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Finally my GAS is gone...

P

pkatzman

Sep 28, 2007
17
0
Atlanta, GA
#1
Well, after much deliberation and about 2-3 weeks spent trying to deal with Guitar Center (I wanted to either buy a LMII or a CMD-102P) I gave up and went by my favorite bass store ever, Atlanta Bass Gallery.

I tried a number of Phil Jones Bass combos (the Briefcase and Suitcase, I believe) and while impressive, they just weren't for me. :hmm: Looked at a SWR 10" combo, also not quite my thing. Then I tried a Genz-Benz Neo-Pak 3.5 and HOT DAMN. I was truly sold when I heard the price, too. :eek:

The GB 4x10 I tried was surely out of my budget, so I started poking around looking at various 2x10s and 1x12s. Almost immediately fell in love with an Aguilar GS112 - well, actually, it's tweed/blonde cousin. :D

So now I have a great little, punchy, loud rig I can take with me to college without breaking my back (something that can't be said of my Ampeg B100r) or bank. Now I just hope I don't have to get thrown out of the dorms for making too much noise... :bassist:

Anyway, just thought I'd share with you all, my fellow bass enthusiasts. And I'm sure anyone in the Atlanta are can speak to the awesomeness of Jim and Darren. Just a kick-ass store, with an awesome selection and prices flexible enough for a high school student!
 
#3
That's a nice rig. I have a Neo-pak, and I've tested it through a friends gs112. Those little 112's are great. Small, light, and sound very good. I think you made a great choice!
 
#5
Well, alright! It's always good to hear news of cabs that sound good with the Neo-Pak head. I suspect just about any cab would, actually!

What kind of price did you get on the head? If it's an :eek: price, you ought to advertise it for ABG! There are still players looking for Neo-Paks and not for Shuttles.. the price difference is substantial and definitely a factor now. Neo-Paks are a tremendous value, either used or new. Plus, the Neo-Pak sounds the same as the Shuttle 6.0, for half the price now.

Congrats on the new gear, Katzman! Play it!! Are you going to be looking for a gig there at school? What school are you going to?
 
#8
ShirazBop said:
Man, I thought my Gas was gone but you touched on two strong elements...light weight flexible toned tub head paired with a punchy light weight vintage looking cab... Does the tweed sport a tweeter??? For a finger style player, this sounds mighty attractive...
Click to expand...

Yeah, it does. I love having a cab with a tweeter in it, coming from my Ampeg. Just awesome.

MichaelVee said:
Well, alright! It's always good to hear news of cabs that sound good with the Neo-Pak head. I suspect just about any cab would, actually!

What kind of price did you get on the head? If it's an :eek: price, you ought to advertise it for ABG! There are still players looking for Neo-Paks and not for Shuttles.. the price difference is substantial and definitely a factor now. Neo-Paks are a tremendous value, either used or new. Plus, the Neo-Pak sounds the same as the Shuttle 6.0, for half the price now.

Congrats on the new gear, Katzman! Play it!! Are you going to be looking for a gig there at school? What school are you going to?
Click to expand...

$450 on the head, I was astonished. I was kinda lusting after a Shuttle, but honestly couldn't justify the price premium (especially given the similarities in the sound, as you mentioned.)

I hope to be involved in some kinda group wherever I end up, especially not having seriously played with other people in forever. Even if its more studio, session-type stuff that'd be fine. I might actually end up doing more of that, since that's what I want to go to school for - music production/engineering.

Don't know what school I'm going to yet. Applied to 12, heard back from (and got into) 6. Still have to have an interview at U-M and an audition and UNCA, so we'll see how those both go.

Pics to follow, as soon as I stop being a lazy bum, :D
 
#9
I had gas for a Shuttle for a while, but my Neo-pak is just superb. Used it this morning at church, running at 2.67 ohms (which the Shuttle's CAN'T do) and I had gobs of volume to spare. It's big enough to look like a real head, heavy enough to stay put on the cabinet, and light enough to make carrying it a breeze. Sure I'd like to have 50% more power, but why I don't know. I've never once needed it to be more powerful.
 
#10
Eublet said:
I had gas for a Shuttle for a while, but my Neo-pak is just superb. Used it this morning at church, running at 2.67 ohms (which the Shuttle's CAN'T do) and I had gobs of volume to spare. It's big enough to look like a real head, heavy enough to stay put on the cabinet, and light enough to make carrying it a breeze. Sure I'd like to have 50% more power, but why I don't know. I've never once needed it to be more powerful.
Click to expand...

Well that's good to hear. In the small amount of experience I've had with it, I've not at all felt like I needed more volume or headroom. More than loud enough to drive the neighbors nuts.

Yeah, I remember reading in a thread here on TB about some newer (or modded?) runs of the NeoPak being able to run as low as 2 ohms, but when I bought it Jim didn't seem to know what I was talking about. How would I know if mine is one of the models capable of running at 2 ohms?
 
#11
Look under the speaker connections. It'll say what the minimum load is (4 ohm or 2 ohm). You can have Genz Benz do the upgrade for you by contacting them. Last I heard, they were doing the upgrade for free for all TB'ers. You pay to ship the head to them, and they'll do the upgrade and pay for the return shipping. Heck of a deal. You'll have to verify with Genz if that's still available or not.
 
#12
pkatzman said:
Well that's good to hear. In the small amount of experience I've had with it, I've not at all felt like I needed more volume or headroom. More than loud enough to drive the neighbors nuts.

Yeah, I remember reading in a thread here on TB about some newer (or modded?) runs of the NeoPak being able to run as low as 2 ohms, but when I bought it Jim didn't seem to know what I was talking about. How would I know if mine is one of the models capable of running at 2 ohms?
Click to expand...

If it's already 2 ohm capable, it'll say so on the back. If it says 4 ohm minimum, it just needs a mod by the Genz folks. PM Talkbass user Hasbeen about that ... they do it for free if you'll ship it back to them, and they have been turning them around very quickly. They may be swamped right now with demand for the Shuttles, though, so I have no idea how fast they're doing this upgrade right now.

Enjoy the NeoPak. It's an awesome head. And if you end up needing more volume, you can add another GS112. Or two, if you have the 2 ohm mod. 450 or so watts into 3x12 will really kick it out ...

edit: Jason beat me to the punch regarding the upgrade ... ;)

Cheers
 
#13
Awesome, thanks for the replies, guys. I'll get on that tomorrow, I just checked and it only says 4 ohms. Hopefully shipping won't cost that much. Any idea if they'll be doing it for a while, though? I can't picture needing that much more volume any time soon, I doubt I'll have the need any time in the next 4-ish years. And if anything, 2 1x12s would most likely to the trick, :D

Thanks again, all.
 
#14
PM Roger (Hasbeen) about that. It is a discontinued head, so I can't imagine they'll keep a never-ending supply of the part that does the upgrade.

And as for the NeoPak into 2 12's, I played a loud southern rock gig at a large biker bar with the NeoPak into the Genz Neox212t cab. Loud guitars, drums, lead and backing vocals, and I didn't have to push the amp that hard to compete.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=346375

Cheers
 

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