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Baby Sumo

#181
I just had my first gig using the 1,000w Sumo, and it performed quite well. I loved the tone and punch of this rig. Great synergy. I will say that the Sumo got rather hot (it was over 90 degrees), but never had any audible issues.

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#182
tombowlus said:
I just had my first gig using the 1,000w Sumo, and it performed quite well. I loved the tone and punch of this rig. Great synergy. I will say that the Sumo got rather hot (it was over 90 degrees), but never had any audible issues.

View attachment 4379859
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And it looks like you weren't shy with the volume controls! (assuming somewhat linear pots)
 
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#185
Older thread, but looking for something like the sumo to power my passive bass/PA speakers.
I have mixers. Anything newer out there?
Saw the seymour duncan amps.
Without digging up the tube vs ss watts ordeal, Are the 700 watt class d amps louder than, say, a fender twin?
Trying to get a general idea.
 
#188
zorf said:
Older thread, but looking for something like the sumo to power my passive bass/PA speakers.
I have mixers. Anything newer out there?
Saw the seymour duncan amps.
Without digging up the tube vs ss watts ordeal, Are the 700 watt class d amps louder than, say, a fender twin?
Trying to get a general idea.
Click to expand...

700 Watts of anything is way more power than a Fender Twin has on tap. Whether it will be louder, with your P-bass, into unspecified PA speakers, than a guitar through a Fender Twin will depend in large part on the sensitivity of the PA speakers.

If you're asking whether the P-bass would be louder through such a rig than through a Fender Twin, I would think so, yes -- I wouldn't run a bass through a Twin except, maybe, at very low volumes, anyway -- not enough power to get very loud with bass and the speakers aren't designed to handle bass frequencies.

I think the Seymour Duncan Powerstage amps are designed for instrument/pedal level input (worth verifying) and so might run fine with your P-bass plugged straight in. Pretty sure the Baby Sumo and most poweramps will require a preamp (maybe your mixers) between your bass and the amp to boost the signal to the proper level and to match impedance.

Depending on the cabs, you might find that your P-bass through a 700 Watt amp is not, in fact, louder than a guitar through a cranked Twin Reverb. It does not take as much for a guitar to get loud and the Twin is a pretty loud amp. Not sure if that's the question you're asking, though.
 
#189
I tried an active bass straight into the sumo once, it got me enough volume to be functional :)
But yes, it's supposed to be run with a preamp.

Any preamp worked for me though, even the small pedal ones which do not deliver enough current for my rack PA amp.
 
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#192
zorf said:
i should have just said 100 watt tube amp.
i said twin because its something people tend to be familiar with.
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Okay, but your question is still unclear, at least to me. Are you asking...
  1. Will my P-bass, through a 700 Watt Class D amp and into my PA speakers, keep up with a guitar through a Fender Twin (or a similar, 85 to 100ish Watt tube amp and a 2x12)?
  2. Will my P-bass, through a 700 Watt Class D amp and into my PA speakers, be louder than it would be through a 100 Watt tube head into the same speakers?
  3. Will my P-bass, through a 700 Watt yadda yadda, be louder than it would be plugged into a Fender Twin guitar amp (guitar speakers and all)?
If #1, maybe. It depends in large part on your PA speakers, which you haven't specified (if you have elsewhere and I missed it, my apologies). My Quilter Bass Block (800 Watts) through a modern, moderately efficient 2x12 cab, can go louder than I'd want to go in most venues (and a lot louder than I want to go without hearing protection), but I don't know that a guitar through a cranked Twin won't go louder. For bass, 700-800 Watts can be unreal power or not that much, depending on the sensitivity of the speakers being driven (and bass takes more power to amplify than guitar).

If #2, almost certainly, unless the power handling on your PA speakers is unusually low.

If #3, almost certainly, again (see previous note about the guitar speakers not being designed to handled low frequencies at high volume -- could sound great at low volume, though -- I dunno).
 
#193
G Aichele said:
BTW, how do you like the big Sumo?
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I like it a lot!

I was recently able to take it (and my 4x10) out to my family's farm and really open it up; test a variety of boost pedals.

I'm after the simplest setup for clean sound, so my MXR Custom Audio Electronics Boost / Line Driver worked best overall. Shockingly loud!

Surprisingly, my Darkglass HyperLuminal offered about the same amount of boost, so that's been my main boost/pre of late.

My newish IdiotBox Energizer! worked really well too, but got a little feedback happy when dimed.

Ethereal Thorn said:
...there's so many good pres out that it makes it hard to pick just one so I prefer getting a few flavors and swapping them in and out to taste
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This was good advice and is what I've been doing with it the last few months. When I was able to do that test run, I didn't have many proper preamps. Of what I do have, I'd say my Quilter InterBass worked best in that regard.

I do have a EQD Tone Job that works great for me at home at low volumes, but wasn't near loud enough when I was out on the farm. That said, I just got a 18v power supply for it, so I'll try again. If it matches the loudness of the MXR Line Driver, I'd prefer to settle on the Tone Job. I love its EQ and how clean it is.

I also have a Rusty Box that I plum forgot to bring with, and have an Abominable Sunnbather DI on order, so I'll try those out next time I get out there. Tho I suppose neither of those would be clean preamps, exactly...

The Mesa Subway DI has been on my wishlist for a long time.. someday I'll have the money..

Lately I've been lusting for a Tech 21 Q Strip...

I also wonder how a Darkglass Harmonic Booster would work??

Arghh! GAS is real!
 
#194
hatred aside said:
I like it a lot!

I was recently able to take it (and my 4x10) out to my family's farm and really open it up; test a variety of boost pedals.

I'm after the simplest setup for clean sound, so my MXR Custom Audio Electronics Boost / Line Driver worked best overall. Shockingly loud!

Surprisingly, my Darkglass HyperLuminal offered about the same amount of boost, so that's been my main boost/pre of late.

My newish IdiotBox Energizer! worked really well too, but got a little feedback happy when dimed.



This was good advice and is what I've been doing with it the last few months. When I was able to do that test run, I didn't have many proper preamps. Of what I do have, I'd say my Quilter InterBass worked best in that regard.

I do have a EQD Tone Job that works great for me at home at low volumes, but wasn't near loud enough when I was out on the farm. That said, I just got a 18v power supply for it, so I'll try again. If it matches the loudness of the MXR Line Driver, I'd prefer to settle on the Tone Job. I love its EQ and how clean it is.

I also have a Rusty Box that I plum forgot to bring with, and have an Abominable Sunnbather DI on order, so I'll try those out next time I get out there. Tho I suppose neither of those would be clean preamps, exactly...

The Mesa Subway DI has been on my wishlist for a long time.. someday I'll have the money..

Lately I've been lusting for a Tech 21 Q Strip...

I also wonder how a Darkglass Harmonic Booster would work??

Arghh! GAS is real!
Click to expand...
Tried quite a few of those preamps and so far the Mesa is by far my favorite solidstate preamp by far the eq is so easy to dial in and it has a ton of punch and even a slight bit of grit especially if you boost it. For me the Qstrip was quickly replaced by the two notes torpedo cab m+ it has all the same functions as the Qstrip but added a bunch more features and was only a few more $ it has a fender baseman preamp model built in plus it has the benefit of pairing with any other preamps you want in front if that fender pre isn't your sound. To me the cab m+ is a no brainer it does a ton a real Swiss army knife.
 
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#195
Ethereal Thorn said:
Tried quite a few of those preamps and so far the Mesa is by far my favorite solidstate preamp by far the eq is so easy to dial in and it has a ton of punch and even a slight bit of grit especially if you boost it. For me the Qstrip was quickly replaced by the two notes torpedo cab m+ it has all the same functions as the Qstrip but added a bunch more features and was only a few more $ it has a fender baseman preamp model built in plus it has the benefit of pairing with any other preamps you want in front if that fender pre isn't your sound. To me the cab m+ is a no brainer it does a ton a real Swiss army knife.
Click to expand...

I never knew about that Two Notes CAB before. looks like a pretty cool piece of gear!
 
#196
hatred aside said:
I never knew about that Two Notes CAB before. looks like a pretty cool piece of gear!
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It really is a awesome piece of gear I use it paired with a line 6 Hx fx and a Custom Verellen Meatsmoke tube preamp on my board. With all of those preamp options and tone shaping between the meatsmoke two notes and hx fx I can get pretty much any tonal option I could ever want or need and its super easy to dial in. This all combined with the custom 2k watt Gss Mega Sumo power amp and my Midas dp48 iem mixer I can cover any type of gig thrown at me. I can run up to two 8x10 cabs powered full tilt if I want or run passive or powered wedges and stereo in ears at the same time I can cover everything from coffee shops to huge out door/ arena gigs its a fairly compact and completely modular setup.
 
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