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How much experience do you have...?

How much experience do you have with ALL TUBE (no emulations, no hybrids) amps?

  • I've done hundreds of gigs on all tube amps.

    Votes: 159 30.1%

  • I've done a handful of gigs on all tube amps.

    Votes: 130 24.6%

  • I've mucked around with tube amps a bit.

    Votes: 65 12.3%

  • I don't really have much experience with tube amps, maybe played some in the music store.

    Votes: 115 21.7%

  • I once inserted a carrot into the input of a tube amp.

    Votes: 60 11.3%
  • Total voters
    529
#63
Over the last 45 years I've used just about everything. An ampeg B-15N being my first good bass amp When I was 8yrs old. Wish I still had that amp:(
Classic SVT and tube amps from most other makers have been tried.

They really lack in their power sections.

At this time I prefer a quality tube preamp and a solid state power amp.

Demeter pre, Crown power. Pretty simple and the bess sound I've ever heard

2100wts into 4ohm bridge mono if ever needed.
 
#66
My first gigging amps were Fender Bassmans in the 70s. I did several years on them (I would chain 2 or 3 together for really loud Rock gigs) and then they were all replaced by one Acoustic 136 (amazing!). I later had a Music Man 120 which was a really punchy amp. Since 1986 I've been using Hybrids (first SWR and then Eden) and recently have some solid state Eden rigs (WTX 260 and a Time Traveller 390) that are fine. My studio preamp is an Eden Navigator with a 12AX7 tube.
I do like the warmth of a tube but I can do without the weight and the expense of keeping them up.
That being said, back in my Joanna Dean days the rental backline for Metal gigs was often 2 SVTs with 4 cabinets. It sounded awesome!:bassist:
 
#67
Once upon a time, I seriously considered getting an all tube head... But at that time, they were not nearly so reliable as they are today, tubes were getting harder and harder to get, and the cost/benefit seemed tiny (much as it does today, to me at least). I ran solid state for a number of years, but once SWR started doing hybrid heads, I've been running hybrid ever since (1989?)
 
#68
Roy Vogt said:
My first gigging amps were Fender Bassmans in the 70s. I did several years on them (I would chain 2 or 3 together for really loud Rock gigs) and then they were all replaced by one Acoustic 136 (amazing!).
Click to expand...
funny you mention that, roy...from 1978:

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used to really like that amp...until i got this rig:

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actually, i just wanted an excuse to prove to folks that i did actually have hair at one time. yes, it was bad hair, but at least i had it ;)
 
#71
My first *paying* gig was in 1977. The bulk of the gigs I've done in my life were between 1986 and 1992. All these gigs were with solidstate amps. My first all tube bass amp was an Ampeg V4BH, bought in 2006, followed by a Mesa Buster. I haven't gigged either one, ever. Current gigs are with a hybrid amp, and it's not because I don't love the sound, but rather, because it doesn't matter to anyone but me, so I carry the lighter stuff. The crowd hear's the PA. My Buster is just a glorified practice amp- which sounds awesome in my music room, and never leaves the house.
 
#73
1000's of gigs on all tube amps from 1960 on.

Fender Concert
Fender Bassman
Fender Showman
Sunn 200S
Marshall 100
Ampeg SVT
Ampeg B15S
Ampeg V4B

By the way....No breakdowns on any of them.

Usage: All were used live in concerts, clubs and in the studio with the exception of the Marshall which was only used live and the Ampeg V4B which was only used briefly in my studio.
 
#74
Giorgetto said:
1000's of gigs on all tube amps from 1960 on.

Fender Concert
Fender Bassman
Fender Showman
Sunn 200S
Marshall
Ampeg SVT
Ampeg B15S
Ampeg V4B

by the way....No breakdowns on any of them.
Click to expand...
right on george. this breakdown stuff with tube amps...i don't know where it comes from, but it obviously comes from wussies ;) the only thing that ever stopped my v4b was a bar fire that turned it into a charred and melted shell of its former self. my svt had a breakdown once but that was because it was trashed when i got it and was never fixed right. now that it's been fixed, 2 years now and all i've had to do was replace a couple duff pre tubes.
 
#78
At this point my "tubed" years outnumber my SS years by more than 3 to 1.
I toured the US on various tube heads a couple of times. I have been running the same all tube (except for the graphic eq) Mesa head since about 1996.

To be fair, some folks on here play bass, own amps and jam with other guys but haven't been in a band that plays bars/clubs for a while. I have lots of friends like that. They own great gear, play very well, but have a job and kids and other commitments so they cant really be bothered to hump their rig down to the local dive to play earnestly for a couple of jaded drunks. So I am not sure "gigs" should be a qualifier. As it kind of disenfranchises their opinion?
But hey it puts me in the lead. I probably have almost 20 years of tube amp playing at gigs under my belt.
 
#80
Basshappi said:
100s - Bassman 100.
Even had an old Kalamzoo Bass 30 that I used to practice with until it caught fire one day. I unplugged it and put it out with beer so it was pretty much history after that.
Click to expand...

Hey! I have a Kalamazoo Bass 30 (horizontal, 2 speakers) ...that still got the original tubes in it. I think it sounds way better for guitar than bass, but its closer to a Marshall tone than a Fender sound. Its one in a list of a bunch of tube amps I own or have owned in part or whole...Including 70s Fender Twin, 65 VibroChamp, Mesa 400+, and my very first bass amp (only had it for about a year in High School), an SVT.

But since I didn't have an option between "handful" and "hundreds" I didn't post anything.
 

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