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Shuttlemax 6.0 and GBE 750

birdxofxprey

birdxofxprey

Aug 9, 2006
806
87
Indianapolis
www.bandmix.com
#1
I've been playing the GBE 750 for about a year, through a NEOX-212T, wonderful rig. Today I got a Shuttlemax 6.0. While I'll be test driving the Shuttlemax with the band tonight, here are my initial reactions:

- the shuttlemax is not as loud as the 750 despite the minimal difference in wattage (the 750 cranks 675 watts @ 4 Ohms, the shuttlemax does 600). the 750 has a button for passive bass gain, but so does the shuttlemax, so that's not the source of the difference in volume either. the volume difference seems significant to me; the volume i get on the 750 with the mastervolume set at 9 o'clock requires a setting of about 10:30 on the mastervolume of the shuttlemax.

- the shuttlemax doesn't have an on/off switch on the front, it's on the back of the amp. rather inconvenient if you intend to put the amp in a rack (as i do). the 750 has the on/off switch on the front.

- the fan on the shuttlemax is quite a bit louder than the fan on the 750, but of course you can't hear either when playing...

- EQed flat, the shuttlemax definitely has more bottom end to itthan the 750, and the EQ knobs on the shuttlemax have a much more pronounced effect when tweaked than do the EQ knobs on the 750. with this in mind, it's relatively simple to compensate for the otherwise unexplained difference in volume between the two amps - a bit of EQ adjusting and the volume really comes up on the shuttlemax.

- the shuttlemax is 30 lbs lighter :D

Not sure which one I'll keep, but I'll post more impressions after practice tonight.

Anyone else have a chance to compare these two fine amps? I'd love to hear others' thoughts.



.
 
#2
after band practice....

the sound quality of the shuttlemax 6.0 is terrific, definitely has the GB sound. lots of possibilities, no complaints - it did everything i want an amp to do.

volume continued to be an issue, however. perhaps because i'm used to leaving the 750 at a fairly low setting most of the time, but i found myself regularly looking to the shuttlemax for more volume - ended up keeping the master volume at about 11:30 for most of the practice, if i did that with the 750 my bandmates would complain...

summary:

shuttlemax sounds terrific, every bit as good as the 750.

it needs significantly more on the master volume to acheive the same output as the 750. anyone know why this might be?

thanks!
 
#3
birdxofxprey said:
after band practice....

the sound quality of the shuttlemax 6.0 is terrific, definitely has the GB sound. lots of possibilities, no complaints - it did everything i want an amp to do.

volume continued to be an issue, however. perhaps because i'm used to leaving the 750 at a fairly low setting most of the time, but i found myself regularly looking to the shuttlemax for more volume - ended up keeping the master volume at about 11:30 for most of the practice, if i did that with the 750 my bandmates would complain...

summary:

shuttlemax sounds terrific, every bit as good as the 750.

it needs significantly more on the master volume to acheive the same output as the 750. anyone know why this might be?

thanks!
Click to expand...

Maybe one of the GB people will chime in.
Just speculating -- it could be a different potentiometer (sp?) on one or both controls, or a different gain structure, or combination of these things.
 
#4
lo-freq said:
Maybe one of the GB people will chime in.
Just speculating -- it could be a different potentiometer (sp?) on one or both controls, or a different gain structure, or combination of these things.
Click to expand...

I would just not worry about the level settings as long as you don't hit a wall either from running out of headroom or causing a power interrupt (latter really not likely).
 
#5
I use a ShuttleMax12.0 on most gigs and it is more than enough. (It is by the way the Max6.0 with an exta power amp). From what I understand the power section is the same just 2 of them. I was running a GBE1200 which the Max12.0 replaced and I have never had an issue getting the juice and headroom I have needed. Where are you running the gain and the volume? What kind of basses are you running? MAke sure you are feeding the front end enough because it can not amplify a signal that isn't there. It may take a click or 3 up on the gain or volume to feed it enough to ignite.
 
#6
you can't judge the loudness of an amp by volume settings. The gain structure on the two amps is different.

Push them both until you aren't getting a tone you like.....until you hear bad sounding breakup. The position of the knobs doesn't mean anything.
 
#7
hasbeen said:
you can't judge the loudness of an amp by volume settings.
Click to expand...


thanks hasbeen. this is something that makes sense to an expert but defies the intuition of a non-expert like me!

it seems to me that if the volume knob is turned up half way, i should be getting 50% of the available volume. if this is not so, then how does one compare the available volume of these two amps?

i can push them to the point of distortion, but i don't understand what the purpose of that would be.

thanks!
 
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#9
birdxofxprey said:
...

it seems to me that if the volume knob is turned up half way, i should be getting 50% of the available volume. if this is not so, then how does one compare the available volume of these two amps?

...

thanks!
Click to expand...

That is not so.
The way is to do what hasbeen said.
There's some tonal differences depending on the preamps and their level settings -- get those set where they sound reasonably similar (and have a good strong signal) and then crank the master volume to the point where it starts to 'not sound so good', then back off a bit.
That will either be louder than you can stand on one or both or you'll know the relative usable capabilities of the two heads.
I'd vary the preamp level a bit even after getting the master volume up to the usable max, just to see the effect and see if any more clean volume can be had that way as well.
 
#11
lo-freq said:
That is not so.
The way is to do what hasbeen said.
There's some tonal differences depending on the preamps and their level settings -- get those set where they sound reasonably similar (and have a good strong signal) and then crank the master volume to the point where it starts to 'not sound so good', then back off a bit.
That will either be louder than you can stand on one or both or you'll know the relative usable capabilities of the two heads.
I'd vary the preamp level a bit even after getting the master volume up to the usable max, just to see the effect and see if any more clean volume can be had that way as well.
Click to expand...

thanks for the assist. I agree.
 
#12
There has been some talk about the Markbass LM II size heads (300/500 watts) not doing particularly well with a single 8 ohm cabinet. What about the Shuttle Max 6.0? When driving a single 8 ohm cab, can it be counted on to sound like a healthy 375 watts? Is anybody running a Max 6.0 like this? :hmm::)

M. M.
 
#16
vlxyooper said:
Though it's probably a bit late now, but you could do what I did and just go for the SM12.0 to end all confusion over power levels. :D
Click to expand...

That's a great idea, except...it doesn't help those committed to gigging with just one cabinet. Personally, if I'm gonna invest in a featherweight amp, only one cab is going with me to the gig. :)

M. M.
 
#18
OK, all of you Genz-Benz guys. Help me out here. I'm committed to using my Aguilar DB 115 long term for small to medium gigs. It's an 8 ohm cab and relatively inefficient. Will the 375 watts of the Max 6.0 be enough to kick this cab to life? Dennis commented on the Neox-112 cab but that seems a bit more efficient than the DB 115. What do ya think? :)

M. M.
 
#19
blowinblue said:
OK, all of you Genz-Benz guys. Help me out here. I'm committed to using my Aguilar DB 115 long term for small to medium gigs. It's an 8 ohm cab and relatively inefficient. Will the 375 watts of the Max 6.0 be enough to kick this cab to life? Dennis commented on the Neox-112 cab but that seems a bit more efficient than the DB 115. What do ya think? :)

M. M.
Click to expand...

I suggest trying your cabinet out whith whatever amp you think you would like to use... regardless of brand or model.
 
#20
agedhorse said:
I suggest trying your cabinet out whith whatever amp you think you would like to use... regardless of brand or model.
Click to expand...

Thanks. This is always good advice, but...I was hoping to get lucky and maybe a few players on the forum have been running a Max 6.0 or 12.0 into just one 8 ohm cab on a regular basis. I see what you're trying do...get me to try one out for myself. :D

M. M.
 

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