Tube Watts = SS Watts ??

[Al Kraft]

was just referring to bass MI backline and not FoH amplification as you surmised.
But I am surprised that with all the love these amps get here, that I haven't seen one on a pro stage.

My experience in that regard squares with your observations, at least around the Washington DC metro area (or DMV as it is now referred to on the news) - which includes your neck of the woods.

 

[Al Kraft]

Used prices for Carbines have started to drop recently. If you want a warmer sound, I suggest looking at the Titan or one of the other Simul-State amps. The Carbines tend to be extremely bright and aggressive. Nice if you are into that sort of thing, but obnoxious and hard to dial out if you are not.

I own all three models and would agree that they do have an edge that is hard to tame if a warmer and/or duller type tone is your thing. Like most GKs (and I own a few and have played many) they are not easily buried in a busy mix. If you play rock, they fit in quite nicely IME.

I play finger style and nearer the neck than the bridge, so an amp like the Carbine actually lets me get that fatter tone I like and the crispness in the head adds nice note to note articulation. I am not sure if I played with a pick it would work as well for me, as it does have a cutting quality in the upper register.

 

[JimmyM]

As opposed to plainly impractical a lot of the time only exists because at one time it was the only way possible?

For you

 

[Downunderwonder]

For you

Didn't you invent gigging with a 8'' solid state practice combo?

 

[JimmyM]

Didn't you invent gigging with a 8'' solid state practice combo?

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

 

[lowplaces]

You try to get out but they draw you back in. Tube vs SS is a religious discussion.

Seems to be one of those Hotel California topics

 

[Jim C]

My experience in that regard squares with your observations, at least around the Washington DC metro area (or DMV as it is now referred to on the news) - which includes your neck of the woods.

I was also basing this on last year's Jazz Fest.
I was there all 4 days and saw 35-40 bands.

Only about 5 national concerts this year though I think the sample size should be big enough to be somewhat meaningful at 0 out of 40 for the year.
I have posted this previously and the numbers for JF were approx 25 SVT's, 5 GK's, 1 SWR, 2 Aggys db750's, 1 Epiphany, 3-5 misc. No micros though.

 

[BogeyBass]

Im just thinking how much fun i had with my weezy 60 watt Sunn 200S
and i loved the amp quite a bit, but found the tonestack kinda annoying...butt

It was a very fun amp.

Funny is that i always hated fancy wierd super basses with fancy wood and fancy fart shapes and pickups. Just played Fenders.

I went to try out the Used...of course there is no new Sunn 200S in the music store.

I thought it would be funny to grab the most ridiculous modern bass in there to test out a ancient bass amp.

Of course some fancy pancy 6 string bass.
End of story, i bought the amp and the stupid 6 string bass cause it actually sounded really good. and was doing cheesy super noodles.

young kid in the store said...WOW cant belive that old amp is so clear lol.
whatever dude, i was going to buy it anyways without testing it, and yes old amps can actually be ' clear" LOL

 

[Wasnex]

I was also basing this on last year's Jazz Fest.
I was there all 4 days and saw 35-40 bands.

Only about 5 national concerts this year though I think the sample size should be big enough to be somewhat meaningful at 0 out of 40 for the year.
I have posted this previously and the numbers for JF were approx 25 SVT's, 5 GK's, 1 SWR, 2 Aggys db750's, 1 Epiphany, 3-5 misc. No micros though.

I think that's more SVTs than I have seen in my entire life, and I have owned 3. I love my SVTs but they would not be my first choice for jazz; especially if I were playing string bass.

 

[Staccato]

I’ve never seen paint peel right off a wall next to a SS amp.

Tube amps have been peeling paint off walls since I was knee high to a polecat.

 

[fdeck]

I think that's more SVTs than I have seen in my entire life, and I have owned 3. I love my SVTs but they would not be my first choice for jazz; especially if I were playing string bass.

I actually played my upright through a SVT "fridge" rig, since it was provided by the rehearsal space and I was curious. I'm also interested in amp technology, so I've looked at nearly every bass amp schematic that can be found online.

My impression from reading the schematic, is that the classic SVT is basically a high fidelity amplifier, albeit executed with tube technology. I might be inclined to trust it more than a modern amp with an unknown preamp voicing. In my case, I just centered the tone knobs, plugged in, and played. As expected, it worked fine. I would have no problem with a decent quality tube amp for upright bass use.

The vaunted overload characteristics of the SVT didn't come into play because I didn't want to be drowned in feedback or obliterate the rest of the band. And I didn't have to haul it.

 

[Wasnex]

I actually played my upright through a SVT "fridge" rig, since it was provided by the rehearsal space and I was curious. I'm also interested in amp technology, so I've looked at nearly every bass amp schematic that can be found online.

My impression from reading the schematic, is that the classic SVT is basically a high fidelity amplifier, albeit executed with tube technology. I might be inclined to trust it more than a modern amp with an unknown preamp voicing. In my case, I just centered the tone knobs, plugged in, and played. As expected, it worked fine. I would have no problem with a decent quality tube amp for upright bass use.

The vaunted overload characteristics of the SVT didn't come into play because I didn't want to be drowned in feedback or obliterate the rest of the band. And I didn't have to haul it.

The SVT itself is relatively flat and transparent, and it has one of the best EQs available in an all tube head as far as I am concerned. The EQ is not super flexible though. IMHO, the 810 is one of the most heavily voiced, least transparent cabs you can buy.

Here's my last experience with an SVT and string bass. In the fall of 2011 I had the pleasure of running sound for a concert band touring Siberia. The bass player brought along his regular string bass with an Ehrlund EAP pickup, which always sounded fabulous and provided plenty of gain before feedback with his normal rig. He typically used an Euphonic Audio NL210 and I think an Acoustic Image head.

Anyway an SVT and 810 were provided as part of the backline for a couple of the gigs. Our bass player had never used an SVT and was really struggling, so I helped him dial it in and made some modest improvements. The amp was in good working order but the interaction between the 810 and bass caused a lot of feedback in the low mids, and the EQ was not flexible enough to address the problems. Basically the tone was awful and insufficient gain before feedback was available, so he couldn't turn up enough to push the band for jazz and commercial numbers. Normally he pushed the room with his amp for jazz and commercial numbers and then turned down for more classically oriented pieces. On the two gigs where he used the SVT, he pretty much had to let me carry the house with the PA.

I know that an SVT can work with string bass because years ago I used one. But I had a very powerful parametric EQ at the time to address the acoustic coupling issues with the bass, and also I biamped the SVT with a Fender Twin loaded with JBL E120s, so the rig had nice open mids and extended highs.

 

[fdeck]

The SVT itself is relatively flat and transparent, and it has one of the best EQs available in an all tube head as far as I am concerned. The EQ is not super flexible though. IMHO, the 810 is one of the most heavily voiced, least transparent cabs you can buy.

Indeed you have a good point about the speaker. Luckily it wasn't pointing towards my bass.

 

[Wasnex]

Indeed you have a good point about the speaker. Luckily it wasn't pointing towards my bass.

I normally elevate my cab to about waist level to reduce interaction with the bass. I believe the player on the Siberia tour normally used a tilt stand with the NL210, which also helps a bit. An 810 pretty much maximizes the potential coupling with a string bass.


Before I started biamping the SVT, I ran the SVT into a pair of Yamaha S4115Hs for a few gigs.

Although I had to dial the horn down quite a bit, they sounded really nice IMHO. Guess I was always an FRFR guy.

 

[fdeck]

I normally elevate my cab to about waist level to reduce interaction with the bass. I believe the player on the Siberia tour normally used a tilt stand with the NL210, which also helps a bit. An 810 pretty much maximizes the potential coupling with a string bass.


Before I started biamping the SVT, I ran the SVT into a pair of Yamaha S4115Hs for a few gigs.

View attachment 3576333
Although I had to dial the horn down quite a bit, they sounded really nice IMHO. Guess I was always an FRFR guy.

My high school had 4 of those for some reason, and the bass amp that I settled on was the school's 88 Watt Traynor head on top of a Yamaha. The 18" folded horn that came with the Traynor was a horror story. That was all for electric bass, since my upright-playing days were still ahead of me at that point.

 

[JimmyM]

I actually played my upright through a SVT "fridge" rig, since it was provided by the rehearsal space and I was curious. I'm also interested in amp technology, so I've looked at nearly every bass amp schematic that can be found online.

My impression from reading the schematic, is that the classic SVT is basically a high fidelity amplifier, albeit executed with tube technology. I might be inclined to trust it more than a modern amp with an unknown preamp voicing. In my case, I just centered the tone knobs, plugged in, and played. As expected, it worked fine. I would have no problem with a decent quality tube amp for upright bass use.

The vaunted overload characteristics of the SVT didn't come into play because I didn't want to be drowned in feedback or obliterate the rest of the band. And I didn't have to haul it.

You are 100% correct on all counts.

 

[Jim C]

I think that's more SVTs than I have seen in my entire life, and I have owned 3. I love my SVTs but they would not be my first choice for jazz; especially if I were playing string bass.

Very true, but Jazz Fest has very little Jazz music these days!
More like Blues, Cajun, R&B, Pop, and Rock
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Wasnex]

Very true, but Jazz Fest has very little Jazz music these days!
More like Blues, Cajun, R&B, Pop, and Rock
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

That makes sense.

We stayed on Bourbon St. a couple of times when we were touring around Southern Louisiana. I think there was one place that had dixieland jazz, but only once or twice a week. One of the guys in our band heard that somebody was playing jazz in a hole in the wall a few blocks off the strip, so we took a walk and paid the cover. Not a lot of folks there, but the music was good. Back on Bourbon St. seems every band played Def Leppard's, Pour Some Sugar on Me. If you walked up and down the strip, you would hear it over and over again.

 

[ThisBass]

Hi all you fellows,

besides the tube watts discission its way more of interest (for me as a German guy) to read some off opic words about the local music scene in your country.
Thank's a lot for beeing off topic in this regard. No I ain't joking cause I read your off topic words with very big interest.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I’ve never seen paint peel right off a wall next to a SS amp.

Tube amps have been peeling paint off walls since I was knee high to a polecat.

Time for our daily musical interlude.