I've been off Talkbass for many years. I was slumming it with the guitarists but I recently bought a new bass and that prompted me to build a second bass rig.
Since my time away from Talk Bass, I got heavily invested in the Japanese gear scene and have been buying mostly Japanese instruments and gear for the last five years.
So today, my new Shinos City Bass bass head arrived from Japan. Shinos is not really known in the west but is one of only a few Japanese manufacturers of tube amps. Shinos has collaborated with Lee Custom Guitar amplifiers (another small Japanese maker) recently and the City bass is the second product from that collaboration. The first is a 30W guitar amp/combo and I have one of those as well.
The City Bass combines a three tube preamp modelled after a Fender 135 Bassman and is coupled to 600 W (into 4 ohm) class D amplifier. The amp itself has a lot of modern features like D.I., headphone out, built-in power attenuator, FX loop, and a 20 dB boost. The controls are very simple with the same four knobs you find on a Fender Bassman with a bright switch and the deep switch from a Fender bassman.
The amp is not have a lot of gain like an original Fender Bassman but has a rich tone and some punch due to the modern power section. It is a combination of new and old.
As usual, Shinos has a very clean design and look.
There is a matching cabinet and I tried to buy one but even the Japanese thought I was nuts trying to ship a 2x12 from Japan. I eventually gave up because the shipping cost was too high. I ended up picking up a Bergantino NXV 2x12 for this rig.
I did have a bit of work trying to find a shop in Japan that would sell me one. Fortunately, I've been exporting gear from Japan for so long that I had a lot of different avenues I could pursue. I figured this is something off the beaten path something different for this forum.
Since my time away from Talk Bass, I got heavily invested in the Japanese gear scene and have been buying mostly Japanese instruments and gear for the last five years.
So today, my new Shinos City Bass bass head arrived from Japan. Shinos is not really known in the west but is one of only a few Japanese manufacturers of tube amps. Shinos has collaborated with Lee Custom Guitar amplifiers (another small Japanese maker) recently and the City bass is the second product from that collaboration. The first is a 30W guitar amp/combo and I have one of those as well.
The City Bass combines a three tube preamp modelled after a Fender 135 Bassman and is coupled to 600 W (into 4 ohm) class D amplifier. The amp itself has a lot of modern features like D.I., headphone out, built-in power attenuator, FX loop, and a 20 dB boost. The controls are very simple with the same four knobs you find on a Fender Bassman with a bright switch and the deep switch from a Fender bassman.
The amp is not have a lot of gain like an original Fender Bassman but has a rich tone and some punch due to the modern power section. It is a combination of new and old.
As usual, Shinos has a very clean design and look.
There is a matching cabinet and I tried to buy one but even the Japanese thought I was nuts trying to ship a 2x12 from Japan. I eventually gave up because the shipping cost was too high. I ended up picking up a Bergantino NXV 2x12 for this rig.
I did have a bit of work trying to find a shop in Japan that would sell me one. Fortunately, I've been exporting gear from Japan for so long that I had a lot of different avenues I could pursue. I figured this is something off the beaten path something different for this forum.
