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Hand wired, tube, 200 watts or more...

Eilif

Eilif

Grooving under the MDW runway.
Oct 1, 2001
9,756
9,645
Chicago
#1
Ok, Here's the situation. I've been give the ok to get my dream amp when my wife gets out of school! This will be in a year and a half, so I am planning ahead hoping to gather all the info I need by then. I've been inspired by my father's philosophy to start acquiring gear that won't have to be replaced, and can be serviced and repaired virtually forever. Thus I am looking for a bass amp that is...

1) All tube
2) Hand wired (NO PCB!)
3) 200 watts or more
4) less than 3,000 dollars
5) US or Euro construction

I like deep, round tone, and currently have a Traynor YBA200 that I could be happy with for years, but I realize that it isn't "the one". As a general barometer of tone, I do like the Ampeg CL type of tone, perhaps even more than my Traynor.

Here's the amps I've researched, and issues I am facing.

1) Electric "green" amps. The amp that the Orange was. It's going to be nearly impossible to find one to try out, but I think I can find an Orange AD200 (not handwired anymore:scowl:) in Chicago. I found it intersting that it's not much more costly than the PCB board Orange AD200 If I like the Orange, I would go with the Electric. Any problems with this?

2) Reeves. This one was reviewed in Bass Player, and if the pics are correct, the interior on this one looks really nice. I like the fact that it has more -but not too many- features(Balanced out, active/passive inputs, etc). It will likely be nearly impossible to find to play. It may be possible to find a HIWATT, which I have rejected based on cost. Any major differences between the HIWATT and the Reeves? Anyone have any comments on this one?

3) Weber. Another HIWATT clone, this one from Germany. Anyone played one or even know what one costs in USD?

There was one other handmade amp I found whose name escapes me, but I couldn't stomach the silver "L" swipe motif that graced it's exterior. Are there any others I should be aware of?
 
#2
If I were dumping that much money into an amp, I would want something more versatile than a 200 watt tube amp.

Don't get me wrong, my main amp is a YBA-200 as well, but you're talking about a $2500 amp versus a $600 amp which will essentially get a very similar tone.

I would hang on to your amp, pick up a LMII, and maybe some kind of high power hybrid amp... or an assortment of cabs.


Now, if we are talking about the cool factor, I vote for the Electric green amp with the nicest flight case you can afford.
 
#5
well with electric your gonna wait awhile. i placed an order 3 months ago on a kt88 power unit and a 4x15 cab. they told me 40 working days on the cab and 6 months on the head. well here it is 60 working days and no cab. they tell me it ships next week that week comes and gos oh it will ship the next week that week has come and gone. also i,ve heard that people have waited 14+ months for their amps. you should keep an eye out for a 200 watt sound city. they some times go for under 1000.
 
#6
I've seen just as many arguments against hand-wiring as for it. The only argument for hand-wiring that I know of is that it's not on a PCB; and the only argument against PCB that I know of it that it's not hand-wired. IOW I have not seen an argument with any substance there. People against PCB's say PCB's are more prone to breakage, but I don't think that claim is based on any facts.

I'm not really picking a side or saying I know best- but I am saying don't get too caught up in the "hand-wired mojo mystique" unless you consciously want to.
 
#7
Here are a few more for you:
1. Divided By 13
2. Reinhardt
3. Paul Ruby
4. Traynor YBA-3A Super Custom Special
A couple other guys to check with would be:
Doug Roccaforte.
Satellite Amps.
Give Nik at Ceriatone a shout also.
But you could try any of the amp builders really. Everything has a price. But if money is not a problem you could call Two Rock and Carol-Ann. It would not be that much of a stretch for those guys to build a Tube Bass Head. It might even be relaxing for them. All they can say is no.;)
Good Luck
 
#17
Eilif said:
3) Weber. Another HIWATT clone, this one from Germany. Anyone played one or even know what one costs in USD?
Click to expand...
for me, the weber mywatt 200 marks the end of a long quest for the perfect amp. i always wanted a hiwatt custom 200, my dream-amp. first, when i was a student, i couldn't afford one. later, they became so hard to find, and even if you found one, the price was ridiculous. so i gave up looking for one and tried to find an alternative. the weber amp is the alternative. if you like the hiwatt tone, this is THE amp. as for the price in USD, and the shipping costs, i think it would be best to ask max weber directly via e-mail.

It may be possible to find a HIWATT, which I have rejected based on cost. Any major differences between the HIWATT and the Reeves? Anyone have any comments on this one?
Click to expand...

the reeves amps are exact re-builds of the hiwatt amps, but they are also quite as pricey as the hiwatts.
 
#18
bongomania said:
I've seen just as many arguments against hand-wiring as for it. The only argument for hand-wiring that I know of is that it's not on a PCB; and the only argument against PCB that I know of it that it's not hand-wired. IOW I have not seen an argument with any substance there. People against PCB's say PCB's are more prone to breakage, but I don't think that claim is based on any facts.

I'm not really picking a side or saying I know best- but I am saying don't get too caught up in the "hand-wired mojo mystique" unless you consciously want to.
Click to expand...

I believe his arguement is not based on the sonic properties of the platform. I may be mistaken, but he prefers point-to-point, because he thinks any amp tech can troubleshoot it and fix it without any complication, which I believe is not that spot on.

A straight-forward "old-school" designed tube amp (I mean no logic controllers, no relays [even so, but..], no junction field or any other rather "new" components on the signal path, etc) can be easily serviced whether it is wired point-to-point, PCB, components secured with a spider web, super-glued together or welded with elven magic. On the other hand, this type of amps "tend" to be point-to-point hand-wired; so this probabily is the reason of the confusion.
 
#19
K-Funk said:
Aren't the Mesa D180, 400 and 400+ hand-wired?
Click to expand...

I couldn't tell you if the wires were put in by hand or not, but the circuit board would probably put the OP off.

musicelectronix said:
I believe his arguement is not based on the sonic properties of the platform. I may be mistaken, but he prefers point-to-point, because he thinks any amp tech can troubleshoot it and fix it without any complication, which I believe is not that spot on.

A straight-forward "old-school" designed tube amp (I mean no logic controllers, no relays [even so, but..], no junction field or any other rather "new" components on the signal path, etc) can be easily serviced whether it is wired point-to-point, PCB, components secured with a spider web, super-glued together or welded with elven magic. On the other hand, this type of amps "tend" to be point-to-point hand-wired; so this probabily is the reason of the confusion.
Click to expand...

Elven magic can be pretty tricky sometimes.

IMO Hiwatt, Orange, and amps based on them won't sound too much like an SVT-CL.
 
#20
If i was in your position i'd get a vintage hiwatt in nice condition. It would probably cost over half the price of a new one. Make sure its got it's original partridge transformers.
The military spec. point to point hand wiring in these is almost a work of art.. no wonder they say they are built like a tank. Take it to a good tech and it'll be as reliable as a new amp (maybe more reliable). They'll be tricky to get but you have 1 1/2 yrs to source one. Check them out on the net; plexi palace.
 

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