- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,945
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Gonna have some fun tonight...
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Peavey MiniMega 1000
- Thread starter Stev187
- Start date
Important question: which backlight color sounds best?
"Best" is subjective and will depend on your tonal goals, technique, and other equipment. You should try the different colors and determine what sounds best for YOU.
You might be the first person on the planet to gig that combo, Tom. (Incidentally, are you sure that's legal in your state?)
In any case, you seem to have settled on green as an early favorite sound.
gregbackstrom
These aren't stock curves--things move around!
I don't spend much time in the Metalzone (or maybe I'm mixing up that place and the Thunderdome?
), but I do like a certain harmonic complexity -- kind of a fine line for me, I want to hear it but I don't want it to sound hyped or put on.As for the "thin G" (or other unevenness between strings or on certain notes), I absolutely get what you're saying. I do pay attention to that stuff and am pretty confident in my bass and cabs where that's concerned. The way the EQs in some amps are voiced, though, it's hard to go very far from center without things starting to feel unbalanced -- either the low end will sound bloated or the top end will sound thin or the mids will get funny. In extreme cases, the amps themselves might be voiced that way.
Though it didn't have much in the way of EQ (just switches for preset BASS and TREBLE boosts, and a stepped GAIN boost that goosed the mids a bit), JGR's Box O' Tone prototype that I got to play awhile back (you have a JGR pre, so you might appreciate this!) was one of my favorite pieces in that regard -- almost perfectly even all over the neck, no matter how the switches were set, which helped me feel free to make music with my technique rather than compensate for stuff in the signal chain. That's something I look for in an amp (or bass or a cab), so what you and Tom say about the MM there is encouraging.
Hmm. You might be onto something. I will check on mine and report back.
Can't wait to hear Tom's gig report.
Another cool thing I just discovered with the MM...didn't really buy it to be a headphone amp but this is the best my basses have ever sounded through cans. I have to say both Kosmos features led to this. Really helped me dial in the feel I'd get when playing through a speaker. I don't really know how it did it but, it did it.
The honeymoon continues...
Another cool thing I just discovered with the MM...didn't really buy it to be a headphone amp but this is the best my basses have ever sounded through cans. I have to say both Kosmos features led to this. Really helped me dial in the feel I'd get when playing through a speaker. I don't really know how it did it but, it did it.
The honeymoon continues...
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,945
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Okay, finally awake and back among the living! Now, for the gig report...
The BA12-3 cabs paired up really well with the Peavey head. I had previously played them with the Magellan head, and they really seem to be made to each other. It seems that the natural tendencies of the Magellan pair up almost perfectly with the tendencies of the BA12-3’s. Namely, the head is very present in the middle to upper mids, and has a bit of growl to it, while the cabs come across as being smoother in the middle to upper mids (but probably because of the excellent low mids to upper bass response).
With the Peavey head, I found myself dialing the two bands of semi-parametric mids to sound a bit more like the Magellan (I'll have to look at my settings, but I used a moderate boost to the upper mids and a mild boost around 800Hz), and that worked out really well. The Bass Array cabs really do a great job of covering a broad area with “ideal tone,” due to their excellent off-axis performance. In fact, my guitar player came over from the other side of the stage to tell me how great the bass sounded!
I've played this room many times before, with a variety of rigs, and the MM just killed. I was coasting along on the Gain/Vol earlier in the night, and when things got louder during the last set, it had PLENTY of headroom left. This rig had a very impressive sense of "immediacy," and every note was quick to form and nicely full. Some of my basses have a nice bit of growl to them when you dig in, and this came through very well in this rig.
I definitely came away impressed with both the MiniMega and the BA12-3 cabs.
The BA12-3 cabs paired up really well with the Peavey head. I had previously played them with the Magellan head, and they really seem to be made to each other. It seems that the natural tendencies of the Magellan pair up almost perfectly with the tendencies of the BA12-3’s. Namely, the head is very present in the middle to upper mids, and has a bit of growl to it, while the cabs come across as being smoother in the middle to upper mids (but probably because of the excellent low mids to upper bass response).
With the Peavey head, I found myself dialing the two bands of semi-parametric mids to sound a bit more like the Magellan (I'll have to look at my settings, but I used a moderate boost to the upper mids and a mild boost around 800Hz), and that worked out really well. The Bass Array cabs really do a great job of covering a broad area with “ideal tone,” due to their excellent off-axis performance. In fact, my guitar player came over from the other side of the stage to tell me how great the bass sounded!
I've played this room many times before, with a variety of rigs, and the MM just killed. I was coasting along on the Gain/Vol earlier in the night, and when things got louder during the last set, it had PLENTY of headroom left. This rig had a very impressive sense of "immediacy," and every note was quick to form and nicely full. Some of my basses have a nice bit of growl to them when you dig in, and this came through very well in this rig.
I definitely came away impressed with both the MiniMega and the BA12-3 cabs.
Day 3 living with the MM has me exploring the wonderful 2 bands of semi-parametric mids. They're proving to be an excellent way to shape my tone ESPECIALLY when using the crunch. Crunch engaged and high mids boosted at approximately 1000 hz really yields the OD I like. Pushing that band with the crunch off really brings a nice, tube-like purr out. Very nice EQ on this amp.
@tombowlus , I was re-reading your New Year's Eve mini-review of the MM/12-3 combo and looked at the photo you snapped. Are the settings in that photo more or less what you used for the night? Looks like compressor, Kosmos, and Crunch off, EQ at noon, Gain a little shy of noon and Volume a little past 3 o'clock. You did mention boosting the two mid bands a bit -- how about the gain and volume settings?
And -- forgive me if this has been addressed already -- can anyone speak to the taper of the controls? Do they ramp up quickly, or is the adjustment spread out over a wide usable range?
@husky123 , nice to hear on the mid bands. You'd think all amps with two bands of semi-parametric mids would work in pretty much the same way, but it seems that some EQs of that type are a lot more intuitive and effective than others -- I don't know if it's because of differing Qs (widths) on the bands or other factors but, as with a lot of things, it seems that the implementation of the idea is as important as the idea itself.
Thanks,
Mark
And -- forgive me if this has been addressed already -- can anyone speak to the taper of the controls? Do they ramp up quickly, or is the adjustment spread out over a wide usable range?
@husky123 , nice to hear on the mid bands. You'd think all amps with two bands of semi-parametric mids would work in pretty much the same way, but it seems that some EQs of that type are a lot more intuitive and effective than others -- I don't know if it's because of differing Qs (widths) on the bands or other factors but, as with a lot of things, it seems that the implementation of the idea is as important as the idea itself.
Thanks,
Mark
All controls feel very wide and usable to me. The master definitely feels like it has an audio taper rather than a linear style. Pretty important I think with an amp that has this much juice on tap. A lot of amps I've owned give you just about everything they have within the first quarter of the turn and go from whisper to make you poop if you breathe on the master wrong. Additionally, as others have posted, I'd agree that the knobs and pots themselves have a great feel to them. They don't feel cheap to me.
Danke, good to know. I've heard of people replacing the pots on some amps and pedals with ones having a different taper. Seems a simple enough mod, but I've never done it.
I've never had an amp actually make me poop, though I was close to some monster subs once that came close. I had hearing protection in, but I don't think that extends to the digestive tract.
Doug Parent
Supporting Member
Interesting to see someone else mention this character about the D800, there seems to be a certain "thickness" or focus right in that G string frequency area that I have not heard on any other amp before. I have found it very helpful in getting a more even tone from all my various basses. I would think the MM with sweepable mids would have some weight there as well if needed.
Doug Parent
Supporting Member
