Aguilar DB 750/ Walkabout TONE comparison?

I've owned the Walkabout, have an MPulse600, and have played through DB750's on occasion.

Totally different tone IMO... the Walkabout... tube warm, growly, still reasonable tight down low, lot's of EQ power, very pleasant 'breakup' to the tone when pushed, sounds great through most cabs, including the 410UL IMO and IME.

DB750... always clean, very deep, bloomy low end, limited EQ (especially in the mids), VERY loud, quite picky regarding cabs, due to that wide low end. It sounds better with cabs that are more low mid punchy (like the Schroeders, the AG DB cabs, The Berg NV's, or the discontinued Sadowsky SA410) than 'even and deep' cabs.. like the 410UL, and from what I've read, the HS410 (never heard that combination myself though).

I understand a tube swap can tighten up the DB750, but have not heard one with the 'higher quality tubes'.

The MPulse600 with the 410UL is a thing of beauty (I would assume it would sound equally wonderful with the HS410).... even more EQ power than the Walkabout... a touch cleaner and deeper, and MUCH louder.... kind of in between the growl and grit of the Walkabout and the uber big, clean DB750. It's in-between the two tone-wise, volume-wise, weight-wise and cost-wise also.

Make sure to do a search on the DB750 (I'm sure you have). It's a unique head that many love and quite a few don't dig at all. It's a ball buster weightwise.

If you do go with the DB750, it makes sense to swap out cabs, since the deep, fat, huge low end of that head does not particularly mesh with a more modern, ported cab like the Epi. Lot's of rockers LOVE the DB750 with the NV610... that would be killer, and many say the discontinued SA410 is kind of like a 'baby NV610' in voicing, since it was specifically voiced to control the big low end of an all tube amp.

IMO.

 

As usual O'great and mighty one Mr. Jung is spot on with his description of the DB750. I owned one and really had a tough time with the EQ when my church was playing in an old, large theater with a loud drummer. In the same room I had no problems with either a T'Funk or an Eden WT 550 and the same cabs. The low end just overwhelmed at any significant volume. I would love to hear one with upgraded tubes though. They sound incredible at lower volume, in fact they are warmest smoothest sounding head I've ever heard at rehearsal.

As far as Cabs Tom Bowlous seems to feel that the Berg NV series sound great with the DB. It makes sense to me. I always thought of the DB as a warmer, cleaner, SVT with more Headroom. In fact I always felt like I wasn't even warming mine up. I don't think I ever hit 50% on the volume attenuator. They do have headroom for miles.

 

Hey Steve. I'm kind of clueless on the tube swap thing, but some of the tube guys gave me some guidance, and just for the heck of it, I'm swapping the stock preamp 2 x 12AX7's in my M-Pulse600 with the fancy schmancy Tung-Sol (if I have that name correct) preamp tubes (they aren't crazy expensive... $14 each). I'm curious to see what the tone difference is. I think the MPulse600 sounds great as it, but it will be fun to mess with it a bit.

To the OP, TBer Big String is one of the guys who raves about the DB750 with preamp tube swaps, so if you go down the DB750 route, you might want to check out what he did with his. From what I understand, it moves the somewhat bloomy DB750 tone to the more tight, taught DB659 tone (which I REALLY like!).

 

Man if I miss your report on the m-pulse tube swap, be sure to PM me!!!

 

+1... that's the least I can do since you rekindled my interest in the 600. The tubes should be here next week!

 

From what I've read a tube swap for a DB 750 is a 300$ plus deal. As I remember they have six tubes, but it's been a couple of years. These guys were using NOS telefunkens and stuff like that.

 

Mr. Jung - I dig your input. I learn a lot from your posts. Thanks.

 

I posted my questions about the 750 in another thred but it seems to be new info comin up in here...

My mind is set on the DB750 based on comparison with my current Sunn300T head.
Still.. the LAST thing I whant is a BOOMY low end that drowns everything else @ high volumes..
Cab: Im zooming in on the DB810 to be able to play any stage @ any volume and keep that sound I found when I A/B tested the 750.. I mainly play ol'shool stuff and like my slap-tone like the ones from the 70's.. with a bit of dirt in it... So.. combining the db750 and the db810 seemd to me like the perfect match..
Am I totaly of base here?...

EDIT: Should I comment on the bass an pu's??.. well.. Its a RW fretbord 78 Jazz with DiMarzio UJ's and some preamp.. in other words a pretty middy bass with PU's pushing extra on the top and bottom.... Let's me get everything from old Graham to new Miller and still cover some of that Jaco's fretted-bass-tone thanks to the RW fretbord.. Heavy? You bet!

 

My feeling is.. that would KILL!!!!!! Again, the DB750 is a first rate piece of gear with a unique tone. Like many other pieces of gear (heads or cabs) with a strong inherent voicing, it works (IMO) better in some combinations than others. The DB line of Aguilar cabs totally matches the tone profile of other cabs that seem to sound really nice with the DB750 (i.e., tight, mid punchy, and capable of a lot of power).

As always, IMO, and I haven't played through that monster cab. However, I am just SO impressed with the voicing of the DB112's that I would think the whole line would kill.

 

Yea.. Im actually (for real) concidering getting an extra cab to go with the db810.. depending on what the bank has to say!

As Im a 10" guy, it would probably be the db210.. would serve as a sort of close combat monitor..
Also as a light setup for those realy small gigs...
Although I hear that the new DB115 is a monster.. words like Thunderus were apparently used..
I wonder what a db115 with a db810 on top would sound like?

 

After tube swap, I find my DB750 too punchy or honky in the mids. Hrmms. I seem to battle it in some situations. Though, it could be my GS410.

 

They have 4 tubes. I believe you can swap out just the main preamp tube to get the tighter bottom. I am going to try this pretty soon, if I can locate a nice NOS Telefunken.

 

I believe that's what Big String did, and got good results.

 

What kind of tubes did you swap in?

 

I put a telefunken in the pre. I forget which slot, but the important one.