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Smallest amp you’ve been impressed by?
- Thread starter Inconnu
- Start date
Have you been able to compare it to other bass cabs? That's the acid test there. Given that it's a 15 it will sound different than say 210's or 112. For years my staple was 215 cabs but I've since switched to 112's. Fast response, modular, easy to transport.
Go to a local GC, try out a few new cabs. Good day to go window shopping!
It’s a combo, but yeah, I think is a 15 thing.Have you been able to compare it to other bass cabs? That's the acid test there. Given that it's a 15 it will sound different than say 210's or 112. For years my staple was 215 cabs but I've since switched to 112's. Fast response, modular, easy to transport.
Go to a local GC, try out a few new cabs. Good day to go window shopping!
D
Not sure about "rehearsal levels or louder" but at 30 watts the Ashdown Little Bastard has impressed me a LOT in the studio. It sounds absolutely amazing! And it's got a great tube driven DI that taps the signal off the OUTPUT transformer, making output tube saturation available on the DI output. I would almost recommend it just for the DI output. Most other tube amps with DI outputs just take the signal off the preamp section.
Great little amp and louder than you might think! But probably more of a studio amp than for live.
Great little amp and louder than you might think! But probably more of a studio amp than for live.
Last night, I tried a Traynor SB106 in a Long & McQuade store.
6.5"speaker. 50 W. 15 lbs. Loud and proud with a ton of lows even with all the eq knobs at noon and the low expander knob at minimum (off).
Funky little machine. 50W when used as a combo. The head part has a speaker out as well. If you plug an external cab, the internal cab is automatically disconnected. When using one or two external cabs, you can get up to 200W @ 4 ohm.
Interesting concept.
6.5"speaker. 50 W. 15 lbs. Loud and proud with a ton of lows even with all the eq knobs at noon and the low expander knob at minimum (off).
Funky little machine. 50W when used as a combo. The head part has a speaker out as well. If you plug an external cab, the internal cab is automatically disconnected. When using one or two external cabs, you can get up to 200W @ 4 ohm.
Interesting concept.
Fender Rumble 40. Pretty good!
Note: Thanks alaskaleftybass; note added to to retain "conceptual continuitee."
Note: Thanks alaskaleftybass; note added to to retain "conceptual continuitee."
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You forgot to misspell the last word of your last pots.
I keep doing that! I am wearing the edit button otu!You forgot to misspell the last word of your last pots.
@MarkA thank you for an excellent assessment of the higher end stuff we talk about here on TB. I owned the Hathor 1203's (a pair) and struggled to get the "colored" growly tone I used to get out of my USA Peavey's in the 80's. I think they were just too high quality for me!
What amp were you playing with the Hathors -- and by USA Peaveys, are you referring to basses, cabs, or amps?
With "growly" being a somewhat subjective term (and, with cabs as with critters, I would distinguish between different registers and types of growl), I'd say that the Hathor is more growly (or growl-able, or growl-prone) than some cabs I've played, less so than others. They do have a voicing -- likely a more subtle and even one then your old Peavey cabs (if that's what you're referring to) did -- but I find that it works well in most contexts and that the cab responds well to EQ. Still, there is a bit of dip in (I think) the 2-4 KHz range (which Duke has mentioned being a present range for guitars) and I could see that, along with, possibly, how and where the cab crosses over from woofer to 3" mid/high driver, influence the growl-ability of the cab.
On a perhaps related note, I find that I can pop harmonics well with the cab -- they are present and speak clearly up and down the neck -- but they might not be as present as with a more mid/upper-mid-forward cab. I seem to recall some harmonics being a little more present with the Markbass combo, for instance, but the Hathor is more even and I like pretty much everything else better about it. Still, I can't see any cab being the best for everything. A B-15 is almost the polar opposite of what I typically look for in a cab -- and it would be totally unsuited to some of the music I play -- but the one time I got to play one in a studio, with a band... wow. Never heard anything else like it. What that amp did, I don't think I've heard done better -- I'm sure it's possible, I just haven't heard it (not with me playing, anyway!).
I have noticed that, with electric bass, very smooth sounding heads tend to sound better to me through a cab that "roughs them up" a bit (I'd put the Hathor 1203 in that group, though as a subtle and refined member of it) and that some "rougher" and more harmonically complex heads sometimes (though certainly not always) can sound harsh through such a cab (though the Hathor, with its paper cone mid/high driver instead of a typical tweeter -- not to mention the switches -- ameliorates a lot of that). There are other variables that affect how well cabs and amps pair, of course.
The two things that really intrigue me about what you reported-- the MAS 1.8 and the Quilter BB800. I live on an island in Alaska and probably won't be able to try something like that for a while. I know that the MAS 1.8's have just started rolling out and the Quilters have been around for a while. I'm very interested in trying both together. I'm betting that would be a pretty lethal combination. I like pairs of speakers so the only thing that would concern me is when stacking two MAS 1.8's will they properly stand and be able to hold the Quilter? Thanks again for the great reviews.
Again, I didn't have the Bass Block long and only played it at home, but, playing it next to other micros, it seemed to have a better "touch" than most. Wouldn't be my first choice for my occasional, flailing attempts at Primus covers or for trying to channel Flea (though, who knows, it might do okay at that). When I tried to make it stutter (pushing staccato notes as fast as I could) it got a little bit blurry relative to some other heads -- and I wish it were just a bit more open/present up top -- but, overall, nice, natural, easy to play.
I'm not sure how it would pair up with the 18 -- I played it through my MAS 112, which is tighter in the lows and probably the least "bloomy" cab I've ever played. The Quilter's got a pretty "big" low end... could it with the 18 be too much of a good thing? Maybe. Might be killer, though. The BB struck me as big but not uncontrolled in the lows and the 18 is actually pretty evenly voiced -- maybe some warmth/bloom in the low end, but not a ton -- lows sounded natural and unhyped with recorded music (though that was with a straight-ahead power amp). I'd be curious to hear the 18/BB pairing, myself.
Kind-of off topic, but if Quilter were to tweak the Bass Block just for me (never going to happen), they would add a Presence control (or switch) and an adjustable (at least selectable) damping factor, so that I could go between the nice bit of bounce it has and a more hard-edged, stereotypically SS response... whatever. I'd like a sandwich and a lemonade while they're at it.
As for stacking two of the 18s, I would be inclined to put them on their sides, effectively replicating the configuration of the MAS 28 (which, incidentally, costs a lot less than two 18s, but I hear you on the modular thing).
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Hijacking this question a little: I love the tone of the old SWR Workingman 15, but for practice in my spare room even that amp is overkill, in terms of loudness and space. What's smaller but kind of approaches it in tone? Quieter is totally fine, even desirable.
Apologize for not clarifying my choices. I started out on Fender in the late 60's moved to Ampeg then to Acoustic in the 70's. I loved the Acoustic sound. In the 80's I got into serious touring in the U.S. and Canada. I had sold my big amps so I bought Peavey Mark I through IV heads with various Peavey cab configurations. What I loved about the Peaveys is they sounded like my old Acoustic Control Corp amps. Loud, midrangey, and growly. I guess you could say I like a very colored tone.
As I think about it, I know I could have ended up loving the Hathors very much but I couldn't quite reach that old school tone I love. Odd side note, I've rediscovered that old growly colored tone in the new Ampegs, at least a small combo I just bought. It's the BA108v2. Very small but gets loud and has that tone with attitude. I don't know how Ampeg modernized their amps yet still retained that signature tone. Second side note: If Duke goes through with creating the 110 cabs he's been talking about I'd be interested in those very much.
I am really into the small but loud/deep thing. I like two small stacked cabs configuration for versatility. After your review of the BB800 I think I'm more inclined to already appreciate my GK heads. I did buy a used Ampeg PF-350 more on that in a NAD thread I'll probably post at a later date.
I agree completely. A short time ago I played an opening and the backline was a Workingman's 15. It was so incredible tone wise. Smaller room but it really did sound big. FYI on Guitar Center Used Gear online store there is a Workingman's 12 for sale. If I were to buy a classic combo, that would be the one I would buy in a heartbeat. The SWR's seem to sound sweeter the more you push them.
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The MAS 18 does small/loud/deep better than anything else I've heard yet, but takes some power. I'm also not sure how inherently colored/growly it is. I think it will communicate growl that's there pretty well -- and might get some paper cone breakup with the 3" mid -- but I don't think it's going to grind the way an old Acoustic 360 might (I haven't played a 360 -- just going by what I've heard recorded, here).
As for the BB800, take my impressions of it with a grain of salt. I tried it as throughly as I could in the limited time I had it at home, but mine had issues and had to go back, so I couldn't gig it. Mine was an early one and, from conversations with Quilter, they sussed and sorted out the problem some time ago. I wouldn't worry, with regard to quality, about trying a new one again.
I don't feel that I can say anything definitive about the head, but I feel fairly confident in saying it's not a GK. It's also not "slow" -- I think you could cover Rocco lines with it effectively -- that bit of bounce it's got might even lend itself really well to that and help to propel the line and make it feel easier -- but if you're really pushing it and looking for the ultimate in separation between notes and laser-cut starts and stops -- or really aggressive and cutting slap -- I don't know that that's in its wheelhouse. If you told me that I had five minutes to pick a micro amp, walk out the door, and play Motown tunes somewhere, though, it might be my first choice -- not that it's limited to that -- and I'm sure that I didn't explore all that it could do -- but, you get the picture.
Put another way, modern Jazz Bass Flea might get on all right with a BB800. Not sure older Wal/Music Man Flea would have. (For the record, I did not ask Flea if this was the case.)
Thanks for the in-depth discussion @MarkA . Much appreciated. As far as what I play, we are an 80's band and most of my nights are quarter notes!
I can type nearly 100 words a minute as I'm in IT Tech Support but have never felt a need to do staccato notes, at least not for the stuff I play. I don't slap and my tone is low and midrange punchy growl with a touch of crisp high end. Not much of a modern sound although all my basses are modern Ibanez flavor.I get to Seattle and Portland on training or family trips, and I'll try and find a BB800. Two oddities about me, though.
1. I wish I had never sold my Hathor 1203's. I didn't give them a fair chance.
2. If Duke makes a 110 I will be very interested in it. He had hinted at it last winter.
3. I'm tempted to blindly buy one of the MAS 1,8's sheerly by the specs and enthusiastic reports from other TB'ers. It would be great if I could find a video somewhere online about the cabinet.
OOPS that was 3 items!
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