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Reiner Amplification Megathread

#561
I have rehearsal this evening, but chickened out and will not bring the Studio 1200. Reasons: temps here are below freezing, there's 5" of snow (and resulting ice) from yesterday morning, with more snow on the way this evening -- and the mixer bag is still on backorder at MF. (I'd cancel and go elsewhere but I was given a one-time discount resulting from a PayPal snafu... and I don't have a gig until March, so it's not a huge emergency).

That said, I have to reiterate that I'm still absolutely loving my Studio 1200. Even at apartment volume level, all my basses sound killer, whether active or passive, flats or rounds. The EQ is powerful, musical, easy to tweak... but tone is amazing with EQ flat.

I know... haven't gigged it yet... but I've heard the amp at gig volume through cabs similar to mine. So, I don't see the honeymoon ending!
 
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#562
Fuzzbass said:
I have rehearsal this evening, but chickened out and will not bring the Studio 1200. Reasons: temps here are below freezing, there's 5" of snow (and resulting ice) from yesterday morning, with more snow on the way this evening -- and the mixer bag is still on backorder at MF. (I'd cancel and go elsewhere but I was given a one-time discount resulting from a PayPal snafu... and I don't have a gig until March, so it's not a huge emergency).

That said, I have to reiterate that I'm still absolutely loving my Studio 1200. Even at apartment volume level, all my basses sound killer, whether active or passive, flats or rounds. The EQ is powerful, musical, easy to tweak... but tone is amazing with EQ flat.

I know... haven't gigged it yet... but I've heard the amp at gig volume through cabs similar to mine. So, I don't see the honeymoon ending!
Click to expand...

Great to hear Ken!
Have you settled on any gain/EQ settings with your various basses?
 
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#565
JGR said:
Great to hear Ken!
Have you settled on any gain/EQ settings with your various basses?
Click to expand...

Your 1U preamp can go from clean to full-blown fuzz so I have to be careful with Gain, especially with the Sadowskys. The 1200 isn't designed to do all that. With my new bass, the passive vintage-style P5, I can barely hear any breakup with Gain cranked up and EQ flat (this is at apartment volume, so Master is way low). That's fine, I love having all that clean headroom available! I'll use a pedal for the metal (tone) if/when I need to.

As for EQ... it's powerful, but also nicely tapered. That is, it operates smoothly between 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock, with extreme boost and cut happening at the edges of the dials. I love this! Powerful EQs can be frustrating when a small nudge from noon results in sizeable change in tone. On the flip side, I don't care for weak EQs that might be smooth but don't deliver much cut or boost. The 1200 EQ is Goldilocks!


Sliderbass said:
Figures! I get the amp and EVERY project I had falls apart!

I'll have to live through Ken...
Click to expand...

My condolences. Not that it'll make you feel any better, but I picked up the amp on Saturday 2/7 and won't be able to gig it until 3/7 because I have zero gigs in February. This month has been moving WAY too slowly: a huge bummer because of my lack of gigs, and also because of the snow and bitter cold!
 
#567
Fuzzbass, sorry to hear about your back ordered gig bag. That's one thing I did do .. back around Black Friday or Cyber Monday I ordered my gigskinz bag from MF for my own Studio 1200 (currently in line for #5). I got some extra discount that way. But mine was back ordered too and took a couple of weeks, if I remember correctly.

Anyway, it's still in its box .. I've only peeked inside .. waiting for the day #5 rolls off the assembly line!! :)

Definitely enjoying your reports about the amp .. even at apartment/bedroom levels. I was curious about the tone at those levels. My tube amps sound different when cranked than they do at low levels. I don't mean cranked into angry .. just loud vs low volume. Sounds like the Studio 1200 sounds good across this range?
 
#568
Every time I check MF, the expected date keeps getting pushed back. I suspect they're waiting for more orders.... so c'mon people, order up. ;) I'll still gig the 1200 if I don't get the bag in time.


kd5uwl said:
My tube amps sound different when cranked than they do at low levels. I don't mean cranked into angry .. just loud vs low volume. Sounds like the Studio 1200 sounds good across this range?
Click to expand...

The loudest I've heard my 1200 was in JGR's basement when I picked it up. With my passive P5, the only preamp distortion I heard was when we cranked gain AND the EQ knobs. When we cranked up the master volume, the amp definitely caused some speaker distortion. I don't recall whether master was up full, but trust me, volume was REALLY loud, and I never did hear any nasty solid state power amp distortion, even when we got the clip light to flash. I'll report back once I get gig time in and hear it loud through my own speakers, but the 1200 kept a great clean sound at loud volume as long as we didn't overdo the EQ or overpower the speaker boxes (we tried a few, including 2x10, 4x10, 4x12).

Non-techie rambling: any amp will sound different when loud versus quiet if the speakers aren't capable of handling the loud volume. My understanding is that many speakers are overrated: maybe a cab will safely handle 600W, but the speakers might begin to compress before that point. Assuming the speakers are not distorting, then it's mostly up to the power section of the amp. Power tubes can distort quite wonderfully, but that's a too obvious reason for louder sounding different. There's also the whole Fletcher-Munson thing, and "louder sounds better" all else being equal. I guess my point is that loud can sound different than quiet for reasons having nothing to do with the amp.
 
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#569
Small update: I can get tube breakup with my passive P5 when I crank Gain close to full, even with EQ flat. With the Sadowsky (onboard EQ flat) the breakup starts at noon or after depending on how hard I dig in... but again, all of this is at apartment volume with Master really low. Can't wait for the gig test! Two more weeks. :(
 
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#570
Fuzzbass, how would you rate the fan noise? That's one thing I didn't like about my SVT .. the fan noise. Of course, it's meant to be played at volumes where that wouldn't matter. But I like the way my solid state amps sound at bedroom levels and have wondered about the fan?

Some solid state amps I have seen the fan can be very quiet. My SVT fan was annoying.
 
#571
I forgot there was a fan in the 1200. To be fair, it sits a couple feet away from my tower PC which has a pair of louder fans. I can hear the fan on the 1200 when I'm right up close to it, but it's gentle and I can't hear it once I start playing, even at night time apartment volume.
 
#573
kd5uwl said:
JGR,

Just checking in to see if you might have any updates for us this weekend?
Click to expand...

I got two boards done last night so 3 and 4 should come alive soon!

image.jpg
 
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#574
I was able to use the 1200 with an Ampeg 610 cab yesterday and an active bass for a couple of hours(lakland Skyline). Sounded really nice. as able to go from a thick P-bass tone to a burpy J bass with ease.

…now all I need is to fill-in the rest of the band.. Ken, know any good guitar players in my area looking for a band?
 
#576
Sliderbass said:
…now all I need is to fill-in the rest of the band.. Ken, know any good guitar players in my area looking for a band?
Click to expand...

Define "good".

Just kidding, I think I know. I'll check into a couple of possibilities and get back to you. Condolences to you and silky, but I'm sure you guys will wind up OK soon enough.
 
#577
Last week I remembered that I have a private benefit-type gig (band is getting paid :)) this Sunday. I won't get to blast the 1200 as I will the following Saturday (3/7) with my hard rock band, but at least I'll finally get to hear it again at decent volume!

I'll be playing classic rock/R&B type stuff, using a pair of Berg CN112s. That'll be nice, but I still can't wait to rock the 1200 through my NV610. :bassist:
 
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#578
I know the wreckingball is the Amp de Jour, but since this thread has moved in to a generic Reiner Amplification megathread, I though I would bring up one of Jonathan's original designs.

Played this rig last weekend at a swap meet where Gigmaster Soundworks had a booth.

Yep that is an OG 1u Rock pre.

Simply killer tone.

Invalid Link Removed
 
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