Toobz vs SS - Bass Amps

[behndy]

howdy y'all. over in TOOB FENDER SVT OR YOU'RE AN IDIOT Land you can't even ask this question.

was wondering....... how much more would i get out of a rig by adding a toob head?

i love the tones i get out my setup right now. but i dunno if i'm getting the Slam You In The Chest feel.. live i DO end up mic'd or di'd 9 out of 10 gigs, so it's not like that's going to come from my speakers anyways. right? or would the TOOB'iness still come across?

i've always had a preamp as the end of my signal chain -> ss amp -> speakers/f.o.h. can you get a lower watt toob (i LOVE spelling it that way) amp and push that into a ss amp? or does that defeat the purpose of adding a toob head?

i don't know shit about toobs. just curious if i'm missing out on sumphin'.

murrrrrrrr?

[Achtane]

TOOB FENDER SVT OR YOU'RE AN IDIOT

[Joe Gress]

I dunno, for me tubez always had that certain special "roundness" to the sound that makes it feel very warm and musical. SS heads can get that too, but it's not quite there. toob amps through the right speakers can make the whole room feel like its having deep glorious love with the bass, and the whole room actually feels satisfied and complete with it.


Oh, and I've always found it a hell of a lot easier to get a great sound out of a tube amp with minimal tweaking vs. a few more minutes to get a good tone out of a SS head. It took me a loooooong time to get my GK right where I want it, and I still change things all the time.

[behndy]

innnnteressssssting.

first, DAMNT 'TANER.

second, so....... do you think that a small wattage toob head (if i'm going to give it a try i really want to do it as cheap as possible) into a high wattage ss power amp is going to be the same as switching out the ss poweramp for a huge wattage toober?

i'm using the Rusty Box as my preamp, and it's fucking DELICIOUS. it's based on a Traynor toober ne?

......... i'm a complete idiot about basses and heads.

[Zounds Perspex]

if you're DIing that much, don't bother, dude. definitely no low watt head.
most of the radd tube magic happens in the power section, in my experience.
"slam you in the chest" is a volume issue, i think, and it sounds like you're restricted that way.

[behndy]

my rig is WEIRD. sometimes i can have it cranked and it seems kinda pussy'ish. sometimes i have it up to about half and it thumps me and destroys my ability to reproduce. i THINK when it's weak sauce i have the Rusty Box turned too low.

i run 4 12's (a pair of Aggy GS112's and a GS212) with a QSC GX-5 that pushes 700 watts per channel at 4 ohms. one channel goes into the 4 ohm GS212, the other goes into the pair of 8 ohm GS112's. so it SHOULD be loud as ballz right? it usually is.

[GardenoftheDead]

Personally I've never really thought the difference between tube and solid state was as drastic for bass as it is for guitar, except for volume.

[behndy]

i've heard from TOOB LOVAHZ that fuzz sounds way meatier and in every way better through a tube amp.

realz?

[behndy]

also, cool avatar Gardenia Of The Debs. i love me some Jhonen.

lulz. was with my brother after playing basketball in Berkeley one time. we stopped at Fat Slice 'cause we were ballz ass hungry. rocker dooder in front of us had a black wife-beater on, so you could see the shoulder to elbow tat of Johnny (the one with his arms crossed holding two knives that was made into a shirt?) on him. bumped him and said, "man i LURV Vasquez. have you read Squee yet? what do you think about the idea that Johnny's just a fear hallucination of Squee's?"....... and the guy said, "huh? Vasquez? who's Squee?".

sigh. SIGH.

WHY WOULD YOU GET SOMETHING TATTED ON YOU THAT YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT'S FROM??!?

'tard.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I don't know about high power tube amps (played an SVT but only on pretty low volume), but I looooove my 30W ashdown little bastard much more than any solid state amp I've ever played. Just something about the response, the way it breaks up a bit while still being loud enough for small gigs. Don't know if there's that much difference when you've got huge amps with loads of headroom though.

[sanfordandsonny]

I headed out the door (birthday) so I can't type much now but toobz make me happy and there are alot of ways to do it proper and cheap
Pre's,slaves, dummy loads.but right off the bat the rusty box is based off of a Traynor solid state head so your GAS valve may have a little pressure release.

[MaxMaps]

Benben

I will tell you just from experience that when I crossed over into tube amps I was hooked.

IT WILL CHANGE THE SOUND OF YOUR PEDALS or at least it did for me.

100w tube amp will blow down the fucking doors of your house. I love it because it is simple and all I have to do is just turn knobs.

There is a certain warm/round quality that comes from tube amp, now for bass we are kind of spoiled with the amount of GOOD ss amps there are. But that lo fi quality that comes from a old tube head is magical. I don't see my self getting rid of my current head and cab anytime soon.

[univalve]

TOOB FENDER SVT OR YOU'RE AN IDIOT

[skullservant]

VOLUME = KING

[sanfordandsonny]

You are in an awesome position to run two amps in parallel because of your two 212's
Two amp lions forming Voltron! So no worries with all the convoluted ideas I was cooking up because you might just jump over a step in your rig evolution because you may find that two amps may offer you clean blend dual rig possibilities that are more interesting than the conventional binary thinking of ss OR tube.
Ss & tube!
I would recommend a traynor bassmaster yba-1 or yba-1a
You can get the yba-1a for cheaper because it has a solid state rectifier and alot of guitar people love buying the yba-1 because it's pretty close to an old Marshall and ripe for modding but the ss rectifier in my mind actually handles deep bass better and is just as ripe for modding.
I think you might enjoy running 4 ODs into one and 5 fuzzes into another and if you find you prefer the consistent ss lows and highs and just want the ruddy mids and crunch highs of a guitar tube head it's even cheaper to find an all toob carvin peavey VTM 60/120, butcher.

Also the toob ONLY dudes must never have played any full ss sunn/acoustic rigs cause they are hamhocks o' tone therein.
Also fender tube amps in the high wattage area are the suck anyways.