Tube Works/Dr. Bass Opinions Wanted...

Dr. Bass cabs have a good rep around here; Tube Works amps seem to get good reviews. Not sure why they went the way of the dinosaurs. How powerful is the head & how much is the whole shebang going for?

 

Genz Benz Bought out Tube Works but I dont know if they are currently keeping the name going or not.

 

I've got one of those heads, it's really good, but I don't know if it's worth $600 Canadian, market should be about $300-$400 US, -although I admit I'm not up on current exchange rates, they don't come up for sale very often so it may be worth what they're asking after all. Oh, they're lightweight too, and the even used good Yugo 12ax7s. My friend was a tech with them way back when (only buy the black and yellow ones that say BK Butler on them), the power amp section is mosfets from Mitsubishi I think, high quality stuff that's no longer made.
I A/B'd it against an Eden Traveler (can't remember the model) and an Ampeg SVT4 pro, and I preferred the Tubeworks over both, it has a really musical midrange that the more 'modern' amps overlook, but I think you can still scoop it if you want. When I get new tubes for my recently purchased Mesa 400+ there will be another 'showdown', but I think they're two different creatures.
There was a pro that used those heads, but I can't remember his name...

 

I dug up a pic, it looks like this? I think I've got an Amperex 12AX7 in there, it smoothed it out a bit, but the SS side of the preamp sounds good too.

 

From what I've read in other reads over the past year, you'll have a righteous rig if you pick up that rig. You'll probably have to turn the tweeter off on the 1x15. Be sure to have all the tubes tested to make sure they're up to spec. Also, a good tube tech can check out the whole amp to let you know if anything needs to be replaced or updated.

 

I have the a Tube Works RT-3300-R. I seem to remember reading that the Genz Benz GBE amps were decedents of these. It's a great sounding amp with a fair amount of power. One of my all time favorites. They also get bonus points for being fairly uncommon.

Fletch

 

I contacted Jeff Genzler a while back regarding a Tubeworks head I was interested in. Genz bought Tubeworks at some point prior to Kaman Music buying Genz-Benz. Genz-Benz is not currently producing Tubeworks-branded products.

Genz has Tubeworks product manuals online, including one for the 3300 head.

 

Let me clarify a couple of things. We never built the 3300 and can not support it in any way. This was built a long time before we acquired Tubeworks. Also, the power MOS-FETs are no longer available, so if you do have a failure that requires replacement of these parts you will be forced to TRY to find them used... which is both inconvenient and expensive IF you can even find them.

We will supply parts for the products we built if we still have them (it's been well over 5 years since we stopped building them) and no longer service them but will refer you to a list of potential service centers.

The GBE amps were not decendants of any TubeWorks products, they are completely different in all aspects.

 

Wow, and people think tube amps are hard to service! At you CAN service them That's my only beef with buying old stuff that isn't in production anymore. Otherwise I'd say have at it. TubeWorks made some pretty decent stuff for its day. I still have a 410 I bought from Dave LaRue that kicks ass over most any other 410 I've used, even though it's designed "wrong" by today's standards (ports behind each speaker) and even though its power handling is a little light by today's standards (like I need over 400w going into it )

 

Don't know about TubeWorks but I have a Dr. Bass DL115 cab that is absolutely wonderful.

 

Stumbo: it's only got one 12AX7, and it's switchable in/out against the solid state side of the preamp, so there's only one tube to test, and since you can A/B it with the SS side, you can use your ears to test the 12AX7 (or use it 100% solid state).
Yeah, $600 sounds like a great deal including the cabs, if you don't do anything weird and blow it up, it should last a long time.

 

Decendants or not they're nice as are your products; they're always very high on my GAS list
I guess I read a little to much into this thread.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=310273&highlight=rt-3300-r
8 posts down.
No offense meant. I really like your stuff.

Fletch

 

No offense taken. I now understand your confusion.

Roger was talking about the basic concept of the tube/solid state channel, the circuit itself is unrelated, which is what I was refering to.