Seymour Duncan Powerstage Bass

[Obese Chess]

This is a funny one for me. I had the same reaction y'all did, which is "how is this a 'powerstage' amp and why would anyone buy one over any other Class D amp at the price," and then the part of the video @gtirard pointed out made it click for me. I like the idea of being able to essentially swap out preamp sections based on the gig. Going to a rock or metal gig? Run a SansAmp or a Darkglass in the effects loop. Jazz/funk gig? Sadowsky or Markbass. Etc etc. I think the effects loop being before the defeatable EQ section adds a really interesting layer of versatility, which is to say that it specifically seems intended to be used in the way I am describing, or at least that was considered.

I also think the amp sonuds great on its own, and as someone who currently plays through a bunch of vintage Peaveys just because I like the tone, the EQ points and approach are similar to the point that a few of the sound clips with the high mids boosted and a little bit of distortion (I really like that onboard distortion circuit!) pretty much sound like my amp. I was pretty set on the Super Festival Reissue as a result, but between the uncertain release date, the $1,500 price, and the difficulty of finding a cabinet that will safely and responsibly handle 1,200W RMS, this feels like a much better choice for my needs and I'm excited to try one out.

 

[Challanger2]

This is actually a pretty interesting piece of gear the more I think on it. Not sure I’ll get one but I think it finds a nice spot in the market. Compared to some similarly powerful and popular amps, it has less features but a notable price drop. For example, Mesa D800 and Genzler Magellan amps are around 1k+, while tube variants like the TT800 or Kinetix are 1.3k+. Yes they have 100 more watts and a more featured preamp, but they also cost $300-$600 more. So if someone is mainly interested in using a modeler or pedal board and just using the amp for volume, I think this slots in quite nicely.

 

[gtirard]

This is actually a pretty interesting piece of gear the more I think on it. Not sure I’ll get one but I think it finds a nice spot in the market. Compared to some similarly powerful and popular amps, it has less features but a notable price drop. For example, Mesa D800 and Genzler Magellan amps are around 1k+, while tube variants like the TT800 or Kinetix are 1.3k+. Yes they have 100 more watts and a more featured preamp, but they also cost $300-$600 more. So if someone is mainly interested in using a modeler or pedal board and just using the amp for volume, I think this slots in quite nicely.

Yes, but don't forget the Quilter Bass Block.

A lot of people use it as a full amp and/or as a power amp, for a long time now through its variations 800, 802 and 803.

Same price.

I prefer the features of the Quilter, but to each his own obviously.

 

[Obese Chess]

Yep, Quilter's the same price and is probably what this one's aimed at. On paper, I like the features on this more (the very granular midrange EQ and the onboard distortion) but the Quilter's a great amp.

 

[blizzard]

I thought it sounded pretty good as a standalone amp, the idea of an eq after effects return to give you a master eq for your preamp / modeler does make sense, and most standard amps don't do this. I view it as an good amp head with some added features for use an power amp.

It's priced competitively as a head, I think the only big miss is lack of 2 ohm compatibility. I also wonder if they named it the Seymour Duncan 700 whether we would have anywhere near the same number of complaints.

 

[Challanger2]

Yep, Quilter's the same price and is probably what this one's aimed at. On paper, I like the features on this more (the very granular midrange EQ and the onboard distortion) but the Quilter's a great amp.

Same, I think the features of this are a bit more general. Bass block is interesting, but having a flat and scoop input is a bit odd to me (why not just throw a contour knob in that has a similar EQ curve to give more flexibility?). The voice feature on the bass block seems like it could be cool if you were going for a more simple/classic signal chain, but idk how well it would play with tons of effects.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Yep, Quilter's the same price and is probably what this one's aimed at. On paper, I like the features on this more (the very granular midrange EQ and the onboard distortion) but the Quilter's a great amp.

The PowerStage caught my eye (...and wallet) as an alternative to Quilter for 7 bills...same holds true for the Ampeg Venture. I'm sure I've missed some. I'd really like to see a head-to-head among the 3+ from the TB community.

Riis

 

[agedhorse]

Do you know Jay Ganz Straight Ahead Power Amp ?

I'm surprised that no brand makes an industrial product with the same concept?

Not surprising, the real world demand is currently pretty tiny and the cost of producing a separate low production volume model far exceeds any cost savings compared with the full featured model (especially if you follow the safety and EMC regulatory rules).

 

[gtirard]

Not surprising, the real world demand is currently pretty tiny and the cost of producing a separate low production volume model far exceeds any cost savings compared with the full featured model (especially if you follow the safety and EMC regulatory rules).

I guess it's a "vocal minority" then, because we read the request quite often here on TB. No irony here - I'm sure you can appreciate the real world demand much better than me.

We'll have to keep on recommending to use the FX return of any full featured amp (Seymour Duncan, Quilter, Mesa, or almost any other normal amp).

I personally think it's a shame that the laws of economy of scale makes it cheaper to use more natural resources than necessary, but that's another story.

 

[DJ Bebop]

He explains that the EQ section comes after the FX loop returns, which lets you use it to refine the EQ to match the room for example. Other amps usually have their EQ section before the FX loop return (I'm not sure it's true for all other amps though, and does it make such a big difference anyway?)

My old but still running Carvin BX 1500 has a similar feature. The preamp section was bypassed at the power amp return but not the 9-band switchable equalizer. That did come in handy at times

 

[NeonVomit]

The Ashdown Ant is a cool concept (pedalboard-mountable power amp) but its power output of 200w does limit it.

This seems prima facie like an odd product, but the price - to - features ratio is impressive. Definitely going after the Quilter market. It's cheap enough to consider buying as a backup.

 

[Spector2112]

From the manual

 

[-Stingray]

Fail. It's 90% the same as everything else and the 10% different aren't better. 4 ohm minimum when 2.75 and 2 ohm are becoming more normal. Same price as the power stage 700 but literally half the power?
One of these days someone is going to listen to the market instead of their marketing department and maybe we'll get a win. Not today.

This 100%

Huge whiff by Seymour Duncan.

 

[Obese Chess]

The PowerStage caught my eye (...and wallet) as an alternative to Quilter for 7 bills...same holds true for the Ampeg Venture. I'm sure I've missed some. I'd really like to see a head-to-head among the 3+ from the TB community.

Riis

I do think they're all very different in their approach, but also a midprice amp shootout like that would be pretty cool.

 

[gtirard]

I do think they're all very different in their approach, but also a midprice amp shootout like that would be pretty cool.

Agree.

I would add the GR Bass ONE800 to the list of "midprice" amps that can be used as poweramps or full featured amps.
Agree a shootout would be nice

 

[Dom Amato]

This 100%

Huge whiff by Seymour Duncan.

I think its a pretty sweet amp. Is there anything lacking from this head?

 

[RavenousPoe]

I think its a pretty sweet amp. Is there anything lacking from this head?

I think it's less about an empty feature set and more about actually overdelivering and somewhat ignoring the typical target market of the Powerstage. The regular Powerstage 700 has double the power output (two channel, for the same price) and has an EQ for the room tuning, while maintaining itself as a "pedal platform amp".

The Powerstage 700 Bass is just a fully featured amp head, when I think most (on TB) were expecting a cheaper single channel power section to support our favorite preamp pedals.

 

[agedhorse]

I guess it's a "vocal minority" then, because we read the request quite often here on TB. No irony here - I'm sure you can appreciate the real world demand much better than me.

We'll have to keep on recommending to use the FX return of any full featured amp (Seymour Duncan, Quilter, Mesa, or almost any other normal amp).

I personally think it's a shame that the laws of economy of scale makes it cheaper to use more natural resources than necessary, but that's another story.

It's not just economies of scale regarding production, it's also the costs of certifying a different model to all of the necessary international standards. The barrier of entry into the EU is very costly if a company follows the laws of the EU, for a single model, there can be $30k+ of just regulatory costs before selling a single unit. Then you have all the paperwork, fees and taxes, registration and brokerages, importer of record and legal service costs, etc. This has to be spread over a lot of units of production to make sense. Selling just 100 units into the EU could add $400 USD to the cost of each unit, now multiply this by the distributor and dealer markups and now you are talking about real money. For a thousand units, that's a little different story, but bass amps are not huge sellers in general.

 

[ebozzz]

Fail. It's 90% the same as everything else and the 10% different aren't better. 4 ohm minimum when 2.75 and 2 ohm are becoming more normal. Same price as the power stage 700 but literally half the power?
One of these days someone is going to listen to the market instead of their marketing department and maybe we'll get a win. Not today.

Personally I would rather have the minimum load be 4 ohms if all that you get at 2 ohms is 700 watts. I honestly would prefer to take one 4 ohm cab that could handle 700 or 800 watts to a gig. I certainly don’t want to be hauling more than two.

 

[agedhorse]

Personally I would rather have the minimum load be 4 ohms if all that you get at 2 ohms is 700 watts. I honestly would prefer to take one 4 ohm can that could handle 700 or 800 watts to a gig I certainly don’t want to be hauling more than two.

There are amps that deliver 800 watts at either 4 or 2 ohms, so there’s no penalty IF you find yourself in a situation where you need a 2 ohms capable amp.