Lozz196 Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Great reviews of those amps, and I bet it was a great time obtaining that info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976fenderhead Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 [quote name='molan' timestamp='1339264937' post='1686144'] It was the way the TH worked so well with the SL's that really clinched it for me though [/quote] Ahh, that's interesting. I'm fairly clueless so far as to what lightweight cabs to get (tried everything with MB cabs today, once I decide on the amp I'll do that research). But I'm OCD so the perspective of great-sounding matching brand amp and cabs is very appealing to my nerdy and tidy self, also makes me feel better about being lazy and not trying a huge variety of cabs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I've been lucky overthr last year in that I've always been able to try any amp / cab combination in some detail. After all this testing I've really come tithe conclusion that different heads work better with some cabs than others. Certainly enough for me to decide that I would only buy an amp once I've found the cabs that work best with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I think Aguilar are making some very good cabs and I love my DB's.. Was tempted to try the SL's but not sure on the NEO thing as yet...and I have NEO 12's atm anyway. Ampwise.. try and find a Thunderfunk for a soul gig..but it will do clean rock. I don't have much use for the tube simulation but it is there for a touch of breakup. But the real clincher is the 4 band para set-up which makes set-up so easy, IME.. but also the Enhance and timbre are so good I hardly touch the semi P..but it is agood thing to have for those 'bastard' rooms People say the AG500 is close to the TF..and if so..then that will make that a VERY good amp, IMO. They also say old SWR users now go to Markbass, but they don't if they get hold of a Thunderfunk..IMO. The Markbass amps that I have time on,..which is the LM series are good but the TF is step up and a bit more and you;ll be hard pushed to find one for £500 plus.. but if you do..well worth checking out..but saying that..I am a bit confused what you want and what you are aiming at.. Funk soul gig..?? a bit of slap..?? but 15's and/or no tweeters..???????????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976fenderhead Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 Well I'm not a big fan of tweeters, I always have the one on my Triad between -12db and off to be honest (mostly off), though today I tried everything with tweeters at default level to hear the full spectrum of the amps. they also sound better on MB than they do on the Triad. Anyway, one of the reasons why I'm changing my rig at this time (just left a pretty good functions band) is because I don't want my band to influence my choice of gear, rather I want my gear to influence a little bit my next musical direction, give me some refreshing inspiration if you will. I don't intend to be a slapper, but I want my rig to allow me to develop that technique, which the SWR doesn't really do. But if you're asking about styles, the kind of stuff my rig definitely has to suit to some degree: Foos, Kings of Leon, Biffy, Muse, QOTSA, RATM, but also Stevie Wonder, Jamiroquai and James Brown and if it lets me do some crazy Les Claypool stuff all the better Oh, and better sound good with my fretless Corvette too. Not really making it easy am I? Aren't Thunderfunk amps all normal size/weight? I really need small stuff. Back and joint problems, I'm not doing it just coz it's the 'in' thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman20 Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 (edited) Which Genz Shuttle did you try? I'd highly recommend trying the new Shuttle 6.2 and 9.2. If you can afford it, the Max 9.2 dies everything! The 3.0 is built for the tiny combo they are part of and hence the amp does not have much girth and low end to the voicing. The Streamliner is the 600 or 900, both will do very very clean fat tube tones or dirty tube tones at ridiculous volumes (esp the 900). Don't knock the TC until youve tried it. TC know a lot more about amp technology than most forum members so ignore the comments and try it for yourself much louder (the 450) than a similar spec lm3 by Markbass and won't clip nasty! The Aguilar gear is awesome. I don't need it but I'd love a TH500. You can slap through anything. Some old school funk guys used P basses and flats to slap. Some prefer very tinny MIller type Jazz tone. Edited June 9, 2012 by Musicman20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976fenderhead Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 (edited) [quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1339279672' post='1686402'] Which Genz Shuttle did you try? I'd highly recommend trying the new Shuttle 6.2 and 9.2. [/quote] Yeah, it's on my list, hoping it will be less compressed. My list for amps is a bit like this at the moment: Liked: Aguilar TH500 Genz Benz Streamliner 600 Would like to try: Genz Benz Shuttle 6.2 MarkBass LM Tube MarkBass LM Rocker TC RH450 Eden WTX500 Edited June 9, 2012 by 1976fenderhead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976fenderhead Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 It's not a musical style, it's just a technique like any other and I want to get better at it, what's wrong with that? If you don't like it and don't want to learn it that's fine, personally I want to [i]choose[/i] not to use it if that's the case instead of not being able to use it due to poor technique. I think it will make me a better bassist even if I won't use it 99% of the time, but that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 (edited) Quite. I'm no Wooten or Miller, and wouldn't want to be, but occasionally I'll slap and pop a few notes here and there where applicable. And if you're going to do it at all, even if very sporadically, you'd better be good at it. Why not? Edited June 10, 2012 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceH Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 In other news, violin players have been banned from playing pizzicato cos it's just too 1780s... also that 300 year old Stradocaster design is SO boring, time they released a graphite headless version... with LED fingerboard markers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1339267248' post='1686201'] I think Aguilar are making some very good cabs and I love my DB's.. Was tempted to try the SL's but not sure on the NEO thing as yet...and I have NEO 12's atm anyway. Ampwise.. try and find a Thunderfunk for a soul gig..but it will do clean rock. I don't have much use for the tube simulation but it is there for a touch of breakup. But the real clincher is the 4 band para set-up which makes set-up so easy, IME.. but also the Enhance and timbre are so good I hardly touch the semi P..but it is agood thing to have for those 'bastard' rooms People say the AG500 is close to the TF..and if so..then that will make that a VERY good amp, IMO. [/quote] There was a brief period when I owned a TF550, AG500 & TH500 and had a good chance to try all three back to back with both a pair of DB112's & SL112's I have to say that I found all three amps to be very good and each had some very distinctive characteristics. Simple summary was that I found the AG the cleanest, the TH the warmest and the TF the most 'coloured' (albeit in a nice way). To my ears the AG sounded best through the DB cabs, closely followed by the TF whilst the TH worked best through the SL's. The SL's worked best for me given the astonishing weight. I do love DB cabs but having something as light as the SL's is a real bonus for me. The AG gave a great clean tone through the SL's as well and I would have kept my original one but it was part of a fully matching chocolate brown rig that I didn't want to split. By chance I've just managed to pick up a black AG to go with my SL's so now I have the option of both the TH & the AG heads I did a bit of an exhaustive test the other week with my favourite four basses and each head. Whilst the TH generally had the edge with the more modern active basses I found that the AG was working brilliantly with passive basses. In fact I felt it made my old '63 Jazz sound better than I've ever heard it! If I had to have just one head I'd stick with the TH but, luckily, at the moment I can afford to keep both Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime_BASS Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 [quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1339284722' post='1686498'] Yeah, it's on my list, hoping it will be less compressed. My list for amps is a bit like this at the moment: Liked: Aguilar TH500 Genz Benz Streamliner 600 Would like to try: Genz Benz Shuttle 6.2 MarkBass LM Tube MarkBass LM Rocker TC RH450 Eden WTX500 [/quote] Markbass ! LMROcker maybe your kind of bag if you like the Streamliner as it has the same kind of input stage as a tube amp, setting the gain to the taste of Od needs, rather than clipping. Although it will still do the nice flat and clean sound aswell. The poweramp in the Littlemarks is a gem aswell. The LMTUBE gives you the harmonically rich and distortion you get from preamp tubes anyway, but the big plus is the preamp blend but I have it either in all tube or 50/50. The 50/50 mode is more like 100 percent of both there is a percieved volume difference between the extremes of either and then the 50/50 mix, it gives the overall sound a low mid hump, which is nice but in some rooms(like mine) with some cabs it cause some weird coupling and boosts the overall low mids too much. If you was to get a Streamliner, I would definatly get a 900 over the 600 as the power is outstanding. In terms of controls the LMTube/Rocker are much more easy to work with, particulaly the rocker as there is one gain knob and not 2 like on the genz stuff. Gain and preamp volume or something, a little confusing. I'd still liek to try a R500 which is essentially a LMrocker but bigger and a different power section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976fenderhead Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 [quote name='molan' timestamp='1339323121' post='1686722'] There was a brief period when I owned a TF550, AG500 & TH500 and had a good chance to try all three back to back with both a pair of DB112's & SL112's I have to say that I found all three amps to be very good and each had some very distinctive characteristics. Simple summary was that I found the AG the cleanest, the TH the warmest and the TF the most 'coloured' (albeit in a nice way). To my ears the AG sounded best through the DB cabs, closely followed by the TF whilst the TH worked best through the SL's. The SL's worked best for me given the astonishing weight. I do love DB cabs but having something as light as the SL's is a real bonus for me. The AG gave a great clean tone through the SL's as well and I would have kept my original one but it was part of a fully matching chocolate brown rig that I didn't want to split. By chance I've just managed to pick up a black AG to go with my SL's so now I have the option of both the TH & the AG heads I did a bit of an exhaustive test the other week with my favourite four basses and each head. Whilst the TH generally had the edge with the more modern active basses I found that the AG was working brilliantly with passive basses. In fact I felt it made my old '63 Jazz sound better than I've ever heard it! If I had to have just one head I'd stick with the TH but, luckily, at the moment I can afford to keep both [/quote] Thx, great info, again it seems like the SL's area great option if I go with Aguilar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976fenderhead Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 [quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1339326256' post='1686761'] Markbass ! LMROcker maybe your kind of bag if you like the Streamliner as it has the same kind of input stage as a tube amp, setting the gain to the taste of Od needs, rather than clipping. Although it will still do the nice flat and clean sound aswell. The poweramp in the Littlemarks is a gem aswell. The LMTUBE gives you the harmonically rich and distortion you get from preamp tubes anyway, but the big plus is the preamp blend but I have it either in all tube or 50/50. [/quote] Yeah I have high hopes for the Rocker. Regarding the Tube, what's up with that Balanced Input, what's the point of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Love the retro look of the SL's..they have grown on me and I am sure the weight is a bonus but I use full size heads and I like them to sit properly on the cabs. Still thinking about a Berg for SL trade maybe..??? .... I use SM400 and TF amps..and neither is over 20lbs max... I run DB and Berg cabs and the TF suits the DB's so much better to my ears..and the Bergs are by no means bad as the band tell me they love them. I just think I get a more smoother coverage of range out of the DB''s..The low B is RIGHT there and the flashy frills up the neck come through with little or no work EQ wise throughout the gig and I've only touched the volume and gain 90% of the time. The basses I use a J5's with East pre's but are words apart soundwise. One has Marcus M sound and the other is more vintage and woody.. and I'll sound check both to decide which one to use. Couldn't be simpler and I've never had a better sound to my ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0175westwood29 Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 [quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1339329326' post='1686838'] Yeah I have high hopes for the Rocker. Regarding the Tube, what's up with that Balanced Input, what's the point of that? [/quote] i think its there for upright basses as on my lm tube you can give it phantom power. but i plugged into it just to see and its just another standard input i think? andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 [quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1339329083' post='1686831'] Thx, great info, again it seems like the SL's area great option if I go with Aguilar... [/quote] Whereabouts are you? You're welcome to try my TH/AG/SL rig any time. [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1339337428' post='1686992'] Love the retro look of the SL's..they have grown on me and I am sure the weight is a bonus but I use full size heads and I like them to sit properly on the cabs. Still thinking about a Berg for SL trade maybe..??? .... [/quote] I'd love to have my old AE 112's back again for a longer side by side comparison to a pair of SL's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976fenderhead Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 [quote name='molan' timestamp='1339356719' post='1687399'] Whereabouts are you? You're welcome to try my TH/AG/SL rig any time. [/quote] Thx mate, very kind offer. I'm in East London though so not that handy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976fenderhead Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1339287712' post='1686545'] I'll slap and pop a few notes here and there where applicable. And if you're going to do it at all, even if very sporadically, you'd better be good at it. [/quote] That's what I do and my point of view exactly. Plus, I make a point of NEVER being the one who holds the band back, so if I replace a bass player and the band used to play Aeroplane, I'll make sure they don't stop playing it because of the new bass player Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976fenderhead Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 (edited) Well then, dramatic turn of events after further testing I did some more playing but this time sticking mostly to flat setting to get the true nature of the amps. Genz Benz is eliminated, because of compression on both the Streamliner and Shuttle (which maybe is better on the Shuttle 6.2, not sure) and also because of that scooped baked in EQ that seems to be their signature sound. I really grew to dislike that today so not really interested in trying the 6.2 due to that philosophy of having such a strong voicing baked in. Feels like cheating to me somehow, as does the compression, like trying to get more volume out of their power, makes me feel they're not as powerful as the numbers say. The Aguilar, though I love it, is off too. Love the Drive breakup thing and the beautiful dynamics, but the sound is a bit too middy, so the problem with this one is doesn't do scooped well. So both GB and Aguilar suffer from lack of flexibility for my intentions. Surprise: Pretty dead set on MarkBass now. The reason why it seemed too flat last time was because I AB'd it quickly with GB and was fooled by that instant GB punch, then didn't go back to it. The Little Mark III is actually very warm and natural, and very, very flexible. Does scooped well, slap tones, aggressive rock tones, classic, modern, the lot... They should get the Little Mark Tube for me to try this weekend and I think one of these will be the one... The fact I didn't like GB makes me think I won't like TC either, as they use similar tricks to simulate valves that by their own admission, compress the dynamics. I also read about reliability issues, knobs breaking etc. Not sure if I feel like driving 1 hour to test it alone, and not being able to AB it with MarkBass at that shop won't help much... But I'll see if I can do it somehow this weekend. I tried a few cabs with the Little Mark III. MB cabs kind of sucked. Vanderkley was good, preferred the 210 to the 112 but had to turn down the tweeter a bit. EBS Neo 210 sounded just right. So what cabs would you advise for this amp, given that I liked Vanderkley and EBS and hated MB? I like that GK ones can tilt up, but worried they'll sound as trebly as their amps!! Edited June 11, 2012 by 1976fenderhead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Markbass and Epi 12's were recommended to me but the sound is too soft for me out front. I put that down to the cabs. Berg NEO tend to be firm sounding...IMO, which is good upto a point but you had better like being exposed to the hard sound ...they will clean/expose anything slightly off. The VP controls might deal with this...and the band will like their stage sound. Quite smooth getting up through the range. Aguilar DB210's,,very balanced and smoother for me than the Berg's... decent horn but gets harsh anywhere near half.. but the cabs are good enough to be strong up there without going mad with the horn..which you can't anyway. Most horns are a nightmare turned up lots..!! Give me ceramics anyday..that is my pet theme of late..!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markstuk Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 And 18" drivers ? [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1339424769' post='1688221'] Give me ceramics anyday..that is my pet theme of late..!! [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoJoKe Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I haven't tried their newer models, but the rig I have now been using for the last 3 years is a MarkBass CMD 151p combo with an HR104 cab. I haven't yet done a gig it cannot handle. The amp I run with all tone at 50%, never need to change this (I gig with Lakland 55-02's but this is the same for the Spectors and Wal I've had too. My JV '57 precision likes a little boost, but then that doesn't leave the house often!) except on some stuff I've tweaked the pre-shape (but never used the vintage knob) It offers the ultimate in flexibility. The combo on its own is compact for rehearsals, weighs next to nothing and perfect sitting-on height(!!), and for gigging its pokey enough to handle many pubs I've played in. There is no compromise to sound (that I can discern!) compared with a Little Mark and a separate single 15" cab, and its much more portable. Add the HR104 and this gives you 2 things... 1. unplug the 15" speaker in the combo, and you have an amp and 4 x 10 cab, if you occasionally want a tighter sound, or 2. use all together and have the best of both for larger venues. Can't fault it... And, if you want tubes buy a preamp from Dave Hall.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 [quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1339426176' post='1688246'] And 18" drivers ? [/quote] nope...as one dimensional as 15's and an antiquated choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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