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grindonomicon wrote:Friend of a friend has a 225 watt Trace Elliot that sounds sick for live metal bass. Don't know the model though.

Sounds like a V4? They also made a V6 and a V8, but not many of either.

If it's for bass, you probably want a "bass" amp as guitar amps will often skimp on the primary inductance of the OT to save money. They figure the average guitarist won't notice that it only passes 100W at 60Hz as they'll be weedlyweedlyweeee'ing up around 2kHz.

If it was just for guitar I'd say get a Fender Super Twin and put it in a headshell. Not quite 200W but cheap.

fender PA 135 will at least get you 135w for cheap

That Bugera 1960 or whatever is like a plexi with 150 watt power section and they're stupid cheap. Do that?

This thread is fun. Thanks y'all

Fender Bassman 135. Ultra linear Model T type power section crushing clean volume and an ultimate pedal platform. An upgraded and modded Bugera 1960 is a good idea but between finding a tech that's willing to work on a cheap PCB amp and putting the money into new transformers it might become a money pit.

Or, if you can justify a few hundred less but not he $2K for a Mother get a Hellhawk because those amps are LOUD for 100 watts. A deal on a working Ampeg V-4 is a good bet too, those amps are loud af distortion machines and the EQ was the same on the V-4 and V-4B. So you can get either and you'd just want to change one of the input caps on a V-4B to revoice it for guitar. And that's an easy/cheap mod.

For me the 200 watts is less about pure volume and more about that massive headroom you get. You definitely feel it more than hear it. Especially in a band situation.

I do also want a Hellhawk though lol.

In that case. You can at least play my Mother after I get it and move back to Oakland next month.

waltdogg wrote:In that case. You can at least play my Mother after I get it and move back to Oakland next month.

Oh shit that's right. I might have to take you up on that offer. Would love to hear one for myself.

You can play my Hellhawk too, haha. I can't wait to get my Mother though, guitar or bass, 200 watt, Hiwatt tonestack, F.A.C, UGH. I'm gonna need to get a higher powered cab to play guitar loudly through it though. Both my cabs are only about 100 watts each and have different impedances

Maybe if you can find a beater Orange AD200B and have a tech change the tonestack to work better for guitar and change the input cap for guitar frequencies that would be bayud ass. Idk about doing those mods to a PCB amp but a good tech should know what to do. I do remember reading somewhere than the AD200B is more like 150-180 watts clean and 200 watts at distortion so it might not have that much headroom.

Things get really dicey with that much power it seems. Right now I'm running my beta into one cab with the beta preamp into a peavey power amp at 200 watts into another and a Traynor yba-3 into a third cab for that tubey breakup and it all sounds incredible--it's just making gigging really difficult and I kinda want to sell it all for a mother and two decent 4x12s. Ugh gear

I agree. Haha, I bet that's a pain but the sound is worth it. My guitar rig is as simple as it could possibly be, I'm yet to gig out with it but I'm not really looking forward to load in/load out. Now I'm thinking I want to use the Mother for guitar more than bass, I'm gonna *have* to get a higher powered cab now.

archlilim wrote:I really want a Science Mother, but I can't justify that $2100 price tag. So I'm on the hunt for a 200 watter that's not gonna kill my wallet. Possible? Suggestions?

Just get preamp/poweramp combo. It opens up your options big time. With the right combo you could even make it with a single 4U rack case.

The other option is what I do, use two 100 watt heads. That opens the options of mixing and matching power tubes. I use a Dual Rec running EL34's on one side, and a KMD XV100SD running 6550's on the other. You get the rich compressed midrange grind and harmonic haze of the EL34 with the open and articulate grind of the 6550 with punchy bass and plenty of cut.

Mixing two heads with two different tube types rules. I run my Hellhawk and V-4 stereo, best tones.

I use my Sound City for a more bassier fuzzier sound and my V4 cranked for a brighter grindier tone, and they sound beautiful together.

ITT: i need a 200 watt head.

No, you need 2 200 watt heads