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New Tech 21 VT Bass 300 Head!

#264
JimmyM said:
the more tubes, the merrier. never heard a tube make a product sound worse. yeah, it's not tech 21's MO, but i wouldn't mind.
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Hmmm... I've heard a few Peavey tube products that lacked any tube "mojo"....

Was playing with the VT Bass the other day and found some good sounds with my 12-string basses. Definitely takes some careful tweaking to get there. Maybe not quite as good as a cranked tube amp, but good enough for most gigs.
 
#266
tech21nyc said:
Regarding the blend control (or lack thereof) on our VT Bass 300, the amp has the ability to use either channel independently or to use both at the same time. Therefore you could set one channel for a very clean sound and the other for more grit. If you require the sound of just a straight bass signal mixed with our SansAmp tube emulation our Landmark 300 head would be the better choice.

A word on output power. There are many terms like peak, rms, music power etc. The specifications a manufacturer gives are based on their own testing criteria and can't always be used for direct comparison. We test our amps with a sine wave into a 4 ohm load. They will deliver 300 watts of clean rms power. Two amps with identical power ratings from different manufacturers might be very different in real use.Wattage is electronic power but still has to be converted to actual audio. Your speaker sensitivity, amount of speakers, cabinet design and input source will all come into play when determining actual output power that you can physically hear. To double your wattage you need to multiply by the power of 10. In other words a 100 watt amp is 2 times as loud as a 10 watt amp. To double the power of a 300 watt amp you will need a 3000 watt amp. When you increase the power from say 300 to 600 watts and use the same testing methods you will gain an increase of usable headroom or about 3db. There are many variables. Like if you use a 2/10 or 4/10 cab.
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I'm digging Tech 21 more and more due to classy products and even classier responses like this. Some of y'all got SCHOOLED right here... Politely enough of course... :cool:
 
#267
I love Tech 21 products. I am a GK guy through and through (main head Fusion 550, back up 2001RB) but this head is interesting enough to think about trying for sure! And it is the first gas I have had for a head in quite some time. Looks great!

Couple of points (personal opinions obviously)-

I agree with BrokenSticks post 193 - some heads are just too complicated and cluttered. I had a GBE 750 for awhile. Solid head. Great company. Used it as back up to my GK. But it was just too much. Too many EQs, too many variations, too many switches etc. etc.

300 watts isn't loud enough? Holy crap. I use my Fusion 550 through 2 GK 8 ohm cabs. But my master volume is at 12 o'clock and my gain is at 9 o'clock. Barely breaking a sweat. I rarely need anything more than that for the clubs we play and we are a pretty loud rock band. I think 300 watts will be fine.

We play about 50/50 with PA support. Not all of our gigs are big enough to worry about running everything through the PA. There is probably a lot more of that going on than some people might realize.

Cheers!
 
#269
Slight derail:
Doesn't the first guy that builds a head that sounds NEARLY EXCATLY like an SVT (with same touch and dynamics sensitivity) at 1/3rd the weight, be the winner?
Would one of the current favorites be something like an LMII with the VT pedal?

It still amazes me that, try as I might, I can't find a single head that "feels" the same (and I haven't bought the pedal; yet)
 
#271
There have been a number of threads that indicate that the LMII sounds similar from a tonal point of view but is a bit cleaner (without the pedal). As I recall, many say the SVT has a more complex midrange or that it is "woolier" or fuller sounding regardless of EQ settings. This all assumes a clean SVT setting for comparrison.
Ironicaly I just spent a few hours today A/B'ing the two through a Berg HT322.
I prefer a clean SVT tone overall, but think that the tube pre/power section does offer a tonality that perhaps has some slight distortion not found in the LMII. I believe the pedal helps to restore this. Haven't been able to justify the cost of the pedal (and hassle of carrying it) just to get a slight thickening as my current band situation does not require distorted bass nor do I pursue that in my favorite tone.

Perhaps Jimmy M can chime in as a former LMII + pedal guy who also mainly uses SVT's.
 
#272
Plstrns said:
Does the LMII contribute to the SVT tone with a VT in front of it? Or, is it just a lightweight poweramp in that role?
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the lmii scopes out at near flat when you noon the tone knobs and turn the filters off. so in that position it might as well be a poweramp by itself. but if you change the knobs on the lmii, you'll hear it even with the vt on.
 
#274
nope, not at all. frankly, that's why i sold my lmii and bought a crate power block for cheap. i can get what i need out of the vt alone. the mark bass is a great sounding amp, and up until the vt it was the tubiest sounding ss amp i had ever played through, but for as little as i use a non-tube rig anymore, it was overkill.

btw, i set mine more to emulate b-15 sounds. just sayin' ;)
 
#279
philter25 said:
Maybe I missed something..... but for those discussing the power ratings of the amp, why not just get the VT deluxe and pick your own power amp? You'd get 3 programmable VT channels and can choose your power amp.
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tech21nyc said:
Allow me to respond to some of your questions and comments.

The 300 watt analog power amp in the VT Bass 300 can actually exceed it's rated output and even if it starts to clip it will do so in a musical way much like a tube amp.It was meant to be as loud as an SVT without the weight. This amp will more than hang with any loud drummer and like most bass amps is meant to be your onstage monitor or your primary sound in the average club or venue. If you are playing on a concert stage you will more than likely be using a bigger rig and be pumped through the PA as well.

The difference between an analog amp and a digital amp in terms of power is that a digital amp cannot exceed it's rated output as digital distortion is completely unusable. This is why digital amps have built in limiters. They also don't produce transients in the same way a well designed analog amp can. The benefit of digital just like analog solid state is lighter weight and a smaller amp. We all know how much an SVT head weighs.

p.
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That's why I'm interested in this head
 

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