Hi TB techies,
Here lately I've been seeing quite a few requests for advice regarding 'Stand-alone' professional grade, "Bass guitar Preamplifiers". I see this as an excellent sign of an 'Evolving bassplayer' because years ago (in the sixties, seventies and eighties), the "Professional Bass gear world" was remarkably 'Behind the times', or even 'non-compliant' when it came to the publication of 'the written spec sheet'. As a result, guitar and bass amplifier manufacturers were 'NOT' held accountable to publish truthful, meaningful, or even informative, (Standardized) specification sheets by which we... 'The musicians', could compare "Apples to Apples" when choosing new speakers, amplifiers, and other electronic reproduction equipment.
And so it was during this period that I would begin seeking to "mix and match" PA system components with the readily available bass amplifier components in a relentless effort to 'BUILD MY OWN' bass reproduction systems just to be heard (as well as felt) out in the partying audience! I'd formerly been using mostly Ampeg and Acoustic brand equipment; usually in the 100W to 120W output bracket. I would eventually move up to the 300 watt range when I sold my Acoustic '140-B' head (105W RMS) and purchased my very first Ampeg SVT head!
It was also around this time (1977) that I learned that an amp's 'output power rating' is 'completely
irrelevant' regarding an amp's loudness without the speaker's electro-mechanical 1/w 1/m 'Sensitivity' rating... I won't indulge this subject at this time; regardless of how many of you actually do fully grasp the theory, I know there's plenty to be clarified on this extremely misunderstood, 'Fairytale driven' subject of 'LOUDNESS'... "I feel that at some point it should be discussed In-depth." But for now, I wanted to share a great piece of equipment that I stumbled upon several years ago.
I saw it in an issue of 'BassPlayer' magazine (W/ James Jamerson on cover)! They did a five pre-amp contestant shoot-out. At the time I was using a pre-amp from Barcus Berry Electronics, Mod: 383. It was just an Okay pre-amp w/ bass, mid and treble controls on the front panel; but nothing to write 'Yo mama' back home about. The way my use of a professional pre-amp began, I had been using a 'very high efficiency' Cerwin Vega B-36 (1 x 18) Folded-horn (Lows) and a EV B-410 to cover the top-end. I used a Crown 'Powertech-3'power amp (540W/ch into 8ohms, 760W/ch into 4) to drive them.
At some point I guess I started lusting for something new (as if I didn't already have enough power to shatter windows in the house next door)... "if you've been there yourself please let me hear from you!" This time I was lusting for a 'Crest' CA-9; would develop about 2,000 'Ponies'! The Crown is a Class A/B design, the Crest... a Class H but sounded very different when compared under the very same conditions e.g., Instrument source, room temp, pre-amp output drive gain, power amp's attenuater settings, volume levels, 'bal or unbalanced' drive input path selection...etc. "I realize that on the 'Bottom-end' it may be difficult to hear a definitive difference; especially when driven by a sub-woofer signal". But the rules change when the Slew rate (rate of voltage change, limiting factor of amplifier output/volts per sec.) is factored in.
When I changed-out the Crown PT3 and bought the Crest CA-9, I (literally) lost all of the 'organic' warmth afforded me by my vintage 60's JazzBass! It had taken me YEARS to get it just right by adjusting the preamp controls, the graphic EQ settings, swapping speakers, pickups, bass strings...etc, and now what took me maybe 20 years to achieve, was gone in the time it took to slip the new amp in my rack! I did a bunch of research on the subject of 'Signal processing/Amplifier topologies' to find out just why I lost my great tone by swapping out the power section in my rack, but more importantly, "how do I recover it..." The answer; the "Millennia STT-1" Origin!
To tell you the truth, I'd never considered using a 'Professional Recording' channel strip as a discrete bass preamp, as opposed to a regular bass head; which I had always used since I was a kid in high school. But since I heard it... That was it! I've seen a lot of guys featured in 'BassPlayer' magazine using 'em in the recording studio so I knew that they had to be super clean, but they're also used for the delicate task of capturing intricate nuances of the String and Reed instruments of the entire orchestra, and this peaked my interest.
With a price tag around $3K, most people will be happy to just 'Keep it movin' and use something much more conventional to process their sound. But through the years I've spent way more than that just searching for "the perfect tone" so I consider this just another investment into the same! Plus, using this Pre-amp's two Discrete ('Solid State and Tube') signal paths (which can be used individually or in series), I can Re-create any commercial amplifier's signature tone (Ampeg SVT, Acoustic 371, Kustom 200) or my very own unique tone w/ the powerful Parametric Equalizer, Full compressor and Cross-over!
There's another feature that I find to be extremely helpful. Some designated bass pre-amps out there aren't able to drive pro-sound amplifiers on the market due to their low drive level (Max) output voltages e.g., 0.775v (0 dbu). The Millennia STT-1 will drive any pro amp up to +32dbu / 31.0v (X 40), have a look below:
Here's a link to the features and specs page from 'Millennia' below:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEEQFjAJ&url=http://www.mil-media.com/stt-1.html&ei=pS3IVMDSJIypgwTbioLADA&usg=AFQjCNHT5-94kf80Auq6HJc8dAR0jTmd_g&sig2=HhqPGlueYBh7a6wh91QqcQ
...and here's a page from the 'Sweetwaters' webpage:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...e=&network=g&gclid=CPDO3evHpsMCFdgDgQodFWoAdA
Writing about this was fun... Hope someone here will consider the STT-1 when choosing their next Instrument Pre-amp! Cheers
Here lately I've been seeing quite a few requests for advice regarding 'Stand-alone' professional grade, "Bass guitar Preamplifiers". I see this as an excellent sign of an 'Evolving bassplayer' because years ago (in the sixties, seventies and eighties), the "Professional Bass gear world" was remarkably 'Behind the times', or even 'non-compliant' when it came to the publication of 'the written spec sheet'. As a result, guitar and bass amplifier manufacturers were 'NOT' held accountable to publish truthful, meaningful, or even informative, (Standardized) specification sheets by which we... 'The musicians', could compare "Apples to Apples" when choosing new speakers, amplifiers, and other electronic reproduction equipment.
And so it was during this period that I would begin seeking to "mix and match" PA system components with the readily available bass amplifier components in a relentless effort to 'BUILD MY OWN' bass reproduction systems just to be heard (as well as felt) out in the partying audience! I'd formerly been using mostly Ampeg and Acoustic brand equipment; usually in the 100W to 120W output bracket. I would eventually move up to the 300 watt range when I sold my Acoustic '140-B' head (105W RMS) and purchased my very first Ampeg SVT head!
It was also around this time (1977) that I learned that an amp's 'output power rating' is 'completely
irrelevant' regarding an amp's loudness without the speaker's electro-mechanical 1/w 1/m 'Sensitivity' rating... I won't indulge this subject at this time; regardless of how many of you actually do fully grasp the theory, I know there's plenty to be clarified on this extremely misunderstood, 'Fairytale driven' subject of 'LOUDNESS'... "I feel that at some point it should be discussed In-depth." But for now, I wanted to share a great piece of equipment that I stumbled upon several years ago.
I saw it in an issue of 'BassPlayer' magazine (W/ James Jamerson on cover)! They did a five pre-amp contestant shoot-out. At the time I was using a pre-amp from Barcus Berry Electronics, Mod: 383. It was just an Okay pre-amp w/ bass, mid and treble controls on the front panel; but nothing to write 'Yo mama' back home about. The way my use of a professional pre-amp began, I had been using a 'very high efficiency' Cerwin Vega B-36 (1 x 18) Folded-horn (Lows) and a EV B-410 to cover the top-end. I used a Crown 'Powertech-3'power amp (540W/ch into 8ohms, 760W/ch into 4) to drive them.
At some point I guess I started lusting for something new (as if I didn't already have enough power to shatter windows in the house next door)... "if you've been there yourself please let me hear from you!" This time I was lusting for a 'Crest' CA-9; would develop about 2,000 'Ponies'! The Crown is a Class A/B design, the Crest... a Class H but sounded very different when compared under the very same conditions e.g., Instrument source, room temp, pre-amp output drive gain, power amp's attenuater settings, volume levels, 'bal or unbalanced' drive input path selection...etc. "I realize that on the 'Bottom-end' it may be difficult to hear a definitive difference; especially when driven by a sub-woofer signal". But the rules change when the Slew rate (rate of voltage change, limiting factor of amplifier output/volts per sec.) is factored in.
When I changed-out the Crown PT3 and bought the Crest CA-9, I (literally) lost all of the 'organic' warmth afforded me by my vintage 60's JazzBass! It had taken me YEARS to get it just right by adjusting the preamp controls, the graphic EQ settings, swapping speakers, pickups, bass strings...etc, and now what took me maybe 20 years to achieve, was gone in the time it took to slip the new amp in my rack! I did a bunch of research on the subject of 'Signal processing/Amplifier topologies' to find out just why I lost my great tone by swapping out the power section in my rack, but more importantly, "how do I recover it..." The answer; the "Millennia STT-1" Origin!
To tell you the truth, I'd never considered using a 'Professional Recording' channel strip as a discrete bass preamp, as opposed to a regular bass head; which I had always used since I was a kid in high school. But since I heard it... That was it! I've seen a lot of guys featured in 'BassPlayer' magazine using 'em in the recording studio so I knew that they had to be super clean, but they're also used for the delicate task of capturing intricate nuances of the String and Reed instruments of the entire orchestra, and this peaked my interest.
With a price tag around $3K, most people will be happy to just 'Keep it movin' and use something much more conventional to process their sound. But through the years I've spent way more than that just searching for "the perfect tone" so I consider this just another investment into the same! Plus, using this Pre-amp's two Discrete ('Solid State and Tube') signal paths (which can be used individually or in series), I can Re-create any commercial amplifier's signature tone (Ampeg SVT, Acoustic 371, Kustom 200) or my very own unique tone w/ the powerful Parametric Equalizer, Full compressor and Cross-over!
There's another feature that I find to be extremely helpful. Some designated bass pre-amps out there aren't able to drive pro-sound amplifiers on the market due to their low drive level (Max) output voltages e.g., 0.775v (0 dbu). The Millennia STT-1 will drive any pro amp up to +32dbu / 31.0v (X 40), have a look below:
Here's a link to the features and specs page from 'Millennia' below:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEEQFjAJ&url=http://www.mil-media.com/stt-1.html&ei=pS3IVMDSJIypgwTbioLADA&usg=AFQjCNHT5-94kf80Auq6HJc8dAR0jTmd_g&sig2=HhqPGlueYBh7a6wh91QqcQ
...and here's a page from the 'Sweetwaters' webpage:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...e=&network=g&gclid=CPDO3evHpsMCFdgDgQodFWoAdA
Writing about this was fun... Hope someone here will consider the STT-1 when choosing their next Instrument Pre-amp! Cheers
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