Opinions/experiences on Peavey's Alpha Bass amps...

[georgestrings]

I'm going to be picking one of these up pretty soon, and was wondering if anyone had any input on my new purchase... I put a downpayment on one, and will pick it up in about 2 weeks... I already played thru it, and it sounded pretty good, but it needs a good cleaning, and the tubes appear to be pretty whipped... Any recommendation for tubes??? - I was thinking about a matched sextet of EH's for power tubes, for starters...

Also, in the past I've always had to have a speaker load on a tube amp, but those never had a preamp out or poweramp in jacks - can I use just the preamp section of this amp, without using the power tubes(and having a speaker connected) without causing any damage???

I recently had an Earth B-2000 that was 100 watts, but it really wasn't loud enough(although not by alot) for my typical purposes - I'm hoping the Alpha's 160 watts will be a little better for me... What I really want is a little more clean headroom than the Earth could give me - I don't really want much distortion unless I actually choose to use the pre/post controls for some tube overdrive...

My other amps are a pair of 700rb-II's, and I really like them - but I'm hoping the Alpha Bass will be a nice alternative to those without breaking the bank, or my back... FWIW, I'm paying $200 for it in working order, but needing a good cleaning and *most likely* some fresh tubes... I also have to order some slider caps for the graphic EQ that are missing, and replace the Line Out level pot - which I can do myself... I'm also considering replacing the speaker out jacks with speakons, because I've grown to like them on my G-K's, and have them on all my cabs...

Anyways, thanks for any input...



- georgestrings

[Hollywars]

It's 160 watts. If you even could bias it to 200, it would be like 3 db louder than the Earth with the same speakers.

GK's are really underrated for wattage. Of course, we are talking "tube watts" but unless you use it with an efficient 215 or 810, it might not get really loud. Since it's all tube, ALWAYS have some sort of cabinet plugged in when turned on.

[georgestrings]

Originally Posted by Hollywars

It's 160 watts. If you even could bias it to 200, it would be like 3 db louder than the Earth with the same speakers.

GK's are really underrated for wattage. Of course, we are talking "tube watts" but unless you use it with an efficient 215 or 810, it might not get really loud. Since it's all tube, ALWAYS have some sort of cabinet plugged in when turned on.

Yeah, G-K's are definitely loud for their ratings: my 700rb-II's are the loudest 480 watts I've ever heard... Pretty much the "smallest" cab I'll use this amp with will be my PH 610 - other than that, it'll see either an 810 or a 215, so it'll *probably* be OK...

Regarding the "vs the Earth" thing - it has an additional pair of 6L6's, so it'd have to be a little louder... Also, the reason why I brought up the necessity of always having speakers connected was that I thought it *might* be possible that plugging into the preamp out jack would disconnect the send to the power amp section, and therefor allow me to use this as a *preamp only* in some circumstances - although it isn't all that big a deal if I can't use it that way...

Anyways, thanks for the reply...



- georgestrings

[georgestrings]

Anyone else???


- georgestrings