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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 .
#25
JimmyM said:
Invalid Link Removed

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?
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My understanding is they are susceptible to proximity effect, which would greatly increase the low end on that graph.

Its not necessarily a criticism, just a feature of dynamic mics in general, with th exception of RE-20's since the capsule in them is so far from the end of the grill.
 
#27
1 = 2002 SWR SM-500 (tube preamp/solid state poweramp)
2 = 1977 Ampeg B-15N (all-tube)
3 = 2007 Markbass Little Mark II (solid-state)

I guessed based on overall toneality in the slap portion of things. The 3rd seemed the brightest of the bunch, whereas the others seemed a little darker, so my guess is that its the fully solid state one. The 2nd seemed to be the darkest/most compressed out of the bunch so I guessed that was the all tube one.

Flame me if you must :p
 
#29
GlennW said:
1: LMII
2: SWR
3: B-15

Those were my guesses before looking at other replies.

Edit: It's pretty cool you're taking the time to do this.
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+1 on this. I listened to them and made up my mind and saw a number of others felt the same way. In the end, I could be totally wrong though. I am one of those who falls into the "I really do not care if it is tube or SS as long as it sounds good" camp.
 
#30
JimmyM said:
... All amps were set flat and recorded with a clean tone at a medium volume. ...
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Just an observation, and it all in good fun.

The knobs being set flat doesn't mean the amps are flat. Plenty of manufacturers pre-weight their heads with a curve to give them a "sound" or it just turns out that flat isn't flat. It'd be best to try and EQ the amps so they sound as much alike as possible. Same for the volume. A little louder or little softer can change the perceived frequency response. If there's a "master" volume then there's more than one way to get the same medium volume out.
 
#32
seamonkey said:
Just an observation, and it all in good fun.

The knobs being set flat doesn't mean the amps are flat. Plenty of manufacturers pre-weight their heads with a curve to give them a "sound" or it just turns out that flat isn't flat. It'd be best to try and EQ the amps so they sound as much alike as possible. Same for the volume. A little louder or little softer can change the perceived frequency response. If there's a "master" volume then there's more than one way to get the same medium volume out.
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My thought was to set everything flat and let the chips fall where they may instead of purposely trying to make everything sound the same. Your point is taken but I thought I could be accused of trying to manipulate the results if I did it.
 
#34
JimmyM said:
My thought was to set everything flat and let the chips fall where they may instead of purposely trying to make everything sound the same. Your point is taken but I thought I could be accused of trying to manipulate the results if I did it.
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Fair enough, at least you stated this in the setup, so people can consider "flat " does not mean the setting the amps the same.
 
#35
seamonkey said:
Fair enough, at least you stated this in the setup, so people can consider "flat " does not mean the setting the amps the same.
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Amp tone controls do not have "flat" responses unless they have hi-fi tone stacks such as baxandall. When the knobs are set to flat, it actually is far from being flat as it represents the voicing of that particular amp.

But I can not see how this relates to the fun experiment being conducted here :) There is no way to match the freq responses of these amps with their stock tone controls and frankly I don't think it should be done :) Test is awesome as it is ;)Post processing EQ ain't gonna be enough since power amps do have signature sound (plus preamp EQ is before the PA) and how they push the speakers vary greatly, too.

There is an old saying goes like this: "A guest should eat what she/he is served" as in it is rude to ask for mesh potatoes when the host serves you with steak, salada and red wine:)

To the op, I will vote when I get home and I am scared to get it wrong :)
 
#36
Just some ramblings. I'm not going to hazard a guess as to which is which as they sound way to close to MY ears to make a difference. I'm not familiar with the SWR or Markbass heads (I've had Peavey, Ampeg, and Eden amps), but the B-15 circuitry definitely does not have anything that purposely "voices" the amp with everything set flat (bass and treble set flat) and ultra low and ultra high off. So, by comparison, and I know this is a bit of a stretch, I would venture to say that the other amps sounding very similar must not be very far off from actual flat response however the knobs were physically set.

One other observation / question. The sound of the bass sounds to me like one with both neck and bridge pickups on, i.e. it doesn't sound like a P-bass to me, more like a J-bass or equivalent, particularly with the slap sounds. Am I correct on this? I'd venture to say what we are used to in a B-15 sound is the sound of a P-bass played through the original cabinet, and that the amp itself can actually sound more "hi-fi" like through a different speaker and with a different instrument.
 
#40
gerryjazzman said:
Just some ramblings. I'm not going to hazard a guess as to which is which as they sound way to close to MY ears to make a difference. I'm not familiar with the SWR or Markbass heads (I've had Peavey, Ampeg, and Eden amps), but the B-15 circuitry definitely does not have anything that purposely "voices" the amp with everything set flat (bass and treble set flat) and ultra low and ultra high off. So, by comparison, and I know this is a bit of a stretch, I would venture to say that the other amps sounding very similar must not be very far off from actual flat response however the knobs were physically set.

One other observation / question. The sound of the bass sounds to me like one with both neck and bridge pickups on, i.e. it doesn't sound like a P-bass to me, more like a J-bass or equivalent, particularly with the slap sounds. Am I correct on this? I'd venture to say what we are used to in a B-15 sound is the sound of a P-bass played through the original cabinet, and that the amp itself can actually sound more "hi-fi" like through a different speaker and with a different instrument.
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Sorry, I forgot to mention the bass in the first post. I'll correct it shortly. It's an SX PJ with both pickups on and D'addario rounds. The cabs definitely have an influence on the tone, though. The double baffle cab of the early 60's has more of a modern tone with strong upper and lower mids and a strong but not boomy bottom. The Thiele cab is all boom with a strong lower mid but upper mids tend to be suppressed. Both work excellent for different things, but I find the head itself to be very transparent, and if you plug it into a modern 410, it sounds like a B-15 in a modern 410.

Thanks to everyone for participating. Keep the comments and votes coming!
 

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