Super-Clean, Powerful Head Poll: There Can Be Only One

[J Wilson]

The simple, though little used anymore answer:

A really great rack preamp (like a Demeter), on top of however big a stereo power amp driving as many cabinets as you need. Clean for days, and barely used BIG power amps are cheep.

As far as bespoke bass heads?

The 'I don't care if it's heavy, but it's big and strong and clean' answer: Aggie DB751.

The 'gee, I'm sick and tired of heavy' answer: Whichever Mesa Subway suits you best.

 

[voosies]

For me, here's my two cents. The rackmount Sunn 1200S/Fender Bassman Pro 1200. 1200 watts of pure, crushing bass tone. Same tube preamp as the beloved Sunn 300T/Fender Bassman Pro 300, but with a 1200 watt solid state power amp that is stable at 2 ohms. It can do super clean well, but when you engage the built-in gain, it's more of an overdrive. It's great as a clean amp with a ton of headroom, or as a very high-powered pedal platform if that tickles your fancy. The overdrive is divisive, you either love it or hate it, I'm a huge fan of it personally. The amp also has a clean blend for distortion and a TON of EQ range. Four parallel speaker outputs, so you could hook up to four 8 ohm cabs to it. The bassist of Bongripper used one for a while and got some pretty sweet tones out of it down in his low F0 tuning.

 

[J.Wolf]

Given the particular criteria, it would be remiss not to add the Bullhead 3K to this list of possibilities. And yes, I'm aware of my affiliation so I'll just go ahead and say: the Eich T900 is about the best balance of tone/power/size that I'm aware of, given its form factor. I keep one in my trunk at all times

 

[steelbed45]

Given the particular criteria, it would be remiss not to add the Bullhead 3K to this list of possibilities. And yes, I'm aware of my affiliation so I'll just go ahead and say: the Eich T900 is about the best balance of tone/power/size that I'm aware of, given its form factor. I keep one in my trunk at all times

I thought you were nuts years ago for propping another high wattage class D offering, but then I tried running my amp with maximum headroom as I've seen you describe. I still do that.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, "I get it now." As a former owner of a MP rack pre, I hope to try one of the 3K's someday.

 

[gtirard]

I thought you were nuts years ago for propping another high wattage class D offering, but then I tried running my amp with maximum headroom as I've seen you describe. I still do that.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, "I get it now." As a former owner of a MP rack pre, I hope to try one of the 3K's someday.

Interesting.

Could you link me to an explanation of this approach?

 

[J.Wolf]

I thought you were nuts years ago for propping another high wattage class D offering, but then I tried running my amp with maximum headroom as I've seen you describe. I still do that.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, "I get it now." As a former owner of a MP rack pre, I hope to try one of the 3K's someday.

Thanks for saying that, the previous high water mark for me in the class D realm was the 1200 W ICE module, the same that's in the BOBW, Reiner Saturn V, Forte HP etc.. It was starting to get close to that degree of headroom and quickness that I longed for, growing up with crest rack power amps.

Let's just say, the 3K is a remarkable step in that direction. Not everyone needs or appreciates that kind of headroom and maybe thinks it's just about wanting ungodly volume levels . But I figured if any thread was going to understand the real benefits of that much headroom on tone, it might be this one.

 

[gtirard]

Thanks for saying that, the previous high water mark for me in the class D realm was the 1200 W ICE module, the same that's in the BOBW, Reiner Saturn V, Forte HP etc.. It was starting to get close to that degree of headroom and quickness that I longed for, growing up with crest rack power amps.

Let's just say, the 3K is a remarkable step in that direction. Not everyone needs or appreciates that kind of headroom and maybe thinks it's just about wanting ungodly volume levels . But I figured if any thread was going to understand the real benefits of that much headroom on tone, it might be this one.

I think I've got a rough idea of what "headroom" means, but I'd like to clarify something.

My amp is rated 800W @4 ohm / 450 W @8 ohm.
I run it with a 8 ohm cab (max power 600W), and I never push the master volume of the amp above 10 o'clock.
That's a lot of headroom already. I never need to push the amp or the cab out of their confort zone.

Do we agree that more headroom would be useless (for my context)?
I suppose we need enough headroom to avoid pushing the amp or cab close to their llimits, but once we are there, adding even more headroom would be useless, correct?

 

[agedhorse]

I think I've got a rough idea of what "headroom" means, but I'd like to clarify something.

My amp is rated 800W @4 ohm / 450 W @8 ohm.
I run it with a 8 ohm cab (max power 600W), and I never push the master volume of the amp above 10 o'clock.
That's a lot of headroom already. I never need to push the amp or the cab out of their confort zone.

Do we agree that more headroom would be useless (for my context)?
I suppose we need enough headroom to avoid pushing the amp or cab close to their llimits, but once we are there, adding even more headroom would be useless, correct?

Any additional headroom beyond the maximum power actually being used is a complete non-issue. Headroom by definition is output beyond what is being used, more headroom simply does not matter.

The danger of too much headroom is when an accident occurs, or a lapse of good judgement when the speaker part of the rig is not adequate for the task, and that headroom actually gets used... often this is when speakers get damaged. I see it fairly often.

 

[J.Wolf]

I think it’s completely up to the player and what they’re trying to achieve. If you love your sound, case closed. If you’re wanting more or less of something, there can be some investigation of how to get there. But more headroom isn’t always the answer for everyone.

 

[gtirard]

I think it’s completely up to the player and what they’re trying to achieve. If you love your sound, case closed. If you’re wanting more or less of something, there can be some investigation of how to get there. But more headroom isn’t always the answer for everyone.

OK, thanks. But I still wonder - in the BULLHEAD 3K webpage, it says:

A common limitation with some Class D amps is a minimum-recommended load of 4 Ohms. In its simplest setup the Bullhead 3K feeds your input into both power modules allowing you to access both to feed your onstage cabinets. One advantage of having 2 power modules available is the ability to run 2 cabs at 4 Ohms each (one off each module) or multiple cabs at 8 Ohms each

But it's much easier to use a 2 ohm compatible amp, like a Mesa Subway 800 (or a few others). Using an amp that has 2 power modules in order to achieve 2 ohm compability seems unnecessarily complex?

And then, each power module delivers up to 1500W at 4 ohm. For what cab? Is there a cab in the market that is rated > 1500W at 4 ohm?
If you are using for example a 2x12 cab @ 4 ohm that has a power rating of 800W, I'm afraid the extra power will only put the cab at risk

 

[J.Wolf]

I'm not in a position to defend or justify the design goals around a product I'm affiliated with. Perhaps others can weigh in, if they so desire. I can say, you can watch the video I made on the 3K page where your second point is addressed specifically, from my humble opinion and personal experience. if others disagree with this premise, that is totally cool with me, there’s no pitch for consensus. End of the day, if you are satisfied with what you are using, just play!

 

[Lo_Basserson]

GK Legacy for me.

I looked at a ton during a recent search. One that I also considered, but not on your list was the Genzler Magellan. You may want to take a look at it, too.

 

[dave hope]

Bergantino

 

[Tim Bishop]

Bergantino Forte HP2.