Genz Benz Streamliner, Part 10

[TinIndian]

Oh, Yeah! Definately glad I picked up the NeoX 212T. I played with it some more over the weekend and that is the tone is was looking for! The notes just have more "weight" to them. I played My Lakland 55-02, P bass, Spector NS2A and my Warwick Fortress Masterman thru it. All of them sounded great. Very deep and clear and my mediocre slap on my Masterman sounded killer.

Looks like I'll be moving the Hartke out.

 

[gustobassman]

Great-check back when you dial it in. I like the Streamliner as a recording pre-I had my eye on a couple more expensive preamps to record with and Im sure Ill follow up with that if I continue to record like I have this past year. But the Streamliner does a really nice job getting a nice warm signal for tracking.

Bassjam, checking back in with my basic recording experiments.

Upon hours of rigorous testing (well, more like 2 or 3 ) i determined the Streamliner 900 sounds FANTASTIC as a recording preamp. And, i have solved the volume issue that i was previously having. The result was EXTREME USER ERROR.

I have to admit i didn't know there was an EXTERNAL volume control on the Tascam. Oops, silly me

 

[SpecialBlender]

One of my local music shops has been a Genz dealer for several years. He's never had more than a Shuttle 6.0 1-12 in his shop.

Imagine my surprise when I stopped in this week and to my surprise he has brought in an Uber410, 1288 and 1-15 cabs and a Streamliner 6.

I didn't have a lot of time to try everything out but have been interested in what an Uber410 sounded like, looking to maybe pair it up with my Max 12.0.

The Uber410 (4 ohm) combined with the Streamliner I think is the best sounding rig I have ever played through.

Time to start selling some of my gear off, I think I've found my holy grail.

 

[dukeorock]

The Uber410 (4 ohm) combined with the Streamliner I think is the best sounding rig I have ever played through.

Time to start selling some of my gear off, I think I've found my holy grail.

Congrats! I still play a ShuttleMax 9.2 and a 12.0 and also love the Streamliners. I've toured the Uber 410, Uber 212 and a Genz 410XB2. If I still played 410's, it'd be one or two Uber 410s, for sure

 

[bassjam]

Bassjam, checking back in with my basic recording experiments.

Upon hours of rigorous testing (well, more like 2 or 3 ) i determined the Streamliner 900 sounds FANTASTIC as a recording preamp. And, i have solved the volume issue that i was previously having. The result was EXTREME USER ERROR.

I have to admit i didn't know there was an EXTERNAL volume control on the Tascam. Oops, silly me

Good deal I'm glad you figured it out.I had the same issues until I got all the different gain structures set right.Im sure at some point,if I continue recording as much as I did last year and starting this year, Ill invest in a nice studio pre.But honestly I've been pleased with the sound that I get and I haven't felt rushed to do so.Feel free to PM me your email address and I'd be happy to send you a clip or two from a couple recording projects.

 

[agedhorse]

Good deal I'm glad you figured it out.I had the same issues until I got all the different gain structures set right.Im sure at some point,if I continue recording as much as I did last year and starting this year, Ill invest in a nice studio pre.But honestly I've been pleased with the sound that I get and I haven't felt rushed to do so.Feel free to PM me your email address and I'd be happy to send you a clip or two from a couple recording projects.

You don't need a studio pre to record with any of the Shuttles or Streamliners. Set the output level to line and take the line level balanced output directly into your DAW. Everything you need is already built into your amp. Using an external preamp is going backwards.

 

[dukeorock]

You don't need a studio pre to record with any of the Shuttles or Streamliners. Set the output level to line and take the line level balanced output directly into your DAW. Everything you need is already built into your amp. Using an external preamp is going backwards.

Yep! I run my ShuttleMax direct for recording and it sounds fantastic

 

[bassjam]

You don't need a studio pre to record with any of the Shuttles or Streamliners. Set the output level to line and take the line level balanced output directly into your DAW. Everything you need is already built into your amp. Using an external preamp is going backwards.

Yeah i do this-works great .I was referring to trying one of the ever popular REDDI's or other high end unit in place of the Streamliner, not in addition to.My point was I was in search for one for my little studio until I tried the Streamliner.I was impressed enough with the tone I'm getting that I haven't felt a need to try something different.

 

[popgadget]

Congrats! I still play a ShuttleMax 9.2 and a 12.0 and also love the Streamliners. I've toured the Uber 410, Uber 212 and a Genz 410XB2. If I still played 410's, it'd be one or two Uber 410s, for sure

What do you play now? 810's?

 

[gustobassman]

You don't need a studio pre to record with any of the Shuttles or Streamliners. Set the output level to line and take the line level balanced output directly into your DAW. Everything you need is already built into your amp. Using an external preamp is going backwards.

This is what i did and man... i am happy! Very versatile this Streamliner.

I jammed today with 2 LOUD guitarists and once they got their frequency issues worked out my bass just fit right in the mix. Gain at 1:00 volume at 2:00 and the whole 10-2-10 thing, mids @ 600. Even in a small room, i was very clear.

The one thing that intrigues me about this amp is that going from my "technical surf-rock" band with one guitar, and then to my "heavy rock" band with 2 loud geetars, i haven't had to change the settings at all. It really just seems to "fit" whatever style i'm playing.

 

[svtb15]

The Streamliner does make a good recording pre.. either PRE or POSt EQ..Either way you have a Tube preamp... very quiet.. In POST you can get some great stuff going on too.. exceptional high quality... Yes I would would put it up against a NEVE.. I have a NEVE and i need to try and do an AB.. actaully its a Neve Clone by Wonder Audio... The Streamliner can get a huge low like a neve.. I know it sounds far fetched. but it really does sound that good...
and wide...

You don't need a studio pre to record with any of the Shuttles or Streamliners. Set the output level to line and take the line level balanced output directly into your DAW. Everything you need is already built into your amp. Using an external preamp is going backwards.

 

[dukeorock]

What do you play now? 810's?

Well...no But this is a Genz thread, so we'll stick to their fine products...I still use and love the amps like crazy

 

[agedhorse]

This is what i did and man... i am happy! Very versatile this Streamliner.

I jammed today with 2 LOUD guitarists and once they got their frequency issues worked out my bass just fit right in the mix. Gain at 1:00 volume at 2:00 and the whole 10-2-10 thing, mids @ 600. Even in a small room, i was very clear.

The one thing that intrigues me about this amp is that going from my "technical surf-rock" band with one guitar, and then to my "heavy rock" band with 2 loud geetars, i haven't had to change the settings at all. It really just seems to "fit" whatever style i'm playing.

Maybe you are finding all the necessary tonal stuff in your fingers by changing your playing approach between bands?

 

[bassjam]

The Streamliner does make a good recording pre.. either PRE or POSt EQ..Either way you have a Tube preamp... very quiet.. In POST you can get some great stuff going on too.. exceptional high quality... Yes I would would put it up against a NEVE.. I have a NEVE and i need to try and do an AB.. actaully its a Neve Clone by Wonder Audio... The Streamliner can get a huge low like a neve.. I know it sounds far fetched. but it really does sound that good...
and wide...

I pretty much go post all the time-I've found a couple EQsettings that work well and indeed dead quiet. I can get big and fat and also quick and punchy with a bit of roundness- I've really enjoyed it!! The engineer that mixed and mastered the last project I did was very complimentary of the bass tracks and sent me an email asking what I did to get that tone- Lakland 55-94 and FBN5 to Empress compressor to Streamliner to Apogee interface to Logic.Thats it.

 

[gustobassman]

Maybe you are finding all the necessary tonal stuff in your fingers by changing your playing approach between bands?

SShhhh.... don't tell everyone! Man, you engineers are smart!

It's just a great amp! I've been trying to get "that tube tone" for years with a Sansamp & whatever i had at the time. I really like how responsive the amp is to digging in or playing lightly.

 

[svtb15]

Ive been Gaining up my streamliner lately to get it to slightly get dirty on hard hits... freaking great amp. It can do clean but it can do sledgehammer too...

 

[ale29]

Just arrived here a Genz Streamliner 900.
I'm pairing it with Fender P bass into a Bergantino HS210. So far, so good.
I think I need to quite understand the gain structure yet, though.
As far as I experienced, Gain, Volume and Master pots provide a linear (to the ear) increment of the output from 0 to 10. That's nice, allows for an easier fine tuning.
At first I set everything at 12 o'clock and the output seemed low-ish to me. I tried to increase the Master first and the volume increased but nothing dramatic really. Set it to 12 o'clock again, increased the volume and gain instead: there's a huge boost in output in the 12 o'clock - 3 o'clock range. Can't remember if the Gain button was pushed.

Another thing I noticed is that I couldn't get the head into overdrive territory at bedroom levels (aka very quiet levels): do the master and volume need to be pushed a little bit as well to obtain an OD or is there something wrong?

And last, I experimented a bit with the DI out into my M-Audio fast track sound card and with the headphone out. Very good tone.
Still, compared to my old GK 700RB II, the pre-eq DI out had a much lower output (used to crank the DI out level with the GK though). With the post-eq I can attain hotter signals by cranking the volume and gain a bit
Same with the headphone out: I'm getting a VERY good and hot sound by setting gain, volume and master at 12 o'clock with the gain button PUSHED. If the button is off, it starts to be a bit quiet.
I'm not really sure if those are problems at all or if I just need to get a hold of this new head with a completely different gain structure.
Otherwise, the sound blew me away so far.

 

[Mastermold]

Just arrived here a Genz Streamliner 900.
I'm pairing it with Fender P bass into a Bergantino HS210. So far, so good.
I think I need to quite understand the gain structure yet, though.
As far as I experienced, Gain, Volume and Master pots provide a linear (to the ear) increment of the output from 0 to 10. That's nice, allows for an easier fine tuning.
At first I set everything at 12 o'clock and the output seemed low-ish to me. I tried to increase the Master first and the volume increased but nothing dramatic really. Set it to 12 o'clock again, increased the volume and gain instead: there's a huge boost in output in the 12 o'clock - 3 o'clock range. Can't remember if the Gain button was pushed.

Another thing I noticed is that I couldn't get the head into overdrive territory at bedroom levels (aka very quiet levels): do the master and volume need to be pushed a little bit as well to obtain an OD or is there something wrong?

And last, I experimented a bit with the DI out into my M-Audio fast track sound card and with the headphone out. Very good tone.
Still, compared to my old GK 700RB II, the pre-eq DI out had a much lower output (used to crank the DI out level with the GK though). With the post-eq I can attain hotter signals by cranking the volume and gain a bit
Same with the headphone out: I'm getting a VERY good and hot sound by setting gain, volume and master at 12 o'clock with the gain button PUSHED. If the button is off, it starts to be a bit quiet.
I'm not really sure if those are problems at all or if I just need to get a hold of this new head with a completely different gain structure.
Otherwise, the sound blew me away so far.

You need to push the gain button in to ramp up the volume. The master volume set at noon doesn't get super loud, not until past 2:00 or so. There are several posts around here about settings that I found really helpful when I picked up my SL900. You're going to love this amp! Congrats!

 

[agedhorse]

A couple of things that might help...

1. If you are looking for an overdriven sound, these are most affected by the gain control and the gain switch. It's also affected by the output level of your bass.

2. The channel volume control is used to help balance gain structure to get a good match between gain stages as well as to provide more options when using the effects loop.

3. The DI output should be set to line level when using with the line level input of your FastTrack sound card. Using the mic level position will not give you adequate level.

 

[ale29]

Thanks for your suggestions.

I'm testing mostly its DI and headphone out at the moment: I get some breakup if i keep the gain around 2-3 o'clock with the gain button in. (mind you, that's with bass set at 9 o'clock)

I'm using line level input.
What I'm doing is keeping the guitar gain of my Fast Track fully counterclockwise, to bypass its poor pre section. I'm using the M-Audio just as an interface to plug my head to my PC basically, and I'm relying totally on my head's pre without using the Fast Track's one. I used to do that with my past head as well. This means obviously a much lower gain but a higher quality: with the GK head I used the dedicated DI level pot to compensate by turning it to the max. This was enough to get a hot signal with pre-eq.
I can't do that with the Streamliner, so I'm using the post-eq DI and I crank the gain and volume to get enough output.
On a side note, the post-eq DI of the STL is miles ahead of the GK in terms of tone, noise AND potential output.

I'm using the DI everyday at home this way, maybe not a proper one, to rehearse at home with Guitar Rig 5 and a set of headphones. I'll deal with the fact that the pre-eq DI on the streamliner is not hot enough for this task, given the fact that the post-eq is totally fine.

Just to be sure the DI on the head is totally fine: I've found that the pre-eq DI has a signal that is comparable to the post-eq one with gain and volume set approximately @ 2 o'clock and gain button off. Is that correct? (this with bass at 9 o'clock)

I'm sorry I can't make a more thorough review of the head ATM; can't wait for the moment when i'll be pushing my Berg a bit with it. Tonally is a completely different universe from the GK. The sound, with the high-ish gain levels I'm currently using, is more compressed but in a nice way. Feels more tubey than my old Fusion 550. Can't say yet if it has the same heft and authority in a band context.