Demeter Club

[Stugilliam]

IMO Demeter voicing is the pinnacle of "clean tube", i.e. wide extended range, lots of weight to the notes, but hifi and clear. What many associate with "tubey" is the furry thick, slightly slower speed of certain iconic tube amps. I for one am a huge fan of the clean tube thing I get from my HBP1 (well HB600 actually) but I have an Arkham Oracle on my board that I can use to thicken things up, make them more syrupy and bouncy and give a little grit if needed.

I love my HB-600!

 

[J.Wolf]

I love my HB-600!

SUCH a great amp. Its old, heavy and sounds amazing. Cold dead hands, this one.

 

[Sayclean]

Well...you’re getting a GREAT amp.

BUT

Demeter amps are nearly the other side of the tone universe from Aguilar, which tend to be very mid voiced, and probably NOT what many consider “Tubey.” They generally do not have that furry distortion thing going. They WILL clearly translate the sound of your bass with great 3D sonic imaging from the tube. But, if you are looking for that overdriven thing, they don’t do that. What you can do is put a gadget, like the CAL Grizzly upstream, and that will get you 95% of the over driven tube thing.

Hope I haven’t dampened your hopes too much. Like I said, it will be a GREAT amp.

You won't regret moving from the Agi to the Demeter VTBP-M800D. It's like trading in Carolla for a Charger. Super clean, high headroom, mild tube feel but very fast. Takes pedals well. Enjoy!

and I use DarkGlass analog pedals , Alpha/Omega , Ultra compresser, Etc among others ...

 

[Stugilliam]

SUCH a great amp. Its old, heavy and sounds amazing. Cold dead hands, this one.

Same here! If anyone wants to buy mine, they will have to talk to my wife when I pass and not before!

 

[J.Wolf]

Same here! If anyone wants to buy mine, they will have to talk to my wife when I pass and not before!

the Achilles heel of mine is that it doesn’t have jensen DI and if it’s fed phantom power: poof. So I just use a radial fed off the unbalanced 1/4 out. But it would be nice to be able to use the amps DI.

 

[bucephylus]

the Achilles heel of mine is that it doesn’t have jensen DI and if it’s fed phantom power: poof. So I just use a radial fed off the unbalanced 1/4 out. But it would be nice to be able to use the amps DI.

Might be worth checking with the shop to see if the Jensen could be retrofitted. They are pretty good about that kind of thing. James would tell you if it is physically possible or not.

 

[J.Wolf]

Might be worth checking with the shop to see if the Jensen could be retrofitted. They are pretty good about that kind of thing. James would tell you if it is physically possible or not.

I know he could, I just dont want to take on the parts and labor plus shipping to do that. For what it costs, my Radial JDI is basically an external Jensen. I am not sure if the sound quality is the same as it would be if it was integrated into the amp, but often times I run my tube DI before the Demeter anyways, and just use the Demeter for my stage monitoring, and as a backup DI (with the Radial) if needed.

 

[Stugilliam]

the Achilles heel of mine is that it doesn’t have jensen DI and if it’s fed phantom power: poof. So I just use a radial fed off the unbalanced 1/4 out. But it would be nice to be able to use the amps DI.

I would either have Demeter or a competent repair shop take a look at it, it definitely would be worth it.

 

[JFLbass]

I know he could, I just dont want to take on the parts and labor plus shipping to do that. For what it costs, my Radial JDI is basically an external Jensen. I am not sure if the sound quality is the same as it would be if it was integrated into the amp, but often times I run my tube DI before the Demeter anyways, and just use the Demeter for my stage monitoring, and as a backup DI (with the Radial) if needed.

i did some tests with the internal JENSEN of my VTBP and my trusty JDI trough the preamp out...sound's the same ! It's also a nice option when recording... Sometime I split my VTBP, the XLR out is clean without eq and the preamp out with the Eq through a JDI. Ultimate clean tone's! My Pbass /flats sound's big !

 

[s_wood]

Shot in the dark here...if anybody has an HBP-1-800D they are thinking of selling please let me know via PM. Thanks!

 

[kittywithabanjo]

You wont pry mine away I love it

 

[Sayclean]

... still breaking in the tubes

 

[J.Wolf]

I just came here to say, that after playing so much gear over many years, including all kinds of new class D "Du Jour" amps, my HB600 pretty much still destroys everything, in terms of tone, flexibility and versatility. That amp is just bad to the bone. "only" 600w but below 8 ohms ohms will make your teeth rattle (the pic below is an 8 ohm (Glock) and 5.3 ohm (Berg) and it was crushingly loud). If you come across one (which is not likely considering how rare they are), dont sleep on it. I know he makes a new one with a Minnie all inside the 1u HBP1, but, theres something magical about this amp with the 600w Mosfet power section. It is just insanely great. That is all

 

[HeavyJazz]

Which Glock 212 is that? Neo or ceramic?

 

[pfschim]

I just came here to say, that after playing so much gear over many years, including all kinds of new class D "Du Jour" amps, my HB600 pretty much still destroys everything, in terms of tone, flexibility and versatility. That amp is just bad to the bone. "only" 600w but below 8 ohms ohms will make your teeth rattle (the pic below is an 8 ohm (Glock) and 5.3 ohm (Berg) and it was crushingly loud). If you come across one (which is not likely considering how rare they are), dont sleep on it. I know he makes a new one with a Minnie all inside the 1u HBP1, but, theres something magical about this amp with the 600w Mosfet power section. It is just insanely great. That is all

View attachment 3932239

hmm, do you mean other amps actually explode or vaporize in the presence of the HB600 ?

I'm sure you realize that all of Jim D's current amps have "Class D "Du Jour" power sections .. right? He must think Class D is ok.

 

[J.Wolf]

hmm, do you mean other amps actually explode or vaporize in the presence of the HB600 ?

I'm sure you realize that all of Jim D's current amps have "Class D "Du Jour" power sections .. right? He must think Class D is ok.

I do, all except the tube amp of course. And theyre all really badass sounding/performing amps built around the smaller ICE modules. Not sure if he's using the 700AS2 in the 400 as well as the 250ASX2 in all the 800w units, but his implementation of those modules are as good as anyones. I really like the VTBP lunchbox head in particular. My point was just that the higher wattage class D power modules really sound amazing in comparison, and I wish everyone was offering a "big" amp version of their more popular and modestly rated heads.

 

[J.Wolf]

Which Glock 212 is that? Neo or ceramic?

Neo Double 212. I think its like mid 50 lbs. Sounds absolutely fantastic with an unbelievable low end clarity, and warmth up top (but still super detailed and articulate). It was such a deal I coudn't pass it up, and I am so digging it.

 

[pfschim]

Owned a VTBP-M-800D for a while (and belonged to the Demeter Club thread too), very nice amp, but I eventually sold it.
I am also a big fan of MOSFET power sections, particularly when they are driven by a tube stage ... in my case it's a Mesa Walkabout.
I was very interested in the HB600 because of it Demeter heritage and tube driven MOSFET power section, but they are very few and far between on the used market.
I have never seen a VTHF-300 (the all tube amp) in the wild. I'd love to hear one sometime.

 

[bucephylus]

The Bass400 uses the ICEPower 125ASX2. The rest of the Minnie types use the 250ASX2. I had a discussion with James about a year ago focused on the 1200W power sections, which he actually announced at a previous NAMM show. He had decided the 1200W module had some issues; but, that he might be interested in the 700ASC at some point in the future. But, my sense was that he is discouraged about the bass amp market; and he actually told me most of his top bill name players are going ampless. Which somewhat explains his more recent inactivity. Kind of a shame.

I recently picked up one of the Mesa TT800’s, which is also a really nice amp. Here is one A/B I initially posted over in the TT800 thread.

Regarding “slam” factor, the details about the way the preamp is coupled to the Class D module are extremely important. My VTBP-201 in that pic has a 12AT7 driving the 250ASX2 (don’t recall whether or not there is a Jensen as well); and that design slams much harder than any amp I am familiar with, past or present. The TT800 is super cool, plenty potent, and has some very well thought out voicing options. The VTBP / internal Minnie is just a flat out sledge hammer. I’d love to hear it up against a 600. That would be interesting.

 

[J.Wolf]

The Bass400 uses the ICEPower 125ASX2. The rest of the Minnie types use the 250ASX2. I had a discussion with James about a year ago focused on the 1200W power sections, which he actually announced at a previous NAMM show. He had decided the 1200W module had some issues; but, that he might be interested in the 700ASC at some point in the future. But, my sense was that he is discouraged about the bass amp market; and he actually told me most of his top bill name players are going ampless. Which somewhat explains his more recent inactivity. Kind of a shame.

I recently picked up one of the Mesa TT800’s, which is also a really nice amp. Here is one A/B I initially posted over in the TT800 thread.

View attachment 3933184

Regarding “slam” factor, the details about the way the preamp is coupled to the Class D module are extremely important. My VTBP-201 in that pic has a 12AT7 driving the 250ASX2 (don’t recall whether or not there is a Jensen as well); and that design slams much harder than any amp I am familiar with, past or present. The TT800 is super cool, plenty potent, and has some very well thought out voicing options. The VTBP / internal Minnie is just a flat out sledge hammer. I’d love to hear it up against a 600. That would be interesting.

Right on thats very cool, I loved that 1st gen VTBP preamp. Such a great tone. I bet its killer with the Minnie inside, I would love to compare it to the HB600. The marriage between the preamp section and power section is so crucial with the ICE modules. I've heard I think 4 or 5 amps now in some form with the 1200w ICE module, and the variation there is crazy. A couple REALLY stand out, and a couple have needed some love, and it all seems to boil down to feeding the amp just the right signal level.

I also got a TT800, in for review. Very impressive so far! I need to spend some more time with it, but the flexibility is pretty amazing.