Cleanest amp?

[uk_lefty]

I notice almost all general amps available (not talking boutique stuff) seem to be voiced more towards the gritty and distorted end, there's very few if any that emphasizes having a clean sound... So, if I were to look for a new or second hand good quality amp that offers a sparklingly clean sound, what should I be looking for? At the moment all I can think of is the Super Flat mode on the new Boss Katana range but they are pricey. All ideas welcome, GAS is brewing..!

[Osiris]

The Genzler Magellan does crystal clean sounds and has an extremely versatile EQ that will let you dial in pretty much every clean sound you're ever likely to need. It has a big weighty tone too. The 800 watt model has a drive channel but it's a lower gain valve emulation rather than a scoopy clanky modern metal thing. The 350 watt model is a single channel clean amp and is more than loud enough to gig with. Not cheap but you definitely get what you pay for! 

[Merton]

Glockenklang do very flat and clean as their starting point but have options to dial in other tones, which you can ignore.

 

Eich (TecAmp) are supposed to be quite clean sounding?

 

The new Trace TE-1200 is a massive sounding clean amp albeit unlikely to appear second hand yet…

 

Aguilar AG700?

 

Trickfish - rare 2!d hand but clean.

 

Vanderkley - even rarer but still clean.

 

will add more if I think of them

Edited June 18, 2023 by Merton

[snorkie635]

Euphonic Audio -amp was designed to be perfectly clean and there's a second-hand 800 watt one right now on Guitar Guitar's website. (I don't work for GG btw) 🃏

[Mudpup]

Genzler Magellan 800 

Orange 4 Stroke

Quilter BB800

 

(The Orange is probably the cleanest out of that lot)

[Mykesbass]

3 hours ago, Osiris said:

The Genzler Magellan does crystal clean sounds and has an extremely versatile EQ that will let you dial in pretty much every clean sound you're ever likely to need. It has a big weighty tone too. The 800 watt model has a drive channel but it's a lower gain valve emulation rather than a scoopy clanky modern metal thing. The 350 watt model is a single channel clean amp and is more than loud enough to gig with. Not cheap but you definitely get what you pay for! 

I'll second all of this. Had the 350 (only sold as needed cash early in lockdown and will replace with the same as soon as I get into a band again). 

 

Oh, and cheaper than a lot of amps getting mentioned on this thread.

Edited June 18, 2023 by Mykesbass

[fretmeister]

The Demeter 800D (and other letters I can’t remember) is very clean, but not in a sterile way like the Tecamp / Eich stuff.

 

Its an amazing amplifier.

[Waddycall]

You could always go for a rack mount channel strip and power amp

 

[TheGreek]

I was going to recommend the Glock too.

[Phil Starr]

It's interesting isn't it that we don't all agree on what 'clean' sounds like. 'Clean but not sterile', 'massive sounding', 'every clean sound you could imagine' and so on after all we only started this morning. No criticism by the way I'm just pointing out that all of this is subjective and that the language we have at our disposal is inadequate for what we are trying to capture.

 

For me clean is what you get coming out of a PA amp running well within it's power capability, with no eq and minimal levels of distortion or what I hear through decent headphones direct from the mixing desk but I know that what I think of as clean is other peoples sterile. So what does clean mean for you? Is it FRFR  or is it the absence of pre-applied compression or 'drive'. Maybe it is something else you only know when you hear it?

[snorkie635]

16 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

It's interesting isn't it that we don't all agree on what 'clean' sounds like. 'Clean but not sterile', 'massive sounding', 'every clean sound you could imagine' and so on after all we only started this morning. No criticism by the way I'm just pointing out that all of this is subjective and that the language we have at our disposal is inadequate for what we are trying to capture.

 

For me clean is what you get coming out of a PA amp running well within it's power capability, with no eq and minimal levels of distortion or what I hear through decent headphones direct from the mixing desk but I know that what I think of as clean is other peoples sterile. So what does clean mean for you? Is it FRFR  or is it the absence of pre-applied compression or 'drive'. Maybe it is something else you only know when you hear it?

This and the fact that you need to play through the amp in question. Listening to reviews, or to others playing through it gets nearer, but only your playing - preferably with your bass(es), will give you an answer to whether or not it's the sound in your head. 👂🏻👍👂🏻👎

[Benji85]

The one you've just finished wiping down 😂😬

[Supernaut]

Every Peavey ever made. 

[spyder]

Acoustic Image or Phil Jones amps are super clean.

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, spyder said:

Phil Jones amps are super clean.

Mine certainly is.

[tauzero]

Reidmar? I've never owned one but have played through one and it was very hi-fi.

[Osiris]

16 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

It's interesting isn't it that we don't all agree on what 'clean' sounds like. 'Clean but not sterile', 'massive sounding', 'every clean sound you could imagine' and so on after all we only started this morning. No criticism by the way I'm just pointing out that all of this is subjective and that the language we have at our disposal is inadequate for what we are trying to capture.

 

For me clean is what you get coming out of a PA amp running well within it's power capability, with no eq and minimal levels of distortion or what I hear through decent headphones direct from the mixing desk but I know that what I think of as clean is other peoples sterile. So what does clean mean for you? Is it FRFR  or is it the absence of pre-applied compression or 'drive'. Maybe it is something else you only know when you hear it?

 

Some interesting thoughts there, especially considering you're one of the more knowledgeable guys about this sort of thing on the forum. For me, and what I think the OP is alluding to, a clean sound is one that doesn't have any drive or distortion, regardless of any inherent EQ or voicing from the preamp. Whereas your definition of clean is what I think of as FRFR. This could all be inaccurate from a technical perspective but it's what I assume is meant when talking about a clean bass tone with other bass players and other musicians. 

[Phil Starr]

2 hours ago, Osiris said:

 

Some interesting thoughts there, especially considering you're one of the more knowledgeable guys about this sort of thing on the forum. For me, and what I think the OP is alluding to, a clean sound is one that doesn't have any drive or distortion, regardless of any inherent EQ or voicing from the preamp. Whereas your definition of clean is what I think of as FRFR. This could all be inaccurate from a technical perspective but it's what I assume is meant when talking about a clean bass tone with other bass players and other musicians. 

I think that is probably right. For me clean means no distortion either of the response or of the waveform however that is achieved. Coming from a science background clean means no distortion but for a guitarist their 'clean' means something entirely different, the sound of their guitar through their amp and cab with minimal added fx. 

 

My personal sound isn't clean, I shape the response and I've come to enjoy a little bit of grit when I dig in. The scientist in me likes to isolate all the variables so starting with a genuinely clean sound works for me but a bit of me is jealous of the bassists who can walk up to any amp crank the knobs from one extreme setting to another and eventually get the tone they need. That is a craft to be admired. 

 

It would be good to know where @uk_lefty sits about where clean is for him.

[uk_lefty]

Sorry guys, busy weekend... For me "clean" means a hi-fi sound. So, maybe clean isn't the word after all?!?!  I just mean no grit, drive or distortion, that super-flat fat bass sound with crisp highs, sterlie but not lifeless... All these words could mean different things to different people so... think of a Darkglass amp with it's drive on? Now think of the opposite. 

[Phil Starr]

Do you have a speaker you intend using with this amp or are you looking for a combo or possibly an active PA speaker?

Edited June 19, 2023 by Phil Starr

[uk_lefty]

13 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

Do you have a speaker you intend using with this amp or are you looking for a combo or possibly an active PA speaker?

Combo would be great, otherwise I have speaker cabs or PA as an option.

[Phil Starr]

OK well I've been on a bit of a journey. When @stevie and I started designing the Bass Chat cabs we differed a lot. I liked voiced amps and cabs that I could plug and play with someone else sorting the sound for me. Stevie always wanted a completely clean sound so that the starting point was clear and he could add in with a blank slate to write upon. I suppose I wanted ChatGPT to do the work for me  From a science point of view I was interested in the psychoacoustics what was causing the perception of heft or even 'bassiness' given that we are so poor at actually hearing the bottom couple of octaves. The result was that Stevie was more results driven and I've been more 'experimental' My wife would say I never concentrate

 

So I've come round more towards Stevie and now go out either with PA cabs or his FRFR cabs and use an fx box for my sound. Mainly because the voiced amplification only sounds glorious in some rooms, in difficult spaces the voicing can make it really hard to sound good.

 

So coming to my experience with FRFR. I use a couple of RCF ART310's (recently discontinued) with my duo and with the band I go straight to PA and use in ears unless we have a dep drummer with an acoustic kit when I use a Bugera with an LFSys Silverstone. The only problem with the ART 310's is that they are only flat on poles. I've had the best bass sound ever (for me) with a pair up on poles. As floor monitors the bass is overwhelming on-stage and ends up feeding through the vocal mics. That has been solved by shelving the bass about 5db in the mixer and filtering everything out below 50Hz. The Silverstone has a lovely warm tone, the epitome of clean, but again on stage the bass is a bit too much and a tweak of bass roll off is needed. The other two LFSys speakers have the bass shelving built in and at gig levels sound really good without tweaking. Finally playing bass at really high volumes through plastic cabs does show some limitations and you can hear the cab resonances. There are advantages in a built for bass wooden cab.

 

Incidentally I use the Bugera because it is flatter than most, I have a Peavey MiniMax and an MB Tube but the Bugera works well this way.

 

 

 

[chris_b]

I prefer a clean bass sound so instead of running a 350 watt amp flat out I'll run a 700 watt amp at half power.

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Combo would be great, otherwise I have speaker cabs or PA as an option.

 

GR Bass AT500 or AT800 Cube.

[BassAdder60]

Aguilar AG700 ( one for sale on here , not mine ) 

 

Headroom and clean