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The Combo Club

Anybody have any experience with a Paul Jones double four? Asking for a friend (me).
Yep. Several of us. My take, as basically a beginner even though I bought my first bass 25 or so years ago...It's probably one of the best possible choices for a high quality solo practice amp, especially if you're in a thin walled apartment. Phil Jones used HiFi speaker building knowledge (he's won awards in that industry) to make it go way lower than it should with those little drivers. Bonus that you could play it using a 20V external battery since it uses what's basically a high power laptop power brick.

Editting to add: It's not super loud. Other 75w Amps with bigger drivers will be louder.
 
I can bolt a motor to a bicycle. That doesn’t make it a motorcycle, even if it was designed to allow or require a motor. It’s a motorized bicycle.
“Motorcycle” is a contraction of “motor bicycle” which was the common term before 1925 or so. I volunteer at an antique airplane and automobile museum (with 30 motorcycles dating back to 1912) so we have a fair collection of old (1910s-1930s) books and magazines letting us see the transition in print. A lot of the terminology we now use routinely was once neologisms (newly coined words) that met with resistance when they first were seen in print. Language evolves.

I think of a “combo” as an amplifier integrated into a speaker cabinet, all one piece, separation requiring tools. Depending on the context I also am comfortable using the term in reference to the combination (“combo”) of a head and one or more speaker cabinets. I just don’t ever hear the latter usage outside discussions like this thread. [Maybe I need to get out more.]
 
All of my amps* have the amplifier section built into the cabinet, even the Kasino, so I guess they're all "combos" although the Kasino stretches that a bit.

*7ender Bassman 25, Rumble(s)40, 100, and 200c; Peavey MAX 110 and KB 300[keyboard amp I've used for bass]; and, of course, the Kasino, model #252(2x15"/200W), probably 175 pounds.
 
Whew, you people wore me out. I just finished reading all your posts since Thursday, my last visit, and all I can say is if you miss a little...you still miss a little if only one main topic is running! So before I spend more time not going to bed, I want to prep the conversation.

First, C7 is a valued member of this organization with several combos in the past year, and, like me, he definitely loves new and shiny objects. I gotta admit too, that Genzler is a sweetie.

Second, if something happens to me, [articularly this school year, I nominate Jakob T to replace me as FL and Grand Poobah. I like the way he thinks, though I must admit a large number of you have come through big time with some candid and unique observations. I enjoyed RR's let's-keep-this-civil prose because that's what this club is built on and you've all done so magnificently!

Third, Recon, I hope you can keep all the nuts and bolts in place for a while longer. Before ya know it you'll be rockin' the new AC/DC album in the living room!

Fourth, I thought a while back I gave a summary of VOX vs. VOX: Battle of the NuTubes, but if time allows I will offer another installment. My one-sentence comment is that the Super Beetle offers a slightly deeper tone (larger cab space?) and the fuzz (which I like much more than the OD) thus making it my fave, but the two are very close when talking are sonic differences. On a bad day, kinda muddy and nondescript, but on a good day vintage tube tone that plays well with the right bass. the clear winner with the Beatle bass; not so much with the P. I'm using the SB as we speak but heading to the Stage 800 next weekend to record the orchestra's latest piece.

Also, I've missed you guys terribly but have been so busy with school work I haven't even had time to play. The worse thing is we found out Sunday afternoon that one of my teaching partners tested positive and that sent all 56 kids home for two weeks. The teachers, except for her, are staying but we're going mo-bile, as Daltrey would sing. Online for two weeks, including us subbing for those teachers currently at home. I'll record my lesson, post it in our google Classroom, and then go teach the first grade or something. Yep, a 60-year-old cranky man trying to corral all that energy. Can you say, heavenly? Three weeks to T'giving and I'm counting the seconds...:woot:

So for a response to the headlining dilemma, is it a combo or not? I'll begin with a question: did ya ever experience that feeling the minute you made a decision, answered a question, or gave advice you immediately wanted to take it right back and say, "forget it"? Yep, me too. Like the day I waved my sword and claimed that the B-15 would be counted as a combo. So I'm an Ampeg fanboy...sue me.

On second thought, don't. My vision at the time was since it's physically (screwing the amp onto the lid) connected, then why not? I'll tell ya why not...because numerous companies (Ampeg included) are selling wonderful 2-in-1 separates/combos that defy description and definition. Is it a combo? Are they separate? In a word, yes, and that's the problem. IMHO, you're all correct in your well-delivered arguments. Yes, the Genzler is a two-piece unit, though not a combo in the traditional sense of a single chassis holding a power amp, preamp, and speaker. Yet, the two pieces work in harmony to create a single unit by way of the metal brace that comes along in the purchase.

So if we're sticking to the original ruling (BTW, 'dog, loved looking up the CC page), then the Genzler would indeed be a combo, but darn it, we all know (including C7) it's not in the sense of the more portable one-piece box that held everything as one. GP's Kasino is a combo. Biggie's GK is definitely a combo. Even the Markbass amps are combos, though you can detach the amp because it's all in one housing thus making it portable.

By the same token, my Super Beetle is not, nor is Cracker's new rig. If you can physically separate the two for purposes of transportation, to allow easy swapping of different heads, or to add drivers for more power (the Rumble 500 is a combo, but when it's paired with a separate cab it's now a combo/cab rig), then it has to be called separates. Yes, I'm now going against my own ruling and requesting an amendment change where we throw out the B-15 and all its cousins because they're not truly combos of which we profess our love and allegiance to. If you're in favor of such an amendment change (lucky I'm deep into social studies right now where we're studying the Constitution), then vote aye. If you wish to keep the Ampeg in the club and add basically all other two-piece rigs built as a single unit, like C7's Genzler, then vote nay. I'll keep track and let you know the outcome next weekend.

Again, had I not been swayed by the Ampeg's historical mystique, I may have said no then and been done with it. I also think we were trying to get a new member at the time too. If it'll bring peace and tranquillity back to the CC, then I vote to disqualify the B-15 and not allow any other amps in here other than legit combos, which we all know what they are.

I'm also going to set up a tribunal for future conflicts in this area to make future decisions on this topic based on facts and scientific reasoning. The three people I nominate are Jakob T (by way of his superior brain), RodRy (by way of his caring heart), and Doc Intrepid (because they have lots of forests in Canada with maybe a cowardly lion or two). Use these powers I give you for the good of the club and settle disputes that may jeopardize our good nature. Now GO!!! (tip 'o the hat to The Wizard of Oz)

I'm going to bed. I hope this helped or at least continued to cause further disagreement. Ya know I love a good battle and looooong response.

See ya!

FL
 
If you're in favor of such an amendment change (lucky I'm deep into social studies right now where we're studying the Constitution), then vote aye. If you wish to keep the Ampeg in the club and add basically all other two-piece rigs built as a single unit, like C7's Genzler, then vote nay.

To be inclusive, and mindful of the "situational combos" (called combos when pieces are attached and carried as one unit), I'll vote aye.

There's not enough room in my four Blackstar Fly 3s put together.

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
... the new GK combos push 800 watts through their internal speakers. Stick that in your Blackstar and smoke it...;):thumbsup::D:cool:

Do you have a link to them? I can't find them even in GK website. There is one that gives 500w to its 8ohm inboard driver but lacks a speaker-out socket. MB has the K1 with 600w to its inboard driver and 1000w when an 8 ohm speaker is plugged in.
 
Typo. I should have said 4 ohms.

:: nod ::
wasn't trying to be a jerk
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