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Peavey Tour VB-2 All Tube head. need comments!

#221
^
You should be fine. The VB-2 can sound plenty tight with a ported cab. The resonance controll is very usefull in this regard.

IME, if you pair a good cab with a good head you usually get good results. There's no way to know for sure without trying it out but I wouldn't worry about it too much.
 
#223
I prefer using it with a ported cab. That said, I use one a lot with a sealed 810 and it works great for me.

I'm more picky about the speakers themselves since I use a little overdrive. Some speakers have the tone for that and some don't.

I suggest a using a cabinet that has good sensitivity with tube amps so you get the most volume possible (with a tone you like, of course).
 
#225
Mine sounds great with ether one or both of my Eden 212's (ported) I recently picked up a SWR Goliath SR. 610. It does not sound good at all with my VB-2 (loud as heck) It does sound great with my SWR head. I do not know why I cannt get it to sound good with the VB-2 I have tried everything and all my basses and only my Cirrus sounds good through it.
 
#230
I had a serious love affair with my VB2. I think it was about 3 years old when a tube went and took the internal fuse with it. The local PV tech replaced all the power tubes with Svetlana's (because that's what are put in SVT's, in his words) and it's never sounded the same since (it came with JJ's). I got a sweet deal on a Marshall VBA400 and that's now my main amp. But I tell you, before the tube went and the internal fuse, the VB2 was and still is one of the best sounding amps I have ever played and I've been playing a loooong time.... maybe one day I'll re-tube it and see if that gets it back to the original killer sound, but for now it's taking a back seat to the Marshall, and that's only because it lost some balls after the tube change....
 
#232
I love my VB2 but you have to work with the controls to get the sound you want. When I got it I was expecting something close to an SVT, which it can get close to, but you have to make adjustments to get a similar sound. This is not a bad thing as the amp is capable of a number of great sounds.

As far cabs go I use a ported Peavey 2X15 and the resonance control certainly does wonders for that thing. If you turn it all the way counter clockwise you would swear you were playing through a sealed cab. Past 9 oclock it starts to get real loose. I haven't used it with a sealed cab but I imagine past 9 oclock you could make a sealed cab sound more like a ported one.
 
#234
I'm not used to the el34 tubes. They seem like they are more of a guitar tube. I have to crank the bass past 8 to get a balanced sound. Mostly on 10.
Click to expand...

There's not really any difference between the frequency response of EL34s and other tube types used in bass amps (unless you are overdriving them). What you are hearing is the voicing of the amp, which is what makes it so loud for 225 watts and allows it to cut well in a mix. BTW...This amp likes to be loud.

Using the resonance control will help you get heavier lows. Also, the 200Hz mid shift setting could help by shifting your low control to the lowest setting. There's nothing wrong with using the EQ radically to get what you want. It's designed with that in mind and for that reason.
 
#236
I'm confused by this " Also, the 200Hz mid shift setting could help by shifting your low control to the lowest setting"

Could you explain further? I don't follow you.

Also, doesn't the resonance add looseness to the bottom end?
Click to expand...

The mid shift shifts the whole EQ. If you use the 200Hz setting, you also shift the low and high control active centers to their lowest points so you don't end up with EQ dead spots. This can make it easier to pinpoint and boost deep bass. This shift also moves the mid control into the "punch" EQ range, effectively turning the mid control into more of an upper bass control, but the mid control boost is wide range, so you will still have control over the higher mid frequencies.

Basically, the resonance control increases the power amp's low frequency gain as you turn it up. This can be thought of as a "loose" control, but it can also be thought of as a power amp bass control. This is accomplished by altering the feedback, or error correction system in the power amp, which looks at what's coming out, compares it to what's going in and makes adjustments accordingly. Your bass cab may say that it's 8 ohm or 4 ohm impedance, but actually, cabinet impedance changes with frequency. Without going into too much detail, these impedance variations can cause "error" in the speaker/amplifier system that is your rig. Error can mean a bass resonance, or bass hump that is inherent to the cab design. Feedback in a power amp can allow the power amp to dampen out these resonances to hold the frequency response flat, which is often desirable, or feedback can be used strategically to encourage resonances, also sometimes desirable. Presence does the same thing except to the highs.
 
#237
Thought I'd chime in, I picked up a used VB-2 at Guitar Center for $250 a couple of months back. Now that the honeymoon period is over, I can still say I'm very impressed with this amp. I've played a few shows hooked up to various backlines around NYC, but my primary cab is a Tour 410, which keeps up rather nicely with the VB-2. I have an Aguilar DB 212 coming soon, so we will see how they pair together.

As far as EQ goes, I keep everything fairly flat, with resonance around 4 and presence almost fully counter-clockwise. I play 99% on the clean channel, and my secret recipe is master volume at 10 and use the gain to adjust volume, this head wants to be played loud, and honestly sounds so much better in band situations than bedroom practice!

Aside: For owners out there, the serial # ends in XXXX2008, is that the year of production?
 
#238
As you can see, I fiddled with the controls a lot when I first got it!

photobucket-3662-1327354421150.gif
 
#239
rizzo9247 said:
Thought I'd chime in, I picked up a used VB-2 at Guitar Center for $250 a couple of months back. Now that the honeymoon period is over, I can still say am very impressed with this amp. I've played a few shows hooked up to various backlines around NYC, but my primary cab is a Tour 410, which keeps up rather nicely with the VB-2. I have an Aguilar DB 212 coming soon, so we will see how they pair together.

As far as EQ goes, I keep everything fairly flat, with resonance around 4 and presence almost fully counter-clockwise. I play 99% on the clean channel, and my secret recipe is master volume at 10 and use the gain to adjust volume, this head wants to be played loud, and honestly sounds so much better in band situations than bedroom practice!

Aside: For owners out there, the serial # ends in XXXX2008, is that the year of production?
Click to expand...


Nice score for $250.
 

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