Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0 discussion thread

[MIJ-VI]

Did you try the Ashdown combo's amp into the T-E cab?

 

[Andysalt01]

Did you try the Ashdown combo's amp into the T-E cab?

I didnt even think about that - even though its an obvious one! blast.

 

[Red Planet]

Hi, Ive followed this thread for a while, and am a shuttle 9 owner and really loving it. However last night in rehearsal, whilst warming up and waiting for everyone else to turn up, i set up the amp with a rehearsal cabinet and it sounded terrible.

I use an active 5 string, and was straight into the amp. Hooked up to a trace (1518 I think) cab - 500w at 8ohms. Amp set up was gain set at 2 o'clock, volume at 11, eq flat, presets off master at 3 o'clock. It sounded fine for about 2 mins, then all of a sudden all the bottom dropped out and it was just a thin overdriven sounding mess with no definition or thickness to the tone. Notching down the master, and gain stages did nothing to rectify it. I plugged into an ashdown combo to check the bass and leads, and all was in order.

Went back to the shuttle and trace, and tried again - the upper range was fine, but everything on the B string and E was distorted with no guts. Turning the amp off, then on again after a minute seemed to rectify it for about 20 secs. but then back to the same. The input light wasn't on at any point, and the signal limit light (RHS top) had just started to come on.

I ended up giving up and used the ashdown combo for the night.

I havent been able to run it at home, cause i foolishly sold all my kit and should be getting my new replacement cab saturday morning - barefaceed.

So my query is: does this sound like an amp or cab issue? My gut syays its the cab and I dont trust rehearsal room kit much, but i thought I'd be able to push the amp harder than that into the cab.

If it does sound like an amp problem though, I dont want to harm my new cab come saturday.

Sorry for the length of this, just a concerned user with not a lot of knowledge/experience. cheers

What were your settings? Espicially the master volume.

You have to be careful with this amp cranking it into a cab that may not can handle it can result in damage.

My guess at this point would be the cab could not take what you were giving it.

 

[svtb15]

I think those trace cabs are rated at 200 watts IIRC.... mmmmmm wonder if it went pooof?

 

[Mastermold]

What were your settings? Espicially the master volume.

You have to be careful with this amp cranking it into a cab that may not can handle it can result in damage.

My guess at this point would be the cab could not take what you were giving it.

Yeah when I first got my 9.0 I tried it through two Ampeg 15 cabs, each 8 ohms rated at 200 watts, so I had the full 4 ohms and 900 watts pushing 400 watts in cab rating. Sounded fine at low volume, but when we started pushing the volume the tone got nasty and I had to back down. Try a better cab is my guess.

 

[agedhorse]

Here's a couple of troubleshooting tips that may help determine what is actually bad...

1. Try that cabinet with another amp AND cable. It's possible that it's the cable too. Just recently resolved an "amp problem" for another TB forumite that turned out to be a loose terminal inside the SpeakOn connector.

2. If that's good, THEN try the same speaker and cable combination on the Shuttle.

3. If that's good, you have ruled out the amp as a possible source of the trouble. Then with the known good cable, try the suspect cabinet with the Shuttle. IF the problem comes back, it's a bad cabinet. If it's still good, try the suspect bad cable. ote that the cable may be intermittent.

4. If the speaker is really rated for 200 watts RMS, it's likely that you are overdriving the speaker... OR that somebody previously overdrove it with their big amp. This is not uncommon in a reherasl space situation. Your Shuttle can deliver realisticly on the order of 600-650 watts RMS into 8 ohms, and over 900 watts RMS into 4 ohms. Considerably more than that cabinet appears to handle.

5. Your Shuttle has some very sophisticated protection circuitry, and if it detects anything that is not considered a legal load (a load within the design parameters of the amp), it will do everything possible to protect itself. A speaker that has been seriously overdriven may exhibit damage by a shift in it's electrical parameters, things like insulation breakdown on the voice coil wire can cause essentially shorted turns and a lower that allowable DCR and impedance. Additionally, shorted turns on a VC really sounds terrible because shorted turns in a magnetic field act as a mechanical load to the moving mass.

Another possibility is that the cabinet was modified, or incorrectly repaired in the past. Perhaps somebody replaced the drivers with new ones that were the wrong (lower) impedance. Maybe they removed or modified the crossover.

Another possibility is that the cabinet was designed with a crossover that allowed for serious sub-nominal impedance regions that today's modern class D amps identify as an illegal load and protect themselves rather than the old school amps that would drive it ok for a while... until they blew up. This is one reason why (many of) today's high quality class D amps are more reliable than older technologies.

If you need more information or additional help, feel free to PM me and I'll get this sorted out for you.

 

[Fretlessboy]

The Uber's kick. Ilove the 9.0/Uber210 combination. Small tight and ballsy

Well the Genz Benz Uber 2x10 might be better than my Golight 2x10 I don't be knowing. Though I would look at the Uber 2x12 simply because its 4 ohms.

The MarkBass is a great amp no doubt. My only problem with it tone wise is I can not get that old school tone out of it without a pedal and the extra added power of the 9.0 is a sho nuff plus.

The 9.0 will get the old school tone or a modern tone. The 9.0 is waaaaayyy more Tube like sounding. I was pretty much leaving the MarkBass at rehearsal and taking the Genz Benz home with me and to other places. After my band-mates threatened violence, I pretty much just use the 9.0 all the time now.

The Genz Benz Bass Boost and Mid Scoop buttons I like to think of as the Ampeg switches. The Mid Scoop takes you straight to SVT city and add the Bass Boost and you have imideate SVT 4x10 HLF tone. Plus they are foot-switchable.

Occasionally I play in a rock band and last weekend I ran the 9.0 through an Ampeg 8x10 and it freakin pumped that thing.

If I were you, I would go with a Shuttle 9.0. MarkBass does make an LM800 (wich I've not tried) but everyone says the LMIII sounds better. If your interested I know someone who has an LMIII for sale.


I can not say enough of how satisfied I am with the 9.0.

 

[jokerjkny]

Hi, Ive followed this thread for a while, and am a shuttle 9 owner and really loving it. However last night in rehearsal, whilst warming up and waiting for everyone else to turn up, i set up the amp with a rehearsal cabinet and it sounded terrible.

I use an active 5 string, and was straight into the amp. Hooked up to a trace (1518 I think) cab - 500w at 8ohms. Amp set up was gain set at 2 o'clock, volume at 11, eq flat, presets off master at 3 o'clock. It sounded fine for about 2 mins, then all of a sudden all the bottom dropped out and it was just a thin overdriven sounding mess with no definition or thickness to the tone. Notching down the master, and gain stages did nothing to rectify it. I plugged into an ashdown combo to check the bass and leads, and all was in order.

Went back to the shuttle and trace, and tried again - the upper range was fine, but everything on the B string and E was distorted with no guts. Turning the amp off, then on again after a minute seemed to rectify it for about 20 secs. but then back to the same. The input light wasn't on at any point, and the signal limit light (RHS top) had just started to come on.

I ended up giving up and used the ashdown combo for the night.

I havent been able to run it at home, cause i foolishly sold all my kit and should be getting my new replacement cab saturday morning - barefaceed.

So my query is: does this sound like an amp or cab issue? My gut syays its the cab and I dont trust rehearsal room kit much, but i thought I'd be able to push the amp harder than that into the cab.

If it does sound like an amp problem though, I dont want to harm my new cab come saturday.

Sorry for the length of this, just a concerned user with not a lot of knowledge/experience. cheers

agree on all points,

try heading to your local music retailer, and just plug into as many cabs as possible, and yes, use a different speaker cable, and even a different instrument cable.

 

[agedhorse]

Andysalt - did you get a chance to try any of the suggestions I gave you?

 

[thejohnkim]

Re: Andysalt

also check your surrounds on the drivers in that cab. it sounds like you might have torn a surround. (the accordian type stuff that circles the speaker at the edges) when i tore a surround in a cab, it would sound fine in the upper notes, but once i tried a lower note where the driver would really need to move, it sounded all thin and ratty

EDIT:

nevermind, i guess my hypothesis doesnt make sense since you said your amp would sound fine for 20 secs after cycling it off and on.

 

[Andysalt01]

Hi, thanks for all the repsonses - been away with no net access. I get a new cab tomorrow, so should be able to plug in to something differentwednesday - also picked up a new cable to eliminate that side of things.

Really appreciate the support and suggestions and I'll come back once I've been through it all. Unfortunately I wont be able to get to a music store or do anything more til wednesday night, so I'll be sure to let you know. Thanks again guys.

 

[Red Planet]

OK back to the 9.0.

Anyone noticed how one can get an old school tone or a modern tone out of it? Effortlessly even.

 

[Jarrett]

Hopefully going to check one out today to see if its going to be my next amp. Any cab suggestions? I'm looking for a 10-based cab to pair up with it. Like the Uber 2x10 or maybe a SWR Golight 4x10. Want something in the 50-60lb range that can make use of the wattage of the Shuttle 9.0

 

[stjohn1299]

Red Planet, I have noticed that there is a lot of versatility in the gain/pre vol adjustments and the eq section. I've only been able to listen to my 9.0 thru headphones, since my cab is yet to arrive. There are dramatic differences with just minor adjustments. It's a welcome change from my last amp, not to mention it's about 40 lbs lighter.

 

[Dr Funk]

OK back to the 9.0.

Anyone noticed how one can get an old school tone or a modern tone out of it? Effortlessly even.

My observations using most of the current line up of micro amps on my gigs are that while they are all nice the rule is that they each do one thing well. As some say a "one trick pony". The 9.0 continues to impress me as the exception to the rule, subtle changes to the pre amp controls offer many different tonal and voicing variations. My gigs are very diverse. One night I'm thumping through a UL-610 to keep the dancers moving. The next I'm playing a dinner show at the Kennedy Center with one UL2-410. One thing that has become very evident to me is that the 9.0 has been appropriate in every one of these situations. It took some hands on time with all of these micros to sort it out, but the 9.0 is clearly my go to amp for 95% of my gigs. I am very pleased with the results and at 4 pounds all I can say is wow!

 

[agedhorse]

Hi, thanks for all the repsonses - been away with no net access. I get a new cab tomorrow, so should be able to plug in to something differentwednesday - also picked up a new cable to eliminate that side of things.

Really appreciate the support and suggestions and I'll come back once I've been through it all. Unfortunately I wont be able to get to a music store or do anything more til wednesday night, so I'll be sure to let you know. Thanks again guys.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[Mastermold]

My observations using most of the current line up of micro amps on my gigs are that while they are all nice the rule is that they each do one thing well. As some say a "one trick pony". The 9.0 continues to impress me as the exception to the rule, subtle changes to the pre amp controls offer many different tonal and voicing variations. My gigs are very diverse. One night I'm thumping through a UL-610 to keep the dancers moving. The next I'm playing a dinner show at the Kennedy Center with one UL2-410. One thing that has become very evident to me is that the 9.0 has been appropriate in every one of these situations. It took some hands on time with all of these micros to sort it out, but the 9.0 is clearly my go to amp for 95% of my gigs. I am very pleased with the results and at 4 pounds all I can say is wow!

The 9.0 also does classic rock and blues tones like there's no tomorrow. Paired with my Uber 410 (sans tweeter) and I have no need to haul my Ampeg rig out to roots gigs ever again:

 

[Jarrett]

Just picked up a Shuttle 9.0 and SWR Golight 2x10 today. Going to put them through paces here at home for a while see how it goes. Thanks for all the info.

Does any know if the Shuttle 9.0 can be used without a speaker load on it? I have zero stage volume gig that I would love to take it on if possible. Under the Headphone Out section, the manual says "A speaker load is not required" But I'm wondering if thats only when the headphone jack is in use or any time.

 

[Jarrett]

Whew, just ran the Shuttle 9.0 into the SWR Golight 2x10 and an Ashdown 4x10 at the same time. It just amazes me how loud this little thing can get. I'm starting to believe the 900 watts at 4 ohms claim.

The Shuttle 9.0 just into the SWR Golight 2x10 by itself is considerably louder, better sounding and lighter than my old Ampeg PortaBass250 combo. I figured it was about 42lbs for that setup and around 400-450 watts. I think my Ampeg combo just got replaced.

Now I'm wondering about trading in the Ashdown 4x10 and Ampeg combo for either a SWR Marcus Miller Golight 4x10 or a Genz Benz Uber 4x10.

 

[Mastermold]

Now I'm wondering about trading in the Ashdown 4x10 and Ampeg combo for either a SWR Marcus Miller Golight 4x10 or a Genz Benz Uber 4x10.

I can highly recommend the GB Uber 410 (4 ohm). I just picked one up for my 9.0 and (not surprisingly) they're a match made in heaven. This is (IMO) the only rig you'd ever need for virtually any style of music and for any venue shy of a stadium show.

And I'll just add that I've never had customer service as good as I've received from GB. I'm a client for life.