• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Why aren't you using tube amps?

#301
I'm an Equal Opportunity Employer - I have 8 bass amps/heads - 4 are tube amps (3 Ampegs and 1 Markbass) and 4 are solid-state (2 Ampegs, 1 Fender and 1 Bruce).

I use 3 of the tube amps regularly - a 1970s B-15 for gigging, a 1969 B-25B for rehearsals, and the Markbass Little Mark Tube 800 for gigging.

Two of the solid-states get used - the Bruce for home practice in my rehearsal space and an Ampeg BA-110 sits in my home office.

Yeah, the Port-a-Flex is a hassle to move, but once I'm playing I forget about my aching back and enjoy the tone (until the gig is over and I have to move it again).
 
  • Like
Reactions: murphy
#303
baxter_x said:
I do have synesthesia too. I discovered back in 2007 on a TV broadcast, that it was actually not common at all! TO me, numbers, letters, music have colors.
Harpsichord sound tastes like steel. That last one is pretty annoying actually.That's the reason I hate this instrument.
Click to expand...
I don't have full synesthesia, and I don't see a light show or anything like that. Sounds just have colors that I don't "see" but somehow "know" about. There are occasional other crossovers, but not very often. Maybe it's got to do with work with colors and sound over the years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pilgrim and baxter_x
#304
You get the best, most expensive tube amp on the planet, put a mic in front of the cab,run it through a digital mixer, then into solid state power amps,most likely class D, into full range pa speakers with subs. What you get at foh isn't exactly the same as on stage.
 
#306
For me, tube amps have to many disadvantages and not enough advantages over solid state to warrant carting them around. In their day, when that's all there was available, you had to use them. Nowadays there are many solid state choices available, and I don't think the venerated tube sound has enough of an edge in live venues, over solid state.
Nobody has ever come up and told me my amplifier doesn't sound tubey enough.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 10cc
#307
I think when it comes to gear choice of all flavors, things get down to personal needs, priorities, tonal goals, etc. There's no use in cookie-cuttering your own template for gear choice on to others since the likelihood of your goals matching those of some random person on a forum is basically nil. I appreciate that there are many paths to good tones, but I've made my choices for reasons I consider valid. But to put out blanket statements along the lines of "you use a tube amp because it's a function of your ego" doesn't illuminate anything in this conversation. That's the reason for my own "sniping" on this thread. I'm trying to get folks here to think less from the perspective of "the audience won't know", "the audience doesn't care", etc. since the audience is never aware of the feedback loop that exists between a musician and his instrument and equipment.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Al Kraft, mesaplayer83 and JimmyM
#309
bassdrop said:
I'm trying to get folks here to think less from the perspective of "the audience won't know", "the audience doesn't care", etc. since the audience is never aware of the feedback loop that exists between a musician and his instrument and equipment.
Click to expand...
Agree. My rig is for me and only me. I never considered the audience will ever care, unless there are a several bass players in the crowd

Son of Wobble said:
Learning something new every day!
Click to expand...
Lol. Trust me, I did learn something new that day of November 2007! Before I thought we were all the same. I was even asking myself if we shared the same colors or not ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gaolee
#310
Got a Lab systems vp 400 true valve preamp MOSFET out put. DI, 2speaker outs, and just the bare necessities like bass, switchable mids and treble. Built like a tank and intuitive layout.
Best of both worlds that sounds right to my ears and playing.
Coupled with a 15 eminence and 2x10 EV it sounds great and gets compliments all the time
 
#312
Wulfensteiner said:
This guy KIND OF has a point. But he also kind of couldn't be more wrong. Playing music to placate your own ego? Hardly. Playing on the level that most of us do at this point, that would be a little sad. Unless you're doing it ironically. If so, carry on!

Seriously though, some of us play music because it's an escape from the grind of our lives. Some of us play music because we have something to say. Some of us play music for the sheer joy of performing? If your own ego is coming into play at any point, you're gonna have a baaaad tiiiime.
Click to expand...

Ehhh... I think that fall right in with Freudian "ego".

"The ego acts according to the reality principle; i.e., it seeks to please the id's drive in realistic ways that will benefit in the long term rather than bring grief. At the same time, Freud concedes that as the ego "attempts to mediate between id and reality, it is often obliged to cloak the [unconscious] commands of the id with its own preconscious rationalizations, to conceal the id's conflicts with reality, to profess...to be taking notice of reality even when the id has remained rigid and unyielding." The reality principle that operates the ego is a regulating mechanism that enables the individual to delay gratifying immediate needs and function effectively in the real world. An example would be to resist the urge to grab other people's belongings, but instead to purchase those items"
 
#314
bassdrop said:
I think when it comes to gear choice of all flavors, things get down to personal needs, priorities, tonal goals, etc. There's no use in cookie-cuttering your own template for gear choice on to others since the likelihood of your goals matching those of some random person on a forum is basically nil. I appreciate that there are many paths to good tones, but I've made my choices for reasons I consider valid. But to put out blanket statements along the lines of "you use a tube amp because it's a function of your ego" doesn't illuminate anything in this conversation. That's the reason for my own "sniping" on this thread. I'm trying to get folks here to think less from the perspective of "the audience won't know", "the audience doesn't care", etc. since the audience is never aware of the feedback loop that exists between a musician and his instrument and equipment.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't go the extreme of "nil". I've read statements, met folks in public and heard sound clips of what I'd consider the majority here that share the exact same goals as mine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dave Hill and Passinwind
#315
But on the other end of that I'm probably in the minority of those bassist that has to have "my" amp every time on stage or in the studio. It doesn't really matter to me, I'll make do with whatever is there if that keeps me from loading up my on stuff. Bass included.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dave Hill
#316
I'm seeing a lot of griping about weight. Tubes or solid state, some amps are heavy. Am I the only bassist here over 45 that has no problem lifting and moving things over 12 lbs.? Those with physical limitations I understand but "I'm getting older" is not a real reason to not be able to move a heavier rig of you have one. Heck, I lift and move waaay more weight everyday at work, moving a rig that only weighs 2/3 my body weight to and from a gig is not a big deal.
 
#317
ScrewDevil said:
I'm seeing a lot of griping about weight. Tubes or solid state, some amps are heavy. Am I the only bassist here over 45 that has no problem lifting and moving things over 12 lbs.? Those with physical limitations I understand but "I'm getting older" is not a real reason to not be able to move a heavier rig of you have one. Heck, I lift and move waaay more weight everyday at work, moving a rig that only weighs 2/3 my body weight to and from a gig is not a big deal.
Click to expand...
Laziness. I see it all in this world. But I haven't a comment on whether it's right or wrong. Except that it "is".
 
  • Like
Reactions: MordBass and ScrewDevil
#319
ScrewDevil said:
I'm seeing a lot of griping about weight. Tubes or solid state, some amps are heavy. Am I the only bassist here over 45 that has no problem lifting and moving things over 12 lbs.? Those with physical limitations I understand but "I'm getting older" is not a real reason to not be able to move a heavier rig of you have one. Heck, I lift and move waaay more weight everyday at work, moving a rig that only weighs 2/3 my body weight to and from a gig is not a big deal.
Click to expand...

If you're like most people there will come a day when you won't be able to do that. It may be a gradual loss of strength and flexibility, arthritis, etc. as you age, or it might a sudden injury. You sound like me 15-20 years ago. I was stubborn and bullet-proof. I'm now 66 and I laugh at my younger self; its simple ego that tricks you into deluding yourself. You're OK until the day you're not. That's the day you become a lot wiser. Don't tempt fate or that day might come sooner than you think.
 
  • Like
Reactions: scf4003, tshapiro, Qlanq and 3 others
#320
ScrewDevil said:
I'm not judging. The path of least resistance is always the more desirable. I just wondered if I was in some way unique in this. Lol
Click to expand...

It depends on the weight of the weight in your consideration of one amp versus another (*cue rimshot*). I also wouldn't go so far as to classify it as laziness, but low weight and small size is incredibly attractive to some bassists. I've considered getting a small Class D head as a backup for some time since lugging two big amps to a show and leaving one in the truck is kind of a drag.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back