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The Tube Challenge (Volume Two)

Which is the ALL-TUBE amp

  • Amp 1

    Votes: 30 32.3%

  • Amp 2

    Votes: 21 22.6%

  • Amp 3

    Votes: 42 45.2%
  • Total voters
    93
  • Poll closed .
JimmyM

JimmyM

Apr 11, 2005
127,255
125,172
Plymouth NC
Disclosures
Endorsing: Yamaha, Ampeg, Line 6, EMG
#1
AMP 1:
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AMP 2:
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AMP 3:
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The first Tube Challenge sort of evolved from me wanting to record my SVT cab, but a lot of people had good suggestions to improve it. I took a lot of what you all said to heart and really tried to improve conditions and make them more impartial than the first test. One thing I did was add a third amp to the test. Would have added a fourth, but it seems to have a bad tube or two and I'm too lazy to go digging for one. I also bought a new mic just for this test (RIIIIIIIIGHT!) that is absolutely amazing for the money (Heil PR 40), and I think it records cabs about as accurately as I've ever heard in a mic that didn't cost 4 figures. Feel free to comment on the mic tone as well.

The bass was a passive SX PJ with broken-in D'addario rounds and all controls dimed. The amps were recorded with a Heil PR 40 on axis to an upper cone in a late 80's Tube Works 410T 8 ohm cab loaded with no-name Eminences (a very underrated cab IMHO). That went into my ART Dual MP tube mic pre and into my Audiophile 2496 card. All amps were set flat and recorded with a clean tone at a medium volume. I posted mono WAV files that are about 4.7 meg and 128K mono MP3's that are 1 meg and equal to 256K MP3's in stereo for those with slower download times. LAME, of course, was the encoder. I tried to boost levels louder than the last test, but you will hear a little clipping on some of the slap parts. This is solely the fault of the recorder's inability to deal with hotter bass signal and is not from the amp or mic. Had I cared more, I would have fixed it ;)

THE AMPS:

1977 Ampeg B-15N (all-tube)
2002 SWR SM-500 (tube preamp/solid state poweramp)
2007 Markbass Little Mark II (solid-state)

The idea is to pick which one is the B-15N, but please discuss which one you think is each as well. And don't anyone dare mention where I drop the beat during the slap part on one of them ;)
 
#9
heil pr-40's are cool mics, but are far from accurate. they are embraced by the broadcast/voice over community for a reason - exagerrated low end, giving barry white type girth to whatever signal passes through them, particularly inside 8" from source. they're pretty scooped sounding - i've taken part in controlled A/B'ing tests with heil mics vs. other industry standards.

this test needs a quality, flat condenser mic - nothing too pricey, just an sm-81 or similar.

here i go, "copping out" again...
 
#10
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That's "exaggerated low end"? No, that's deep low end but certainly not exaggerated. There's more of an exaggeration starting around 3K than anything on the bass side. I really don't get your comments about it being scooped, Johnny. Where is a scoop?
 
#11
1st of all, i'd like to know the proximity from source used for that eq graph...

dude, we all know specs are to be taken w/ a grain of salt and our ears are the only real judge, whether it's a bass head, audio interface or microphone.

i work in a voice over studio for a living. you may find many titles i have recorded, edited and mastered at stores near you. i apprehensively say this in hopes you'll at least have some faith that i have a decent set of ears. i've heard accurate mics, and the heil pr-40, sir, is no accurate mic. i've heard it's inaccuracy 1st hand. i still think it's a cool mic though. it's curve is quite similar to many other dynamic mic curves - pretty flat with a bump in the upper mids for presence. only it is a large diaphragm dynamic, which is gonna give ya more low end. funny how all those mics with similar eq curves sound radically different from one another though...

carry on, we can always disagree...and remember, all 3 of your examples are being recorded with the same bass-hyped mic, so it doesn't really jeopardize the integrity of your shootout.

i shall pester you no more (unless, of course, you PM me vulgarities...)
 
#12
Sorry man, but the realtor comment hurt bad ;)

Anyway, I do agree with you about these charts being inaccurate, but the way I'm hearing this mic so far seems to be reflected in the chart. I don't see it as a gross distortion of the facts. I'm not saying you're hearing it wrong, but I just don't hear the hyping of bass freqs that you hear. I think it's unusual to hear that kind of low end reproduction from a mic, but it doesn't sound out of line with reality to my ears. Admittedly, though, I don't get to work with a lot of high quality mics on a daily basis. But I can't complain about this one, and a test with a $1000 condenser mic just ain't happenin', so I'm doing the best I can.
 
#17
Really weak volume on the recordings.. Or maybe its just not coming through on my computer....

Anyway.....

#1 sounds like my Ampeg, so I am going with that...

#2 sounds solid state..

#3 sounds like my SWR

Now remember, this is coming in at low volume!!! But that is my take on it.
 

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