Forgive me if this has been discussed before.

[TrevorOfDoom]

Another vote for Orange my AD200B simply amplifies the sound of my bass without any other additives or fillers.

Except it has a Fender tone stack in it, making it mid scooped with all knobs at noon.

I own and love the TerrorBass 500 which has the same preamp in it. I just crank my mids and keep treble and bass at noon or lower, and it's close enough to "flat" for me.

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

Most of my playing is direct to board, with the amp only being a personal monitor because I don't care for the way in-ear systems work for bass. So it's really a non-issue for me.

Check out the ButtKicker system. Totally changes things. I LOVE my IEM's now.

 

[Passinwind]

Do you prefer an amp to have a transparent sound or a definitive tone?

If I ever heard a truly transparent amp I'm sure I would love it. Hasn't happened yet, and I'm not not holding my breath either. Link Removed

 

[logicman69]

I prefer a more transparent tone. I like the sound of my basses to come through.

 

[ofajen]

You are forgiven.

Otto

 

[drummer5359]

I do believe that Ampegs have their own "sound", and it works for me. I have a SVT Classic, SVT 3 Pro, various Ampeg cabinets, a BA 210 and a BA 115HP. They don't sound exactly alike, but they do all have that Ampeg character and I can get a similar tone out of any of them.

I also have a Fender Bassman TV 12 that has it's own sound. I particularly like it for backing acoustic guitarists.

So, to answer your question, I like having a certain sound baked it. Maybe it may be less versatile, but it is a sound that works well for me.

 

[ariwax]

I prefer an amp with opacity. That way you can't see the unsightly power cord and speaker cables from the front.

 

[1954bassman]

It seems I prefer amps that have "baked-in" tone. I say this because my favorite amp choices through the years have been GK, Eden, and Mesa. But I have played through plenty of other amps that have a distinctive tone and have liked them as well. Some amps sound similar, some completely different. We live in a great world of many colors.

 

[Barry Bass]

I know they are pricey, but Markbass amps/cabinets are much more transparent than anything else I have heard. I found that most amps even running them flat will start by coloring the sound and it gets worse from there. I know others might not agree with this.

 

[TripleDouble]

I like both, I have a Carvin micro that's pretty neutral and flexible and a Mesa tube head. Both rock at their own thing. If a room (or house "engineer"...) is swampy, the BX500 does the job better. If I can turn up and thunder away in a good sounding environment, nothing like a big old tube rig for me. If I had to pick, I'd say tubey character wins and I'd deal with the occasional frustration or limitation and not being able to be lazy with the schlep...when it's good, it's a great thing. Kind of like an old Wurly 200A compared to a Nord, gotta pick your compromises either way.

 

[SteveCS]

Having used 2x15, 4x12, 1x12, 15+2x8 and 4x10 over the years, I suggest that the overall voice of a rig is more dependent on cab than amp

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Do you prefer an amp to have a transparent sound or a definitive tone?

For example a lot of modern manufacturers like Aguilar for example Tonal Transparency as a selling point. Others like Ampeg and Alembic essentially use Fender Showman Circuits which are renowned for their midrange response.

So which do you prefer?

C/S,
Rev J

Aguilar is a poor example of "Transparency" if you ask me - the TH I had colored my sounds a fair amount; I didn't end up keeping it, it felt a bit too woolly / not snappy enough - in effect, not transparent enough for my tastes. Currently running a techamp puma that lets me fiddle with the whole "transparency" thing with the "taste" knob. Sounds pretty good to me!

 

[Lo-E]

I like it both ways, depending upon the project I'm using it for, the cabinet I'm plugging into and the basses I'm likely to be using.

I have four heads and three of them have very baked-in but very different sounds: an Eden WT-400, Aguilar TH-500 and Ampeg SVT III-Pro. The last, a Carvin BX-500 is very transparent with a very flexible EQ. I like all four, but all for different reasons and for reaching different goals.

 

[SamuelSandoval]

Aguilar is a poor example of "Transparency" if you ask me - the TH I had colored my sounds a fair amount; I didn't end up keeping it, it felt a bit too woolly / not snappy enough - in effect, not transparent enough for my tastes. Currently running a techamp puma that lets me fiddle with the whole "transparency" thing with the "taste" knob. Sounds pretty good to me!

Do you prefer an amp to have a transparent sound or a definitive tone?

For example a lot of modern manufacturers like Aguilar for example Tonal Transparency as a selling point. Others like Ampeg and Alembic essentially use Fender Showman Circuits which are renowned for their midrange response.

So which do you prefer?

C/S,
Rev J

Yeah, I wouldn't say Aguilar is transparent either. I personally like Aguilar quite a bit, and certainly because of the "warm" "wooly" non-transparent tone you get.

I'd say transparent is more like GK, SWR, Tecamp, Hartke and a lot others... where if you dial some treble you get a hifi top end. I def do not get that from my Aguilar rig - not that I want it personally.

 

[dreamadream99]

I love Gallien-Krueger for my electric because of their famous tone coloring.
I love Acoustic Image for my upright because it doesn't alter the tone at all.

 

[levis76]

About as transparent as they come.

 

[blindrabbit]

Do you prefer an amp to have a transparent sound or a definitive tone?

For example a lot of modern manufacturers like Aguilar for example Tonal Transparency as a selling point. Others like Ampeg and Alembic essentially use Fender Showman Circuits which are renowned for their midrange response.

So which do you prefer?

C/S,
Rev J

I'm not sure any amp is transparent outside of audiophile grade studio or home audio ones. As well, Aguilar is certainly not at all transparent, it has a gorgeous complex midrange baked into it which makes it absolutely wonderful.

Never heard of this Fender being the same as Ampeg business before either. I'd be curious to hear where you are getting all this information from.

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

I like the ampeg tone. I hear it in all of their products.

 

[pravus]

Aguilar has a fairly colored tone as many others have stated. I will say that to my ears the AG-500 is the least colored and tends more towards what I would call "clean". That being said, it doesn't even come close to either of my Glockenklang Heart Rock II or Bergantino B/Amp. Those are both crystal clear sounding with very neutral voicings to me. The Glockenklang is a little more on the rawer side.

My experience with Ampeg, GK and Genz Benz has all been good clear tone with very distinct voicings. The GK 800RB I have is very modern sounding. The Genz Benz I used to own was somewhat modern but was also another example of being on the cleaner side of things. My Ampeg gear gets both a good, deep, somewhat modern tone (e.g. SVP-Pro) but also has a nice, round and full vintage side (e.g. SVP-CL). It's entirely different from the Aguilar vintage sound which is warmer and more mid-present without the clear, deep lows that the Ampeg gets.

All around I just enjoy messing with amps. They are all pretty good at making good sounds.

 

[JimmyM]

Another aspect of this convo is not all amps of the same brand are voiced the same. For example, Ampeg has amps voiced like the SVT and SVT 7 Pro where it's definitely not flat with knobs at noon, and amps like the V4B and PF-50T that measure dead flat with knobs at noon. So to lump all amps of a certain brand into a category based on one amp is doing the company and yourself a disservice...unless of course a particular company's amps are all the same