Ok, it's Saturday and I have spent some time really getting to know my SL 900 (just purchased it three days ago) ... and doing a final A/B comparison with my Shuttle 9.0 (an excellent amp itself), befaore packing and shipping it. I must say that I am loving the Streamliner 900 so far ... and will still need to take some time getting used to it. I'm playing an assortment of 4 and 5-string passive and passive/active basses through it (Mike Lull M5V ash/maple; custom "LullDowsky" 4-string with Aguilar pickups and preamp plus Sadowsky's VTC; Fender Custom Shop Jazz Bass with S-1 pickup switching; and American Standard P-Bass), plus my wife has two passive basses (Dean and Fender Musicmaster that I upgraded with a strings-through-body bridge and most-importantly an Aero "MusicMasterer" pickup).
The three-tube preamp/midrange control in this SL 900 really adds both versatility and "balls" to the amp that was slightly-lacking in the Shuttle 9.0. As has been mentioned many times already, the SL 900 has a distinct character of its own and it is both warm and powerful/gutsy at the same time. As has also been previously-noted, a little adjustment goes a LONG way with the EQ controls and tube gain on this amp! I find that the 220Hz setting on the active tube-driven midrange frequency control/filter actually adds a bit of "boominess" with my basses ... particularly with the Lull 5-string and my by-nature "bottom-heavy" passive Am Std P-Bass. For most situations, I think that the mid filter will remain set at the 600Hz center setting ... maybe if I am playing raggae or some other dub-based music, I'll set this control at 220Hz. With "hot" active basses, such as my Lull 5-string, I definitely use the low-gain setting (gain control button in the 'out' position) and about as high as I go with the tube gain knob is 10:00 to 11:00. However, with my two passive basses, I give it quite a bit more tube gain (2:00 to close to 3:00 on the dial). My "LullDowsky" is not as "hot" an active bass as the Lull 5er (9V vs 18V preamp power, plus I have the "LullDowsky" preamp trim pot set a bit lower, for less internal gain -- I may also need to trim-back the setting on my Lull 5er with this amp!). Therefore, I can play around with more tube gain and/or not using the high-gain button with this bass.
I am playing through an Epifani 5.3 Ohm UL Series 2 310 cabinet (thought about going with a UL410, but I think I will hold-off on that for a while), and I'm sure that, even at 'practice volumes', I drive the neighbors crazy with this combination. This thing REALLY kicks ... even at a master volume setting of about '2' (8:00 on the dial).
That's all for now ... more to follow, as I get some "real-world" experience (gigs).
