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East Tennessee Talkbass
- Thread starter Michael Vee
- Start date
Believe it or not, guys, I've been playing bass for 35 years and I've never played through an Ampeg tube amp. I would love the opportunity, no matter how expensive it may wind up being!
This GTG is going to be a little different than the two prior ones. I'm hoping it breaks out in a full-on jam. My bandmates are coming and we will have our little PA set up. I've also invited some local music store owners/bassists to attend as well, hoping they may bring some equipment to demo. To add a little more to the jam mix, I've also invited blues guitarist, Billy Crawford to attend as a special guest. Billy lives in the Tri-Cities area and has performed/toured with some of the great blues artists of our day. He has been asked to come share some stories/experiences with us and jam a little. Billy is a bit of a gear hound himself and accepted the invitiation with, what I detected to be, a bit of excitement!
I will be providing a 6 ft sub or two and ask that those attending bring along a 2 liter, bag of chips, etc. to share with the group.
In spite of me avoiding 'The Fridge' like the plague, at some point I know that I will end up buying one. It may only leave the house twice per year, but I'll have one at some point.
Three staples that every bass player should probably own at least once in their lifetime.
1) A P Bass of some type.
2) The 200 plus pound Fridge
3) Ampeg Portaflex.
You know Richard, if you were a wise man, you would wait until you have a gig weekend off, and then whisper sweet nothings in my ear and ask me to drop off the Portaflex at your place for a sleepover. That way you could spend some time with it and noodle in solitude. I could pick it up the following day. Just sayin.......
The GTG sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun !
Wonderful!
This comment really is worthy of having its own thread.
I'd add that sometimes bass players need to experience things that are hugely popular just so that they can see that sometimes popular things are not for them.
For example, I would LOVE to have all of these basses. But past experience has taught me I'd never gig with them.
Rickenbackers - the neck doesn't narrow at the end and never felt right to me. But I sure do love 'em.
Hollow body basses (EB2 and Hofner) - they just sound thumpy and not very deep. The EB2 is as beautiful as an instrument can be to me, I just hate the sound they make.
Baseball bat necks - Love my P but it has a J neck. I hope my next purchase will be a Tele bass but I'm going to have to have it with a non-standard neck. Leave the bats on the field.
I've been at it for 31 (I'm 44 years old) and never have either.
Some'a you who I've met in person, yes, I'm 44. People think I'm kidding sometimes.
Thank you, I am really digging this bass a bunch! Now just gotta find the right filks to pick some music with and make it do it's thing!
Sweet ! If I could only have a single color of bass, it would be while on white with maple.
I had a 4 banger MM fretless just like that. It was breathtaking.
I had a 4 banger MM fretless just like that. It was breathtaking.
It looks way better in person! Phone camera just does not do it justice!
Now I have a Warwick to get rid of!
Now I have a Warwick to get rid of!
Zoomie, that amp setup is insane. Hopefully, everyone here has followed the thread on the Reiner preamp (JGR is the TB'er who builds those). I've always admired the Carvin power amps for a rack setup, have owned several of them, and still have a DCM-600. A 3000L?? Good gosh.
How do you compare the sound of the Streamliner with the Reiner/Carvin rack setup, playing through the Dually cabinet? Not considering headroom, of course.
Although I admire it to no end, I see the maximum capabilities of this Reiner/Carvin/Dually setup as massive overkill for the majority of gigs most of us here would ever play. Of course, who would ever need to turn it up much past 3 or 4? It's tons of headroom and would not be taxed at all in ANY gig situation, so there is a lot to be said for that. And a heck of a lot of bragging rights among the brethren. It looks amazing, to boot.
There is actually a ton of truth here.
You are absolutely correct. The wattage is beyond ridiculous. The head could easily shoot speaker cones across the room. It was not done for loudness. Greenboy's 1515/66 or even a pair of them would have been better choices to reach insane volumes.
It really was all about headroom. The largest benefit to running a tube pre without a tube power section is that you can dial in warmth/hair/wool and reproduce at any volume running an SS head, versus trying to find the sweet spot hitting the rails on tube power section. I wanted to ensure that at no time would any uncontrolled distortion rear it's ugly head. It can be dialed in to exactly what you want. No more, no less. So yes, it is massive overkill when viewed from a wattage perspective.
Total wattage was not chosen, so much as a by-product when shopping for power. I was looking for reasonably priced, dependable, light weight, and non class D if I could. That narrows the field considerably.
Part of the end design of this rig is driven from "what if". I also operated under the theories of "too much is never enough", in conjunction with "you can't put too much water in a nuclear reactor." It morphed in to what it is currently.
That said, even at quiet volumes, there is a certain fullness that comes out of larger cabs that I have yet to hear out of smaller boxes. The F115 is supposed to retain a significant portion of this but I won't pick it up until next week and have yet to hear it with my own ears.
As for the Reiner 6SL7, the most important thing about it for me is that it is voiced perfect for my tone tastes. You can see in the pic above that I don't stray far from 12 o'clock settings. There is no need.
The Reiner has even better attack dynamics (this could be an irritant for some) than the Streamliner, and I assure you that this is an area in which the Streamliner does well.
The Streamie drove (drives) me crazy as I would dial it in one night and be amazed. The following night in the same room, I would fist fight with it all evening. I have never gotten comfortable with the EQ learning curve of the Streamliner.
With the Reiner, I have yet to EQ any tone I desired that couldn't be clearly heard in a two guitar mix. There were nights when I would have paid big money to get a single usable tone out of the Streamie that could be heard. Again, this is most likely my fault for never becoming one with the Streamie's tone stack.
Absolutely no boominess or bloom. What you dial in is what you get. Now this is somehwat unfair as the Dually sports massive porting. I have read a number of reviews about the Streamliner saying that it does not play nicely with ported cabs. In effect, The Dually exacerbates the Streamliner's potential shortcomings. These same things that drive me crazy are allegedly easily managed with simple cabinet selection and some tube rolling.
That said, I still love it. I am keeping it to pair up with the F115 for small gigs. That's a heck of a lot of thunder for the size of the rig.
I think that it is also important to point out that some people will likely be uninspired by the rig/ and or the tone, especially those that can't live with out horns and juicers. And no one will hurt my feelings by saying it's not for them.
This is MY dream tone and rig. You're welcome to agree or point out that it's not your cup of tea. I enjoy it for what it is, warm, delicious, vintage tone without any of the vintage bad habits and detractions.
Finally, I wanted to share as it's just not a common amplification choice. Sometimes it's nice to talk about something other than Fender or Ampeg.
Zoomie, thanks for taking the time to put your thoughts down. Well articulated!
I would agree with your thoughts on the Streamliner controls. I could not get the hang of the controls either. Mainly for me, selling the Streamliner was about my decision to purchase the Shuttle combo. I like the Shuttle controls, which are very easy to understand. I've been very pleased with the combo, and look forward to hearing it later today with the 12T extension cabinet that should be arriving soon.
From the Genz website, the stock stack picture. I'll do my own picture soon after I get the cab, and can clean out that end of the office/music room for an uncluttered picture site.
I would agree with your thoughts on the Streamliner controls. I could not get the hang of the controls either. Mainly for me, selling the Streamliner was about my decision to purchase the Shuttle combo. I like the Shuttle controls, which are very easy to understand. I've been very pleased with the combo, and look forward to hearing it later today with the 12T extension cabinet that should be arriving soon.
From the Genz website, the stock stack picture. I'll do my own picture soon after I get the cab, and can clean out that end of the office/music room for an uncluttered picture site.
The rigs cannot be compared. I think that both of our rigs represent great value, hence me adding the F115 as an alternative. Just different shades of pure thumpalicious goodness.
My mantra continues to be that there has been no better time in music history to be a bass player. We have so many choices in basses, cabinets, voicings, and flavors of power. And I want to see, hear, and play them all.
Pick your favorite flavor and rock it hard !
Zoomie, thanks for taking the time to put your thoughts down. Well articulated!
I would agree with your thoughts on the Streamliner controls. I could not get the hang of the controls either. Mainly for me, selling the Streamliner was about my decision to purchase the Shuttle combo. I like the Shuttle controls, which are very easy to understand. I've been very pleased with the combo, and look forward to hearing it later today with the 12T extension cabinet that should be arriving soon.
From the Genz website, the stock stack picture. I'll do my own picture soon after I get the cab, and can clean out that end of the office/music room for an uncluttered picture site.
I'd rock that stack in a heartbeat !
I keep hearing that about the Streamliner controls which is kind of funny because the whole deal with that amp is it was created to "streamline" the more complex controls of the Shuttle. I don't have experience with either so I'm guessing that despite being a simpler configuration there is more interaction between controls of the Streamliner.???
Anyone care to elaborate?
Anyone care to elaborate?
I can only speak for myself, PD.
In my case, tone gets buried in the mix. Based on my history with bass amp EQ, I adjust EQ based on what I am hearing or not hearing. No matter what I do ie bring up the mids, or back off the bass, chelps to clear up the mud at times.
I have heard that the boominess/bloom can be resolved with a simple tube swap, putting a jj tesla in V1.
OTOH, the 6SL7 is idiot proof. BASS, LOW MIDS, HIGH MIDS, TREBLE. The adjustments made to the EQ stack do exactly what my ear expects them to do. So it's idiot proof for lack of a better term.
In summery, my problem with the Streamliner is being unable to interpet the interaction between the EQ points in order to make the proper adjustments.
Many people swear by this head and there is no doubt that it is more than capable of some amazing tone. The failure is mine in my inability to operate the danged thing.
