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Favorite all tube amp?

#121
Calaverasgrande said:
I actually am a big fan of gain stagin my amp so that I get touch sensitive overdrive + distortion. Playing lightly it's loud and clean(ish). Whacking it really hard I get big grindy harmonics. The best part is when playing crescendoes and dimminuendoes, the overdrive goes through very gradual changes from the softest to the hardest. THAT is why I love tube amps!:bassist:
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+1 Absolutely! :bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :cool:

And though many a hybrid head has tried, for me, I only experience this with both tube preamp and tube output sections.
 
#122
tombowlus said:
And though many a hybrid head has tried, for me, I only experience this with both tube preamp and tube output sections.
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Yeah, it takes both tube pre and power - and transformers, really. Hey Tom, you know both Passinwind and I have always contemplated the fEARful as a biamp rig with SS on the woofer for the bottom, and all tubes on the mid driver and waveguide (if any). At one point I had a line on a cheap Carvin TS100 for the mid and treble but that deal evaporated.

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There used to be a stereo Peavey tube amp that bridged too but I think it weighed more. But recently this jewel caught my eye, the Invalid Link Removed:

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Light and small for tubes, and some great features for the way I'm thinking. 600 smackers?!?!? I have to admit I'm kinda lusting.
 
#123
I always thought that the 400+ was kinda mushy and bloated sounding until last week.
I have a hard time with the Fender style tone stack. It's nothing like a typical bass amp EQ section.
With the bass at 0, the mids at 8, treble on 1 and EQ out, I was able to get one of the meanest bass tones of ever heard.
I am now in search of a 400+.
 
#124
BZadlo said:
I always thought that the 400+ was kinda mushy and bloated sounding until last week.
I have a hard time with the Fender style tone stack. It's nothing like a typical bass amp EQ section.
With the bass at 0, the mids at 8, treble on 1 and EQ out, I was able to get one of the meanest bass tones of ever heard.
I am now in search of a 400+.
Click to expand...

I know a lot of people come down on the FMV tone stack but, I have recently come to terms with the fact that I love the sound. I have always been a proponent of mids so, I used to look for other options but now I find the inter-connectivity of the controls quite sexy. I also enjoy moving entire frequencies ranges instead of specific frequencies. When I want more mids I either dig in a little harder and make my pups start barking or I find a good EL34 power section to abuse.
 
#125
Off topic question:

What are the first signs of the tubes going bad in an amp?

I bought my 400+ used and it started to make a weird static noise recently... Should I take it to the shop or just change the tubes?
 
#129
Detuned said:
Off topic question:

What are the first signs of the tubes going bad in an amp?
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Power tubes will begin to noticeably lose volume and low end toward the end of their lifespan. Pre-amp tubes usually become microphonic and sound like crap. Some new pre-amp tubes are microphonic when they leave the factory.

Tubes that have pre-mature total failure will either not work at all or will make totally un-musical irritating noise. This usually happens due to the glass enclosed vacuum seal being broken, some internal component comes loose, or improper bias or loose speaker cable causes red-plating + thermal failure. Power tube failures often cause a fuse to blow and resistor to be cooked.

Detuned said:
I bought my 400+ used and it started to make a weird static noise recently... Should I take it to the shop or just change the tubes?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you may have either a faulty cable or loose solder joint in the amp or bass guitar. However, it could be a noisy pre-amp tube. Swap all of the pre-amp tubes to find out.
 
#130
BZadlo said:
I always thought that the 400+ was kinda mushy and bloated sounding until last week.
I have a hard time with the Fender style tone stack. It's nothing like a typical bass amp EQ section.
With the bass at 0, the mids at 8, treble on 1 and EQ out, I was able to get one of the meanest bass tones of ever heard.
I am now in search of a 400+.
Click to expand...

The 400/400+ Preamp section is something unlike most other amps.

With the bass at 2 things are normal, by 3 the bass is getting hugely boosted.

Takes some playing with, and tinkering with when you switch stuff up alot.
 
#131
I'm using sansAmp RBI as a preamp, plugged into the return jack.. It works fine with my SS big block..

I had a 4 ohm cab plugged into a 2 ohm slot.. Think i fried the tubes..
 

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#132
Nightlyraider said:
The 400/400+ Preamp section is something unlike most other amps.

With the bass at 2 things are normal, by 3 the bass is getting hugely boosted.

Takes some playing with, and tinkering with when you switch stuff up alot.
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I played through it 3 nights at SXSW last week.
On the first night I tried bass, mid and treble at 5. I figured the 5 was about 12 o'clock. In my opinion, that is a terrible sound. It was bloated, had no clarity and just made mud on stage. I rarely run the bass control over 11:00 on any amp.

On the second night I tried the old "0-10-0" Fender saying and was immediately blown away.
 
#136
Bunyo said:
And you know what piezo in my Ray opens up everything.
By the way what band you play in? I see you have similar influences to mine. Wright and Boothroyd, especially tha last one, they rule the galaxy ;)
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I was until recently in Hexe. A million years ago I was in a band called Lungbutter. We were on like one comp from France or something.
I was in about a dozen bands inbetween.
 
#137
father of fires said:
I know a lot of people come down on the FMV tone stack but, I have recently come to terms with the fact that I love the sound. I have always been a proponent of mids so, I used to look for other options but now I find the inter-connectivity of the controls quite sexy. I also enjoy moving entire frequencies ranges instead of specific frequencies. When I want more mids I either dig in a little harder and make my pups start barking or I find a good EL34 power section to abuse.
Click to expand...
ya, it's actually a good tone stack for bass. a little different, but unless you're into boosted mids, you can get some nice tones with it. can't quite bring myself to take the plunge on a bass amp with it, but i've recorded bass with my super reverb before and it turned out pretty great.
 
#138
JimmyM said:
ya, it's actually a good tone stack for bass. a little different, but unless you're into boosted mids, you can get some nice tones with it. can't quite bring myself to take the plunge on a bass amp with it, but i've recorded bass with my super reverb before and it turned out pretty great.
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Indeed. Best tone I ever had was a Silverface Bassman 10. I should have held on to that amp.:crying:
 
#139
groovaholic said:
Jeez! No love for the Peavey Classic 400?

I know it's a backbreaking beast to carry, but its an affordable 400-watt, all tube amp.

It sounds huge at ANY volume.
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I've played a Classic 400 and considered buying one until I looked at the inside. It was a mess of multiple complex printed circuit boards with very very thin copper traces. I couldn't even see the tube sockets so I assume that they were soldered to a PCB. Normally, I work on my own amps when and if maintenance is needed, but that one was too complicated.

I have similar reservations about the Marshall VBA400 and Fender 400PS although I'd still get a 400PS if it was within driving distance. There are no PCBs in the 400PS, but it requires special knowledge of that particular amp to work on it.

I chose the Hiwatt 400 (bench tests at 445 watts RMS) because it has a relatively simple handwired circuit and it's versatile in terms of cab options: it can run 1, 2, or 4 cabs (4 output jacks) and 4/8/16Ω selector.
 
#140
The Classic 400 certainly isn't built to the standard of a Hiwatt, but then, what is? (Aside from Reeves)

But...I paid $1.30/Watt for an all-tube bass amp that has the big massive sound I want.

If I ever find a Hiwatt or Reeves I can afford, I'm getting it! Until then, I still have a bada## amp.

Also, I have done mods on my Classic & while it's not Traynor-easy to work on, it was definitely do-able.
 

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