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What are YOUR six "Classic Bass Amps"?

cfsporn

cfsporn

Aug 20, 2011
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#1
So, Reverb posted their list and it has created a bit of controversy here. So far, nobody agrees 100% with the list as posted.

So what are your Six Classic Bass Amps?


I was going to go by their rules as much as possible, but I realized that to impose their limitation of no cabs is stupid so I am not going to do it. If a cab and a head are frequently used together (SVT, Acoustic 360/361 370/371, etc...) they count as one.

Have fun...
 
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#10
Hmmm

B15 - classic tube tone with small volume for the studio

SVT - the era of big iron and as many tubes as you can stomach replacing

Acoustic 360 - when solid state took over

400/800RB - when solid state figured out how to make driving the output stage sound awesome

Eden WT800 - big amps with weight to match the headroom and clarity

Alembic F2B>power amp - the "rack rig" days. Classic fender tone stack with lots of power.

Honorable mention: micro of your choice. For myself it would be TH500 - finally tone without the weight

In defense, I think of it as a list of classic examples of how bass technology has developed. One could easily replace the svt with a super bassman or the Eden with an swr but for me these are the amps I think of.
 
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#14
I'm more or less fine with the original list- but the Markbass? I'd take that one out, and, from a tech standpoint, add the Walter Woods MI100-8. Why?

-try to think of another head in, say, 1979, that weighed roughly 3 kilos, while being tank-solid and putting out about 150-200 watts into 4 Ohms. With great tone, of course.

On a more technical note, they were the first ever amps to utilize switch mode power supplies, which was a big factor in reducing the weight as opposed to traditional linear power supplies. That was simply decades ahead of the competition.

Some say, they were the first solid state amps to actually sound good... I don't know about that but they sure make the list in my book.

best
sidecar
 
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#15
MY classic 6 are all the amps I've owned, tongue firmly in cheek

1978 Coronet 30w Bass Amp - count em, 30 watts!

1982 Eminar 100W PA Head - I can almost be heard now

1984 Fender Bassman 100 - finally a real amp

1987 Peavey TNT150 - heavy, and I don't mean the music

2009 Hartke HA2500

2014 MarkBass LM250 Blackline with 2 x xl210 Hartke cabs

there are two types of bassists, those that hate MarkBass, and the old farts with bad backs like me hehe :)
 
#18
When you use the term classic, I think most of us are thinking original legacy benchmark
amps from the 60's and 70's

I understand that some younger folks may think of the 80's or even early 90's as their classic era, but when referring to classic amplifiers, I'm going back to the originals that inspired all future builds.
 
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