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Digital AMPEG Head Coming?
- Thread starter Lowbrow
- Start date
I just know that for me personally, I'm going to be a lot less heart broken if my digital current production head that sounds close to a classic SVT gets stolen after a gig, than if my classic SVT head that's hard to replace does.
The fact that most guitar players are pickier about using tubes versus transistors than most bass players doesn't mean that those bass players don't care about their sound. I care very much about my sound, which is why I've used solid-state and, more recently, class D amps exclusively for years.
I know there are plenty of tube amp lovers on this site, but I don't care for the way the sound of most tube bass amps can get mushy and compressed at high SPLs or for the way the high end and low end roll off at those levels. I love listening to live recordings of Cream and Mountain---just don't want my own amps to distort.
And, yes, I owned an SVT head in the mid-'70s. It weighted 90 pounds, I weighed 130 pounds. A guitar player friend who weighed the same as I did owned two Marshall Major full stacks. It always struck me as grossly unfair that the skinny rock guys had to carry around hundreds of pounds of amps and cabs while the big, beefy country music guitar players had little Deluxe Reverbs.
That’s what I mean — I could never afford an SVT but at the time even the cheaper alternatives were like major appliances.
Known, but not as common as your anti-Ampeg agenda would have everyone believe.
C’mon, we’re adults around here.
lol.. I hauled around a GK 2001RB for awhile. With the power conditioner, rack and amp it was about a 60lb unit. Still too heavy and bulky for my tastes. The heaviest rack unit I ever had was an SVT-II pro. Soo heavy with the rack. While there is a little nostalgia for the old amps I had, I don't regret selling. Like the isovent cab I had in the mid 90's -cool in theory, fun to reminisce about, but it was so heavy. I bought one super cheap during the pandemic - and quickly sold it as it was just not practical. 135ish pounds and bulky.
I'm done with the major appliance phase of bass playing. So is my back, bandmates and vehicles.
I’m afraid I am, too. A drag because I love the big stuff, but switching to the small stuff is keeping me playing longer.
Most of the rehearsal spaces I use now have some modern flavour of Ampeg bass amp. They have been rock-solid (according to the space-owners) and the do sound pretty good.
We have technology to real-time translate languages, and the Helix platform has a great emulation of an SVT amp. It should be totally doable for Yamaha to shrink that tone into a Class-D power platform. The biggest issue will probably be how to distill it down into a familiar looking UI. Rob Turner @ EMG has said for years that a lot of what they do is limited by what musicians will accept with technology - although guitar players tend to be more conservative. This is the same.
We have technology to real-time translate languages, and the Helix platform has a great emulation of an SVT amp. It should be totally doable for Yamaha to shrink that tone into a Class-D power platform. The biggest issue will probably be how to distill it down into a familiar looking UI. Rob Turner @ EMG has said for years that a lot of what they do is limited by what musicians will accept with technology - although guitar players tend to be more conservative. This is the same.
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Oh come on. This wouldn't sell. Not here.
90% of the bassists here are scared to death to move any of their amp's controls away from noon (regardless if those settings are "flat" or not).
Graphic eqs spook them.
Parametric eqs SCARE THE TIHS out of them.
Do you really think they would even ATTEMPT to use anything even the least bit complicated like a modeling head????
Ain't no way.
Remember, these are people that complain about the weight of a 5lb head.
Ain't happening.
90% of the bassists here are scared to death to move any of their amp's controls away from noon (regardless if those settings are "flat" or not).
Graphic eqs spook them.
Parametric eqs SCARE THE TIHS out of them.
Do you really think they would even ATTEMPT to use anything even the least bit complicated like a modeling head????
Ain't no way.
Remember, these are people that complain about the weight of a 5lb head.
Ain't happening.
I always forget I’m supposed to ask the audience for their acknowledgement and approval when choosing my gear.
One shouldn't ask the audience. I don't. I am just realistic about what is actually worth being concerned about in live situations.
My point was you should be concerned with gear that works for you in your situation. Big amps, short scale basses, giant pedal boards, etc., don’t work for you? Great. Don’t use them.
Using “the audience doesn’t know the difference” as a rationale for gear selection is beyond silly.
Not at all. Getting caught up in the many, many myths about "tone" is what is silly. I completely agree about using gear that works for one's situation and being realistic about what factors should go into that decision.
Yamaha has always had a great reputation for their hardware DSP (particularly reverb).
Since their acquisition of Ampeg, it would be entirely reasonable for them (in fact, a no-brainer) to make traditional 100% analogue heads, with fully bypassable DSP in the F/X loop.
There's a lot of potential for routing options, maintaining an all analogue path, in parallel with a processed signal at a multitude of points (post gain / post EQ / loop send / speaker out / discrete processed out).
Since their acquisition of Ampeg, it would be entirely reasonable for them (in fact, a no-brainer) to make traditional 100% analogue heads, with fully bypassable DSP in the F/X loop.
There's a lot of potential for routing options, maintaining an all analogue path, in parallel with a processed signal at a multitude of points (post gain / post EQ / loop send / speaker out / discrete processed out).
