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Streamliner 900 VS GK Fusion 550

#21
yeah, i tried to use mine in place of the 900's preamp by going into the aux in, bypassing the 900's preamp completely but i got the amp closer to my SVT's without it. the closest that i've gotten mine is when i used a EQ3B parametric in the effects loop, but again, i'm very happy with the amp's tone without it too. for me, the less gadgets, the better. ;)
 
#22
johnk_10 said:
for me, the trick to getting the mid and mid bass emphasis out of a streamliner is to use the 600Hz boost (2:00) and cut the bass control to about 10:30 than you normally would. at least that's what worked perfect for me on my last gig.

IMO, they're the most 'tube sounding' hybrid that i've tried to date and i'm a tube amp kinda guy.
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This is exactly how I eq my Streamliner and I also run a 5751 in V1 and two 7025's. It has alot of punch and definition, and I run mine through a Hartke Hydrive 410 which is a sealed cab.
 
#23
The 550 showed up about two hours ago. I've got a 4 hour rehearsal tomorrow night, a three hour gig on Friday night and a 1 1/2 hour gig at a festival (large stage) on Sunday- after I put them both through the paces I'll report back with my reviews. I played for about an hour and was very impressed but the band situation calls the shots. So far it feels as though the GK is much more articulate and fast. At first sounded less warm but after scooping the mids a touch and boosting the gain it really heated up and felt nice and round. The overdriven gain sounds seem to go to the Streamliner hands down- much warmer- the GK is a bit more harsh/ hard rock kinda tone (but to be honest I dial in just a tiny but of tube drive to warm things up so this is one area that I could not care less about). Obviously a much larger amp so it will have to clearly kick some booty over the Streamliner for me to keep it.... I'll post back after the weekends gigs and rehearsals....
 
#25
Rehearsed last night. What a confusing scenario. I really don't think the GK sounds good enough compared to the Genz Benz to warrant it's size and portability. My guitar player said he thought the GB sounded best hands down. I dig the clarity of the GK but am starting to think I might be able to roll tubes and get the articulation I'm looking for out of the SL. Ugh- never been so indecisive in my life. Gas continues....
 
#26
Definitely try the 5751 in the SL, made a real difference in the flabbiness factor for me.

Also, try cutting both bass and 600Hz mids to about 9:00 and turn up gain and volume to between 1:00 and 3:00, gain button off. I find that setting to be very articulate. And strangely it has plenty of mids.

With the SL you can't be subtle with the tone controls. Really crank them to extremes in non-conventional ways and you might be surprised.
 
#30
I figured that's what you meant, but wanted to be sure. I've tried that setting a couple times, and found it to be very muddy and indistinct. The cab differences must make an enormous difference. I've been very pleased with my settings of Gain and Volume at noon, Gain IN, Bass at 11:00, Mids at 3:15 (2.5kHz), treble at noon for grind, or 10:00 for P Bass goodness. Using Mids at 600 Hz gets a little "honky" for me, but 2.5kHz is very articulate. This puts a fair amount of hair on it, very thick and yet articulate.
 
#31
ok guys- what cabs are you running? When I bought the Bergantino 410 I a/b it in the store for about two hours against 2-12 cabs. Everyone in the store felt the 2-12 was murkier, or a bit less defined than the 4-10. I'm honestly thinking about trading in the 4-10 for either (2) 2X10s (just to ease the schlep) or possibly look into 2-12s again.
I played a three hour gig last night and was once again struggling to dial it all in (I was also running sound for the band). Stage sound was so drastically different than house sound regarding the bass. When solo it sounded great. On stage it sounded almost too big and heavy ( with lows cut to about 10) and again getting a nice cut and articulation was tough. Out front when solo (same settings) it sounded thin and tinny. Enter band it sounded, well, lost. Wooly, pillowy, and just floating around in the mix somewhere (granted there was no PA support). Anyhow- still battling and now I'm also looking at the cab since I pretty much bought them together.....
The battle rages on.....
 
#32
To be honest, it sounds to me like you might be happier with a Genz Shuttlemax 9.2. I played a GBE 1200 for a few years before going to the Streamliner, and I loved that head, except for the Schlep.

It gives you a nice tight low-end, it's much quicker and the mids are much more present. Also has a lot of EQ options. It has one tube in the tube pre, so you can dial in some grit, but it doesn't have that pillowy extended low-end that some people don't like.

The other thing is, the best cabs for the Streamer's tend to be more modern sounding NEO cabs. Ken Jung has posted often on this, and I totally agree with him. The Berg AE 410 and the Uber 410 are awesome matches. I have the Uber 410 and play some modern sounding basses in Warwick Dolphin and a Dingwall AB and those basses + streamer + uber 410 = total tonal bliss for me. If you can give a Shuttle or Shuttlemax 9.2 a try. You might really like them.
 
#33
I played my SL through a genz Benz neo 212t a few times, and even more through an Uber410. It sounded great through the Über, but when the sound guy took a direct out from the amp the foh was really honky compared to my stage sound. I'm now playing through a fEaRful 15/6/1, so what I hear from the cabinet matches the FOH much better. So the setting I mentioned was great through a pretty flat-response cabinet with great low-end extension. At the last gig, very very loud with no PA support, my drummer and audience members commented on how clear and yet powerful each note sounded. With this setup I can finally play on the neck pickup soloed and still hear every note without boominess, all the way down to the low B.

Yes, choice of cabinet makes a huge difference. For me, a PA-style cab like a fEARful/Baer/thunderchild/barefaced kind of takes the cabinet out of the equation (a little), as those kinds of cabinets try to reproduce the signal without too much coloration. I like that, but you may not.
 
#34
slade said:
ok guys- what cabs are you running? When I bought the Bergantino 410 I a/b it in the store for about two hours against 2-12 cabs. Everyone in the store felt the 2-12 was murkier, or a bit less defined than the 4-10. I'm honestly thinking about trading in the 4-10 for either (2) 2X10s (just to ease the schlep) or possibly look into 2-12s again.
I played a three hour gig last night and was once again struggling to dial it all in (I was also running sound for the band). Stage sound was so drastically different than house sound regarding the bass. When solo it sounded great. On stage it sounded almost too big and heavy ( with lows cut to about 10) and again getting a nice cut and articulation was tough. Out front when solo (same settings) it sounded thin and tinny. Enter band it sounded, well, lost. Wooly, pillowy, and just floating around in the mix somewhere (granted there was no PA support). Anyhow- still battling and now I'm also looking at the cab since I pretty much bought them together.....
The battle rages on.....
Click to expand...


If I were you I would put a NOS GE 5751 in the V1 position it really opens this amp up. As far as cabs I think the GB uber series would match very well as would the Berg AE 410. This is from what i've read not personal experience. I use a Hartke Hydrive 410 very punchy and articulate, and lots of definition with plenty of lowend.
 
#35
smeet said:
I played my SL through a genz Benz neo 212t a few times, and even more through an Uber410. It sounded great through the Über, but when the sound guy took a direct out from the amp the foh was really honky compared to my stage sound. I'm now playing through a fEaRful 15/6/1, so what I hear from the cabinet matches the FOH much better. So the setting I mentioned was great through a pretty flat-response cabinet with great low-end extension. At the last gig, very very loud with no PA support, my drummer and audience members commented on how clear and yet powerful each note sounded. With this setup I can finally play on the neck pickup soloed and still hear every note without boominess, all the way down to the low B.

Yes, choice of cabinet makes a huge difference. For me, a PA-style cab like a fEARful/Baer/thunderchild/barefaced kind of takes the cabinet out of the equation (a little), as those kinds of cabinets try to reproduce the signal without too much coloration. I like that, but you may not.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention a fEARful or other full-range cab. I bet the Streamliner sounds real good through one of those as well, given the low-end extrnsion and the dedicated mid driver.

Never had the problem of sounding honky direct to the FOH when using my Uber though. In fact, I've done a lot of studio recording through the STL direct and it sounds awesome.
 
#36
BuffaloBob4343 said:
I forgot to mention a fEARful or other full-range cab. I bet the Streamliner sounds real good through one of those as well, given the low-end extrnsion and the dedicated mid driver.

Never had the problem of sounding honky direct to the FOH when using my Uber though. In fact, I've done a lot of studio recording through the STL direct and it sounds awesome.
Click to expand...

I guess I favored the bridge pickup and did a lot of mid-boost to get the sound I liked, standing with the amp pointed at my knees, and used the post-eq send. The soundman thought it was too "dirty" (I think it was just more midrangey than he was used to) to put through FOH, so he used his own DI box before the amp. Live and learn.
 
#37
smeet said:
I guess I favored the bridge pickup and did a lot of mid-boost to get the sound I liked, standing with the amp pointed at my knees, and used the post-eq send. The soundman thought it was too "dirty" (I think it was just more midrangey than he was used to) to put through FOH, so he used his own DI box before the amp. Live and learn.
Click to expand...

This is one specific reason to use the pre-eq DI.
 
#38
agedhorse said:
This is one specific reason to use the pre-eq DI.
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Good point. I tend to use pre-eq for live performance and post eq for recording.

I wonder to what extent I just happen to be lucky that my choice of basses match so well with this rig as well. The Dingwall and Warwick both tend to be more modern sounding, which works so well with the Strealiner. They are high clarity sounding basses to begin with, that the fatness and low-end extension of the Streamliner cannot overide that.
 
#39
agedhorse said:
This is one specific reason to use the pre-eq DI.
Click to expand...

That's one thing I learned for sure, at least with that cabinet. With the fEARful I eq a lot less, so I would be more confident trying to go post-eq. If we had more time, I would have tried it both ways, but this was a big show with many singers and personnel changes, and soundmen generally want to hear the bass for 15 seconds, set levels and move on.
 

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