Old Peavey's (TKO, TNT) + Sansamp Bass Driver?

[asintoras]

Hey folks,

I am planning to get a cheap (tight budget) but useful amp for my bass. I have already the Sansamp, but I will need an amp occasionally for small gigs (restaurants). I believe that bypassing the preamp connecting the Sansamp to the "Power In" of those amps will help me to achieve better tone. Am I right?

I was also thinking about getting the keyboard amp (Peavey KB300) and just connect my Sansamp through the "Power In" to bypass the pre-amp in the combo. The advantage is that I could connect an acoustic guitar or vocals through it, while the bass amp is more limited.

Any thoughts?

[MNAirHead]

The power amp section is the basic same concept for all 3 above...

The KB will work.. unsure how good a PA system it will make.

Both the TNT and TKO are notoriously heavy boxes.

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PM Sent

[Billy3000]

I've never done that with a TNT or TKO, so I can't comment, but I do have a couple friends that do that with the Ampeg SVT350. They plug their sansamp into the power in on the back, and honestly it comes damn close in sound to my actual SVT 2 pro. I would definitely recommend giving it a shot at least. But as it was mentioned Peavey amps are always monstrously heavy for some reason.

[Pilgrim]

There's some connection between the weight and the well-known durability of Peavey amps.

[cableguy]

Peavey amps are heavy as well as almost indestuctable. If you get a keyboard amp just run your sansamp into one channel and there will be a few left for other uses. I did that with a prior band for practice with a 4 channel keyboard amp. Work great for lower volumes. CH 1-Vocals, CH 2-Guitar POD, CH 3-Bass Sansamp, Channel 4-Elec Drums. If you need more vocals get a 4 channel mixer to run into channel 1. If you play higher volume gigs you amp becomes a stage monitor and your sansamp sends a great tone to FOH.

[vinxbass]

I've got a PV TNT115 that I bought used for $299 back in 2004, it's been truly a workhorse amp. I've used it for keyboards as well as bass and it seemed to do the job just fine. It weighs 80 lbs with the handle directly on top which makes it very cumbersome to get around so I use a small hand dolly for it. The PV is literally indistuctible it that it is built like a tank and always fires right up. The only pedal I use for it is a Boss Bass Chorus ran thru the effects loop. All in all I feel it's a great little amp.

[ThudThudThud]

I have a 90s TKO115 with Scorpion (with teal!) that I bought new in 92. It's still going strong. I gigged small clubs quite heavily with that thing. Heavy? Yes. But plenty loud for what I was doing. I put a SABDDI in front of it, and the tone is just great. It has that marvelous "Whoomph" of a tube amp.

I'm using it for practices now, and I've added a SansAmp Tri-AC to the chain. Huge.

[runmikeyrun]

A friend of mine uses a 1983 Peavey Mark VI head that I used for years in high school (early 90s) before selling it to him. It still works and has yet to this day to be repaired. I think the sansamp will work fine on the power in, just be careful not to overdrive the power amp. If there's a clipping or DDT light on the amp, don't turn up the sansamp's output volume until the lights are solid, only the occasional flicker.

[asintoras]

Thank you all for your replies!

Finally, I got a powered speaker (Thump 15) to use with the Sansamp, and it sounds great! Plus, I can use it for my gigs as a PA system.

[Medford Bassman]

I've owned the TNT 115. Worked well for me. The sansamp in the front would be perfect. Go for it. Heavy...yes but a decent workhorse.

BTW, when I owned the TNT I added side handles and wheels. that really helped.