According to a friend, even more and more major country artists out of Nashville are going this route as well.
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Digital AMPEG Head Coming?
- Thread starter Lowbrow
- Start date
According to a friend, even more and more major country artists out of Nashville are going this route as well.
Guitar players tend to be far pickier than most bass players about tubes versus everything else, but Fender's Tonemaster series of amps (Tonemaster Twin Reverb, Tonemaster Deluxe Reverb, etc.) have been a raging success. Lots of backlines in Nashville clubs and elsewhere now use Tonemasters.
Since the amps look otherwise identical to the tube versions, some of those stage amps have had their "Tonemaster" badge removed, which magically stopped the whining about the lack of "bloom," etc., of tubeless amps.
Yeah I have seen a lot of GK bass stuff on stages there as well.
But I was referring to major country artist tours having gone Fractal (or similar) for guitars and preamp pedals/boxes for bass.
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Fractal, Kemper, Helix.......
It's now replacing more and more the "real" stuff.
Pretty much how Yamaha’s THR amps and the discontinued BBT bass head operate. The ‘model’ choice selects the type of amp you’re using and then it’s up to you to tweak with traditional amp knobs. The BBT approach was improved upon and streamlined with subsequent THR, and I expect future offerings by Ampeg would improve further.
EDIT: BBT also had front-panel compressor, allowed you to program each of the 5 EQ knobs to control the freq of your choice, had a user programmable single-band parametric -- all controlled directly from the amp itself. Great features, easily controlled without computer menus.
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(I guess, with a title like digital Ampeg in the thread, a tube vs everything else breakout was inevitable.....)
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Besides an "Ampeg" label, what would this give us that we don't already have? I think and SVTd that weighs ~ 20 lbs versus 90 but the same size / look from ten feet would be more appealing than another modeler. Everyone will complain that it doesn't do GK or Acoustic, whatever that other modelers can do.
Sounds like the series Fender is having success with.... the Tone Master lineup.
I'd probably buy a 20lb SVT-CL if it sounded right AND looked the part.... I really miss my SVT rig, but I don't miss the bulk/size/weight of moving that rig.
Just get an SVP-CL preamp an run it into your choice of poweramp, like a crown xls-1502. House those in a gator 3u soft case and you're good to go. Won't look the same. If you're after pure looks, just house something like a mesa subway in an empty SVT head.
I get that option, and many have gone this route... I'm just saying if Ampeg (Yamaha) built something like Fender's Tone Master series that looks/feels/sounds like the classic SVT, I'd likely be interested enough to buy. I'm not really interested in running firmware/software updates, etc....
Here's my test rigs from the other night.
I Have an SVP-CL and an SVTIIP pre amp into big iron and they are not the same as an SVT no matter how hard I try.
I was surprised that the tone master is $1K where the tube units are $300 - $500 more. I was expecting a bigger cost savings. Maybe that will change over time if they get into greater production??
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Sounds like they push the market's limits in order to recoup as much R&D money as possible....
If they're selling well at that price why should 7ender change anything (lower the price)?
I've wondered why some bass players don't put thought or care into their tone. You'd think anyone playing any instrument would care about the quality of their sound, not just making a noise in the key they are playing.
Fair point but maybe opening the door to more competition was my first thought.
OTOH, perhaps the Fender name means as much to sales as performance.
I honestly have no idea how expensive they are to make, how long to depreciate the R&D / compliance costs, or the profit margin on either tube or digital amps.
My gut says that assuming they are popular in the market place for 2 or 3 years, they will be MUCH more profitable than the the tube versions.
I've always looked at it that for live purposes, the audience would never know the difference, especially in context of a live band mix. Most wouldn't be able to tell the difference between amp topology, type of pickup, type of bass, scale length, bass construction (or any of the other sacred cows of TB). They don't listen with their eyes as much as some TB'ers do.
Back to the OPs topic - I think almost no one would notice if it was a modeler or not for the bass amp. Even I love the glow of tubes... but hate the weight, the fragile nature of tubes, and the expense of servicing a tube amp.. Comparing a "digital" amp to old school offerings, what they may notice the bass player can transport his entire rig in one trip. (backpack style bass case, lightweight FRFR cab like a barefaced in one hand, optional pedalboard possibly in the bass case or slung over a shoulder, and maybe carrying some sort of lightweight case for a head or power amp. ) The other thing that may be noticed is the amp output sounding like the signal sent to FOH if one is super close and there is a good PA in play. The sound guys tend to love my pedalboard setup. One of the "gears" in the 4 onthe floor pedal was actually based off of an SVT. It is a great always-on dirt pedal. I give them a clean mic-level send from my mesa subway DI+ preamp...Sounds exactly how I want to sound. High/low filters on the board to essentially mimic an amp sim and the natural roll off of highs/lows found in most bass amp cabs. For an amp, feed this to a power amp (xls-1502 bridged) sending 1,500w to my two barefaced bb3 cabs. More thunder than an SVT can deliver. Super modular and can run ampless at times.
I think yamaha/ampeg would be more successful putting something out in pedal form or lunch box head (like the mesa subway heads) vs SVT head sized. If going digital/modeling/lightweight, the size of the SVT head isn't a good format for that. Personally, I think my next amp purchase is a Mesa TT-800 for a more basic needs when the board isn't needed.
