surprise at first gig w/Genz-Benz shuttle 6.0

[specker]

Picked up a Genz-Benz Shuttle 6.0 recently after being wowed in local music store. Used it at rehearsal once, with great results, then on to gig last night. It replaced a borrowed Beringer Ultrabass 300. Speakers are 2 JBL 15's in Bag End cab.

To me, the Shuttle sounded great on stage - cleaner and tighter than the Beringer.

During the break between sets, a local musician said the bass sounded thinner and asked if I had changed anything. I told him it was the amp, and he suggested I go back to the Ultrabass!

I asked the soundman how the bass sounded, and he said good, though he did have a weak signal from the direct out. I noticed that the switch was set to mic instead of line. I wonder if that was the deal? Should it be set on line? The soundman was also micing one of my 15's so he should have had enough to work with regardless.

I'd appreciate any input - I have the amp on a grace period and would like to resolve things soon.

Thanks.

 

[fenderhutz]

Send back the Shuttle. Get a Little Mark II.

 

[krall]

Send back the Shuttle. Get an Eden WT550.

 

[Left Left Goose]

Send back the Shuttle. Get an Markbass SA450.

 

[Freddels]

What were your settings on the Shuttle?

 

[fenderhutz]

What were your settings on the Shuttle?

I would highly recommend leaving the Pre Cut mid and high filters off.

 

[Fretlessboy]

I use mine set at mic with the band I am with because the line level pegs it too hard. Are you running pre or post eq. ? Are you getting the preamp o/l light to light on your loudest notes? I have never had with a thin sound from my 6.0 so p.m. me if you feel the need.

Or you can follow the first 3 brilliant sugestions.

 

[SuperDuck]

Not really a big deal - dial in more bass and set the DI to line level. Not really sure why that warrants buying a new amp, but what do I know?

 

[Eminor3rd]

Send back the Shuttle. Get an Eden WT550.

Keep in mind that the Behringer (which I owned years ago), being cheap, is voiced like an Ashdown, where it colors the tone a lot and has huge low-mid presence. It has a specific tone that lends itself well to rock. The Genz is a totally different beast; it's voiced much flatter and meant to be a more versatile head. It's not specifically designed for rock, and I would even go out on a limb and say it's more specifically designed for jazz or funk. Not that you can't get a good tone out of it, but you maty have to EQ a bit.

 

[specker]

I had the Shuttle set with some mids cut at the EQ stage (not the filter), bass a bit up from flat, highs flat. No voicing filters (although hf attack is very usable). Line out post EQ.

Tube preamp gain and volume flat (12 oc'clock).

I agree with Beringer Ultrabass assessment - seems to have lots of dirty mids to my ear.

My bass is 1978 Jazz with DR lo-riders. I love it!

The person who offered feedback plays heavy rock style guitar with tons of color. I personally don't like his tone.

The other thing I may consider is getting a 2x12 bottom, leaning toward Avatar.

Thanks.

 

[Jim Carr]

Go slow. It is new.

 

[bassmodder]

I have my lows at 12:00. No boost at all. Some mid boost and some high boost. I dearly love my shuttle 6. MUCH more than the behringer I used to have.

IMO the sound guy. They can make or break you. Perhaps he had his EQ set for the behringer to remove the massive bottom and neglected to replace the massive bottom when you switched amps.

I have the bass knob on our board at church at 9:00. Yep, cutting the bass. I play a Fender jazz, so it really comes down to the PA and the sound guy or gal.


***Keep the shuttle***

 

[hasbeen]

In spite of the very helpful "get rid of it and get X" comments, maybe I can be of additional help.

What kind of board were you using...what type of bass, and what were your settings (in o'clock format) on the Shuttle?

 

[yanikins]

Bottom line, if you think it sounded ok, go with it.

Dont ever forget alot of musos (particularly those who cant get gigs) love to offer their "advice". Ask your band, ask people who know the band. The word of some guy you dont know is hardly excuse to return an amp. Ive had guys who have never played outside their bedroom give me advice. Not saying you should be arrogant or anything, but sometimes advice from local musicians needs to be taken with much salt.

 

[Indiana Mike]

I do not have a shuttle and don't plan to (ATM)

&

I am not proclaiming to be a gear know it all but,


Currently owning a neo pak and a neoX 212 and neoX210 I have found my genz heads to be on the mid & bright side when set flat .

is this a bad thing?


NO

I find them to be an uncolored piece of gear

Give it a chance , you have paid for it , eq the hell out of it, learn it in and out ... before dumping it.

 

[thejohnkim]

yep, my experience with teh shuttle is that it doesn't have the low end that most other amps have when you have it set flat. even when you turn up the bass knob a bit it sounds different, but i think it can sound good too. if anything, it think they sound good when they are cranked, but thin when they are set to lower gain settings. try running the first pre gain knob cranked past 1 o'clock with a 2-4 clicks on the bass knob. the tube pre in the thing isn't designed to overdrive a whole lot like most other pres so don't worry about getting a dirty signal.

i like the GB cabs a whole lot, specifically the Neox 212t and 112t, but IME the shuttle 6.0 is different from other amps, so you might want to expect a different sound from the shuttle.

but on the other side, you might be coming from an amp that has more of that fat bottom than you want, and while most people might be ok with just hearing that fat, warm drone tone with no definition, modern amps like the shuttle have a more even tone profile, which i think in general is a good thing, but can sometimes be mistaken for a thinner tone.

 

[Fretlessboy]

After using it for months with active basses (Smith's and 55-02) I was unsure as to how it would fair out with a passive Jazz bass (JO5 with fralins). I did a little video to see what it would do...Lakland thought it was a good enough representation of their passive 5 that they added it to their website. If knobs weren't meant to be turned they wouldn't be there. Experiment with settings and let your ear be the judge. Fatness/strong clean bottom and Mudd are 2 different things. I am sure it sounded different than your normal rig but you will get it tuned in. When I started running Genz gear I was using the bass about at about 3 oclock with the global bass boost trying to make it sound like my old rig. Now I run damn near flat because I realized that it wasn't a thin sound...it was a clean sound and I had to get used to it. If you want to talk about p.m. a number and we can chat.

 

[::::BASSIST::::]

Set flat I agree the shuttle is low-end shy. However, with the right eq settings it sounds spectacular.

My fave settings on the shuttle:

Gain - 12:00
Gain Vol Control - Maximum
Bass - 2:30
Mid - 10:00
ParaMid -10:00
Treble - 12:00

Filters off.

That gives the shuttle a nice thick tone and sounds stunning. Plenty of low end there. Make sure you spend a great deal of time experimenting before you decide its not for you. Its a great amp, but I found the EQ definitely needs to be adjusted quite a bit from flat to sound its best to my ears.

 

[jokerjkny]

"weak signal" from a mic line?

that should be your cue to get the mother outta there.

and FYI, i'd be willing to throw out that 75% of the sound the audience hears is all due to the PA, and yes, the soundman.

 

[agedhorse]

The mic level output is plenty hot for any mixer likely to be encountered. There must have been something wrong elsewhere. Perhaps the pad was inadvertantly switched on the mixer?

The only way the output could be low is if you were operating post eq and the volume was at bedroom practice levels. This would be unplayable live though, so an unlikely scenario.