loud, though I don't use that cab anymore. Been using an old SVT with two newish SVT 210av's lately, too. That's really cool.

[chaosMK]

I like vintage heads through modern cabs. Old school heads are where it's at, present-day cabs can really help to bring out and reveal their sound.

[tonynoriega]

I've run my '61 B16n through a Low Down Sound 4x10 and it's simply the best bass sound I've ever generated, and I've been playing for a very, very long time.

If I had to guess I'd say the result is 90% the amp and 10% the cabinet, but what really matters is that the combination is superb.

[Bassmec]

Old RCA OP-6 octal tube pre amps from 1938 sound absolutely fooking great just plugged DI into protools rigs with decent monitors.

And they go up to twenty man!
That's like ten more!

[metalinthenight]

Yep Yep Yep. I recorded my bands new full length with an old Acoustic Control Corp. 370 into an Aguilar GS212. Sounded fantastic!

[iiipopes]

Let's see: my Silverfaced Bassman Export head sits right next to my Carvin MB-12 combo amp and across from my first-year-of-issue Marshall 2203 head (when I have to play guitar), with my 1981 Rick 4002, custom fanned fret P-style bass and new Ibanez SRA305, and the dozen or so other instruments, including a 1971 Miraphone tuba, reed organ, Hammond L-100, guitars new to decades old (the oldest, which I sold, was a @1935 Gibson L-00) and my Cheap Chinese double bass on which I have two gigs next week.

[Russell L]

I've played my Little Mark III head through a '68 Ampeg 810. It sounded marvelous. I've also run it through the 15 in my late '80s Trace Elliot GP7 SM combo, and I've run the Trace head through my Markbass Traveler 151P cab. It all sounds good, IMO.

[DJ Bebop]

Originally Posted by Bassmec

Old RCA OP-6 octal tube pre amps from 1938 sound absolutely fooking great just plugged DI into protools rigs with decent monitors.

And they go up to twenty man!
That's like ten more!

Yes!!!

[LiquidMidnight]

I also dig a nice, vintage head through a modern cabinet. However, I'm not a fan of the opposite. Speaker cabinet design has jumped leaps and bounds in the past two decades. Old boxes just don't sound that great to my ears. I have a nieghbor who buys and restores a lot of vintage tube amps. This past summer, he procured an old Sunn 1x15 from somewhere. He brought it over one night and we plugged my 400+ into it. He really dug it. I thought, "Ehhh." I'm not giving up my Bergs and Aggies anytime soon to start playing through 1x15s built in the 60s.

Now, if I came across a Sunn 200s for a good price, I'd totally plug that into my modern cabs and rock it.

[DJ Bebop]

Originally Posted by LiquidMidnight

I also dig a nice, vintage head through a modern cabinet. However, I'm not a fan of the opposite. Speaker cabinet design has jumped leaps and bounds in the past two decades. Old boxes just don't sound that great to my ears. I have a nieghbor who buys and restores a lot of vintage tube amps. This past summer, he procured an old Sunn 1x15 from somewhere. He brought it over one night and we plugged my 400+ into it. He really dug it. I thought, "Ehhh." I'm not giving up my Bergs and Aggies anytime soon to start playing through 1x15s built in the 60s.

On the other hand, a Sunn 200s or, 2000s bottom with 2x15 sounds real good with a new head. I've used one (200s) as a sub in a bi amped system and as a stand alone cab.

[T. Alan Smith]

I love a vintage head atop a modern cab.

[mindwell]

Originally Posted by chaosMK

I like vintage heads through modern cabs. Old school heads are where it's at, present-day cabs can really help to bring out and reveal their sound.

Indeed. My '93 Ken Smith Deluxe Burner 5 sounded every bit as good as I hoped it would through this combination: Ampeg B15N + Euphonic VL-208.

[Edword]

I like how my Traynor YBA-3A sounds through a couple of G-B NEOX-212Ts, but I'm afraid to gig with this setup because I don't have any spare power tubes for the Tray on hand, or a proper road case for it.

[Bulltrout]

Originally Posted by Edword

I like how my Traynor YBA-3A sounds through a couple of G-B NEOX-212Ts, but I'm afraid to gig with this setup because I don't have any spare power tubes for the Tray on hand, or a proper road case for it.

Sweet amp. I'd love to get my hands on a YBA3A.

[will33]

My Bassman135 aounds great through a pair of 12" Deltalite neo speakers, though I'd need 2 more to reach gig volume.

[rdwil191]

not a great pic, but you get the idea....ACC 370 into GC B210NEO...the 40 old girl is probably only putting out 125W into the 8 ohm cab, but it is LOUD and sounds really good.

[RDUB]

I've messed with a bunch of things for recording. Bass into a Fender Twin, the front end from an old EV radio as a DI, my old beat up IVP preamp into a Bryston 3B and Eden 210XST, etc. Lots of fun to play with!

[Jazz_bass2664]

One of my favorite rigs, Acoustic 360 preamp, 300 poweramp and an Ampeg SVT210. Kills for upright also!