Amp Head with Onboard Guitar-like Gain?

[Deleted member 271037]

^^JCM 800

JCM800 is a SERIES of amps and can mean lots of different amp models.

Lemmy's amp (if that's what you were referring to) wasn't a JCM800 series at all, but a mid-70s JMP series, model 1992 Super Bass. In Lemmy's case probably with the lows all the way down and the highs CRANKED. I've got that exact same amp and with my preferred tone settings it sounds COMPLETELY different. The lows are HUGE. It can get a bit mushy in the lows when cranking the amp into overdrive (and I generally keep the bass knob no higher than 3) but not quite as mushy as the Orange bass amps I've played. It's a great amp, one of my favourites, but it doesn't have a lot of clean headroom by today's standards.

The model 1992 Super Bass did also exist in the JCM800 series, but the JCM800 model 1992 Super Bass is a VERY different amp from the JMP model 1992 Super Bass. Completely different design, very different tone.

Many classic Marshall amp models overlapped between the JMP and JCM800 series. One example is the classic 4-hole model 1959 without a master volume. Another example is the 2-hole master volume model 2203 which most people seem to think of when they say "JCM800". But the guitar amp models stayed pretty much the same in the transition from the JMP series to the JCM800 series. If the MODEL number was the same, if was basically the same amp in both the JMP and JCM800 series. This was not the case with the model 1992 Super Bass.

 

[higain617]

I was thinking any single-channel 800, whether actual Marshall or clone. The bass version probably won't break up as much. I know Lemmy used a Super Bass, which is cost-prohibitive. There's also the Peavey Butcher if you can stand its appearance.

 

[HouseBroat]

Does the Orange OB1-500 have enough distortion for your needs?

YOWZA

 

[gtirard]

I think the problem you will find is that the highly sculpted (middy) tone of a guitar amp and the generally much higher gain on tap compared to a bass amp is part of the sound that you like, which can be difficult or possibly impossible to replicate on most bass amps by themselves. That is why, in my experience, like others here, the best way to have your pie and eat it too is to put a drive pedal in front of a bass amp and to use that pedal both to pump up the gain and to sculpt the EQ in a way that mimics a guitar amp to some degree but not so much as to remove the extra fullness from the bass amp, so you end up somewhere in the middle but in a way that is more "best of both worlds" than a compromise.

I agree.

Also I noticed that for my personal taste, I don't really like tube or hybrid bass amps pushed into super high gain, I prefer dirt pedals for high gain. And my personal "best of both worlds" is to have a dirt pedal that I can switch-on when I want distortion, into a tube or hybrid amp set with an always on "warm clean / at the edge of breakup" tone. Maybe it's just a very different way to say almost the same thing.

That said, in the $800–$1,000 range, you have a couple of possible amps: a couple of Markbass hybrid amps, and the brand new GR Bass GROOVE800 (also hybrid). I haven't tried any of them, but I'm sure they sound great.

I do have the Quilter Bass Block v803, there's no tube preamp but the "warm" and the "Qtube" voices emulate a tube premap really well (only $699.00)

 

[Super Bass]

Umm...Guessing a lower-wattage Ampeg head like the V4B with "early breakup" tubes could get you there?

What are early breakup tubes?

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

To have it be more like a guitarist's amp, try turning up the treble and volume so it's the loudest thing on the stage.



And BTW, I'm primarily a guitarist myself.

 

[FugaziBomb]

Do what I did:

Run a guitar amp and a bass amp in parallel

The Demeter tube pre and the Mesa 6l6 amp send everything above 100hz to the 2x10 Eden while the Crown feeds the two 18" subs typical sub frequencies. That way I can push the mids and highs into breakup like a guitar amp while the lows get to benefit from 1000 watts of clean headroom. It's pretty friggin great.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

What are early breakup tubes?

They will start distorting/overdriving sooner than other tubes of that same brand/model, while still using the same amount of input signal. Sometimes they call them "Early Distortion", but it means about the same thing. Late Distortion tubes have typically given me more clean headroom when put in the power section. My experience with this was the Traynor YBA200 and 200-2, tubes were swapped in both and yielded the expected results.

 

[brianrost]

You’ll have to go used, but the Mesa Boogie D180, Bass 400/400+ have the same kind of high gain preamps just like the original guitar models.

 

[Killing Floor]

Hilbish

 

[Super Bass]

They will start distorting/overdriving sooner than other tubes of that same brand/model, while still using the same amount of input signal. Sometimes they call them "Early Distortion", but it means about the same thing. Late Distortion tubes have typically given me more clean headroom when put in the power section. My experience with this was the Traynor YBA200 and 200-2, tubes were swapped in both and yielded the expected results.

Never heard of such a thing...

 

[Azari]

I’d use an external preamp + a power amp for what you are looking for. For a preamp I’d probably go for a Tech 21 PSA 2.0. It will give you all the guitar-ish gain you can possibly want without sacrificing any low end. Not sure of any specific standalone amp that would reall equal its versatility…. I’d also add an external EQ, a Tech 21 Q/Strip. Velcro them to the top of a QSC RMX 1450 and add a 410 cab

That would make one of the most killer solid state rigs you could ask for!

 

[brianrost]

Never heard of such a thing...

Google “early breakup tubes” and you will be blessed with the secret knowledge of teh interwebz.

Whether it’s a real thing or more snake oil, it doesn’t matter to me. I can’t be bothered worrying that much about an amp.

 

[Super Bass]

Google “early breakup tubes” and you will be blessed with the secret knowledge of teh interwebz.

Whether it’s a real thing or more snake oil, it doesn’t matter to me. I can’t be bothered worrying that much about an amp.

Complete BS I would say....

 

[Bassinthemudd]

The guitar is amp is pretty middy, and doesn't have great bass response. I'm trying to have my pie and eat it too, ya know?

Get a Rickenbacker with Ric-O-Sound, or do a simple mod on any two pickup bass to give it individual outputs for each pup. Then run your guitar head from one, and a bass rig from the other.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Never heard of such a thing...

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The above listing shows the option for different types of breakup. All I can cite is my (limited) experience to its validity, far from citing this as scientific fact lol. The tubes I was using were different brands (Genelex to JJ), so that MAY have played a part as well? Either way, it's like "tonewood"...it exists, but its impact is up to whoever is dropping the money on it...YMMV.