Milkman Half and Half 700 - has the vintage clean sound with just treble-mid-bass control knobs, and the vintage look to go with it. I love mine.
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Solid State/Tube Hybrid Amp Heads with Character?
- Thread starter jdjk7
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- amp advice
I have considered a standalone power amp, and the modularity does sort of appeal to me, but if I'm being totally honest I'd just as soon rather not have to keep track of one more big piece of gear... head+cab+pedalboard+bass is enough for me. Rack systems are a thing, but that's getting away from the desire to keep things compact and light.
If I get desperate I might consider it, but I'll have to really look into the options, because I know nothing about what kind of poweramps people are using...
I get where you're coming from, but my power set up is for small stuff, practice and jams where i don't want to be lugging my PF50T around, classic pre goes in the gig bag, the GSS has it's own (little) pelicase style case. I have my gig bag on my back, the peli case in one hand and my 2 x 10SVT in the other!
The GSS stuff is top notch and TBH when i was looking at power amps, these came up alot on here and Basschat as a really good choice. Very happy with mine,.
Boutique
You could do what I do and buy an integrated amp that you like, and then still pair external preamps with it as the mood strikes. Sometimes I play my Aguilar as-is (and I think it sounds great), but I also have the option to use external preamps with it via the FX Loop input. It's win-win.
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That's exaxctly why I'm looking to upgrade to am Ampeg V4B, i have a few pedals that sound great directly to the Baby Sumo, some that sound great into the PF50T.
But i'm betting some of those will sound awesome into the V4Bs valve power section. I especially want to hear my Sushibox SBVT pre-amp like that!
I completely agree with the Orange Terror Bass and Genz Benz Streamliner recommendations. I own both and they are very tube like. If you want a clean tube like sound with thickness, the Streamliner is great. If you want clean with a hint of crunch or full on crunch, the Terror is your choice. Plus the Terror slams hard. Both are excellent at what they do.
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Yep. That's what I have done with my current main amp, and that would be on my list of priorities for any integrated head that I buy... my first use case would be to run a pedal preamp into the poweramp in. (That would again point toward standalone pre/poweramp, but I'd feel more comfortable with an integrated amp head. That way, if there's a problem with the pedalboard, I have a fully featured preamp to fall back on that I can just plug into without moving anything around.)
I have both big Eden amps and a small Eden amp. My biggest one is an Eden WT500/800, which is a dual powerblock amp upgraded to 400-watts per channel into 4Ω, or bridged at 800-watts into 8Ω. It's a heavy class A/B amp (~36-lbs. in its crack) from 1999 that just has a great, clear, articulate, and warm, sound. I have another Eden amp that I used before I got the WT500/800 and it is a Nemesis RS400 that has an all-FET preamp, so it does NOT have a tube in the preamp. The sound is just as clear, clean, and articulate, but it lacks the warmth in the sound that my big WT500/800 has.
My little Eden amp is a TN226, which is a class D, 225-watt rms amp, again without a tube in the preamp, but it sounds every bit as warm as my WT500/800. That's because it uses a Golden Ear chip (THAT4301) that is more commonly used in high-end recording consoles such as Allen and Heath. It does a number of things, but tube emulation is the big deal about it as far as Eden amps go. They started using it with their WT405 amps in 2001) and that tube emulation is what gives it the warmth of sound.
I really like that little Eden TN226 amp, just wish I had purchased the 500-watt version of it. If you can find a TN501 that would be a good choice for you. IIRC it weighs 5.3-lbs. EQ is a bass shelving EQ for everything 30Hz and lower, a semi-parametric low-mid EQ for anything 30Hz up to 300Hz, a semi parametric hi-mid EQ for any frequency of 200Hz to 2KHz, and a treble shelving EQ for everything above 2KHz. With my passive Jazz Bass I typically run the EQ's flat with a little boost up to about 1:30 dialed in at 250Hz. A little boost in the low-mids anywhere between 250Hz and 550Hz will give you good definition and presence when playing in a group.
Another thing that semi-parametric controls do is allow you to "dial in a room" if you need to. A simple way to do that is turn the boost part of the first semi-parametric to 3 o'clock, which is a lot of boost. Then have someone slowly turn the frequency knob from minimum to max as you play. If you have a room that is sucking out frequency, your sound will go a lot quieter when you hit that frequency it's sucking out. If it's boosting the frequency it will suddenly go a lot louder when you hit it. Now that you've identified where the problem is, you can boost or cut the frequency as needed. The semi-parametric controls on the Eden amps also boost or cut the adjacent frequencies in a smooth slope "^" as opposed to just a single frequency needle point adjustment "|", so it's a very smooth frequency adjustment.
Notice that the lo-mid and hi-mid frequency selectors overlap. That allows you to use the low-mid to cut out the lows if necessary and still boost the low-mid frequencies with the second semi-parametric control. I've used the second one a few times to boost at 250Hz instead of the first one. That overlap of the controls comes in handy. My big Eden amp has three of those.
Here's a shot of the TN501. Street price is ~$649. Bad news is they are as scarce as hen's teeth right now and have been for a while. Used ones in mint condition are selling for "New" prices. Gear4Music in the UK owns them now although Marshall is still doing manufacturing for them.
I’ve been meaning to plug my Demeter HBP-1 preamp into my Class D Yamaha PX5 power amp.
Right now my HBP-1 is racked with my 48 pound Crest CA9 power amp. The rack is close to the weight of an Ampeg SVT-CL head.
But it sure delivers awesome tone and power in spades IMHO
Right now my HBP-1 is racked with my 48 pound Crest CA9 power amp. The rack is close to the weight of an Ampeg SVT-CL head.
But it sure delivers awesome tone and power in spades IMHO
I vote old school EQ onna old school hybrid amp:
Musicman HD130.
Musicman HD130.
Another vote for the Streamliner. Best part - you can get one in the classifieds here for like $500. There was one FS yesterday when I looked.
Also, you can send it to the man who designed it and have a full service check up / updates for a very reasonable fee - and you still come out with a heck of a deal. The Streamliner has a lot of character.
I also thought about the LH series of amps from Hartke... tube front end, Fender style tone stack (different eq), and big iron output section.
Also, you can send it to the man who designed it and have a full service check up / updates for a very reasonable fee - and you still come out with a heck of a deal. The Streamliner has a lot of character.
I also thought about the LH series of amps from Hartke... tube front end, Fender style tone stack (different eq), and big iron output section.
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I have one of these - not the lightest amp, but fat, tubey goodness abounds.
I have one of these - not the lightest amp, but fat, tubey goodness abounds.
