OBT or Genz Shuttle

[sbrag]

I've got a 500 watt obt which I love the sound of and play through a barefaced compact. For most gigs (mostly pubs) I've barely pushed it above 3 on the master vol. My problem is for home use it is too loud so I'm getting tempted by a Genz shuttle 6.0 or 6.2 due the lower wattage at 8 ohm and the practice amp friendly features of headphone out and aux in and still having the tube pre. I've heard good things but have never tried one.

Has anyone tried the obt next to the Genz and what are your thoughts?

Other thought is a cheap practice amp.

Cheers steve

Edited September 12, 2014 by sbrag

[sbrag]

Also possibly thinking of a tc bh250 bit put off by only 1 speaker out.

[Lozz196]

For home use I reckon any of these heads will be too much, you may not get the full potential from them due to having to run them so quietly. I`d look at the new Fender Rumble combos - the 40 watt version has overdrive, vintage voicing, and a contour (which scoops the sound I believe). Fender bass amps usually have a nice warm voicing, so think it should be comparable to the OBT - there`s a vid clip on the link below which gives an idea of tones available (try at about 1min for some driven tones).

http://www.fender.com/series/rumble/

[tonyf]

Yep. Get a small practice amp for home as Lozz suggested.

You've said you love the sound at gigs. The amp's NEVER going to go quiet enough for practicing at home so you may as well get something which can give a similar'ish tone at practice levels.

I've had a Line 6 LowDown Studio 110 for years which has always sounded good at minimal volume. The Rumble is an equally good alternative.

T

[sbrag]

Thanks I may well get a small combo but I also have irational gas for genz amps too so curios as to how they compare to the obt.

[dannybuoy]

Can't you just turn the volume down? I use my OBT at home, although I replaced the fan with a silent one as the original was too noisy.

[stingrayPete1977]

If you can find a shuttle 3.0 you will be very happy, no fan and will run at lower volume with no problems, pop it in a bag as a backup and it will happily do your average pub gig no problem

[mcnach]

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1410592468' post='2551023']
Can't you just turn the volume down? I use my OBT at home, although I replaced the fan with a silent one as the original was too noisy.
[/quote]

exactly.

I've used both a GB Shuttle 9.2 and Streamliner 900 (900W) into a Schroeder Mini10R 10" cab at home, for apartment-friendly practice... The master volume is touchy, but you just bring the gain down sufficiently for the volume to give you a reasonable operation range.

Use the volume knob!

Going down 100-200W in max power won't make a difference. Doesn't the OBT have a gain control as well as a master volume?

[sbrag]

It does yes and I do do that.

I think I phrased the question badly at first. Essentially I have gas for a genz head and want to know how they compare to an obt. I've heard good things about them but have never played one.

The other point is that its probably not volume thats my problem its the low end that comes out of the obt and bf compact even at low vols that I get moaned about from my family (especially with kids in bed). I get fed up with headphone practice so I think a small practice amp will do for that amd a quick look on gumtree has found a few bargains locally.

Cheers for the comments so far.

[dannybuoy]

I see you have a Dod Bass EQ in your signature - try using that to lower the bass when practicing?

[sbrag]

Good idea hadn't thought of that. Thanks

[Guest monsterthompson]

Running a Genz shuttle 9.0 into a G3 Super Compact. I can keep the volume reasonable for aparment practice. Those knobs work.

[sbrag]

Ok got it turn the volume low!

The main thing I wanted to know from this is how a shuttle compares to an obt. As said I like the sound of the obt but have heard good things about shuttle/streamliners and like the idea of smaller size and additional features like aux in etc.

Ta

[UglyDog]

Is comparing a G-B Shuttle to an OBT not rather like comparing an apple to an orange (if you pardon the pun)?

[sbrag]

Nice pun. But thats what I'm trying to gather. Are they poles apart in terms of tone considering as I understand both have a tube pre (although more tubes in the orange) and class d power amp. As I say never tried a genz but curious about them.

[stingrayPete1977]

I'd say you would prefer the streamliner over the shuttle if you like the orange sound, chalk and cheese between the two Genz amps really, but both are good just depends what you want, I actually prefer the fet only preamp in my shuttle 3.0 or the fet channel of shuttlemax head over the valve only pre of my 6.0, so what do I know?

[sbrag]

Thanks

[Guest monsterthompson]

I've played the OBT but not through the same cab as the Genz. I'd say the Genz will be a little less gritty, and overdrive differently. However, the parametric mid control will give quite a bit of control getting you in the neighborhood of what you are after. Though my experience with the Orange and the SL is limited, I might tend to agree that they are more similar than the OBT and the Shuttle.

[MarkG3]

In a nutshell:

I had a Shuttle 9.0 which was good for clean tone and for headphone practice playing along to songs.

I also had an OBT1000 which was very loud but didn't have a headphone option but easily got dirty.

Both were through a Barefaced Super 12(G1)

[mingsta]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1410551262' post='2550777']
For home use I reckon any of these heads will be too much, you may not get the full potential from them due to having to run them so quietly. I`d look at the new Fender Rumble combos - the 40 watt version has overdrive, vintage voicing, and a contour (which scoops the sound I believe). Fender bass amps usually have a nice warm voicing, so think it should be comparable to the OBT - there`s a vid clip on the link below which gives an idea of tones available (try at about 1min for some driven tones).

http://www.fender.com/series/rumble/
[/quote]

I use my shuttle 6.2 for quiet home practice and it's fine. The pre amp has a separate vol knob so you can fine tune it to a low vol. The shuttle and streamliner are both great heads for home practice, albeit a bit over the specced for that kind of application.