So is the genzler stuff more about fretless, smooth jazz, and gospel stuff? Not so much grindy, rocker gear? Maybe that's more GK/Mesa territory?
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Genzler Amplification ! New Genz Benz ?
- Thread starter svtb15
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- Apr 3, 2003
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- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
IME/IMHO, no. The Magellan 800 is a GREAT head for rock! It has a different vibe than the D-800, for sure, but they are both great rock heads. The BA12-3 is definitely smooth enough for smooth jazz, and it definitely has enough nuance and detail to do a great job with fretless tones. But, once again, it's also quite good for rock (especially with a little EQ).
I think using the drive channel in combination with contour B makes for a very good rock tone.
- Apr 3, 2003
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- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Quite true, but I am actually getting some great rock tones using the clean channel and no contour. This is a very flexible head, and I would definitely not pigeon-hole it for one or two styles. It can cover a huge range of tones/styles, IME.
I started out playing bass in my local church's contemporary worship service. One of my grandmothers, who is mostly blind and in a wheelchair, liked to come out every Sunday to hear me play. She commented once that she liked that I played bass because, even if she couldn't always hear what I was playing, she could put her hand on the pew and feel it vibrate from each note.
As useful as the contour channels are, I really love how this head sounds with the basics; clean channel, no contour, bass - mid - treble.
Options on a head are great, buts it's fantastic when it also really doesn't "need" them.
Options on a head are great, buts it's fantastic when it also really doesn't "need" them.
I will enthusiastically second this and add that I am using two of the BA12-3's for rock and I don't feel the need to EQ them at all. BUT, I have played around with the EQ on my Monique 700 and it is quite pleasing how nicely they take EQ. Part of that is the Monique, which has an awesome EQ section, but the bass arrays are very receptive to EQ in ways that I have not always found with other cabs.
While the mids on the BA are flat and smooth, that is with respect to the response curve of amplitude as a function of frequency. They are not necessarily at all polite if you don't want them to be. My Dingwalls growl and these cabs faithfully reproduce that. But as you move up the board, you will not get any undesired bumps in the upper mids. I was noodling around on my Dingwalls last night in the upper register, and the sound was so incredibly pleasing to me, I was smiling the whole time. I feel no need to EQ my basses or the Monique. Having said that, our band is dong a full rehearsal for the first time in six weeks, and will finally get to hear what they sound like in the full volume setting. I will report back to let you know if I felt the need to EQ under the more demanding environment.
If you haven't checked this video out, I think Sean Fairchild did a nice job of demoing the BA12-3 cab. Granted, this is not with the Magellan head, but it gives you nice idea of the mids in this cab, and its overall vibe.
At one point, Sean runs some effects through a pair of these cabs, and you can hear how awesome they are at handling those effects. If you like really honky grind in the upper mids and highs, you can probably get some of that. But as a rocker, I'm not fan of that type of tone if its highly pronounced, so YMMV.
- Mar 22, 2004
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- I play it all. Whatever works for the gig. Q+
contour B makes it a great rock rig.. just a touch is all that you need
As others have mentioned, this head can do it all. It can get flat nasty with the dirt side and contour A or B. The semi-parametric mids let you find that perfect sweet spot for your instrument to bring the pain. That and with the flick of a switch go to Smooth Jazz 99.1.
I haven't played the head but if the reports are at all accurate, it is pretty versatile.
I'm running a Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0 through one BA12-3 with the EQ on the head pretty flat (sometimes the mids are goosed a bit to give me a little more low mid umph and sometimes the bass is up just a tiny bit) and the tube gain low enough to keep everything clean. I use a touch of compression from a Keeley Bassist Limiter.
The BA12-3 feels to me as if it will give you whatever you put into it. While my statement in 1401 more than hints at what I prefer to play and I do play fretless exclusively, I find myself playing a fairly wide variety of styles in any given week. Our church band plays everything from conjunto to ska to typical U2ish worship band stuff, to gospel and funk, to Irish and even a traditional hymn every now and then. Then I play in a guitar based pop band and as a sideplayer for a number of acoustic singer/songwriters. I don't play metal... or heavy rock so I can't speak to using that cab in those settings, but it has worked exceptionally well for me in all of my settings.
If I needed more than one, a second BA12-3 would do everything I want... and there is more than a little GAS for the Magellan 800.
It's funny how the Captain's question has yielded some schizophrenic responses, as some of us have the head and some of us have the cabs. But Wash and probably Tom have both. So one of you guys needs to do a video demoing the whole 9 yards. Actually 9 and 3/4 has two Magellans and SIX BA-12-3's, but he's busy right now repairing his window and getting out of the dog house with his wife!
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,516
- 19,953
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
It's funny how the Captain's question has yielded some schizophrenic responses, as some of us have the head and some of us have the cabs. But Wash and probably Tom have both. So one of you guys needs to do a video demoing the whole 9 yards. Actually 9 and 3/4 has two Magellans and SIX BA-12-3's, but he's busy right now repairing his window and getting out of the dog house with his wife!
Well, we do have the "single triple" rig in for review (Magellan 800 with three MA12-3's), and I will be gigging said rig on March 19th, so many more details to follow.
That being said, I'm sure I will have some snippets to share in the meantime, and of course, if you have specific questions, I'll do my best to address them.
Didn't realize the Magellan goes to 2.67 ohms, but just checked the specs and it obviously does. Great feature. How are you going to connect up the three cabs?
- Apr 3, 2003
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- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Got my Magellan 212 in today. Awesome service from @bebass I highly recommend using him if you aren't going through a local dealer. Anyways, I only had time to play for about 20 minutes or so. Using my Ampeg SVT-7, the tone was definitely full and punchy. Didn't get to turn the amp up past 9:00 but it was definitely loud and the cab has a very high quality feel to it, no rattles or vibrations of any kind.
I've been wanting a cab like this since the first edition of the NeoX and I'm definitely not disappointed. I plan to replace the Ampeg with a Magellan 800 later this year. I've been having a bit of a gear-related midlife crisis this year. Through all the gear I've had, I was always happiest when I was using Spector basses into Genz Benz amps. So I decided to stop messing around with all the other stuff, which all had its fine points, and get the gear that makes me the happiest when I play.
Finally, as a consumer and a TBer, I was so happy to hear that @Jeff Genzler was getting back in the game. From the look of things, Genzler will be an industry game changer for years to come. Couldn't happen to better guy.
I've been wanting a cab like this since the first edition of the NeoX and I'm definitely not disappointed. I plan to replace the Ampeg with a Magellan 800 later this year. I've been having a bit of a gear-related midlife crisis this year. Through all the gear I've had, I was always happiest when I was using Spector basses into Genz Benz amps. So I decided to stop messing around with all the other stuff, which all had its fine points, and get the gear that makes me the happiest when I play.
Finally, as a consumer and a TBer, I was so happy to hear that @Jeff Genzler was getting back in the game. From the look of things, Genzler will be an industry game changer for years to come. Couldn't happen to better guy.
Huh. I would have fully expected this new stuff to offer something a unique blend of tone flavor and form factor. But really a game changer? What's game change-y?
I'm really happy with my GK MB800 F + CN112 + HD112. But I'm always interested in changing to stuff I end up liking better. It's how I arrived at the rig I have.
The bass array cabs and the dual contour switch on the amp come to mind as two new offerings that I've not seen offered by another manufacturer, at least not in this price range.
