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Any tube amp combo out there?
- Thread starter Adelleda
- Start date
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,516
- 19,947
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
That is a good point. When I gig out with a tube head, I usually throw an Auralex GRAMMA pad between the head and the cab. I find that this really helps, and I've definitely heard some tubes rattling when I tried to get away without using the GRAMMA.
You have back problems, so you want to lift one really heavy box instead of two smaller, lighter boxes?
I Just Blew Two VB 2'S And went back to Mesa For the Venture 212 Combo Just a Tube Pre of coarse The Sound/Tone is Great Very Portable. IMO
Orange does have a tube combo based on the guitar version of the Tiny Terror. Don't think it would be very effective for bass.
My current low power tube solution. The head is a an Ashdown Little Bastard 30w tube head. Once the finances have "recharged," I'll upgrade the Carvin 15in cab for something like a Markbass or Orange 15in cab.
The head has a DI out if you want to gig with it. However, I generally use my combo with a VT pedal.
while vibrations can be a problem for tubes, i've stacked tube heads directly on top of cabs for decades and never had a problem with them killing tubes from the vibrations. the good ones are all shockmounted, which takes care of most of your problems. i'd be more concerned about picking up tube amps and moving them while they're hot than cab vibrations. but if bothers you, a piece of thick foam or a gramma pad if you want to look more stylish certanly won't hurt.
One guy I know puts a big piece of green foam on top of his SVT before he puts his head there. (kinda scary watching the head bounce a little when he sets it up there!).
The concern isnt that the life of the tubes is affected. The idea is more that a tube has metal parts hanging in a vacuum. Those metal parts that conduct current have soem wiggle room. As opposed to SS amps where the output devices are semiconductors. Vibrations transmitted through the chassis can cause intermodulation distortion by wiggling the plate and grid a bit. At least to me I can hear a difference.
A GRAMMA is certainly an idea though.
I cant be the only person this has occurred to. I see an awful lot of big names out there with their amps to the side of their cabs.
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,516
- 19,947
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Actually, the SVT is one of the heads that incorporates a good vibration-dampening system, so you don't need to worry as much as with a head that does not having "shock absorbers."
The GRAMMA pads are easy to use and quite stable, though.
The Fender Studio Bass is for me, the greatest all-tube bass combo ever made. (But I have never tried out the Trace Elliot or the Mesa Buster combos that have been shown here!...would like to.) Made from about '78-'81 I think, these were 180 to 200 Watts, from 6, 6L6GC tubes. I have two of them, I like them so much.
How many players have given up on their Bassman heads because, despite their great tone, they just cannot produce enough volume? Essentially, this is a Fender Bassman that has enough power to actually use in a rock band. And with both an input gain volume, and a master output volume, (and also a five-band EQ), lots of warm tones can be dialed in, even at low volumes.
The downside is that these are top-heavy and quite awkward to move, at around 95 pounds or so. They are a good candidate for having their head removed and re-cased in a reproduction case (as in the last picture here). The combos show up on Ebay occasionally and they usually go cheap (like <or=to $800). In Europe, scarcity drives the price a bit higher, over $1K in this case
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320506675941&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
One other negative is that these amps have only an 8 Ohm tap on their output transformer. So, an extension cab cannot be added to the combo, despite there being enough power to drive more than just a single 15. The separate head version I have will drive a Bag-End 4x10 nicely, but always the total load must be 8 Ohms.
As a plus, there is a very nice (unbalanced, but clean) line output on the back which can drive an external power amp and cabinet perfectly. It is a post-output transformer line-out, so it carries all of the power tube tone and not just what the preamp provides. Many DIs that can handle a line input (like a Countryman for instance) work fantastic if connected to this line out........all of the power-tube tone in a DI line, with no need to mic the cab. I don't have a recording to share, but this DI arrangement sounds great.
How many players have given up on their Bassman heads because, despite their great tone, they just cannot produce enough volume? Essentially, this is a Fender Bassman that has enough power to actually use in a rock band. And with both an input gain volume, and a master output volume, (and also a five-band EQ), lots of warm tones can be dialed in, even at low volumes.
The downside is that these are top-heavy and quite awkward to move, at around 95 pounds or so. They are a good candidate for having their head removed and re-cased in a reproduction case (as in the last picture here). The combos show up on Ebay occasionally and they usually go cheap (like <or=to $800). In Europe, scarcity drives the price a bit higher, over $1K in this case
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320506675941&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
One other negative is that these amps have only an 8 Ohm tap on their output transformer. So, an extension cab cannot be added to the combo, despite there being enough power to drive more than just a single 15. The separate head version I have will drive a Bag-End 4x10 nicely, but always the total load must be 8 Ohms.
As a plus, there is a very nice (unbalanced, but clean) line output on the back which can drive an external power amp and cabinet perfectly. It is a post-output transformer line-out, so it carries all of the power tube tone and not just what the preamp provides. Many DIs that can handle a line input (like a Countryman for instance) work fantastic if connected to this line out........all of the power-tube tone in a DI line, with no need to mic the cab. I don't have a recording to share, but this DI arrangement sounds great.
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I have an Ampeg BA115T 100w 15" combo. It's warm like apple pie and loud enough to take to gigs in NYC that my stack can't fit. Oddly enough, nobody really sells it. I can't find too many local/online that have it. The only problem I have is that it has an angled back that allows you to tilt it which is cool but it turns into a big stupid wheel if it's not against a wall.
Tube head & size/weight down is not always an easy achievement in a combo, without serious corner cutting. Peavey now has a 37 lb all valve head VB-3, but thats a stand alone head (that can be place off cab) - but I have had several tube combo's and never have been nearly satisfied. My Laney Nexus 400 all valve and neo spkr combo's is by far the best rig I have ever had. Head is 85 lbs but it's so awesome I dont even care!
JMHO
JMHO
