Great sounding head, and you can drive it to distort for sure. However, it is voiced in kind of the opposite direction (IMO) of what the OP is looking for. The MBFusion is bright and grindy.... literally the opposite of, for example, the Streamliner or the Aguilar TH500, which are fat, dark and low mid/mid mid present. IMO there.
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Micro Amp With The Most Tube Growl?
- Thread starter jnammy
- Start date
Great sounding head, and you can drive it to distort for sure. However, it is voiced in kind of the opposite direction (IMO) of what the OP is looking for. The MBFusion is bright and grindy.... literally the opposite of, for example, the Streamliner or the Aguilar TH500, which are fat, dark and low mid/mid mid present. IMO there.
Good for you for researching and not falling for the it's got to have a tube to sound like a tube.
One thing you can try if you have a decent PC. Amplitube Free. Bring up the custom shop and you can try a few SS and Tube heads and hear for yourself the different. When you go looking for hardware, you'll have a better idea of what to seek out.
I stand corrected. I never researched it, just heard some slides in there that didn't seem like they could have been done on a fretted instrument. I had heard similar tone from fretless basses before too.
The fusion is IMO much less grindy than the SS GK heads. If you EQ to
Treble = 8
HiMid = 1
LoMid = 2
Bass = 11
O'clocks (on a 12 hour face) and set the gain to break up a bit you get a very middy tone - pretty good stuff IMO.
The 115 cab I have (Barefaced Compact) helps to roll off a fair bit of the treble content even if I don't cut it at the EQ stage.
kjung, thanks for chiming in. What about the TH350 and Streamliner 3.0 or 6.0, are they the same in the tone department as they're bigger siblings?
There aren't any Streamliner models 3.0 or 6.0. There are the 600 and 900 series. Do a google search or go to Invalid Link Removed
I personally never liked any of the "single little tube in the preamp" micros. Instead, I run a Vt bass deluxe pedal before a Gallien MB 800.
Ray
Ray
+1 Interestingly, the head that I think would make him the most happy has no tubes (the TH500)
Agreed as well, though I'd also add the Ampeg 7 Pro and the PF heads to that. My favorite tonality comes from the Ampegs, but they're all good amps...I may be an Ampeg endorser but respek to Aggie and GB.
+1 Interestingly, the head that I think would make him the most happy has no tubes (the TH500)
Also interesting that the VT Deluxe has been mentioned.
+1 That is just an amazing pedal for those looking for various 'growl/grind' sort of Ampeg type overdrive tones (and more, of course). I have a buddy who is really into Squire and Wetton and those 'grindy' guys, and runs a P Bass into a VT and then into a nice, clean solid state head (I think the LMII, can't remember) and it is just SMOKING sounding, and he can send that tone right to the board without mic'ing, etc.
As I've mentioned, I have the VT Bass (not deluxe) ver. 2 and it sounds too mushy and too much like an electric guitar distortion instead of the ballsy broken up sound that I'm looking for when played through my LMII. Does the VT Deluxe sound that much better than the VT Bass ver. 2?
Also, Kjung, do you think the TH350 has that same sound as the TH500? What about just the Tone Hammer pedal? Also, the Streamliner 600 versus 900?
And thanks guys for clearing that up for me, I was getting the Streamliner and Shuttle's mixed up.
Also, Kjung, do you think the TH350 has that same sound as the TH500? What about just the Tone Hammer pedal? Also, the Streamliner 600 versus 900?
And thanks guys for clearing that up for me, I was getting the Streamliner and Shuttle's mixed up.
TH350 very similar to TH500
Mesa Walkabout another great option, but very different to the Aggys
TH pedal different to TH500 etc also.
My choice, if u want real tubes & the benefits of-Walkabout
Otherwise TH500/350
Mesa Walkabout another great option, but very different to the Aggys
TH pedal different to TH500 etc also.
My choice, if u want real tubes & the benefits of-Walkabout
Otherwise TH500/350
Not a problem. The Streamliner 600 is 600 watts at 4 ohm load, and the 900 is 900 watts at 4 ohms. That's the main difference, but I'm sure someone else might have more info.
I came home tonight to try out my VT Bass one last time before I order a TH350 and whilst messing with the knobs, I got the broken up sound I was looking for! I always messed with the drive knob before, but I've found that the tubey, broken up sound was all in the "character" knob. i turned up character all the way up and drive to about 9:00 and it sounded great. anyone else experience this?
It is a great pedal, with a LOT of different tone options (some great, some not so much). I also find it is very dependent on the head it is run into. The more even and 'relatively neutral' the head, the better the results (I assume this is true with most pedals). This is why IMO the Markbass LMII/III/VT combination is one of the more popular combinations on TB.
That's the common wisdom about it. I don't get it. When I was running the VT, I often ran it into my Ampegs. But I ran it more as a distortion pedal and not a tone shaper. Maybe that makes a difference to some...I use Ampegs so I didn't need it for clean tones. Only time I used it as a tone shaper is when the SVT on my fly date rider was magically transformed into something else.
But whenever someone tells me a piece of gear only works well a certain way, I always make sure I try it the exact opposite way they tell me. Quite often I find I ultimately disagree with them. Sometimes they're right, though
For me the VT's one that could go either way.That's the common wisdom about it. I don't get it. When I was running the VT, I often ran it into my Ampegs. But I ran it more as a distortion pedal and not a tone shaper. Maybe that makes a difference to some...I use Ampegs so I didn't need it for clean tones. Only time I used it as a tone shaper is when the SVT on my fly date rider was magically transformed into something else.
But whenever someone tells me a piece of gear only works well a certain way, I always make sure I try it the exact opposite way they tell me. Quite often I find I ultimately disagree with them. Sometimes they're right, though
Any pedal will interact with the preamp it is being fed into. Since many of the Ampeg heads have a strong dose of mids and a relatively controlled low end, I would guess that could work well (especially if you were using it as a distortion effect, as you point out).
In our GTG's, it was very interesting how good the VT sounded through many heads, and how horrible it sounded through others (regardless of knob twisting, since EQ rarely changes the inherent voicing of an amp). IMO, whenever you feed one preamp into another, funny things can happen.
We are actually saying the same thing. When someone says that a pedal that many like isn't working well, I look for reasons. That could be not completely understanding the controls of the units (which seems to be the case in this example), or using other equipment that is kind of fighting what the pedal is trying to do.
All in all, I find the VT a GREAT piece of gear for those who want a little or a lot of 'hair' in their tone, especially if they like a more 'Ampeg' type voicing.
