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Peavey Alphabass Question

baddarryl

baddarryl

Oct 26, 2008
1,738
1,537
Cape Fear!
#1
I see one locally. It is a 500w version and he is asking $300. Question is I don't need that much power as I play at church with PA support. Can I get a tube growl out of it at lower volume with gain or eq or something? Thanks. Will probably experiment with diff cabs too, but that is another discussion.
 
#4
bassteban said:
I had one- it was 160 watts- 160 strong, tube watts, but no more. I've not heard of a *500 watt version* before now.
Click to expand...

Me either, no way, it's not. The guy was probably looking by the power cord at power consumption.

EDIT: Here are pics of one I found - As you can see by the power cord I believe it reads "550 WATTS" BUT by the speaker jacks it reads "160 W RMS" which is ALL that matters:

sen4w8.jpg


2z87pls.jpg
 
#5
By the speaker connections it will say what the rated OUTPUT power is, and it shoudl be 160 WRMS. Next to the fuse or the power cord, it'll have the current consumption, which for this amp would be around 500 WRMS.

You can control the output level with the master and get the pre-amp tubes to grind some, but the only way to get the power tubes and the power transformer to groan is to crank it up. If you use really inefficient speakers you won't get as much volume. Reducing the speaker area by only using a single small speaker will help control the volume too- as long as you don't kill the speaker.

John
 
#6
It would be super cool if there was a way to control the output to the speakers like a line out level control to take take advantage of getting that sound at lower volumes. Anyone in the industry listening? Or is there one that does that?
 
#8
baddarryl said:
It would be super cool if there was a way to control the output to the speakers like a line out level control to take take advantage of getting that sound at lower volumes. Anyone in the industry listening? Or is there one that does that?
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me? Guitarists have been using these for EONS. They are called a "power soak" or "tube soak" or "power brake."

Here are a few (I don't know anything about any of these though):

http://instruments.shop.ebay.com/Guitar-/3858/i.html?_nkw=guitar+power+soak&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282
 
#10
The level only controls the line out to my knowledge. (I have one.) The preamp out level is controlled by the preamp gain (as you might expect) as well.

$300 is a good price for a good condition one. I paid around that for mine which is uh, "a little" worn. :p

I do not like the preamp overdrive from the amp at all though. It just sounds plain bad. It isn't like using a distortion pedal or a tube amp simulator (like a Bass VT) by a long shot. More like nasty harsh clipping. I retubed the preamp with some NOS 12AX7s of various makes when I got it as well. I also put a 12AT7 as the driver tube where it belongs! It had a 12AX7 there and suffered because of it!
 
#11
I wanted to dump this observation/ question in an existing thread so I'm digging up this'un. I had noticed that my Alphabass didn't get as loud clean as I would expect, but would get plenty loud dirty. It would also get loud and clean when I juiced the EQ at low gain settings, but I'd like to be able to use my EQ for... you know... EQing.

I put my Alesis MicroLimiter in the front (low voltage) effects loop. I turned off my EQ. I set my gain to about 3 where it sits clean (as clean as I want anyway) and I set the MicroLimiter input to a very low level in an attempt to keep it away from the initial threshold. Then I tweaked the output of the Microlimiter while I played. Booming clean tone. Yay me!!!

So clearly most of the dirt I'm getting is coming from the preamp ahead of the EQ section (this effects loop is pre-eq according to the manual).

In your experience Talkbass, does this indicate:

A. That my pre-tubes are bad.
B. My pre-tubes have too much gain for the range of tones I want and a change to an AY or AU is in order.
C. That the pre-amp is not designed for loud and clean, or...
D. Some other malady?

Either way I'm happy I figured out how to get some pretty notable volume, but since I'm so damn cheap I was hoping to get some opinions before I take my troubleshooting to the 'buying' stage.
 
#12
In my case my preamp tubes were bad and severely limiting my potential clean headroom. The preamp overdrive of the amp sounded not so hot. I think it was supposed to be a clean amp.
 
#13
christw said:
In my case my preamp tubes were bad and severely limiting my potential clean headroom. The preamp overdrive of the amp sounded not so hot. I think it was supposed to be a clean amp.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response.

I like the tone of the overdrive quite a bit, and I like that it can get really gritty, I just want to be able to clean it up and get some quality volume. I can totally hear the difference between any of the dirt pedals or amp sim pedals I've owned and this overdrive and I like it. Way better than the Bassman I've been playing with which I have a hard time getting to go to grit (it just gets 'more warm', which is really nice, but not ideal if you play in the land of extremes like I do.)

It sounds like eventually I'm going to have to dig in and do some 12A*7 swapping.
 
#14
The preamp was designed (like most) to operate with some 12AX7 in the preamp and with a 12AT7 as the driver tube/phase inverter IIRC. It was too clean for my band at the time. I wanted tubey grit and it didn't do it like an Ampeg running in the red... :p

It is "only" 160w RMS. That's loud but not super loud. The Alphabass was always able to squeak by in the stupid loud bands through my ghetto 810 but it was always on the verge of breakup. I wouldn't trust it with an inefficient 410.
 
#15
I'm using a BFM Jack 210, which isn't deadly on the low end, but is plenty efficient and loud enough when I boosted through the effects loop. The Alphabass can now play relatively clean until the Jack farts out, which is obviously more clean volume than I can currently use.

If I need more volume (which should never ever happen as loud as I just was, but I know there is a set of dueling 100w halfstacks somewhere in my future :scowl:) I'll build more cabs or upgrade to to the deltalite drivers.
 
#16
Just had a chance to play through one of these AlphaBASS heads along with a Peavey 2x15 cab of some sort. Wow - this is a great tube amp! Very clean, very warm - I did think the EQ points on the graphic were a bit in the higher range, but the amp "thumped" in a B15 old school vibe. I had never seen or heard of these before tonight but would definitely pick one up if ever came across a smokin' hot deal on one.
 
#18
I have One- its Definately a Cleaner sounding Tube amp- But if you Know what your Doing with the Graphic EQ - its one heck of a shape shifter!

Definately Has a Tube sound, but not as much of a signature sound of tube amp as Say an Ampeg or Sadowsky SA200

But Its Definately a Cool Tube Amp , and a Mean Clean One at that
 

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