Tube amp tone. Which one to buy? I need it but im not sure which one.

I am a guitarist turned bassist. I have been playing guitar for almost 15 years now and filled in here and there on bass. In the last year i have taken a more substantial interest in bass and now play in a band where i share bass duty with the vocalist. I have a couple solid state amps that are not great but they are loud. I want a full on bass rig though and tubes seem to be what does it for me. I have played ss mesaa, peaveys, fenders, hartke, aguilar, ampeg, eden, mark bass. Some sounded ok. Others sounded great. The first time i plugged into an svt at gc i knew i was done with ss amps but so far that single svt at The store is the only tube bass amp i have ever played. What do you guys love? Ampeg, traynor, fender, mesa, eden. New, used, vintage.

Tell me about what you have, what you used to have. Why do you love it or hate it. What broke, and how much did it cost to fix?

Btw i will be using the head that i buy with quite a variety of cabs. Fender 4x10, markbass 6x10, a vintage sunn 1x15 with a jbl.

 

Jimmy, so far the only tube bass amp ive played through is an svt-cl and that sounded amazing. Can you tell me a little about the difference in tone from an svt-cl to an svt-2pro? I have found the 2pro to be a couple hundred bucks or so cheaper both new and used.

I keep seeing mesa 400s on ebay and other used avenues for even a little less and i wonder how different they sound and how much they sound the same.

I also keep looking for a good deal on a traynor yba300. I like the idea of so many options for the tubes.

The max of my budget if i want to get this anytime soon is going to be about 1400 us. But i do have some other gear needs that i would like to satisfy with any leftover so im heavily considering used.

Back to ampeg. I have heard/read mixed things about 80s svt heads but i recently saw a used one for about 900 online and thought that seemed a good price. Does anyone know the differences in the different generations and their accompanying reliability? A link to another thread would be fine.

Also what is the difference in an ampeg v4 and v4b. I assumed previously that the v4 was guitar and v4b was bass but i see people saying they use them both for bass and usually when i see an ebay auction for them there is no specificity.

Any traynor fans out there new ir vintage. The yba200 seems like huge bang for the buck but then it seems to get badmouthed a lot. I see they have updated it as the yba200-2 now. I have read a lot about their vintage yba stuff and people seem to love it.


My only thing about hot rodded vintage is that my knowledge of how to hotrod is non existent and i dont know anyone that i would be willing to trust with such a project or really even what amp to buy as a platform and what mods to make.

My style is mainly classic rock and blues. I do play some new stuff and i do play in the praise/rock band at church, although i usually play 6string at church. I definitely like some grit or dirt to my sound.

 

Thanks for all the info guys. I really appreciate it.

Btw anybody wanting to sell anything right now?

 

I finally pulled the trigger. I found a mesa 400+ on gc for $725 plus tax. i ordered it today. i will be out of town until the 3rd so i wont be able to play it until then but i don't know if i will be able to sleep between now and then.