bass head?

[stretch2011]

I've got one of my buddies from work asking to price him a tube bass head for his peavey 4x10 cab.

Opinions? Money will be a factor.
I know you want a lot of wattage for tube bass amps but how much exactly?

[sliberty]

I'm not a bass player, but I can tell you that a 50 watt BF Bassman, while a killer guitar amp, is a non-starter of a bass amp. The Bassman starts breaking up early, and unless you are Jack Bruce, Felix Pappalardi or Jack Cassady, you need more clean than that. I would say anything less than 100 watts is ruled out, and even at 100 watts, you want a design that stays clean most of the way up.

[stretch2011]

Thats what I was thinking. My 28 special (tweed bassman) is super dirty with 2 5881's. I think I'll have to tell him to get a ss amp for the price range he has.

[Phil_S]

I think I'll have to tell him to get a ss amp for the price range he has.

He'll probably be happier. He just doesn't know it yet. Save the money and put it into the speaker cabinet.

I'm no expert, but I'm thinking you'll need a PT capable of 300mA or more, meaning, before you are done, it's going to get expensive. It's going need it's own pair of roadies just to move it a short distance.

[Stevem]

Unless your recording where a 50 watt amp is fine for Bass go for a tube preamp and 400 watt SS power amp that can be run in bridge mode!

[Stevem]

Also note that not many 4-10" cabinets will carry the low B note of a 5 string Bass if that's the case no less even a 100 watt tube output stage!

[bal704]

I've built a couple of bass amps.

The first one, rated at roughly 200 watts or so, was loud enough to gig with in a low-volume setting. However, the transformers I had to use to to get there were massive. The OT alone weighed 12 pounds or so. The head cab was not something I enjoyed hauling to jams etc.

The second one, rated at 50 watts or so, sounds glorious. However, it isn't loud enough to really gig with if you have a drummer.

I'm primarily a bass player, and my advice, get a SS amp. They have some small enough to fit in the pocket of a gig bag that will hang in most settings. If you want the ampeg sound, add a pedal.

[JMFahey]

With due respect, your friend has no clue.
He just heard "tubes are GOOD" and follows that line.

Which is true, but problem is:
it's *easy* to get 50 tube watts: you use 2 bottles, pick your flavour.

100Watts? ... almost as easy, just use larger iron and 4 bottles.

200W? ... you just use huge iron and 8 bottles .
Did I mention **expensive**?

No, no, there must be a better way.

Yes, there is: it's called Solid State ... sorry.

[Firestorm]

SS works great for electric bass (even though I'm "religiously" opposed to SS). But if you're looking for a sort of SVT sound or amplifying an acoustic bass with a piezo pickup, tubes are pretty cool. The last tube bass head I built used 4xKT88. Depending on B+, you'll want a PT North of 400mA. The appropriate Hammond tranny doesn't have enough heater current, so would need an additional filament transformer. Ultralinear or distributed load OTs work well for bass. These are heavy, too. Your iron will weigh at least 27 pounds. Could be as much as 40 pounds if you want to avoid losing some of the 40-80Hz band. Only an issue if the speakers can actually do 40Hz. When the SVT was designed, no speakers could, so the whole circuit and the speaker cabs were designed to emphasize harmonics. Your ears can't tell the difference between 40Hz and 80Hz. You feel the low notes rather than hear them.

100W is easier, lighter and cheaper to build. And with KT88s will stay pretty clean even close to full output (especially if the OT has screen taps). To gig with a loud drummer, add speaker surface area. In addition to the Peavey, get a 1x15 or a 2x12 for bigger SPL.

[stretch2011]

I broke it to him easy and told him to get a SS bass head.

JM: That was pretty much my thought process.

ball704: I don't think he's going to be jamming out so a 50 watter might do the trick, but that's still over a grand for something he could buy for half the price.


So just out of curiosity is the Ampeg SVT pretty much the pedicel of tube bass amps? I'm not a bass player, but that seems to be the only name that gets thrown around a lot.

[sliberty]

Not just the SVT, but their lower powered bass amps were cool too. Oddly enough, another popular bass amp from back in the day was the Acoustic 360 (do I have that model right?), which was SS even back then. And some of the Kustom tuck and roll amps were popular for bass too.

[Smokebreak]

I did a 4xKT88 Sunn Model T ish thing recently . Did a lot off midshaping for the bass guitar, and it also made a brutal guitar amp. Had a "4string/6string switch"
Thread here https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... light=kt88

Also did a B15 head that was an amazing studio machine, but only 25W or so

[stretch2011]

I bet it is the beer you installed!

Beer makes everything better haha.

Looks very nice.

[Stevem]

I have 7 of those vintage Kustom tuck and roll 100 watt RMS Bass amps and using one thru 2 15" Altec Lansing drivers still blows away any 4-10" cabinet in terms of tone!

[Stevem]

Big Bass amp?
Check out a Fender 400 PS head!
I had one for two years and only dragged it out of the house twice to gig with as its weight makes a SVT seem like a new class D Bass amp!!!