Tube stack for arena rock band!

[18eranaRic]

this is why im not totally out of my mind when it comes to using solid state, but it would have to be those alembic showman pre. "tri amped" thats a lot of knobs! haha

 

[dhsierra1]

dooood that is suuuwweet looking! what was he powering those with im totally interested now you posted that old pic! lol

IIRC Crown D300As. This was the early 70s,those and the McIntoshes (Grateful Dead) were what ruled the roost.

The bass horns are the old 4520s, short throw but throw they did.

The guy for Staind (Johnny April, he used to post here a lot) uses a somewhat similar system, but IIRC it's 4 18's and two of those large old JBL mids lenses. Ampeg built it for him. He's an audiophile and knows his stuff.

 

[dhsierra1]

"tri amped" thats a lot of knobs! haha

nope, it's not really. The F2B into a single triamp unit (each xover band generally has only a couple controls) into 3 amps. Done.

 

[18eranaRic]

^ that would be nice for the road to have ss amps, id feel like i could trust them if they had the bloom im looking for in the trash and boom zone of #space

 

[ArtechnikA]

You guys n gals must admit, 18eranaRic is very talented. How long is this thread? Still going, still entertaining, no mods issuing warnings let alone shutting the fun down — 18 just keeps prodding the buttons but not too hard, no real flare ups. Man, to keep that kind of balance, a tight-rope walker should be so lucky.

He's had a lot of practice:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/basson-cabs-=-bad-customer-service-524427/#post7085487A classic (now-closed) thread with a similar course from 2009...

 

[18eranaRic]

oh mention: i want the mids and boosted trebble to scream from old checker cloth marshall 412 cabs so the tri amp kinda sounds good where i could just send 100 watts to those and like 1800 watts to the 10s and 15s

 

[will33]

I have a stereo 3-way crossover in my PA rack...it still has less knobs than some bass amps. Not that complicated, just have to know what you're doing / what your individual speakers strong suits and weak suits are...that's all.

 

[dhsierra1]

^ that would be nice for the road to have ss amps, id feel like i could trust them if they had the bloom im looking for in the trash and boom zone of #space

OK, I'll play along a little further. Here's what you can do: do ss for the lows, you can get as many watts as you like into as many 15s you like in horns. Or ported cabs, but horns work well.

Then for the mids and highs use the tube amps. When you're bi/tri-amping you won't need as many watts since the ss is doing the heavy lifting in the low frequencies. The low frequencies take up the most power, once you get past, say 200 Hz it's a piece of cake and you don't need as much power. Then let the tube voicing do its thing. But not needing, say, 4 or 6 tube amps, just two.

 

[dhsierra1]

oh mention: i want the mids and boosted trebble to scream from old checker cloth marshall 412 cabs so the tri amp kinda sounds good where i could just send 100 watts to those and like 1800 watts to the 10s and 15s

yes, exactly, Chris Squire did something similar but with Ampeg on the bottom and a Fender Twin for the top end. Don't bother mixing 15s and 10s, use one or the other. They're pulling the heavy load under around 200 Hz so doesn't really matter which you use, matter of taste.

That is likely your simplest solution right here.

 

[18eranaRic]

does the ss have the sag and explosion of the 6550s and a hotrod tran? when i think wind i do think solid state in the lows #kaplosion

 

[dhsierra1]

does the ss have the sag and explosion of the 6550s and a hotrod tran? when i think wind i do think solid state in the lows #kaplosion

no, ss doesn't sag like a tube amp with a tube rectifier, again, biamp, go with the 6550/tranny above 200 Hz using your fav guitar cab and go ss below that. Sag is not what you want in the lows, I think. You want that in the lower mids on up. Otherwise you lose #kaplosion.

 

[18eranaRic]

i bet youre rite 200hz and up 6550s and mosfet below, and i mean a lot of wats in the lows remember im trying to blow the doors open at the back of like hockey rinks

 

[dhsierra1]

why are you set on MOSFETs for the ss?

200 Hz is a bit arbitrary, look between 80 to 200 for that xover point.

Gawd, I can't believe I'm playing along, sigh......

 

[will33]

Now you're on the right track. Big SS power on the bottom, no tone down there, just bigness and wind. Tubes & guitar speakers up top whefe all your tone is......one of the best combinations there is.

 

[will33]

why are you set on MOSFETs for the ss?

MOSFET's do give a musical sounding distortion when you make them work too hard, at least in some amp designs. Non-issue with bi/tri amping.

 

[dhsierra1]

MOSFET's do give a musical sounding distortion when you make them work too hard, at least in some amp designs. Non-issue with bi/tri amping.

that's what I'm driving at Go w/standard, um, bipolar transistors........

 

[will33]

that's what I'm driving at Go w/standard, um, bipolar transistors........

They work best with non-polar hats...err, caps.

 

[18eranaRic]

i dont know what you mean about hats unless thats just a term for the caps, but i'd go sozo blue caps for the alembic pre, i think about mosfet becaust that whats my favorite pedal says on it. fulltone bassdrive mosfet and it sounds really boosty #kpow

 

[dhsierra1]

i think about mosfet becaust that whats my favorite pedal says on it. fulltone bassdrive mosfet and it sounds really boosty #kpow

for your needs in the low end you'd be wasting what MOSFETs can do. Why not go with a stack of fEARFUL Sub 15s and a Marshall guitar amp and biamp crossover? Simple. Go with the old Crowns if you like, though there's lots of newer stuff out there.

 

[18eranaRic]

He's had a lot of practice:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/basson-cabs-=-bad-customer-service-524427/#post7085487A classic (now-closed) thread with a similar course from 2009...

oh man that was before my mental kuu-rash! so im not really the same guy i used to be.