Warwick Thumb 5 and tube amps? how do they sound together?

Ryan Martinie from Mudvayne used to use his Thumb 5 through an Ampeg SVT2-PRO it was a pretty damn awsome tone as far as I'm concerned, although I doubt the ampeg was used on his recordings...

I will soon hopefully be running my Thumb through a Fender 300 PRO and a schroeder. I'll let you know...

Popinfresh uses a streamer Stage II through hiv V8 and schroeder, so he might be able to give you an idea...?

"Oh Popin...?"

 

Popin hasn't got a stage 2, but he wishes he did.

He plays a MM sterling.

 

Indeed, it's being in my sig for a while as GAS

I wish I had one 'Ohh, Oddio...'

 

Sorry, My bad... Damn, I wouldn't mind one of those either! or maybe Peanut from 311's sig series...mmmm

 

From what I read, a lot of the midrange on Mudvayne's albums is from Ryan running his bass thru both the SVT and Greg Tibbet's M/B recto amp. But live apparently he goes straight into the SVT and an 8x10, with only a compressor in the signal chain. He sounded good on Live Dosage, but not nearly as over-the-top growly as he does on the studio recording.

Me personally, I think a Thumb will sound good plugged into anything... I'm sure a tube amp wouldn't hurt it.

 

I play my 1989 Thumb NT with Mesa Boogie 400+.
The cab is either a Eden D210XLT or a Eden D410XLT.

It sounds really awesome, tons of growl and projection.
The Thumb is a very aggressive bass by itself (mine has EMG's), and the Mesa adds grindness.

I also use a Eden WT550, but the Mesa is my first choice.

 

I played mine through a classic head and my 610HLF and it sounded great together. I just couldn't afford it at the time.....

 

I played a thumb 5 through a GK1001RB-II into an Aggy GS410 and this thing was scary.

Im sure through a tube amp it would be very scary...Growly, aggressive and above all loud!

 

For the first record, Ryan from Mudvayne used SWR stuff. A SWR SM-900 head. This record was very heavily mixed with bass and he got some sweet throat-y and gutteral tones with great tapping and harmonic ranges from that thing.

He switched to Ampeg and even though the second record mixed the bass a lot crummier, but his live tone was still sweet.

I just saw them a week ago and I couldn't see what his live rig was. All I got glimpses of were his custom Thumbs. They are at that stage in popularity where they have a wall of amps each and they are covered by huge banners.


Now I am a Warwick guy. I had a Thumb b/o 5 string and now a 4 string version of it as well as a Streamer Stage II.

I noticed the Thumb has a more organic, throaty tone which only gets enhanced through amps where the Stage II is just massive all around. The tone and sound from that bass makes it so diverse and amazing for all styles. I bought it a 3 weeks ago and havent put it down since.
I am playing through a SWR WorkingPro 700 and pretty much use the recommended settings for rock with some tweaking.

I would love a tube amp though, but first I got to get rid of my Hartke cabinets. Isn't it a crime in some states for a SWR to be played through Hartke cabs?

 

I've been playing my thumb through 2 4.5xl Hartke cabs and an SWR amp - its quite harsh on the ears with all the high mids... wouldn't recomend it as a good combination of amp and cabs. My SWR head doesn't let me adjust around 2k either, which means I can't cut those frequencies either...

Hence I usually end up putting my EBS microbass II in the FX return as my preamp instead...

 

I run my thumb 5 and streamer St II 5 through an Aguilar DB 750. Not all tubes, but the front end is.

The thumb sounds great through it. (IMO) I dial in a touch more mids and highs and it punches through a mix very well.

It's very smooth sounding untill I dig in a bit and the growl comes out.

 

Ahhh I am not alone. That is what I get though for upgrading my equipment and always finding money to get other things like more basses or better amp heads. I still have a Hartke 4x10 and 1x15. However, on the bright side, the 15" speaker blew a voice coil and I threw a Eminence Kappa 350 watt speaker in its place. Better than the 150 watt one I must say. Still those 4x10's are next on the way out.

 

Its not that I don't like the Hartke cabs, they are quite punchy and articulate, its just that I cannot EQ them the way I want to with the head I am using... plus it is underpowered for the cabs, so... new head on the way!

 

I hear you about the whole power thing. That was the first thing I had in my mind when I bought my SWR 700 head. The 4x10 put out a decent 400 watts so I just needed to repair that 1x15. (which was only 150 watts.)

I threw the Eminence Kappa 350 watter in its place and I got a nice sound coming from that one now!

 

not to hijack the thread, but it hasn't been hit up for awhile...

On the topic of the warwick thumb, can anyone tell me iff it is possible to get a fender'esq kinda tone out of the thumb? you know, that twangy mid kinda sound? how would I eq this in (what frequencies)? I know I'll never get the same sound, but just a similar one will do.