Tech 21 VT Bass 1969 head!

[SanDiegoHarry]

...

My Ashdown ABM is 300 watts and is plenty loud enough and i have done small gigs up to very large gigs with it with no loudness problems. I'm looking forward to trying the Tech 21 amp when it's out as i've used my VT pedal constantly since i've had it.

Give it a try before you complain about it. Numbers on a page don't tell the whole story , use your ears !

I've been gigging small & large gigs for more than 10 years with my Ashdown ABM - The most I've ever had to turn it up was at a large outdoor gig a few years back - I set it up with 6x10s and had the master & input gain up to about the 2o'clock position - and I brought *crazy* thunder. "Watts" is not the only way to measure an rig...

 

[JimmyM]

seriously. 300 watts?
It coulda been a contender...
edit, I had tech 21 and line 6 confused. Never mind.
Either way. there are very few 300 watt solidstate amps I would want to gig with. I am sure it can be loud enough for smoe bands to practice with, on the right speakrs. But big stages swallow up medium wattage amps.

as someone who plays big stages regularly, and i'm talking large theater/arena/outdoor amphitheater stages, they really don't.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

as someone who plays big stages regularly, and i'm talking large theater/arena/outdoor amphitheater stages, they really don't.

No they don't - because on a big old stage, you have FOH. This strange urge to have a huge amp has always been beyond me.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

as someone who plays big stages regularly, and i'm talking large theater/arena/outdoor amphitheater stages, they really don't.

Well dude, we play in different types of bands I am sure.
If you are fortunate enough to get a thorough soundcheck and the sound guy isnt deaf then it really doesnt matter how big your amp is. But I dnot like to have to depend on foldback for me to hear myself and stay in tempo, tune and you know sound good.
For me a big stage is any club where the cieling/walls are far enough away that I am effectively getting no coupling at bass freqs. a med club is one where I do get some corner loading or halfspace loading, small stage are places where my amp is too much and i have to turn down! I've played a couple large venues, but thats not a "big stage" thats a huge stage if you are talking about "arena" sized places.

 

[CrUiSeR]

Edit
Dang phone

 

[Jim C]

i happen to know a buttload of professional bassists of all styles who use 300w or less on a regular basis.

Very true although they make up a tiny percentage of the target market. Right, wrong or indifferent the competition is building smaller and lighter amps, presumably because that's where the demand is.

6 months from now, we will all know the truth about the buying public and this amp from a sales point of view.
IMO, this amp (along with my beloved WA) is showing up to a gunfight, late in the day, armed with a knife.

Lastly, I am extremely pro US designed / US built. I sincerely wish Tech 21 the best of luck.

 

[andrew]

IMO, this amp (along with my beloved WA) is showing up to a gunfight, late in the day, armed with a knife.

 

[JimmyM]

i never allow my bass to be pumped into my monitor. and i still do plenty of small gigs on big stages under adverse conditions, make no mistake i'm not doing metal too much anymore, but i've played and still play in a ton of hard rock bands that were pretty loud. and the vast majority of problems i've had hearing myself across the stage were less a matter of volume or coupling and way more a matter of dispersion.

 

[JimmyM]

Very true although they make up a tiny percentage of the target market. Right, wrong or indifferent the competition is building smaller and lighter amps, presumably because that's where the demand is.

that's where the talkbass demand is, for sure. but honestly, it's extremely rare that i see a fellow bassist using a micro head. quite honestly, i hardly ever see one. less rare is a head that's capable of putting out 500w or more, but they're still a minority.

 

[aborgman]

Very true although they make up a tiny percentage of the target market. Right, wrong or indifferent the competition is building smaller and lighter amps, presumably because that's where the demand is.

6 months from now, we will all know the truth about the buying public and this amp from a sales point of view.
IMO, this amp (along with my beloved WA) is showing up to a gunfight, late in the day, armed with a knife.

Bingo.

Even if I don't need 300W, why would I buy this thing?

300w, 23 lbs, $1,000

When I could buy the following:

1500W, 12 lbs, $600 (VT bass + Crown XLS1500)

I can get 5 times the power, in half the weight, with the same preamp... at about half the cost.

 

[aborgman]

that's where the talkbass demand is, for sure. but honestly, it's extremely rare that i see a fellow bassist using a micro head. quite honestly, i hardly ever see one. less rare is a head that's capable of putting out 500w or more, but they're still a minority.

I see two camps (if we ignore the 100W and under practice combos):

1) Folks who buy old/vintage "style" gear. Either nice vintage tube stuff, SVTs, or more often ancient indestructable Peavey bits of kit.

2) Folks who buy high powered micros.

...and while group #2 is a minority, they're (around me at least) the majority of NEW amplifier sales.

 

[Moosehead1966]

I have been thinking the same thing using my Crown XTi 1000 (1000 watts bridged for far less $$$). Go figure??

Marc

 

[JimmyM]

I see two camps (if we ignore the 100W and under practice combos):

1) Folks who buy old/vintage "style" gear. Either nice vintage tube stuff, SVTs, or more often ancient indestructable Peavey bits of kit.

2) Folks who buy high powered micros.

...and while group #2 is a minority, they're (around me at least) the majority of NEW amplifier sales.

i sure see a lot of stages with ss amps using iron transformers that weigh over 20 lbs. somebody's buying them.

 

[andrew]

i sure see a lot of stages with ss amps using iron transformers that weigh over 20 lbs. somebody's buying them.

Me.

 

[parsons]

as someone who plays big stages regularly, and i'm talking large theater/arena/outdoor amphitheater stages, they really don't.

+1 X infinity. I will also add that I use the same type of rig in smaller venues- bars that fit less than 80 people standing up to underground DIY basement shows.

I have a hard time not believing any of the following from the rest of the keyboard commandos complaining about using 200-300 watts of SS power isn't "enough" for them.

1. Your cab is super inefficient.
2. You don't play out.
3. If you do actually play, you haven't the slightest clue what an effective live bass tone/volume/eq should sound like. Inexperience?

Below is one of the largest indoor stages I've played, Ramshead Live in Baltimore, MD. That's me, with a whopping 250watts at 8ohms thru a friggin' Hartke 410 behind me out of the picture. I've played the place several times and never needed myself in my monitor. The drummer usually asked for a tiny bit of bass in the drum riser monitor but up front it was just vocals and guitar.

In any gig like this, the cab volumes never go much past rehearsal space levels. If you're playing a smaller venue that isnt going to run your bass DI to FOH, the PA is only going to be but so loud anyway so there's no reason to try and bury it with 4,000w of power.

 

[CrUiSeR]

Bingo.

When I could buy the following:

1500W, 12 lbs, $600 (VT bass + Crown XLS1500)

I can get 5 times the power, in half the weight, with the same preamp... at about half the cost.

Xls1500=$400
Vt bass=$150
remember you need two vt pedals
Vt bass=$150
plus the over priced cables(this is talk bass) so your at around $750 and I don't think the street price on the 1969 is confirmed yet?

 

[anonymous073020132]

The longer I have been playing I feel that anything more than 300 Watts is usually not needed.
For more power most folks use the Mains, or a seperate power amp.
But 300 is usually enough for stage volume, unless you are playing a stadium or something!

Dude I've been playing bass 20 years & have had 200watt amps & 1200Watt amps. I've played in front of 3 people & 2000 people in all sorts of places & their is no way a full on giging bassist in a rock band is gona do anything with 300 watts (unless its tube watts which this amp is not). I need every bit of my 4pro's 1200 RMS pumping those speakers just to push past my 2 loud guitarist, drummer & singer. I have never even seen any real giging rock bassist use a 300watt solid state head except for practice. I owned the Landmark 600 & I gave it up because the power section was too weak. I like the idea of this head just not the power section. The head isn't little because it's not a digital power amp (class D). You cant get that tech 21 sansamp tone using digital power because it's too sterile. Thais amp is most likley class A/B. A class D amplifying stage has no distortion and no noise generation in the audible band so that would not work with their tube emulation. This is why the amp is regular size.

 

[christw]

+1 X infinity. I will also add that I use the same type of rig in smaller venues- bars that fit less than 80 people standing up to underground DIY basement shows.

I have a hard time not believing any of the following from the rest of the keyboard commandos complaining about using 200-300 watts of SS power isn't "enough" for them.

1. Your cab is super inefficient.
2. You don't play out.
3. If you do actually play, you haven't the slightest clue what an effective live bass tone/volume/eq should sound like. Inexperience?

Below is one of the largest indoor stages I've played, Ramshead Live in Baltimore, MD. That's me, with a whopping 250watts at 8ohms thru a friggin' Hartke 410 behind me out of the picture. I've played the place several times and never needed myself in my monitor. The drummer usually asked for a tiny bit of bass in the drum riser monitor but up front it was just vocals and guitar.

In any gig like this, the cab volumes never go much past rehearsal space levels. If you're playing a smaller venue that isnt going to run your bass DI to FOH, the PA is only going to be but so loud anyway so there's no reason to try and bury it with 4,000w of power.

I agree with you but not everyone is you or I. I've never needed more than 50w and probably a 210 for a live scenario. I had a 160w head and 810 that was overkill for those shows, even playing metal and post hardcore. It also managed to cover rehearsals with spare headroom after our volume wars ended.

However, plenty of people play different music in different venues than you or I. Plenty of people also strive for different tones, especially scooped ones that'll fit into a loud environment. I can see why they want 1500 watts to keep up but I'm sure you'll agree with me that they could have a "good" (relative term) bass tone with a lot less power and with different EQ settings.

 

[anonymous073020132]

+1 X infinity. I will also add that I use the same type of rig in smaller venues- bars that fit less than 80 people standing up to underground DIY basement shows.

I have a hard time not believing any of the following from the rest of the keyboard commandos complaining about using 200-300 watts of SS power isn't "enough" for them.

1. Your cab is super inefficient.
2. You don't play out.
3. If you do actually play, you haven't the slightest clue what an effective live bass tone/volume/eq should sound like. Inexperience?

Below is one of the largest indoor stages I've played, Ramshead Live in Baltimore, MD. That's me, with a whopping 250watts at 8ohms thru a friggin' Hartke 410 behind me out of the picture. I've played the place several times and never needed myself in my monitor. The drummer usually asked for a tiny bit of bass in the drum riser monitor but up front it was just vocals and guitar.

In any gig like this, the cab volumes never go much past rehearsal space levels. If you're playing a smaller venue that isnt going to run your bass DI to FOH, the PA is only going to be but so loud anyway so there's no reason to try and bury it with 4,000w of power.

I also don't see in the pic the two 4X12 cabs & 120 watt tube amps both my guitarist use. The kind of music you play is alot different from other peoples music. The sound stage is gona be different.

 

[christw]

I also don't see in the pic the two 4X12 cabs & 120 watt tube amps both my guitarist use. The kind of music you play is alot different from other peoples music. The sound stage is gona be different.

That's what I was up against in my last band. I used a slightly compressed mildly overdriven mid/low-mid based tone with the Tech 21 Bass VT. An 810E and 160w Peavey head kept up without issue, although they were close to their peak on several occasions. Again, I'm not everyone. I just coped with the sonic situation I was in and the power I had available and made good use of it.