Started a thread like this on the old forum but I need advice again. Right now, for part of the drum machine rig, I am using a Behringer B1D1 bass pre-amp into a big ole Sunn Power amp. It was kind of flakey out of the box (have to get the jack in there just so...) but it's been awesome for a thirty dollar pedal and sounds awesome for any price. I am looking to upgrade to something w/ a stouter constitution for gigs and whatnot. Any suggestions? By default, I think I am going to go w/ a SansAmp Bass Driver as those things are pretty sweet and basically the same thing as what I've been using but I want to explore my options first. Rack mount is actually preferred since I have extra spaces anyway.
Last thing I tried was an older BBE preamp but it didn't really cut it tone-wise and I ended up using the Behringer again.
our bass player has one of the sansamp pedals. he likes it. it sounds really good.
i've seen a TON of bands using the rack mount thing (RBI maybe?) from sansamp. some of them sound awesome, some of them sound like crap. i attribute it to the bass player.
Yeah, they are really nice pedals. W/ an older project, we recorded w/ Sanford Parker back when his studio was still Volume and he used the SansAmp Bass Driver at least in part and the bass sounded absolutely great.
I am trying to figure out what the RBI does that the Bass Driver does not do. It costs over a hundred dollars more.
i think the biggest thing are the multiple outputs and stuff on the rackmount.
That's what it's looking like. It's one thing I like on the Bass Driver over the Behringer is the Bass Driver has a parallel out which would let me get rid of an ABY. Less shit in the chain is a good thing.
My favorite is the old Peavey Max Preamp that has blendable solid state and tube channels & all kinds of EQ options. You can get them wicked cheap now too but they're kind hard to find. The white faced one is the one I've played a few times.
The Yamaha PB-1 is also a pretty awesome bass pre.
Quote from: zachoff on June 06, 2011, 03:58:54 PM
My favorite is the old Peavey Max Preamp that has blendable solid state and tube channels & all kinds of EQ options. You can get them wicked cheap now too but they're kind hard to find. The white faced one is the one I've played a few times.
This sounds like it could be a winner... I'll have to keep an eye out.
Also, bonus question: anyone know of a decent single-rack space guitar/bass power amp. Something like 50-100 watts?
Quote from: LogicalFrank on June 06, 2011, 04:18:27 PM
Quote from: zachoff on June 06, 2011, 03:58:54 PM
My favorite is the old Peavey Max Preamp that has blendable solid state and tube channels & all kinds of EQ options. You can get them wicked cheap now too but they're kind hard to find. The white faced one is the one I've played a few times.
This sounds like it could be a winner... I'll have to keep an eye out.
Also, bonus question: anyone know of a decent single-rack space guitar/bass power amp. Something like 50-100 watts?
ADA made one back in the 80s. rocktron has one as well. both solid. try to find a tubeworks power amp. those are nice.
Quote from: LogicalFrank on June 06, 2011, 04:18:27 PM
Quote from: zachoff on June 06, 2011, 03:58:54 PM
My favorite is the old Peavey Max Preamp that has blendable solid state and tube channels & all kinds of EQ options. You can get them wicked cheap now too but they're kind hard to find. The white faced one is the one I've played a few times.
This sounds like it could be a winner... I'll have to keep an eye out.
Here's the pic of the black faced one. I didn't know they had those... I've only seen the white faced ones, but can't find a pic online anywhere.
(http://www.jivesound.com/forSale/2011/max1.jpg)
Single rack space? Doesnt exist... tubeworks +1
Quote from: LogicalFrank on June 06, 2011, 04:18:27 PM
Also, bonus question: anyone know of a decent single-rack space guitar/bass power amp. Something like 50-100 watts?
Mesa 20/20
(http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Out_of%20_Production/20_20_Stereo/20-20-frontpanel-LG.jpg)
Crank that shit and I'd bet it
sounds like 50-100 watts.
40 watts would be plenty, thank you. I'd have to rewire my cab but that would actually work awesome. Probably a bit out of my price range at the moment though.
Quote from: LogicalFrank on June 06, 2011, 10:13:44 PM
40 watts would be plenty, thank you. I'd have to rewire my cab but that would actually work awesome. Probably a bit out of my price range at the moment though.
why not just get one of those crate powerblocks for $100?
That is still another thing to carry... The backup I use right now is a EHX 44 Mag, which is kind of the same thing--small class D amp--but even smaller, albeit not as powerful.
(http://images.aandhmarketing.com/pics/electroharmonix/44mag.jpg)
The nicest thing about a rack mount solution is it all stays basically set up except speaker cables and connecting the power conditioner to an outlet which makes setup a lot easier. I have an enormous amount of bullshit to deal w/ setup-wise and every little bit helps keep my stress levels down before shows.
Yeah, I definitely love those Tube Works guys.
Had one on top of a 2X15 at a practice space I always used to go to. Felt like a god for $15/hr.
As far as pedal form I own the Tech 21 VT Bass. If you like the way Ampegs sounds its worth every bit of $150 and can be had for $125 used. A great pedal that I use whenever I'm unsure of the Amp I'm using. I also use it when I want to run into the back one of my Sunn heads and control it completely with the pedal.
It has just occurred to me that a rack mount bass amp w/ some sort of crossover might work too, which could give me lots of options... Basically, I split the signal between two different amps, one getting highs and the other getting lows. From experience, this has just worked better for my purposes than just trying to do one or two amps amplifying all frequency ranges.
On an off note Frank I saw you guys live a couple months ago the drums sounded HUGE.
Thanks! Where'd you see us? Since I got the big 600 Watt Sunn power amp, we can typically really shake the room even if there's no PA. Normally the lows go through that and the big 2x15 we have and the highs we send to a different amp and some twelves.
Quote from: LogicalFrank on June 07, 2011, 11:53:44 AM
Thanks! Where'd you see us? Since I got the big 600 Watt Sunn power amp, we can typically really shake the room even if there's no PA. Normally the lows go through that and the big 2x15 we have and the highs we send to a different amp and some twelves.
Empty Bottle in...April I think? Was a Sunday. You guys have a really unique sound made me wish I still smoked woulda been even better. The guys that opened for you from Wisconsin were pretty good too but their bass player EQed himself out of the mix (I play bass, when people do that it annoys me).
But yeah you guys sound HUGE live. I wouldn't worry about adding volume at all or you might shade on overkill.
Empty Bottle always sounds great. I love playing there. I am not adding volume but trying to simplify and make my rig more reliable. I think the band you are referring to is Northless. They always sound awesome to me... Never noticed lack of bass but I'm not a bassist. If you find yourself at a show again, make sure to introduce yourself. I'm the guy in the suit.
Quote from: LogicalFrank on June 07, 2011, 12:40:01 PM
Empty Bottle always sounds great. I love playing there. I am not adding volume but trying to simplify and make my rig more reliable. I think the band you are referring to is Northless. They always sound awesome to me... Never noticed lack of bass but I'm not a bassist. If you find yourself at a show again, make sure to introduce yourself. I'm the guy in the suit.
Will do. Stop staring at my sister next time before you go on! And <3 the aluminum neck Kramer. The Empty Bottle is always a fun place to go and a great beer selection.
The bassist from Northless was actually good but he was mixed out unless they are deliberately going for the wall of sound thing. Take a band like Mastodon though two guitarists and the bassist is easily heard. Just kinda seemed like the guy lacked clarity could only make his playing out when the guitars were playing little. I actually rather liked that band good riffs. That being said it could have been where I was standing in the room was slightly off to the side by the bar.
But in all seriousness I bought the CD-R you guys had for sale hasn't left my car been throwing it on a couple times a week. Good stuff.
Sansamp RBI and RPM both work really well. I like the RPM a little better actually, even though the RBI is the "bass" preamp. Pretty much everything Sansamp makes is swappable between bass, guitar and drum machine/general fx use. So anything they have tailored specifically for bass usually means it just has less knobs or gain or some fixed eq curve.
Rusty box
(http://www.tronographic.com/img/1.jpg)
http://www.tronographic.com/
ENGLISH MUFFN
LOVE IT
Quote from: SunnO))) on August 18, 2011, 07:16:56 PM
ENGLISH MUFFN
LOVE IT
EHX should pay Marshall royalties for each unit sold, and people say Behringer are copycats ;D
I'm thinking of trying a homemade Hogs Foot as a preamp.
It's the 800, yes?
Can I clip the bright cap out of IT? haha.
Probably, I found the schematic on talkbass, check it out.
For preamp in rack have a look at the VTbass 300 rackmount amp, has two channels so may be overkill for what you want. Personally I've come to preferr the Oxford pedal over the VT these days but I still have no plans to sell the VT.
http://www.bassplayer.com/article/tech-21-vt-bass-3002/5081
AS far as rackmount and lightweight power amps go I'd suggest getting the 44 calibre and a crate power block fitted into a blank rack case, or even two power blocks so you can use one as back up or even run stereo if you so desire. :) Although I;m sure there are other rackmount D-Class power amps already in production out there somewhere.
Right now I'm running my Oxford into an old Trace Elliot Mosfet power amp which suits my needs perfectly. Must actually get a pic for the rigs thread while I have most of it at home.
Those little Samson Servo amps are 1U and are about 100W a side if memory serves.
Would it be worth converting the Muff'n to a rack unit?
Still haven't found a poweramp... Any ideal numbers I should be looking for? Cab handles 1200ish watts, 4 ohms.
Quote from: SunnO))) on August 19, 2011, 06:25:59 PM
Would it be worth converting the Muff'n to a rack unit?
Still haven't found a poweramp... Any ideal numbers I should be looking for? Cab handles 1200ish watts, 4 ohms.
How would I answer that question?
Quote from: Hemisaurus on August 19, 2011, 06:27:43 PM
Quote from: SunnO))) on August 19, 2011, 06:25:59 PM
Would it be worth converting the Muff'n to a rack unit?
Still haven't found a poweramp... Any ideal numbers I should be looking for? Cab handles 1200ish watts, 4 ohms.
How would I answer that question?
No, paint it green with spraypaint
and
power is power? I meant, is there any optimal power to push a cab with the 1200 wattage handling? Obviously not something 1000+ watts, because of peaks and what not, but is 600+ a solid number to search around for?
I was just meaning the bit about rackmounting the Muff'n, personally I'd say why bother, it's small enough to go in a pocket of a bag, and either way you still have the big ugly wall wart.
Power amp, go for whatever provides the power you need at the impedance you need. Don't buy a 1200W amp and expect it to put 1200W into an 8 ohm load.
Multiple schools of thought, get an amp bigger than you need, so it's got plenty of power for the transients. Get an amp matched to your speakers. Get an amp smaller than you need so you will never blow your speakers.
All of the above are relevant. There could also be arguments made against all of them, a lot of those arguments would probably be bogus internet bullshit.
So, get an amp <message ends>
Yeah, the wallwart that came with it is an oddity. Never seen the tip on it, I know if I lose it, or it gets tanked, I'm fucked. I may look into converting it to a normal negative tip, so I can more easily find a power supply for it. Raging voltages in there for a pedal, from what I hear? Wonder if that's why they went with that tip...
It's an AC wart, so don't convert it, you will mess yourself up if you try connecting it to a 1 spot, several things will fail to happen ;D
You didn't look for that schematic or you would have known this already ;)
shush I would have figured it out soon as I went back and looked at the label on it, again. haha.
It uses a transformer like the one Weber sells for taking 12V AC up to tube plate levels. I assume this allows them to work round some safety rule or other.
Course if everyone used a proper voltage like they do in the UK and Europe, none of this bullshit would be necessary, you can straight rectify 250V AC to get a good 350V DC plate no problems, if you don't mind the shock hazards ;D
My question has sorta something to do with this thread: the only bass amp I own is a "Sunn" (it's a Fender) Mustang combo, the ST-30, it's rated at 70W. Can I connect a cab to its line-out input (it has 2 inputs, 1 line-out and 1 headphones) and put a some sort of pre-amp in the chain so that I can get some decent volume? Or should I just start searching for a decent head somewhere (building the cab myself).
You would connect a power amp, the line out could also be labelled preamp out. Connect the line out to a power amp, and the power amp to a cab.