Genz Benz Streamliner Pt 7.....

[adivin]

Anyone have their backlight LED go out? Amp works great but is annoying, would love to be able to fix it myself. I've only had it a month and haven't been inside the chassis yet.

Besides that, this is an amazing amp. I'm running passive Geddy -> Radial Tonebone -> 900 and it kills. I had a Shuttle 6 prior, and this is a whole nutha level.

Yes, happened to me. GB took good care of me.

 

[jlepre]

I just played my first outdoor gig with my STM-900/Uber Quad, and I have to say that the dirty setting was amazing! It had the dirt, but still had the clarity and quickness that I have come to expect from Genz. It was a fill-in gig, and the drummer commented on how GREAT SHE was hearing/feeling my tone.

 

[Blues Cat]

Cool, it actually looks like a DI in that shot. Awesome that the SL900 has more than enough power to push the SVT cab, and then some.

 

[svtb15]

I think that is an age old question....

Answer.. Lunesta.. two of them in his water bottle...

How do you get a guitar player to turn down?

 

[Blues Cat]

I think that is an age old question....

Answer.. Lunesta.. two of them in his water bottle...

A chart works too...

 

[svtb15]

A chart works too...

 

[John D Harris]

Cool, it actually looks like a DI in that shot. Awesome that the SL900 has more than enough power to push the SVT cab, and then some.

Well it is smaller and a lot lighter than an Avalon U5!

 

[GRoberts]

I hear ya. I do miss the quickness of heads like the Mesa M-series, though I've never had the chance to try one in person yet. In fact, I just bought an M6 that should be here in a week or so. I'm looking forward to trying it next to my S900 and seeing which one stays and which one goes.

Very interested in your thoughts in that regard. Keep us posted. I have a Nordy VP5 on order ...and once it arrives, I am fairly certain I am going to want to give an Streamliner 900 a good close look! But for now, my Mesa M6 is rocking my world. There is nothing I don't like about it ..except the size. Even that is not too unmanageable in a 2u SKB case. Easy Schlep. Not like a laptop bagged Micro amp, but good enough.

 

[StickBass]

Got my Schroeder 210PL and fired 'er up for the first time. Wow! This cab really magnifies the "3D" sound of the STM900. Stand back 10 feet or more, and the notes really kick you in the chest! It's got a really warm, bright, "tubey" sound. There is massive headroom when run by itself at 8 ohms, 500W, sitting on top of a currently quiescent 1x15 cab. In my home practice room I'm running the master vol at 9:00. For a clean tone I'm putting the gain at 9:00 and the pre volume at 3:00. For a bit of grit I'm running both gain and pre vol at noon. If I want full grind I'm kicking on the gain switch and setting gain at about 2:00, turning pre vol down to compensate. I don't usually run the master any higher than 9:00 or 10:00--it starts to vibrate the house apart! I find I can't use much more gain than 2:30 with the switch on; the overdrive quality isn't pleasant. The tweet works a bit better than most for OD, but it still isn't great for full facemelt, so it goes off when the gain switch goes in. Nice big volume knob for the tweeter.

I'm liking the midrange character of the 210 with the 900. I've played it with a Warwick FNA 5 and a Carvin LB75. It definitely emphasizes the different characters of each instrument. It's got a pretty aggressive mid voice, which seems to be working well with the somewhat mid-scooped 900. I'm actually needing to boost the mids.

The treble on this 210 is nuts. The tweeter is pretty nice, better by far than the standard Foster. But even with the tweet turned off, the highs are crystalline and percussive. It's Cap'n Crunch time! With crunchberries!

The lows are surprisingly robust too. There's a girth and heft to the bottom end. It's still not a 15. It doesn't handle the fundamentals of the low B as well as a 15. But man, it exposes the inconsistency in tone on the B string of the Warwick! I'd noticed it before, but now it's glaring. I'm gonna have to look at replacing that MEC MM pup. This cab is like a microscope magnifying the details of the instrument's tone. Aside from the B string, the Warwick sounds killer through this rig. I'm running the eq pretty flat. The Carvin needs a bit more eq, but it sounds great too.

I haven't tried the Schroe with the 1x15 Avatar at 4 ohms yet--I'm almost afraid to unleash the beast in the house. Might have to wait for band rehearsal for that. But based on a couple hours of noodling tonight, I think I might have reached the end of the rainbow with this rig.

 

[StickBass]

Got both cabs going today (Shroe 210 + Avatar 115 neo). It's a thing of beauty. Really loud, clean, articulate. And now I can pop in the gain switch and dime the gain knob, and it's all usable and beautiful. The titanium super bullet tweeter is now fully usable even with full facemelt overdrive. It adds a lot to the distortion sound. I have the Schroe tweet at about 9:00 and the Avatar's Foster tweeter off. Crystal clean to blistering tubular insanity, the world is now within my grasp.

The STM900 manual doesn't specify exactly, but I presume with two cabs it's best to run each on its own Speakon out, rather than daisy chaining them. The amp only provides Speakon outs, and the manual says "Because this is a high voltage, high current output, 1/4" output jacks are not provided in order to comply with international safety standards." I'd have to daisy chain with 1/4" cable. I'm also assuming that since the two Neutrik outs are wired in parallel ("1+/1-") that I'm getting the 4 ohm load by using both outs. Correct?

I'm loving this rig. The Schroe 210PL is dynamite with the Streamliner and a 15. It's making me think that Schroeder's 101215 might be awesome with the Streamliner. Has anyone had any experience with that cab?

IMO the STM900 is revolutionary. Super powerful, with a deceptively simple and intuitive retro tube vibe, and an ultra modern lightweight power supply. Best of both worlds. Kudos to GB.

 

[5StringPocket]

Nice review. Glad it's working out for you. Cabs with tight low end and strong mids really shine with the STL900. Still digging my Uber 410 with this amp.

 

[Aussie Mark]

The amp only provides Speakon outs, and the manual says "Because this is a high voltage, high current output, 1/4" output jacks are not provided in order to comply with international safety standards." I'd have to daisy chain with 1/4" cable. I'm also assuming that since the two Neutrik outs are wired in parallel ("1+/1-") that I'm getting the 4 ohm load by using both outs. .

You'll get a 4 ohm load with two cabs whether you daisy chain them or run one from each of the outs on the amp. Parallel is parallel does.

 

[BuffaloBob4343]

Cabs with tight low end and strong mids really shine with the STL900. Still digging my Uber 410 with this amp.

mmmm hmmm!

 

[smeet]

Played an outdoor gig with the STL-900 and Neox 212, Fender P5 with Labella flats and foam under the strings. It was a country/folk/blues/electroacoustic originals gig. We had the singer/acoustic guitarist, electric guitarist, drummer playing a cajon (box he sits on and whacks) and assorted percussion, a cellist, and a violinist.

No PA support for bass. Once again, the Streamliner filled the air with wonderful fat attack and tone. Man, the sound was so full and even that it felt like I was indoors going through a PA! Nice old-school thump and pillow. So happy with this amp.

In a month or so I think I'll be playing a gig where we do the whole Dark Side of the Moon album, really looking forward to cranking the STL up for that!

 

[sratas]

STM 900 arrived yesterday! I live in Italy and it has been a long wait, 35 days from the date of the order. In this moment I have no possibility to hook the amp to my cabs. For now, I can review some particular situations, rehearsal and gig impressions will come soon.
Basses used for test: Warwick Thumb BO 4, Mayones Comodous classic 5, Fender MIM jazz bass modded with Nordstrand Nj4s and custom wiring. Every bass mounts rounds. The Mayo is strung with DR Hi-beams, The Wick with daddario Xl nickels, the Jazz with Dr LO-Riders. Technique: fingerstyle, some chords and harmonics. No slap.

good quality headphone tone (through a AKG K240 studio), even if like may contenders the in-ear volume is always too loud and very difficult to tame. My studio-quality Hp shows every detail and the preamp of the STM is really delivering, in term of detail and feel.

THe DI is medium-high quality, and maybe a little less lively than my T-funk, changing basses and other variables yelds predictable change in the final result. The two major pluses are without doubt the following: warm tubey tone and low noise (no hiss, no Hum).

General impressions on tone:
I do not agree that the amp is not articulate, and I feel that it does not lack mids, the fact is that you will experience a ton of bass, so the other frequencies are somewhat masked and the end impression is a certain scoop with all the tone controls at noon. Low gain settings, think between 9 and 12, produces accuracy. A clean tone with a good high-frequencies detail and an accented scoop tone, the bass is clean and very powerful. I found so may useable tones lowering the bass knob to 9-10, and the others knob flat or with the 2.5 K boosted a little bit, think 1-2 o' clock. The high knob cuts really well, almost in a passive manner but personally I did not like any boost, as this procedure brings too much zing and string squeack-noise. With this controls setting you can find all the tones tweaking the gain knobs. The gain network of this bass is rather complex and unserstanding this points helps to unleash the tonal capabilities of the amp. With the gain button off, you can raise the gain knob and the preamp gives you added harmonics, warmth, and a quite appeciable fulness in the midrange that makes the tone less scooped. with the gain maxed you can really feel a sort of "sag" in the attack of the note, but, and this is the miracle, the map tracks all the subleties and every other information you throw at it. Even fast runs remain very very intelligible and articulate. Push the gain button and with high-output basses you are rewarded with a transition from tubey soft breackup and added harmonic content to full blown nasty overdrive. In that extreme setting, that I will not use so much, the tone is rather annoying but if you lower the highs knob the tone warms up really nicely. More info bass-dependent will come soon! Stay tuned, ciao

 

[sratas]

As stated in the previous post, I own "only" 3 basses, very different tonewise.
As I expected, the ones that performed greatly through the STM 900 were the Thumb and the Mayones, whereas the Fender jazz simply was not my thing. The Thumb was the most convincing, without doubt because of the midrange emphasys that is universally known as the "Warwick growl". More, the Thumb's extended upper register and super-tight bass complemented the amp's tone pretty well. The Mayones is a heavy bass, equipped with Bartolini humbuckers and OBP-3 preamp. As you could expect, the full inherent tone of the bass hurts a bit with the huge lowend of the STM, so I had to lower the bass knob to 9 o' clock and boost the 2.5 k to 2 o'clock. With this "correction" the bass shined, and because of the low output of the built-in electronics, I drove the input stage by pressing the high gain button, thus receiving the rich harmonic tone that translates smoothly into soft warm tube breakup, if you desire. The Fender jazz was not so good, simple. The tone that naturaly you can get is sort of aggressive and grindy, even more if you twist that gain knob towards its limits. Ideal for metal/punk with a pick, just not my thing.
In substance, at this moment I feel very impressed with the STM. I wanted a true opposite tonal perspective compared to my beloved Thunderfunk 550, and I got it!
waiting for hard road tests like rehearsals and loud gigs (within few days), but I'm very happy about what I hear. The amp can be clean, warm, pillowy, burpy, grindy. If you comprehend the wonderful interactive gain structure, you can dial in some great tones even without messing with the tone controls (that, in my personal opinion, are quite good but do not compare with the musicality of my T-funk's parametric eq).
Stay tuned, ciao

 

[rodl2005]

Congrats on the new amp!
I,too, think it sounds great by itself & thru headphones. I only found the lack of clarity when played in a band setting.
Since swapping a few tubes, I've achieved a far better result & I hope to get it even better still.

 

[sratas]

thanks a lot. It's curious, for the last two years I have played a Thunderfunk and I was adapted to the characteristic tone of this amp, that, by the way, has a bouncy midrangey super tight tone with somewhat gentle attenuated highs, and a tubey feeling (it's solid state). By comparison, with the exception of the huge lowend, the STM tone seems more articulate to me, but with less mids. The T-funk tone gives you "clarity" in a mix, no doubt (in the sense of "capability of being heard") but sometimes, for a certain kind of music and feeling, I found myself in the desire for a wider tone that could support and fill out the lowend more (think of professional pop rock recording with the bass polished using top class tube compressors, the sound that you hear every time you switch on the radio). I hope that my choice is the good one. In my current band my bandmates too do like a solid lowend coming from bass and we have no guitar players, only synth and piano. Time will tell. Next week I have a big outdoor jam session with guitars and piano/synth. I will post my impressions after that test, but for recording purposes it seems to deliver some great "official" tones, and i do a lot of recording, and editing using MAC-based DAW.

Congrats on the new amp!
I,too, think it sounds great by itself & thru headphones. I only found the lack of clarity when played in a band setting.
Since swapping a few tubes, I've achieved a far better result & I hope to get it even better still.

 

[KJung]

thanks a lot. It's curious, for the last two years I have played a Thunderfunk and I was adapted to the characteristic tone of this amp, that, by the way, has a bouncy midrangey super tight tone with somewhat gentle attenuated highs, and a tubey feeling (it's solid state). By comparison, with the exception of the huge lowend, the STM tone seems more articulate to me, but with less mids. The T-funk tone gives you "clarity" in a mix, no doubt (in the sense of "capability of being heard") but sometimes, for a certain kind of music and feeling, I found myself in the desire for a wider tone that could support and fill out the lowend more (think of professional pop rock recording with the bass polished using top class tube compressors, the sound that you hear every time you switch on the radio). I hope that my choice is the good one. In my current band my bandmates too do like a solid lowend coming from bass and we have no guitar players, only synth and piano. Time will tell. Next week I have a big outdoor jam session with guitars and piano/synth. I will post my impressions after that test, but for recording purposes it seems to deliver some great "official" tones, and i do a lot of recording, and editing using MAC-based DAW.

As a former Thunderfunk user (still like that amp for what it is), you pretty much hit the nail on the head here.

I moved from the Thunderfunk to the LMII, and eventually to the F500, which gives me that mid present, tight, punchy, articulate 'space between the notes' sort of vibe that I still like very much in some contexts (the Genz Shuttle and Shuttlemax heads are also in this tonal universe).

But man, the Streamliner just sounds and feels like a big old tube head that happens to be able to stay clean and constant through its entire volume range.... fat, round, smooth, and a top end that really vibes a high quality all tube head (like the Sadowsky SA200) run clean to my ears.

 

[rodneyat]

I am with you on the T-Funk too...very mid present. Which, for what it is, is not bad. The overall tone of the T-funk amps are awesome. I've owned a 420 and 750. The thing that really ended up getting me off the T-funk was that, at least to me. It seemed that almost every one of my basses sounded the same...or more like..everything sounded like a T-Funk. To me, the STM 900 lets my instrument shine through. You don't listen to it and say..wow, that's a Streamliner. You actually hear more of the character of the instrument come through rather than just the amp.

As a former Thunderfunk user (still like that amp for what it is), you pretty much hit the nail on the head here.

I moved from the Thunderfunk to the LMII, and eventually to the F500, which gives me that mid present, tight, punchy, articulate 'space between the notes' sort of vibe that I still like very much in some contexts (the Genz Shuttle and Shuttlemax heads are also in this tonal universe).

But man, the Streamliner just sounds and feels like a big old tube head that happens to be able to stay clean and constant through its entire volume range.... fat, round, smooth, and a top end that really vibes a high quality all tube head (like the Sadowsky SA200) run clean to my ears.