Sometimes a thread will pop up about this amp on Talkbass with a lot of people asking about it. However, very few people actually have any experience with it as there aren't a lot of them out in the wild. I suppose that's to be expected with a boutique tube amp. They just aren't going to be as ubiquitous as a 1001rb or an SVT. I picked this amp up used back in the fall. I've used it on some gigs with different cabinet arrangements and in different situations. Now that the new amp hype has subsided, I think I can give some thoughts on it. Of interesting note, I traced this amp's "genealogy" a little bit, and I'm pretty sure it had been previously owned by the bass player who backed Steel Magnolia, which is a roots country duo. It's actually been on the Letterman show. My first gig with it was a barn party, which I suppose is a bit more modest than its previous experience on national television. 
Fred's writing on the inside of the cabinet indicates it was built in January, 2006.
General Sound: Fred markets this amp as having an SVT flavor. I'd agree that it was built with the SVT tonal profile in mind, but I'd hesitate to call it an attempt at an SVT clone. It's much more refined and warmer than an SVT, but it's not quite as aggressive and definitely doesn't do the SVT grind. I actually hear a little bit of Bassman in its tonal profile. I know it's cliche to say, but the amp is very three-dimensional sounding and the entire tonal spectrum is represented in a very balanced way, from the low-end to the top-end. Nothing in the tonal profile is overpowering. The most impressive thing about its sound is the low-end. It's not really a bloomy low-end. It's strong and tight. Each note is a very precise moment in time. Ghost notes really punch and give a clear percussiveness to a bass line. The mids are very musical, and the highs can do relaxed or airy.
The key to this amp is the Master Volume. The more you push it, the more the amp opens up. This is probably the first tube amp in which I really like the preamp break up. I think that may be largely due to the amp being tube rectified rather than solid-state rectified. It can do studio clean and it can do pretty loud, but it can't really do both at the same time. It won't slam the back of a room with clean volume like an SVT can, even with a large cabinet. In that regard, I almost always prefer to use this amp with PA support. If I were playing a large room without PA support, there are other amps I'd grab for the gig before this one. IME, there's a big difference between 200 watt tube amps and 300 watt tube amps in terms of clean headroom.
Tone Stack: This has a baxadall tone stack, laid-out very much like an SVT. The only difference is that it has a three-way sweepable mid-selector rather than a five-way. The Bass and Master Volume knobs have push-pull knobs for extended lows and highs, respectively. I don't believe that an amp's ability to sound good with everything at noon is indicative of its quality, but I also don't like amps that require you to practically have the knobs maxed without much of anywhere to go before there's any discernible difference in sound. The TBL doesn't require extreme EQing to sound great and there's always more on tap for each tone pot. I find that having the Bass knob at 10 'o clock is generally plenty. Through tweeterless cabs, I find that pulling the Master Volume for a high-end boost really helps add some sheen, but doing so through a tweetered cab instantly takes you into ice pick territory. The only way to really make the amp sound bad (other than very extreme EQing) is to pull the Bass knob, as that ends up scooping your low-mids way too much. I never use the low boost switch or button on an SVT either. Between the three EQ points on the mid-selector, finding the right frequency to boost or cut is very intuitive.
The tone stack is also very interactive with the gain and volume. Lower volume sounds best with the lows and low-mids pushed a little. When you turn up the volume, it's a good idea to back off the lows and maybe low-mids.
Features and Practicality: I own a couple of tube amps, including rack mounts and ones built into cabinets. Accessing the tubes is always a pain. The rack mounts require unracking and then taking out about ten screws. The ones inside wooden boxes require either being removed from their cabinets or twisting your hands around transformers and grasping at preamp tubes without seeing what you're doing. I have to commend /13 on this. Accessing all of the tubes requires removing five screws from the back. All of the preamp tubes, power tubes, and phase invertor are right there within easy reach. You can do it in two minutes with a manual screw driver.
The TBL doesn't weigh anything close to an SVT, but it is a tube amp, which means it has some weight to it. However, like all tube amps that don't have side handles, it's a little awkward to carry, since the output transformer is not centered. It came with a road case, which then does make it as heavy to carry as an SVT. If I ever store gear in a trailer again, I'll use the road case, but for general transport, I just use the slip cover.
The biggest head scratcher about this amp is its impedance. It can handle 4-ohm and 8-ohm loads, which is pretty standard, but it also has a tap for 16 ohms. I think there may be some very vintage cabs out there that are 16 ohms, but as a bass player, I've never encountered a 16-ohm cab situation. I don't know where Fred gets his output transformers, but I'd much, much rather have 2-ohm capability than 16-ohm capability.
While it has a 1/4" line out, this amp lacks a DI. I suspect this may be due to the amp being targeted towards people who are going to be obsessed with "tone purity" and aren't going to want their house or recording signal to be taken from a DI - at least that's my hypothesis. This means either micing the cab, which I like to do, or running a DI in parallel or between the amp and cab. It also lacks an FX loop. I think only one or two of Divided By 13's guitar amps features a loop. That may be a turn off to some people. I've never used loops, even for time-based effects.
Overall: It's a great amp and an amp for life, no doubt. From the looks to the sound, it's obvious that it's a quality piece of equipment. I know that point-to-point versus turret-board versus PCB gets hotly debated around here. I have no real opinions on any of that and I don't intend to spark up that debate with this thread. My philosophy is to find an amp that you dig and just play it. Chicago Music Exchange has a demo of this up on YouTube. And while I think Mark is a fantastic player, the video really doesn't do the TBL justice - such is the nature of YouTube videos of gear.
As I said in the opening, I bought this amp used, but they retail street for around $3k. Do I think it's worth the brand new retail price from a purely utilitarian or even tonal perspective? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh...let's put it this way: It retails for almost twice of an SVT-CL, but I don't think it sounds or performs twice as good as an SVT-CL. In fact, I don't think it's in any way "better" than an SVT. It's different and has a more refined voice that would probably appeal more to audiophiles. But an SVT is an SVT. If that's the sound you want, then I suggest rockin' an SVT. If you want something inspired by an SVT but with a more refined voice, then maybe the TBL200 is something to check out. And even so, while I love the TBL, if I were headed off to a modern rock gig, I'd probably grab one of my Mesas or my GK first. It's all about the right tool for the right job. However, for the used price I paid for the TBL with a nice road case, I think I got a good value for an amp that I plan to hang onto until they stick me in the old folks home.
I'd really like to try the RDT200, which is Divided By 13's more British-inspired bass amp.
Fred's writing on the inside of the cabinet indicates it was built in January, 2006.General Sound: Fred markets this amp as having an SVT flavor. I'd agree that it was built with the SVT tonal profile in mind, but I'd hesitate to call it an attempt at an SVT clone. It's much more refined and warmer than an SVT, but it's not quite as aggressive and definitely doesn't do the SVT grind. I actually hear a little bit of Bassman in its tonal profile. I know it's cliche to say, but the amp is very three-dimensional sounding and the entire tonal spectrum is represented in a very balanced way, from the low-end to the top-end. Nothing in the tonal profile is overpowering. The most impressive thing about its sound is the low-end. It's not really a bloomy low-end. It's strong and tight. Each note is a very precise moment in time. Ghost notes really punch and give a clear percussiveness to a bass line. The mids are very musical, and the highs can do relaxed or airy.
The key to this amp is the Master Volume. The more you push it, the more the amp opens up. This is probably the first tube amp in which I really like the preamp break up. I think that may be largely due to the amp being tube rectified rather than solid-state rectified. It can do studio clean and it can do pretty loud, but it can't really do both at the same time. It won't slam the back of a room with clean volume like an SVT can, even with a large cabinet. In that regard, I almost always prefer to use this amp with PA support. If I were playing a large room without PA support, there are other amps I'd grab for the gig before this one. IME, there's a big difference between 200 watt tube amps and 300 watt tube amps in terms of clean headroom.
Tone Stack: This has a baxadall tone stack, laid-out very much like an SVT. The only difference is that it has a three-way sweepable mid-selector rather than a five-way. The Bass and Master Volume knobs have push-pull knobs for extended lows and highs, respectively. I don't believe that an amp's ability to sound good with everything at noon is indicative of its quality, but I also don't like amps that require you to practically have the knobs maxed without much of anywhere to go before there's any discernible difference in sound. The TBL doesn't require extreme EQing to sound great and there's always more on tap for each tone pot. I find that having the Bass knob at 10 'o clock is generally plenty. Through tweeterless cabs, I find that pulling the Master Volume for a high-end boost really helps add some sheen, but doing so through a tweetered cab instantly takes you into ice pick territory. The only way to really make the amp sound bad (other than very extreme EQing) is to pull the Bass knob, as that ends up scooping your low-mids way too much. I never use the low boost switch or button on an SVT either. Between the three EQ points on the mid-selector, finding the right frequency to boost or cut is very intuitive.
The tone stack is also very interactive with the gain and volume. Lower volume sounds best with the lows and low-mids pushed a little. When you turn up the volume, it's a good idea to back off the lows and maybe low-mids.
Features and Practicality: I own a couple of tube amps, including rack mounts and ones built into cabinets. Accessing the tubes is always a pain. The rack mounts require unracking and then taking out about ten screws. The ones inside wooden boxes require either being removed from their cabinets or twisting your hands around transformers and grasping at preamp tubes without seeing what you're doing. I have to commend /13 on this. Accessing all of the tubes requires removing five screws from the back. All of the preamp tubes, power tubes, and phase invertor are right there within easy reach. You can do it in two minutes with a manual screw driver.
The TBL doesn't weigh anything close to an SVT, but it is a tube amp, which means it has some weight to it. However, like all tube amps that don't have side handles, it's a little awkward to carry, since the output transformer is not centered. It came with a road case, which then does make it as heavy to carry as an SVT. If I ever store gear in a trailer again, I'll use the road case, but for general transport, I just use the slip cover.
The biggest head scratcher about this amp is its impedance. It can handle 4-ohm and 8-ohm loads, which is pretty standard, but it also has a tap for 16 ohms. I think there may be some very vintage cabs out there that are 16 ohms, but as a bass player, I've never encountered a 16-ohm cab situation. I don't know where Fred gets his output transformers, but I'd much, much rather have 2-ohm capability than 16-ohm capability.
While it has a 1/4" line out, this amp lacks a DI. I suspect this may be due to the amp being targeted towards people who are going to be obsessed with "tone purity" and aren't going to want their house or recording signal to be taken from a DI - at least that's my hypothesis. This means either micing the cab, which I like to do, or running a DI in parallel or between the amp and cab. It also lacks an FX loop. I think only one or two of Divided By 13's guitar amps features a loop. That may be a turn off to some people. I've never used loops, even for time-based effects.
Overall: It's a great amp and an amp for life, no doubt. From the looks to the sound, it's obvious that it's a quality piece of equipment. I know that point-to-point versus turret-board versus PCB gets hotly debated around here. I have no real opinions on any of that and I don't intend to spark up that debate with this thread. My philosophy is to find an amp that you dig and just play it. Chicago Music Exchange has a demo of this up on YouTube. And while I think Mark is a fantastic player, the video really doesn't do the TBL justice - such is the nature of YouTube videos of gear.
As I said in the opening, I bought this amp used, but they retail street for around $3k. Do I think it's worth the brand new retail price from a purely utilitarian or even tonal perspective? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh...let's put it this way: It retails for almost twice of an SVT-CL, but I don't think it sounds or performs twice as good as an SVT-CL. In fact, I don't think it's in any way "better" than an SVT. It's different and has a more refined voice that would probably appeal more to audiophiles. But an SVT is an SVT. If that's the sound you want, then I suggest rockin' an SVT. If you want something inspired by an SVT but with a more refined voice, then maybe the TBL200 is something to check out. And even so, while I love the TBL, if I were headed off to a modern rock gig, I'd probably grab one of my Mesas or my GK first. It's all about the right tool for the right job. However, for the used price I paid for the TBL with a nice road case, I think I got a good value for an amp that I plan to hang onto until they stick me in the old folks home.
I'd really like to try the RDT200, which is Divided By 13's more British-inspired bass amp.
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