bertbass Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 (edited) Just been over to talkbass and found an interesting thread about valve amp comparisons. here's the youtube link, [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erSHiJeG8JM[/media] and heres a link to the talkbass thread, [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f15/heads-up-tube-amp-comparison-6-amps-898389/."]http://www.talkbass....6-amps-898389/.[/url] I love this sort of thing. Edited July 11, 2012 by bertbass Quote
Billy Apple Posted July 11, 2012 Posted July 11, 2012 Great! My fave was 6, and then 5. Hiwatt, eh? Who'd have thought it. Am I correct in thinking you have a Miwatt? Did you prefer 6?. Nice if they'd had a Matamp in there (vanity, just to hope that I'd favour my own amp!) Quote
bertbass Posted July 12, 2012 Author Posted July 12, 2012 Yes, I did like the Hiwatt best and I do have a Mywatt 200. Superb amp, love it to bits, it's just like, well, a Hiwatt only cheaper. Quote
Balcro Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 I don't know if the valve specifications were as the original or if the eq's were correctly done, but it's 2 and 6 for me, the Marshall JCM800 and the Hiwatt. The rest nowhere. Balcro. Quote
discreet Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 Great post! But now I've got GAS for a Hiwatt... Quote
Mr. Foxen Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1342088444' post='1729249'] Great post! But now I've got GAS for a Hiwatt... [/quote] I've got one going. Also could put a Hiwatt front end into one of the Sound City PAs I have, along with a custom faceplate. Quote
dincz Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 The treble from No. 5 - Orange - makes it hard to believe they were all running with flat EQ. If all EQ's were flat, then there's a power amp stage in there that's far from flat. More like faulty. Quote
Mr. Foxen Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 [quote name='dincz' timestamp='1342112416' post='1729833'] The treble from No. 5 - Orange - makes it hard to believe they were all running with flat EQ. If all EQ's were flat, then there's a power amp stage in there that's far from flat. More like faulty. [/quote] He's defining flat by 'knobs in the middle'. So most of them are mid scooped by default, the Orange has a tone stack that is sort of flat in the middle, but there is another control that messes with things. The Sound City sounds like it has wrong valves in it. Quote
pete.young Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 And all of it is filtered through whatever speakers and soundcards you're using on your PCs. So everyone's experience will be different. Quote
Happy Jack Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 I'm still trying to work out which grade of plywood the Sound City used ... sounded slightly "honky" in the mix. Quote
bertbass Posted July 12, 2012 Author Posted July 12, 2012 I've always been told that valve amps have passive tone controls so a flat response would be with all the controls on 10, oh all right 11 then, but I doubt that that would be a flat response either but I would have thought that flat out eq would be closer to flat than half way. Quote
Mr. Foxen Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 [quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1342130201' post='1730298'] I've always been told that valve amps have passive tone controls so a flat response would be with all the controls on 10, oh all right 11 then, but I doubt that that would be a flat response either but I would have thought that flat out eq would be closer to flat than half way. [/quote] That isn't how it works at all. There are loads of styles of passive tone stack, the most common being the RCA circuit that Fender used and everyone else copied, that is nearest to flat with mid on max and bass and treble right down. The two band Baxendall/James circuit is flat in the middle. The sound City in the comparison has active valve controls, so the bass mid and treble are all gain controls for their bands. This program helps to visualise passive stacks: http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/ Quote
bertbass Posted July 12, 2012 Author Posted July 12, 2012 I knew that the Sound City tone controls were active which is why they sound rubbish, had a couple and never could get a good sound. Is that why SS amps don't sound that good either? Thanks for the link but it's not Apple friendly. Quote
Billy Apple Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1342122235' post='1730095'] sounded slightly "honky" in the mix. [/quote] You can't say 'Honky'. It's, erm,, valveist. Quote
Mr. Foxen Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 [quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1342133047' post='1730343'] I knew that the Sound City tone controls were active which is why they sound rubbish, had a couple and never could get a good sound. Is that why SS amps don't sound that good either? Thanks for the link but it's not Apple friendly. [/quote] They have tone controls that control the tone and are otherwise fairly transparent, so either they were broken, you eqed to sound rubbish, or rubbish sound went in. Broken is the most likely, I guess, lots of carbon comps that absorb water if left somewhere damp and start sucking. The main advantage of the passive fender style tone stack is they only cut mids, and don't otherwise have much they can change the tone, so you have limited scope to eq it badly, and the scoop can compensate for a lot of stuff. If you find the same issue with SS amps set flat, then it would be not liking the natural sound going in. Quote
Ghost_Bass Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 Sticking my neck up here but i prefered amp 1... i believe it was the EBS. I guess i'm not an old school guy... Quote
Mr. Foxen Posted July 12, 2012 Posted July 12, 2012 Could well be liking the amp with the least clapped out capacitors. They kind of are a big deal. Quote
bartelby Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 My faves were the Marshall JMC800 and the Orange AD140B. Didn't think the Marshall would be a favourite. Quote
Beer of the Bass Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 (edited) I've just had a listen, without checking which amp was which until the end. My clear favourite is the Marshall JCM800, closely followed by the Hiwatt. The rest are too dirty in the lows on the "clean" clips, or too thin in the case of the Orange. The treble on the Orange sounds quite good with the passive bass on the dirty clips though. I also enjoyed the sound of the JMP, a very recognisable late 60s/early 70s sound with that sort of throaty roar, but it's not what I would choose for my own band. With the arbitrary control settings used, it's impossible to say which would be my favourite if I could actually try all six though. Edited July 13, 2012 by Beer of the Bass Quote
chris_b Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 In the 60's the general choice of jobbing pro's went, Marshall, Hywatt then Orange. Unless you had a deal, then Orange rose up the list. Quote
1970 Posted July 13, 2012 Posted July 13, 2012 The Hiwatt destroys the rest IMO - would like to hear Hiwatt vs Matamp Quote
Jakkeko Posted June 8, 2014 Posted June 8, 2014 Hi guys. I haven't seen this post before, but I hope you enjoyed the video on YouTube. There will be an other set of 3 videos "soon"… Or later. But anyway. I'm still trying to source the some more amps for that. But this time it won't be a blind test. Too many confusions in the YouTube comments. Here's the first 23!!! amps in SoundCloud. Please feel free to browse. https://soundcloud.com/jakkeko/sets Cheers, -J Quote
theyellowcar Posted June 9, 2014 Posted June 9, 2014 2 and 5 for me - Marshall and Orange?! Yikes! The Hiwatt came in close 3rd though! Quote
Jakkeko Posted August 21, 2014 Posted August 21, 2014 (edited) And here's some more samples for you to watch... [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpxRKkb2Hm4"]https://www.youtube....h?v=SpxRKkb2Hm4[/url] Edited August 21, 2014 by Jakkeko Quote
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