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I have a Plexi and a V4 but both are shit shows that I don't trust on the road. My butcher is too high gain for the whole edge of breakup thing to work. I'm considering a 100w bassman, or a science mother/sister. I need at least 100w, prefer something in the 150-200w range. What should I hunt down:

You could have someone de-shit-showize your Plexi or V4. Plexi would probably be easier and cheaper. Then get a Quilter as backup (it will do that, but without as much class). Dialing in preamp perfection for mild overdrive on an ultra powerful tube head always seemed frustrating for me. V4 is great because it always sounds kinda gritty, even when it's clean. I see a Bassman 100 as being a little mushy breaking up at the volumes at which you could do so, but I could have been playing the wrong one (it's not like it was ever serviced, ever).

I've owned a couple of Bassman's so I'm pretty familiar with their sound. The plexi I could definitely make road worthy, and probably will. The V4 has blown up so many times that even if I get fixed again it's probably not worth it? (Still going to it'll just be at home/in studio only)

The quilter idea is a good one, and I'll probably be picking one of those up as a backup pretty soon since most of my high gain tones are pedals anyways and there's an EQ on my board.

Honestly we play loud enough that I've never had a problem getting super loud tube heads to react how I want, and I'm generally playing bass vi or baritone so more headroom is a necessity.

Peavey Mace?

Loud as hell. Peavey so built like a brick shit house.

May stay clean too long?

odontophobia wrote:Peavey Mace?

Loud as hell. Peavey so built like a brick shit house.

May stay clean too long?

Mace is a good call, it might be a bit too clean but I'll see if I can try one out again.

Why are your amps blowing up? Do you need a better tech to fix them proper?

codetocontra wrote:Why are your amps blowing up? Do you need a better tech to fix them proper?

The V4 is because I run it hot at 2 ohms a lot, and they're prone to breaking down. The plexi I got for cheap in bad shape already, a tech went through it and fixed up 90% of the issues but it still has some weird crackles and some oscillations when you have the channels jumped and the volumes turned up. I'm taking them both to another tech soon, just have to sell another amp first. I'd love to get th plexi running perfectly because it's the best amp I've ever used when it works.

my v-4 died late last year and i still haven't taken it in for diagnosis and repair. so i feel for ya, i don't think i'll ever gig it again. if you love your plexi's tone but want reliability i'd definitely suggest the hellhawk if you're considering a science. best sounding amp i've ever had, and its got that edge of breakup you want.

Right on. Sometimes they have to work all the bugs out at their own pace. My plexi had a lot of work done to it through the first years of it being in my possession, but it has been very reliable since, going on 15 years now. My Twin is now receiving that treatment, fix it up a bit then it has a slight other issue that needs attention. Good luck though, you've got killer amps.

waltdogg wrote:my v-4 died late last year and i still haven't taken it in for diagnosis and repair. so i feel for ya, i don't think i'll ever gig it again. if you love your plexi's tone but want reliability i'd definitely suggest the hellhawk if you're considering a science. best sounding amp i've ever had, and its got that edge of breakup you want.

I've been thinking hard about a hellhawk... that could honestly be the perfect solution and the new ones are switchable wattage which would be cool for house shows. Also it looks like he can do KT-88's which I would dig.

with the hellhawk you don't need power switching. the master volume has a built in attenuator. also, i don't think they're going to be power switchable, just every model will come in all power options.

waltdogg wrote:with the hellhawk you don't need power switching. the master volume has a built in attenuator. also, i don't think they're going to be power switchable, just every model will come in all power options.

Ahh that makes sense and that's a really cool feature. Do you have any clips of it doing heavier stuff?

i don't have any demos of it recorded. i can say that it totally handles a heavy dirt in front of it, right now i hit it with my fuck maxed out. it's pretty awesome. overall the amp doesn't have too much gain unlike the the decolonizer or mother/sister but put your favorite dirt in front and it takes it and makes it even better.

Fwiw I bought a quilter 201 to replace my 74 superlead (which is the best sounding amp I've ever owned).

The quilter does a pretty good job, weighs nothing and had waaaaay more clean headroom than the superlead, which was an adjustment!

This was because I got sick of carrying the marshall up and down the stairs at our rehersal place. For gigs its still the marshall (with the quilter for back up)

Traynor Bassmaster. Seems super clean at first glance, untill you turn the volume halfway up, which is right about the volume level you want to be at when you're jamming with a loud band.
At that point it's definitelly breaking up though. Slightly, but I wouldn't say it's on "the edge"

Still, sick sounding amp, very marshally, but in its own kinda way. As durable and well build as they come. Ptp, easy to work on, cheapish...