Using Aguilar DB750 as a power amp - Page 2

jacoby75 · #21 12-20-2012, 02:42 PM

Thanks. I never push my gain to the point of breaking up at all, so I'm hoping it will work well. Thanks.

jacoby75 · #22 12-20-2012, 02:45 PM

Then some day I'll try a tube swap and see what happens. Thanks, everyone, for the feedback.

pbassnut · #23 12-20-2012, 02:47 PM

I have an Aguilar DB659 preamp and it is my understanding that the DB659 is (at least, roughly) the same preamp as that on the DB750 and DB751 heads. I run mine through the poweramp in jack on an Ampeg B2-RE head and it is simply WONDERFUL for a Precision bass ... particularly one strung with flats. As someone alluded to earlier, it does have a very characteristic midrange-centric sound no matter how you adjust the tone controls which makes it a one-trick pony ... but it's a great trick!

dominic54321 · #24 12-20-2012, 03:14 PM

Speaking from personal experience with the demeter, carvin power amp, db750, ul410 and various other setups that the DB750 does NOT mix well with the ul410, just as Kjung mentioned. I've been down this road years ago and tried everything. Swapping the tubes, etc trying to get it to sound good with the ul410. The demeter pre, and the ul502 were phenomenal with the ul410! I personally LOVE the db750 primarily for it's power section. I used to use a shuttle 6 as a preamp with the db750 as a power amp for bigger shows from time to time until I picked up a shuttle 9. Now the shuttle 9 is the goto amp, and the DB750 for the special shows. What I'm getting to is... the DB750 STAYED, and the ul410(one of my fav cabs) was replaced with a Berg AE410 which is heavenly with the DB750! The big wide open warm deep sounding UL410 doesn't match well with the db750 for some reason. Whereas, the tight pristine more focused nature of the ae410 is a perfect match, in my opinion anyways.

jacoby75 · #25 12-20-2012, 05:33 PM

That's good to know. Thanks.

Pickebass · #26 12-21-2012, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dominic54321

Speaking from personal experience with the demeter, carvin power amp, db750, ul410 and various other setups that the DB750 does NOT mix well with the ul410, just as Kjung mentioned. I've been down this road years ago and tried everything. Swapping the tubes, etc trying to get it to sound good with the ul410. The demeter pre, and the ul502 were phenomenal with the ul410! I personally LOVE the db750 primarily for it's power section. I used to use a shuttle 6 as a preamp with the db750 as a power amp for bigger shows from time to time until I picked up a shuttle 9. Now the shuttle 9 is the goto amp, and the DB750 for the special shows. What I'm getting to is... the DB750 STAYED, and the ul410(one of my fav cabs) was replaced with a Berg AE410 which is heavenly with the DB750! The big wide open warm deep sounding UL410 doesn't match well with the db750 for some reason. Whereas, the tight pristine more focused nature of the ae410 is a perfect match, in my opinion anyways.

+1. Having used everything except the carvin, I've had a very similar experience. I've run the Avalon U5 and the summit td 100 as a preamp with the power section with great results. My favorite cabs with that amp have been:
1. Aguilar Gs410 (duh)
2. Eden 410xlt
3. Berg HT322- My favorite gig setup.

Overall, I've tried most of the berg cabs and all have sounded great with the DB750. HT, AE, HS and the new HD. The 410s I stopped using because of weight. Although the HT322 is no lightweight, it is one of the best pairings with the DB750

jacoby75 · #27 12-21-2012, 01:02 PM

For what it's worth, I did try using the Demeter into the return of the effects loop on the Aggie, and it didn't really work well. It didn't have the same "oomph" of going straight into the poweramp in. I'm sure it's not really designed to be used that way. Might be an issue of impedence matching. It just means no independent volume control on the stage withoug affecting what goes to the house. But it does still sound waaaaay better than using the Carvin poweramp. And I did get the Aggie sounding halfway decent by itself by the end of the night by cutting the mids altogether, and boosting the treble and bass to abour 3:00 each, and engaging the bright switch. Sounds fairly usable, though still incredibly mid-focused. It's just hard because at our gig there's never any time to mess with stuff and tweak it to get it sounding good. You just have to get up there and go every night and try to shift stuff on the fly. Ultimately, though, if I want to use it, I just need a different speaker cab.

Munjibunga · #28 12-21-2012, 08:29 PM

I like my DB750 through the GS410, especially when I've got the Telefunken in V1. It's tight enough with bottom to kill.

jacoby75 · #29 12-22-2012, 12:48 AM

@dominic: In regards to using the Aggie with the Epifani (no demeter involved), was it your experience that the Aggie made the Epifani fart out? I got to the point where I finally thought I had it pretty well dialed in. Nice tight, punchy midrange, but still a little round. But it felt like certain notes just weren't coming through. I put my ear close to the cab (it's elevated on another level of the stage) and noticed that it was farting out pretty hard. I had the gain around 10:00, and the volume around 9:00, mids almost completely cut, and treble and bass at 3:00. I guess it was just too much power for the cab, maybe, with the bass boosted so high. But the Epifani is supposed to handle 1,000 watts. Oh well. I went back to using the Demeter into the power section of the Aggie and love the combination.

funkateer86 · #30 12-22-2012, 08:32 AM

Im a big Epifani fan, myself but if it sounded amazing through the DB410, maybe that's the way.

Bassist30 · #31 12-22-2012, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dominic54321

Speaking from personal experience with the demeter, carvin power amp, db750, ul410 and various other setups that the DB750 does NOT mix well with the ul410, just as Kjung mentioned. I've been down this road years ago and tried everything. Swapping the tubes, etc trying to get it to sound good with the ul410. The demeter pre, and the ul502 were phenomenal with the ul410! I personally LOVE the db750 primarily for it's power section. I used to use a shuttle 6 as a preamp with the db750 as a power amp for bigger shows from time to time until I picked up a shuttle 9. Now the shuttle 9 is the goto amp, and the DB750 for the special shows. What I'm getting to is... the DB750 STAYED, and the ul410(one of my fav cabs) was replaced with a Berg AE410 which is heavenly with the DB750! The big wide open warm deep sounding UL410 doesn't match well with the db750 for some reason. Whereas, the tight pristine more focused nature of the ae410 is a perfect match, in my opinion anyways.

Its funny, some people here who sell there DB750 or 751 buy it again. Its a massive amp.

jacoby75 · #32 12-22-2012, 11:02 AM

That's the problem. I wanted one for so long, I don't want to part with it now that I finally found it, even if it's not the perfect amp for my cab. I know I'd regret it and try to find one again later anyway. If I still had to lug my rack around every night, it might not be worth carrying the extra weight, and I'd just keep the Aggie at home and use the Carvin power amp. But since I'm in a house gig, it's totally worth it. If I had the right cab, it would probably be better. But for now, the Demeter to the poweramp in of the Aggie is phenomenal. Loads of power to spare. It feels so much more responsive than the Carvin. The notes are just instantly "there" as soon as you play. And, for lack of a better way of describing it, every note you play just feels more substantial, more defined. I'm loving it.

Munjibunga · #33 12-22-2012, 11:25 AM

You really should try some tube rolling in V1. I've heard that Tung Sol is a good lower-cost option than Telefunken.

jacoby75 · #34 12-22-2012, 11:31 AM

I'm sure I will at some point. I just don't know why it makes my cab fart out so bad. Mabe with a different tube I wouldn't have to boost the bass so much, or could turn the gain up and volume down more. I dunno.

jacoby75 · #35 12-22-2012, 11:41 AM

Even with the bass boosted so much, it wasn't overly "bassy". I think I had to boost the bass and treble just to combat the inherent middiness. But it's not like the end result was a super boomy tone or anything. (I'm in a country band, so I'm not going crazy up there volume/playing style wise. I just like a nice, warm, full sound with some mid-range punch to cut through.

gkbass13 · #36 12-22-2012, 12:33 PM

The mix of your DB750 and the Epifani is the obvious problem IMO and IME. Berg cabs or Aggie DB cabs and the DB750 is tonal heaven for me, but that huge low end of the Epi UL cabs can be too much very quickly when you pair it with the wrong head.

babebambi · #37 12-22-2012, 01:08 PM

I don't remember about the 750,

But the FX send control on the 751 can be pulled out to give you more gain
Interestingly affecting the receive side (IE doesn't send a hotter signal, but boost the return signal)

The FX return control can also be pulled out to toggle between parallel/serial FX loop
So you may want to check that out on your 750 as well

I have used my 751 as power amp with the FX return to very good effect.

As an aside, the UL sounds really scooped to me,
While the 750/751 is huge in the low
I can't understand boosting the bass / cutting mid on that amp-cab combo ...
Perhaps we are just describing the frequencies differently?

jacoby75 · #38 12-22-2012, 03:26 PM

Yeah, maybe I need to roll back the bass and just turn up the master volume a little. I like to "feel" the bass behind me, especially in some of the more mellow songs where I'm just laying in whole notes. I was able to do that pretty well with the Demeter/Carvin setup, but was having a hard time getting that feel dialed in with the Aggie because it sound so mid-prominent.

As for frequencies, I think it's less about the individual frequencies and just a general mid-rangey honkiness that results from the Aggie/Epifani combo. When I used the Aggie with a DB cabinet in backline, I remember it had a very prominent midrange, but it was very focused and tight sounding, and not offensive like it is with the Epifani. So I tried to dial out the mids almost altogether, and it was helping, but then I'm blowing out the speakers. I dunno. Like I said, it's hard to tweak it too because we don't ever have time to work on stuff before we play, so I have to try to tweak the amp while I'm playing and singing. It's a bit tricky.

jacoby75 · #39 12-22-2012, 03:33 PM

And yes, you can pull out both the send and return pots on the 750, but I didn't know what difference it would make since there wasn't actually anything in the loop, there was just the pre going into the return. But I'll give that a try tonight. Thanks.

jacoby75 · #40 12-23-2012, 02:00 AM

FYI, tried pulling the send pot out tonight, and it definitely boosted the signal coming from my preamp. Too much so. I had to roll off the return knob to keep it from distorting. But after fiddling with trying to balance the return knob and master volume for a whole set, it never sounded good. Still too weak. But I went back to using the Demeter pre into the power amp of the Aggie, and it's pure magic.