Bass Tube amp: Any suggestions?

[SetTheControls]

I recently found myself playing bass over a fender tube amp for guitar, and it sounded wonderful. I tend to lean toward Fender amps when it comes to Solid State, but I'm not sur about tube...

[montage]

Ampeg...Ampeg...

[stetto]

I had a HiWatt Custom 100 long ago that I'd give a testicle to have back...Though I drooled over a Fender Bassman 100 one time...Oh, and some hole-in-the-wall (actually a garage) music store in northwest Arkansas had a shitload of Orange amps, back in, oh, 1985(?)...If it's still there, talk to Dave at Flybynight Music in Neosho MO...He's got the shit on tube amps...

Eric

[travelin travis]

Originally Posted by stetto

I had a HiWatt Custom 100 long ago that I'd give a testicle to have back...Though I drooled over a Fender Bassman 100 one time...Oh, and some hole-in-the-wall (actually a garage) music store in northwest Arkansas had a shitload of Orange amps, back in, oh, 1985(?)...If it's still there, talk to Dave at Flybynight Music in Neosho MO...He's got the shit on tube amps...

Eric

I'd give both my testicles for a Hiwatt 50 or 100 custom. I don't use em anyway.

A friend of mine owns 3 Hiwatts, the 100, 50, and a huge fuckin combo but I can't remember what it is. Also an Orange head, a Marshall Super Lead, and a Silverface twin modded to Blackface specs. I hate him! For rock guitar or bass that custom 100 head flat out rocks. I've never heard anything that good, period. Good luck finding one though.

BTW, I'm pretty much in northwest Arkansas. Where is this shit hole in the wall that you speak of?

[AGCurry]

Generally, a bassist wants a clean sound, or at least the ability to have it when needed. When we think of tube amps for guitar, the reason people like them is not for their clean sounds (I know, there are exceptions). Therefore, tube amps for bass don't quite have the obvious advantages. And, bass players need more power, which can get quite heavy in a tube amp.

All that said, there is no reason why tubes can't work for bass just fine, if you're willing to spend a lot of money and carry around amps with big heavy transformers. My Ampeg B15-N, rated 30 watts, weighs around 80 pounds. I'm old, so I've used lots of tube bass amps - old Fender Bassmans and Showmans, Sunns, and Ampegs. Quite possibly the most desirable of all bass amps is the Ampeg SVT from the 70s.

[astoebe]

my good friend who plays bass has an ampeg svt or something like that head and it sounds pretty awesome (it also weighs something like 90 lbs)

edit: his svt is a reissue or whatever, not an older one

[photoresistor]

ampeg svt

the end.

[gcapel]

i own an old b25 ampeg. It is amazingly tone worthy. I is great for dirty rock type stuff. I would go ampeg modern or vintage.

[Zed10R]

Ampeg SVP Pro tube preamp and a good solid state power amp. Punch, grind, growl, pristine clarity, whatever you want, it's in there.

I've tried SWR, Trace Elliot, Eden, Fender, and Peavy. None of them are as good as Ampeg IMO.

[stetto]

Originally Posted by TravisinFlorida

BTW, I'm pretty much in northwest Arkansas. Where is this shit hole in the wall that you speak of?

Ohgod, I didn't expect anyone to really want me to remember...Man, that was, for me, a long time and many roads ago...All I remember well is that it was somewhere on the US 71 corridor, between the MO state line and Fayetteville...Rogers or Springdale maybe. It was some guy's garage, set up inside like a music store amp bay...EVERYTHING Orange. He may have lost his store lease or something, Idunno, it was Arkansas, fercryinoutloud...We hit a lot of music stores that day, and I'm not from the area, so the memory is pretty vague...I'll ask one of the guys who was there with me, see if he remembers...

Eric

[MatthewRedStars]

Yeah Ampeg SVT, anything made by Matamp, Sunn 300T, Mesa 400 etc.

I'm never gonna go back to SS amps.

[travelin travis]

Originally Posted by stetto

Ohgod, I didn't expect anyone to really want me to remember...Man, that was, for me, a long time and many roads ago...All I remember well is that it was somewhere on the US 71 corridor, between the MO state line and Fayetteville...Rogers or Springdale maybe. It was some guy's garage, set up inside like a music store amp bay...EVERYTHING Orange. He may have lost his store lease or something, Idunno, it was Arkansas, fercryinoutloud...We hit a lot of music stores that day, and I'm not from the area, so the memory is pretty vague...I'll ask one of the guys who was there with me, see if he remembers...

Eric

I was just curious. I'm about 60 miles from Fayetteville.