The Official Reeves Bass Amp Thread

[spiritbass]

tombowlus - after my little experiment with the presence control the other day, I understand that sentence in your review of the C225 about how sweet the highs can be when dialed in!

jphilauren - that bass has got to sound killer through that rig!!! I had John Kallas build my version of a Fenderbird with a pair of '63 Thunderbuckers. It turned out cool and sounded killer. I enjoyed playing down memory lane (used to own a '63 series II Thunderbird) for a while but sold it because it was just too rock and roll for the praise music I do these days.

 

[spiritbass]

I have been experiencing some annoying noise and distortion when playing certain notes. Wasn't sure at first if it was the amp or speaker. Switched to the normal input and everything was clean and punchy. Went to TCtubes.com (what a 'candy' store!) and snagged a nice Telefunken to replace the Sylvania in V1 that was apparently half-bad. Hey, life is short...

 

[FFTT]

Have you guys seen Johnny Hiland's Reeves Space Cowboy Demos?
Show them to your guitar players!

 

[spiritbass]

Have you guys seen Johnny Hiland's Reeves Space Cowboy Demos?
Show them to your guitar players!

Now I have - he was making some nice sounds! Love the model name.

 

[FFTT]

Hiland is a top Nashville "A" List player.
A studio can book him for 8 hours and get at least 7 hours of usable tracks.

 

[spiritbass]

Sweet! Sounding better than ever with the 1961 Telefunken in V1!

 

[FFTT]

Amazing what one lil' ol' NOS preamp tube can do.

 

[spiritbass]

Amazing what one lil' ol' NOS preamp tube can do.

The RIGHT one anyway. When I asked Bill to build my amp, I requested that he put a NOS tube from his stash in V1. I never even looked at it until I became suspicious of its health. The Telefunken puts the Sylvania to shame...

 

[FFTT]

I would think a Sylvania would be great, but each 12AX7 is different.

 

[spiritbass]

I would think a Sylvania would be great, but each 12AX7 is different.

It was fine until it recently developed some reproductive anomalies...

 

[FFTT]

I only really appreciated how difficult it is to build a uniform quality preamp tube after reading the story of the
guys who tried and failed to revive the original U.K. Mullard plant.
So many people were hoping they would succeed, but test after test, no matter how hard they tried, the tubes were microphonic.

 

[headband]

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A link to an article on the Mullard restart. I think their problem was more related to the radical design change than anything else. Still, the glory days are long gone. The big companies and wealthy investors are no longer willing to invest in R&D, tooling and training for a small market. All in all I think it is pretty amazing that we have any new tube manufacturing going on. While there are some good new tubes being made, IMO they are not great, and I started buying NOS preamp tubes several years ago when I saw prices starting to accelerate. I am sure glad that I did.

 

[FFTT]

I grabbed two matched quads of SED Winged C EL34's before prices went nuts.
Tough as nails compared to JJ's or Sovtek, but now after production stopped Wing'd C prices are near
NOS. Might as well buy Mil Spec Siemens

 

[adivin]

Anyone roll the mids completely off? Interesting.

 

[spiritbass]

Anyone roll the mids completely off? Interesting.

I usually don't go below the 11:00 position...

 

[adivin]

What would be you guy's initial thoughts on pairing the 225 with a Genz Benz Uber 410? Any comparisons to the GB Uber 410 and the Reeves? I know GB is ported and the Reeves is sealed but the GB is a damn good cab.

 

[spiritbass]

I've just been spending some quality time finger picking my precision and playing with EQ. If you're playing a passive bass, don't be afraid to crank the mids, treble, and presence. The favorite settings tonight: bass @ 10:00, mid @ 5:00, treble & presence @ 3:00. Tone to make you drool drool drool

 

[adivin]

I've just been spending some quality time finger picking my precision and playing with EQ. If you're playing a passive bass, don't be afraid to crank the mids, treble, and presence. The favorite settings tonight: bass @ 10:00, mid @ 5:00, treble & presence @ 3:00. Tone to make you drool drool drool

That gets too clanky, too much on top for my taste. When you crank the mids, you get a lot of high mids.

 

[spiritbass]

One man's clank is another man's beauty.

 

[s_wood]

I am seriously considering shelling out the cash for a Reeves 225. My only concern is whether the amp will be loud enough for my needs. My tone concept is pretty clean with lots of headroom (as opposed to preamp cranked overdriven tone). I know that published specs are pretty meaningless, so I wonder if anyone has ever compared the Reeves 225 to a good old SVT for volume purposes. Also, I currently have a Mesa Boogie Strategy (which I love) and an mPulse 600 (which I also love). Can anyone compare the Reeves to either of those (again, for volume purposes). Lastly, can anyone compare the Reeves to either the Strategy or Prodigy as far as tone goes?

If it matters for your advice and comments, I play in a medium-loud bar band. I don't usually run through the PA, and I've got to keep up with 2 guitar players... one Marshall 5 watt, and one Fender Twin.

Thanks!