That classic tube sound.

[Kaa]

Well, I can't. I never have more fun playing bass but when I play through my 50 watt tube amp into two 112" cabs.

Amp: ~ 25 lb
Cabs: ~ 35 lb each

No hassle. Big fun.

Here you go: low wattage tube amp and good speaker configuration.

I'd suggest that the OP look around for a nice low-power tube amp, demos it with some decent speakers, and turns it up. I mean really give the volume knob a twist.

He'll find out how loud it can actually get.

I used to use a Yorkville BM200 combined with a 15" extension cab for the bar band I was in. I don't think I ever got over 1/2 on the volume knob for any gig I ever did. That was probably only pushing about 100-125 watts into 2 15" speakers.

I may be in the very small minority when I say this: you may not need all those watts, ya know? (Puts on "I <3 JimmyM" t-shirt.)

 

[kurosawa]

Again, cruise eBay. Snipe a 100w tube head for $125-250.

 

[bassdude51]

Again, cruise eBay. Snipe a 100w tube head for $125-250.

Educate me, please. Name some 100 watt all tube bass heads that we might find for $125 to $250. I'll buy one if that's for real.

 

[Mr. Foxen]

Always budget for a service if you get something like that. I buy a fair few valve amps in that sort of range. The trick is not doing it by name but by quality.

 

[pedro]

Educate me, please. Name some 100 watt all tube bass heads that we might find for $125 to $250. I'll buy one if that's for real.

yep it sounds optimistic to me too.

 

[edbass]

Again, cruise eBay. Snipe a 100w tube head for $125-250.

Maybe 15 years ago. Now even the broken/parts only ones can bring 2-3 times that.

 

[bassdude51]

Again, cruise eBay. Snipe a 100w tube head for $125-250.

As I already mentioned, I used to have a Mesa 400+ that I bought brand new 7 years ago. I paid $1,500 for it. I kept it for 4 years and I never came to peace with it. I just was never able to get rid of a very dominate nasal sounding mid-range sound. I also found the Mesa to be very complex for tone shaping. It was near 50 lbs! I never was happy with it EVER! Sold it for $950. Lost over $500 bucks with it. Being a tube amp, it left a very bad taste in my mouth. After getting rid of it, I got a Peavey Max 700 and then I got a LMKII. Both SS amps and I loved them both. Their sound and easy of tone shaping. For the price of the Mesa 400+, I could have bought 2 new LMKIIs and still had money left over. The Mesa was supposed to be a 500 watt amp but TBers told me that actually, it's only about 300 watts. Well..........$1,500 for 300 watts or $699 (LMKII) for 500 watts. It's up to the bassist's billfold and wants, I guess.

OK.........You devoted TB bass amp tube "junkies" just about got me wanting to buy a 50 watt to 100 watt bass head! I mean really.

So, I just now went to eBay looking at SVTs, VB 4s, old Bassmans, Showmans, B-15s, Traynors, Mesa 400s etc. Expensive, expensive, expensive! A 100 Fender Bassman (newer one) is like $1,500. SVTs near $2,000 All the other old tube amps are $800 and up to $2,000. For a bass amp with 50 watts to 300 watts!

If one is lucky enough to own an all tube bass. Count yourself bessed.

I'd think a bassist would have to have a lot of money or be a hard core tube amp freek to pay out for a tube bass amp.

But, I understand that for some us, cost is no object when we want to get "a sound".

Unless if one is lucky to find a good deal for an all tube bass amp, THEY ARE EXPENSIVE...........new or old!

 

[Exxcell]

As I already mentioned, I used to have a Mesa 400+ that I bought brand new 7 years ago. I paid $1,500 for it. I kept it for 4 years and I never came to peace with it. I just was never able to get rid of a very dominate nasal sounding mid-range sound. I also found the Mesa to be very complex for tone shaping. It was near 50 lbs! I never was happy with it EVER! Sold it for $950. Lost over $500 bucks with it. Being a tube amp, it left a very bad taste in my mouth. After getting rid of it, I got a Peavey Max 700 and then I got a LMKII. Both SS amps and I loved them both. Their sound and easy of tone shaping. For the price of the Mesa 400+, I could have bought 2 new LMKIIs and still had money left over. The Mesa was supposed to be a 500 watt amp but TBers told me that actually, it's only about 300 watts. Well..........$1,500 for 300 watts or $699 (LMKII) for 500 watts. It's up to the bassist's billfold and wants, I guess.

OK.........You devoted TB bass amp tube "junkies" just about got me wanting to buy a 50 watt to 100 watt bass head! I mean really.

So, I just now went to eBay looking at SVTs, VB 4s, old Bassmans, Showmans, B-15s, Traynors, Mesa 400s etc. Expensive, expensive, expensive! A 100 Fender Bassman (newer one) is like $1,500. SVTs near $2,000 All the other old tube amps are $800 and up to $2,000. For a bass amp with 50 watts to 300 watts!

If one is lucky enough to own an all tube bass. Count yourself bessed.

I'd think a bassist would have to have a lot of money or be a hard core tube amp freek to pay out for a tube bass amp.

But, I understand that for some us, cost is no object when we want to get "a sound".

Unless if one is lucky to find a good deal for an all tube bass amp, THEY ARE EXPENSIVE...........new or old!

And the prices are only going up. Sunn 200S's used to go for $350-$400 on the bay. Now its $800 bucks..

I bet it will hit $1K by the end of this year.

 

[pedro]

As I already mentioned, I used to have a Mesa 400+ that I bought brand new 7 years ago. I paid $1,500 for it. I kept it for 4 years and I never came to peace with it. I just was never able to get rid of a very dominate nasal sounding mid-range sound. I also found the Mesa to be very complex for tone shaping. It was near 50 lbs! I never was happy with it EVER! Sold it for $950. Lost over $500 bucks with it. Being a tube amp, it left a very bad taste in my mouth. After getting rid of it, I got a Peavey Max 700 and then I got a LMKII. Both SS amps and I loved them both. Their sound and easy of tone shaping. For the price of the Mesa 400+, I could have bought 2 new LMKIIs and still had money left over. The Mesa was supposed to be a 500 watt amp but TBers told me that actually, it's only about 300 watts. Well..........$1,500 for 300 watts or $699 (LMKII) for 500 watts. It's up to the bassist's billfold and wants, I guess.

OK.........You devoted TB bass amp tube "junkies" just about got me wanting to buy a 50 watt to 100 watt bass head! I mean really.

So, I just now went to eBay looking at SVTs, VB 4s, old Bassmans, Showmans, B-15s, Traynors, Mesa 400s etc. Expensive, expensive, expensive! A 100 Fender Bassman (newer one) is like $1,500. SVTs near $2,000 All the other old tube amps are $800 and up to $2,000. For a bass amp with 50 watts to 300 watts!

If one is lucky enough to own an all tube bass. Count yourself bessed.

I'd think a bassist would have to have a lot of money or be a hard core tube amp freek to pay out for a tube bass amp.

But, I understand that for some us, cost is no object when we want to get "a sound".

Unless if one is lucky to find a good deal for an all tube bass amp, THEY ARE EXPENSIVE...........new or old!

Granted it's been a couple of 3 years but I paid $400 for my V4b. The Orange AD200 was pricey and paid (IIRC) $900 for a USA SVT CL. My B15 set me back $800.

 

[pedro]

Food for consideration. Here are some tube amps on completed auctions on ebay. I'm fairly sure that one could still find a decent deal on a good tube amp albeit I think the estimate given above by a prior poster is optimistic.

SVT CL for $800.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ampeg-300w-...000?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35bd6ee4a0

Fender Bassman for $550.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1971-Fender...192?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3377ba7bd0

Traynor for $220.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-197...106?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f19256e42

Ampeg V4bh for $550.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ampeg-V4HB-...238?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e6f4668ee

 

[BurningSkies]

Eh. I'm over all tube. A really well designed and implemented high voltage tube preamp with a lightweight power amp sounds just as good if not better to me. And that's from a guy who's used and owned plenty of all tube bass and guitar amps over the years. I can have the best parts of the tube's tone, without power stage breakup, distortion or compression and without the weight.

 

[JimmyM]

Eh. I'm over all tube. A really well designed and implemented high voltage tube preamp with a lightweight power amp sounds just as good if not better to me. And that's from a guy who's used and owned plenty of all tube bass and guitar amps over the years. I can have the best parts of the tube's tone, without power stage breakup, distortion or compression and without the weight.

The compression only exists in tube amps when you push them; otherwise it's by far the least compressed sounding format I know of.

 

[BurningSkies]

The compression only exists in tube amps when you push them; otherwise it's by far the least compressed sounding format I know of.

Yeah, but I tend to like more volume than most tube amps want to provide without pushing them into compression and coloration. I even have my Twin set up to remain as clean as possible given it's 135w output.

 

[JGR]

I'm kind of in the same camp with the tube pre + massive power amp since I like mammoth volume. I don't feel like I'm giving up anything. That said, I'm gonna build some all tube heads again eventually... go figure.

 

[BurningSkies]

I'm kind of in the same camp with the tube pre + massive power amp since I like mammoth volume. I don't feel like I'm giving up anything. That said, I'm gonna build some all tube heads again eventually... go figure.

See? That's why I like you...

You're just like meeeee....

 

[edbass]

Yeah, but I tend to like more volume than most tube amps want to provide without pushing them into compression and coloration. I even have my Twin set up to remain as clean as possible given it's 135w output.

You just need more amp.

There is tonally no true substitute for a tube output stage whether or not you prefer squeeky clean or hairy.
To me it's like the difference between butter and margarine; while some folks actually prefer the taste of Oleo, and while there is no denying some of the practical advantages, it just ain't the same.

I'm a butter/real mayonaise/all tube man myself.

 

[BurningSkies]

You just need more amp.

There is tonally no true substitute for a tube output stage whether or not you prefer squeeky clean or hairy.
To me it's like the difference between butter and margarine; while some folks actually prefer the taste of Oleo, and while there is no denying some of the practical advantages, it just ain't the same.

I'm a butter/real mayonaise/all tube man myself.

Eh. Maybe we haven't been playing the same preamps. 400w is nice and all but at this point seems mostly quaint to me.

 

[pedro]

You just need more amp.

There is tonally no true substitute for a tube output stage whether or not you prefer squeeky clean or hairy.
To me it's like the difference between butter and margarine; while some folks actually prefer the taste of Oleo, and while there is no denying some of the practical advantages, it just ain't the same.

I'm a butter/real mayonaise/all tube man myself.

Yea IME many of the SS and hybrid amps do a good impersonation of tube tone as long as their not standing right next to an actual tube amp.

 

[edbass]

Eh. Maybe we haven't been playing the same preamps. 400w is nice and all but at this point seems mostly quaint to me.

If you are saying that any preamp/transistor power combination actually sounds like an all tube amp, I think you need to get more experience with more rigs.
As I often reference, I'm not saying that transistor amps sound bad; and for most hobbyist players transistor rigs make much more sense both fiscally and physically.
What I am saying is that they sound different, and if someone can't tell the difference IMO they are indeed far better off not dealing with the hassle (and expense) of gigging tube rigs.

It's all good; tube (usually SVT) rigs dominate pro stages, but it takes pretty deep pockets and pro cartage to really pull that off right.
On the hobbyist front, I'll betcha GC/Sam Ash etc. sell transistor and hybrid bass rigs over all tube rigs at a better than 10:1 to ratio, so don't feel bad, you are in good company!

 

[rpsands]

In the pro stage arena how often do you actually hear the bass player's tube amp? What's the ratio of guys who actually mic their tube amps?