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converting to all tube

#41
I own and gig a Fender Bassman 300. It is a great amp! I would not hesitate to use it in any situation. Each channel has a volume and their is a master volume, as well, so you can make it as quiet or loud as you like. I will say, however, with the master at about 4 and the other volumes at 5, it is loud! through my 610...lol
 
#42
Now 99 times out of 100, the people in the audience can't tell the difference. And if that's all you're going for then it's all good. If you like a tube amp though, you are not going to be satisfied with a SS amp I don't care if The Flying Spaghetti Monster himself made it.
 
#43
Floyd Eye said:
Now 99 times out of 100, the people in the audience can't tell the difference. And if that's all you're going for then it's all good. If you like a tube amp though, you are not going to be satisfied with a SS amp I don't care if The Flying Spaghetti Monster himself made it.
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Exactly, I'm not playing only for the audience. I'm playing for me, too, because at the main reason we all do this (at least, I hope so), is because we enjoy it.
 
#44
Sartori said:
I have never seen a tube amp so heavy it required two people just to lift. SVTs are really heavy, yeah, but one person can still lift them.
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Well, there's my favorite tube amp, which I would dearly love to have in my rig, but is stupid expensive these days. It's about 150lbs. Add an Alembic pre in front of it, and I'm all set. I've used a McIntosh MC30 for recording and it sounds wonderful. I love a very clean tube sound and I'm in agreement the posters above who say that a clean tube sound is not the same as clean solid state. I'm not a fan of the dirty tube tone for my playing, for that I use a pedal.

mc3500a.gif


MC3500inside.jpg
 
#46
For the OP: It all comes down to whether you're going to for power breakup or not. If not, then go big, so you'll always have the power if you need it.

If you want it to start breaking up and distorting, you'll need to go with the 100 watt, and mic into the PA for bigger gigs. I use a 100-watt tube amp with one guitarist playing a 100 watt half-stack and our volumes balance perfectly. But I play with my amp cranked up pretty hard and dirty most of the time.
 
#47
Sartori said:
Exactly, I'm not playing only for the audience. I'm playing for me, too, because at the main reason we all do this (at least, I hope so), is because we enjoy it.
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Exactly. And we ALL spend countless years experimenting , buying, selling, swapping gear until we get the tone we hear in our heads. And once we get it there's no way a little inconvenience or some sound guy is going to dissuade us from using it.;)
 
#49
The first time I heard my 71 SVT through my Berg NV215 it really was "the sound I've been hearing in my head but could never get." If the same sound came out of a neon green ss amp from Sears, that's what I'd be playing. I always trust my ears and that's why I also love my Ampeg B100R.

If you can't lift 70lbs, barring any "not your fault" physical issues, I'd consider yourself a bit out of shape. My 74 year old father carried my amp after a show one night. My 84 year old just built a retaining wall. And I know I may get razzed for it, but when gear decision is limited by physical strength (out of shape, not injured or disabled) and not merely choice or preference, a sad day indeed.
 
#51
6jase5 said:
If you can't lift 70lbs, barring any "not your fault" physical issues, I'd consider yourself a bit out of shape. My 74 year old father carried my amp after a show one night. My 84 year old just built a retaining wall. And I know I may get razzed for it, but when gear decision is limited by physical strength (out of shape, not injured or disabled) and not merely choice or preference, a sad day indeed.
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Wow.
 
#52
I turn 57 next Saturday, and I schlep an 85 pound Ampeg SVT-II nonpro amp, and a Berg NV610 cab.

And I don't consider myself to be a physically strong person.

Would I prefer a 4 pound amp and 35 pound cab? Of course!! But that tone and feel I get from my rig is undeniable, and I have not been able to achieve it with the lighter gear.
 
#53
Well I'm definitely not a fan of making choices based solely on weight, but nobody has to explain their gear choices to me for any reason.

However, I'm a pencil neck geek but I'm still in relatively decent shape and relatively active, and I've only got so much time I can lift an SVT rig left, so I'm making the most of it!
 
#54
6jase5 said:
The first time I heard my 71 SVT through my Berg NV215 it really was "the sound I've been hearing in my head but could never get." If the same sound came out of a neon green ss amp from Sears, that's what I'd be playing. I always trust my ears and that's why I also love my Ampeg B100R.

If you can't lift 70lbs, barring any "not your fault" physical issues, I'd consider yourself a bit out of shape. My 74 year old father carried my amp after a show one night. My 84 year old just built a retaining wall. And I know I may get razzed for it, but when gear decision is limited by physical strength (out of shape, not injured or disabled) and not merely choice or preference, a sad day indeed.
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You are blessed re genetics, So am I, Irish peasant stock.
62 and giggin and schleppin the Pa cause my guitar singer has had fusions and more bulging discs waiting to be dealt with and the drummer limps too, and they are younger than me. So tomorrow I may not even wake up, but if I do I certainly won't be implying that my less lucky band mates are woosies. No I will tell them to their face! Really though, unless you walk a mile in my/their shoes applies. Some bass players need light gear. I no doubt will sooner than later. Stow the macho drivel. You are one stroke away from a wheel chair every day you exist.
 
#55
I'm sorry for getting away from the original post. And once again, the nobody ever wins "tube vs ss" debate. YAWN!

Many new production all tube amps have solid state rectifiers instead of tube rectifiers. Thus, cancelling the claim to be an all tube amp. My Mesa 400+ had a solid state rectifier. (I'm gonna say it loud and proud. I hated that amp! Thank God I sold it!)

Please don't ask me why newer all tube amps don't have a tube rectifier. I don't even know what a rectifier is. But beware, if one buys an all tube amp because they want that all tube sound, a solid state rectifier might be in the amp making it a non-all tube amp.

Purist insist on a tube rectifier!

I would be inclined to buy a vintage all tube bass amp instead of a new one for that reason.

Buyer beware! Many vintage tube bass amps will need to be "gone over" by a qualified amp tech. Those old oil filled capacitors leak after about 20 years and need to be replaced. The amp will have to be "spec out" to make sure it's up to par to original standards.

Resistors, transformers, tube sockets all need to be check out.

Yes...........the joys of tube amp ownership! But when they are running right, it's a beautiful thing.

Most vintage tube amps have only bass, mid and treble reduction only. No boost! Well, usually there's a bass boast switch (mud) and a treble boost switch. Some of those vintage amps only have bass and treble cut controls. So, if your wanting that so called, Hi Fi sound, you'll need a bass with active eq preamp. Using a passive bass will be limited with tweaked sound.

I'm not saying ss is better or tubes are better. That's up to the bassist! I do get soooo tired of TB Preachers saying that tubes are better.

Whatever!
 
#58
JimmyM said:
Find me a tube rectifier than can handle 300w, please ;)
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I respect you very much, Jimmy! Many others do too. You are a real deal pro bassist. Your comments are usually enlightening.

So, may I ask you this question in true honesty. Did the original Ampeg SVT have a solid state or tube rectifier? I honestly don't know and don't care one way or the other but I'm curious to know.

Guitar tube freaks demand a tube rectifier. The Fender Bassman reissue offers the choice of a plug in ss rectifier or the tube. Those guitar freaks say they can tell the difference! They demand the tube.
 
#59
bassdude51 said:
So, may I ask you this question in true honesty. Did the original Ampeg SVT have a solid state or tube rectifier? I honestly don't know and don't care one way or the other but I'm curious to know.
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Always a SS rectifier. The rectifier's contribution to tone is in the voltage drop, can be useful in guitar amps when you're really digging it and get you get a nice extra bit of "squish" when you push the amp. For a bass amp it's not going to be as useful. The SVT was designed to be thunderously loud and clean. The original specs were rated at 300 watts with only 3% THD over the 20-20K range. You want to get that amount of power and still be clean you'd need a few rectifier tubes and it wouldn't be very efficient.
 
#60
I'm pretty sure the SVT had a solid state rectifier. You should also know that the rectifier isn't in the signal path. It's in the power supply and it's the tube version of a diode bridge rectifier. In simple terms, all that does is turn AC into DC which is then used in the circuits in the amp. The reason guitar players like tube rectifiers is that when you start reaching the limits of the amp, the tube rectifier will, like all the tubes, start being less efficient as there is less power available and provide less power to the rest of the amp. This creates a natural compression or sag to the sound, which guitar players like and some bass players, like me, hate. However, just because an amp has diodes in the rectifier circuitry doesn't mean that the amplifier doesn't have an all tube signal path. Just because guitar players like something is no reason for bass players to get distracted by things they don't really understand. In the meantime, I've got $2000 power cable I'll sell you. In all seriousness, though. I would do more research before you buy a tube amplifier because it sounds like you don't really know what you're looking for. No reason to spend more money than you need to.

Oh, and rectifier tubes don't care much about watts. They are more concerned with volts. Rectifier tubes that can handle crazy high voltage are out there. They were used in RF transmission circuits which measure in the thousands of volts. Although it's not strictly a tube version as we know it, there's a picture of a 150kv rectifier at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectifier and it's still a valve rectifier.
 

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