"Old School Amps" hand wired, all-tube, practice/small gig amps

SactoBass · #1 09-07-2010, 09:12 PM

Do any of you have any experience with "Old School Amps"?

It appears to be a one-man shop in Olympia, Washington (a guy by the name of Dale Murrow) who makes hand wired, all-tube bass amps. He has a 20 watt model and a 70 watt model. It seems that these would be perfect for a practice amp or small gig amp for someone who loves warm tube tone. I have no affiliation with this company. I was just wondering if any of you have one of these amps and what your opinion is on these. Here is the link to the site:

http://oldschoolamps.com/BassAmps.aspx

bongomania · #2 09-07-2010, 09:36 PM

No experience, but those look pretty sweet. The funny thing is though, a 75 W non-linear amp with limited frequency range, driven to clipping, will almost certainly get a heck of a lot louder than a linear, undistorted, wideband amp of the same nominal wattage. So the tone may be excellent, but 75 W here would probably not be "tube watts".

SactoBass · #3 09-07-2010, 09:42 PM

Thanks Bongo. I value your opinion alot. You probably don't know this, but it was because of you that I selected the Markbass Compressore for a compressor pedal, and I am extremely happy with it.

I love tube tone (which is why I play through a Kern IP-777 preamp) and those Old School Amps sure are attractive in looks and build topology for a bedroom amp.

MrBEAR · #4 09-08-2010, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

No experience, but those look pretty sweet. The funny thing is though, a 75 W non-linear amp with limited frequency range, driven to clipping, will almost certainly get a heck of a lot louder than a linear, undistorted, wideband amp of the same nominal wattage. So the tone may be excellent, but 75 W here would probably not be "tube watts".

From Dale's Website:

"Model 260-UL Ultralinear Bass Amplifier

This amplifier is an all tube "wide-band" amplifier based on the "Williamson" amplifier circuit that was state of the art in 1949! The circuitry uses modern grounding and is studio quiet. It can also serve as an excellent Old School studio Hi-Fi monitor amplifier with its full range response of 20 to 20K hz."

Interested in how came to your above captioned statement of "non-linear amplifier with limited frequency range" description after reading the actual Website description.

Cheers,

Mr. BEAR

craig.p · #5 09-08-2010, 08:03 AM

I could be wrong, but I'm almost certain he was trying to describe the OPPOSITE of what the OSA is.

The heads don't GAS me, but those ported 10" and 15" cabs sure look interesting.

MrBEAR · #6 09-08-2010, 08:09 AM

Ahah, the light shines on the other side of the coin, thanks Craig.

Cheers,

Mr. BEAR

JimmyM · #7 09-08-2010, 09:07 AM

lookswise, extremely cool. too bad there were no bass clips. but i think they'd make a badass little rig.

**Ukiah Bass** · #8 09-08-2010, 10:04 AM

Opinions on whether the 75 watter would work well with ported near-fEarful 15/6 and 12/6 ported cabs?

bongomania · #9 09-08-2010, 10:16 AM

Well, I'm betting none of us has hands-on experience with these amps yet, but the general rule of thumb I'd apply is the greater the cab efficiency, the better the results from a low-wattage amp. Tone, excursion, and power handling are also relevant of course, but basically I would start by looking at all of the fEarful, BFM, LoPhat, etc. designs and picking the most efficient one.

**Ukiah Bass** · #10 09-08-2010, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

Well, I'm betting none of us has hands-on experience with these amps yet, but the general rule of thumb I'd apply is the greater the cab efficiency, the better the results from a low-wattage amp. Tone, excursion, and power handling are also relevant of course, but basically I would start by looking at all of the fEarful, BFM, LoPhat, etc. designs and picking the most efficient one.

Maybe Greenboy will emerge briefly to weigh in on this topic?

Caca de Kick · #11 09-08-2010, 10:33 AM

I got to try out one of those Model One heads in the shop while in Olympia one day. I plugged it into an older Mesa Boogie 1x15 EV cab (same thing I use), and I had my Wal with me. The thing sounded flat-out incredible and well articulated. The warm wooly tone was there, but some biting edge could be dialed in too. Defintely sounded bigger than the wattage would lead you to believe. Yeah would make a killer recording amp, but it seemed like you could do some small gigs...it suprisingly rattled things in the shop while I played.
I do remember it being rather pricey though.

LiquidMidnight · #12 09-08-2010, 12:41 PM

The guitar amps sound great. I would love to hear some bass clips.

Chowowbus · #13 09-08-2010, 01:36 PM

Like Caca, I goofed with one at Capitol City Gits..I played a strat through it. I have not played the bass version though..
I thought the build quality was over the top...Sounded as good as it looked.. I am not good at describing sounds but I can say my ears really liked it. i had no idea he made a bass amp..
Later

evenintheshower · #14 09-08-2010, 02:34 PM

Would I be a complete idiot for wanting to couple that 20 watt Model One head with my Avatar B410 Neo cab (a fairly efficient cab from what I've read)? Honestly, I have never worked with such a low wattage tube amp head before, so I have no idea if it would even produce a reasonable volume at all. Would it work for church and smaller venues with a drummer? With more speakers, like in the 4x10 Avatar, it should have more volume, if it worked at all.

I know JimmyM knows this stuff really well. Maybe he could offer a thought or two?

JimmyM · #15 09-08-2010, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evenintheshower

Would I be a complete idiot for wanting to couple that 20 watt Model One head with my Avatar B410 Neo cab (a fairly efficient cab from what I've read)? Honestly, I have never worked with such a low wattage tube amp head before, so I have no idea if it would even produce a reasonable volume at all. Would it work for church and smaller venues with a drummer? With more speakers, like in the 4x10 Avatar, it should have more volume, if it worked at all.

I know JimmyM knows this stuff really well. Maybe he could offer a thought or two?

i can, indeed, offer a thought or two since i often gig with a 25w b-15n. the answer is yes, it will work great with most bass cabs. i've used mine with a 410, 215, and an 810 and it kills. will it be enough? depends on you and your needs, but it's plenty for me.

Caca de Kick · #16 09-08-2010, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evenintheshower

Would it work for church and smaller venues with a drummer? With more speakers, like in the 4x10 Avatar, it should have more volume, if it worked at all.

I've only played for one church years ago, but experience tells me not much volume is needed before you piss everyone off. I'd say yes, with the right efficient cab this thing would be overkill in a church, and seemed loud enough for a typical blues jam club setting.

**Ukiah Bass** · #17 09-08-2010, 03:15 PM

What would the 75 watter be analgous to in solid state watt / volume capability? Be nice to know the dimensions and weights of both amps. Do both provide Speakon out to the cab? Is the line out jack XLR? Is line out a pre or post EQ signal? The "data sheets" are pretty thin on data.

evenintheshower · #18 09-08-2010, 03:29 PM

Thanks, Jimmy and CdK. That's what I needed to know. I am more interested in stage volume than anything else. As long as I can get the stage volume I need, the heavy lifting can be done by the PA.

**Ukiah Bass** · #19 09-08-2010, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

i can, indeed, offer a thought or two since i often gig with a 25w b-15n. the answer is yes, it will work great with most bass cabs. i've used mine with a 410, 215, and an 810 and it kills. will it be enough? depends on you and your needs, but it's plenty for me.

To by way of comparison, I have a Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0-8T combo amp. I believe it's 150 watts @ 8ohms. Obviously, the 8 inch driver cannot do deep loud lows, but it's a darn good performer in a coffee shop type gig and is louder than I need in those and practice settings. Is that what I could expect the 20watt Model One to do, volume wise?

JimmyM · #20 09-08-2010, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ukiah Bass

To by way of comparison, I have a Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0-8T combo amp. I believe it's 150 watts @ 8ohms. Obviously, the 8 inch driver cannot do deep loud lows, but it's a darn good performer in a coffee shop type gig and is louder than I need in those and practice settings. Is that what I could expect the 20watt Model One to do, volume wise?

depends on the cab. in a bigger cab like a 115, absolutely it would keep up with the 3.0/8t (fantastic micro-mini, btw, probably the best one i've played). in the same cab, no way.