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The Official Reeves Bass Amp Thread

#21
I purchased a Custom 225 app. 3 weeks ago, along with two of the 15" cabs. The amp arrived miswired. The Bright and Normal Controls controlled their opposite input channels, and the Presence control didn't seem to affect the tone at all. Additionally, a speaker blew in one of the cabinets while being played at less than 1/2 gain and master settings. I am rather disappointed in the build quality of this $4k rig.

I am awaiting word from Bill Janssen regarding hand-delivering the amp to him next week for repair. I have also spent app. $50 to properly package and ship the blown speaker to the manufacturer. I will be non-plussed if the manufacturer contends that the speaker was abused.
 
#24
I am disappointed that the amp was shipped miswired, and I am disappointed that the speaker blew. I am willing to roll up my sleeves and work with Reeves to get this amp up to speed. The work I am doing is work that should have been done at their end, prior to shipping the amp; no one could dispute that. Yet I don't live in an ideal world. I live in one where I make mistakes, and the people I interact with do too. When I make a mistake, I do my best to make it right. So far, Reeves has been working with me to rectify the issues, although I must admit that not hearing from Reeves in four days regarding returning the amp to the company's door is a little unsettling.
 
#25
CDweller said:
I am disappointed that the amp was shipped miswired, and I am disappointed that the speaker blew. I am willing to roll up my sleeves and work with Reeves to get this amp up to speed. The work I am doing is work that should have been done at their end, prior to shipping the amp; no one could dispute that. Yet I don't live in an ideal world. I live in one where I make mistakes, and the people I interact with do too. When I make a mistake, I do my best to make it right. So far, Reeves has been working with me to rectify the issues, although I must admit that not hearing from Reeves in four days regarding returning the amp to the company's door is a little unsettling.
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Tough news, sorry to hear of your plight. I was thinking Reeves would be the way to go for a tube amp since the Sadowski SA200 is no longer in production. Please keep us posted to the outcome.
 
#26
I sent the speaker back to the manufacturer at Reeves' request. At the time I spoke with Reeves about a week ago, the manufacturer hadn't determined what failed on the speaker, but did determine that it was not over-driven or abused in any way. I have received a new speaker from them, and will install it this weekend.

The amp has been repaired, but I'm out on the road and won't be able to pick it up until Friday. I didn't ask the repair guy what was wrong with the amp, but it's prolly a simple case of a couple of wires crossed. It's easy to cross wires during a hand-build, but sheesh....how about checking out the amp prior to shipping?

Reeves has been forthright with me throughout this situation, and they are and remain reputable in my book. Bill J at Reeves called my situation a "perfect storm", in that not only was the amp was not right, but that a speaker also blew. Heck of a way to start a relationship with a company, but whatevs.

I have a gig on New Year's Eve with some heavy hitters (especially the drummer!), and hope to give the amp a good maiden voyage. Before that, I'm going to ask the indulgence of some of my bass playing buddies and use the amp a few times at their open jams- gotta get the amp out and in the line of fire before using it to make money.
 
#28
Yep, amp's fine. While inside the head, the tech found that one of the three wires that went to the bias adjustment thing-a-mabob was inserted where it should be, but not soldered. Thus a potential catastrophic failure was averted by fixing it.

You take your chances with a hand-wired amp. Any time humans are doing something, something's going to go wrong. I'm sure there were qc issues with Marshalls when Jim Marshall was selling them out of his shop back in the day.

Reeves worked with me to resolve the issue, and I only have good things to say about the amp and the company.
 
#29
Well, there's a nice big sound coming from this rig. Part of it is because it's a stack, and mostly because of high quality tubal goodness. The amp really reproduces the sound of the instrument. I am pleasantly surprised at the clarity of the rig- you hear how your bass sounds. In this case, an already good sounding bass- my early '65 Jazz, sounds even better than normal.
 

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#31
Happy to help! hahaha :bassist:

From reading your posts, I know you're a man who appreciates tubal goodness, J. I'll have to post a pic of my '66 B-15 in your Portaflex thread. It's wonderfully road worn, but not weary, and still dee-lish-ee-us.

I'm actually considering adding another 2 KT-88's to the Reeves. The evil geniuses at Reeves left 2 holes in the tube chassis, and while nature abhors a vacuum, she don't mind a vacuum tube or 6. Also talking with a fella who might build a headcase for this rig (3 way x-over, compression driver and mid w/low freq out for one of the 15" cabs as conceived by Greenboy). Why? Why not.

Mmmwaaahaha.
 
#33
I'm glad you got your rig sorted out CDweller. I got to play a gig through that stack last summer and was amazed at the clarity for tube rig.

My question - why do you think you need more power? That head through two cabs seems about perfectly matched.
 
#36
3toes said:
What kind of tonal differences would you say the Reeves has from an SVT?

I absolutely love the classic Ampeg sound, but I'm really curious about this thing.
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the only thing i know for sure, and i only know this because of bass gear magazine, is reeves heads have a built-in mid scoop that they weren't able to defeat. this, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. those who have reeves stuff love it, and sometimes a little mid scoop is desirable.
 
#37
JimmyM said:
the only thing i know for sure, and i only know this because of bass gear magazine, is reeves heads have a built-in mid scoop that they weren't able to defeat. this, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. those who have reeves stuff love it, and sometimes a little mid scoop is desirable.
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Hmmm, the words "mid" and "scoop" together always concern me. But I'd really like to try one of these things.
 
#38
Hmmm - I'm mid lover and I didn't have any trouble with finding them, but I think I did set the mid a little above "flat".

I generally do the same thing with an SVT.

I think the main sonic difference between the two heads is the Reeves might have more detail in the highs and upper mids. It's more "chimey" sounding. Both have gobs of lows on tap.

Although it has two fewer power tubes, the Reeves is slower to go into OD, so the effective volume is quite similar.
 
#39
nysbob said:
Hmmm - I'm mid lover and I didn't have any trouble with finding them, but I think I did set the mid a little above "flat".

I generally do the same thing with an SVT.
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ya, i have a feeling there's a near-flat setting in there that the guy might have missed. or something that will work just as good.
 
#40
Ukiah Bass said:
Would it be possible to post a short mic'd recording of the Reeves? Thanks.
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Well, I don't have any recording mikes or anything like that. However, I might be able to get down to my friend's recording studio with the rig and see about recording it.

I am not really clear on what an SVT sounds like- my little insular world was dominated by a Walter Woods through a 4x8and my B-15 up until I purchased the Reeves. I'm also the wrong guy to comment on a mid-scoop or anything like that. I will say that it's loud, it's clear, and the mids and highs are rather defined. I haven't really cranked it into the overdriven regime yet because I'm letting the speakers break a bit.

I'll be bringing the rig down to a friend's gig who can more accurately describe it's sonic qualities.

I am interested in more power to drive one of the cabs crossed over with a 3015LF, and the Greenboy headcase-blasphemous, perhaps, but maybe untapped goodness waiting to be enjoyed. Just serious conjecture at this point, regardless.
 

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