VHT 2150: Loving it for Bass

[Longwave]

My first thread here on TB. I wanted to share my experiences using a VHT 2150 for bass.

Long story short - yes it can do it, and it sounds great! I like it enough that I sold my SVT.

My 2150 is a 1993 unit, generating 105 Watts per side from x2 KT88s. While it certainly doesn’t have the headroom of a 300 Watt tube head, it holds its own with a loud metal band. I run an old Boss limiter pedal in front of it and it stays clean-ish at high volumes. For mellower genres it’s definitely enough.

Without the limiter, past 1pm or so on the dial, the 2150 growls in a musical way. It doesn’t sound like it’s falling apart when the power section starts working.

I’m - perhaps embarrassingly - not using a pre with it right now. Just active bass -> limiter -> power amp. I’m thinking something clean like a U5 would be great with it, and give it even more kick.

I’m using a 5 string with a Nordstrand pre and pickup, and my cab is an old Traynor 2x15 (400 Watts). I think the 15s are part of what makes this rig work so well, but I’d be curious to try it with other cabs.

Finally, seeing as I play guitar too… this rig has a bonus in that I can use it for both instruments. It’s easy to set one side for bass and one for guitar. It’s amazing how fast 105 Watts gets eaten up for bass though lol, with a guitar the headroom is huge. Cheers!

 

[Marko 1]

it holds its own with a loud metal band.

It’s amazing how fast 105 Watts gets eaten up for bass though lol

Yes, I'm kinda wondering how you pull that off...

but obviously you do, so congrats, and glad you're here on TB.

 

[6thplanet]

I have an actual VHT tube bass amp, it makes 110 watts at 1K, but only about 60 at 40Hz. Through my 8-10's it's just not loud enough (for a metal band). Granted it sounds freaking great trying to doing it. The amp has a few components in place that roll the bottom end off nicely, not needing a HP actually. With these changed for a more full range low end (like my V-4B) it might have a slightly better shot at working in that situation.

That said, I'm aquiring parts to build an amp using the VHT preamp and a 700 watt class D power section.

Cool to see you making yours work! With double the wattage on tap, I can see that working. .

 

[Longwave]

Yes, I'm kinda wondering how you pull that off...

but obviously you do, so congrats, and glad you're here on TB.

Thanks! I think the limiter is the secret sauce there. It’s just a simple Boss LM-2 from the 80s. It has quite a bit of gain past unity so you can use it like a preamp, and it only smushes the peaks so it’s not super noisy.

Since the peaks are taken care of, I can turn the overall level up until the power amp distorts, which is a lot later than with the peaks at play.

I’ve got the VHT at 2-3pm on the dial… I’ll prob eat tubes a lot faster than with a bigger amp, but it’s not a huge concern seeing as I’m digging the tone. I’ll try to find the most robust, cleanest KT88s I can for the next tube change.