Early Christmas pressie - GSS Baby Sumo & Sadowsky SBP-1

[Yorkshire Bottom End]

My new set-up. Keeping it simple, small and light. Resigned my TE Elf head to its handbag as a backup. If I fancy a louder Trace Elliot night out, then I'll just hook it up to the 600w Sumo. I'm getting rid of my Peavey Tour 700 beast of a head that I was using as a power amp. 

 

Sounds so tight and stupidly loud. Almost a little compressed to my ears. Sumo runs very quiet. A very, very small amount of hiss through it, but not as much as the TE which is super quiet anyway. I haven't tried this with my two TE 110s at 4ohms yet so I'll be interested to see how it sounds at the next gig.

 

Btw - The Sumo came spectacularly well boxed and I love the handy little lunchbox carry-case it comes in, but be warned of the 'additional' import VAT and clearance fee if outside the EU (eg. in the UK). A slight 'ouch' on that one (just over £80). Other than that, very happy.

 

[three]

A very good choice in my opinion, these really are lovely amps - excellent implementation and an easy-to-use form factor.  I haven't used the Sadowsky pre, other than in a Sadowsky bass, but can imagine that the two units work very well together.  What a lovely, dinky but very capable rig.

[BlueMoon]

I have so many bass preamps where this arrangement (i.e. Baby Sumo and micro cab) would provide great variety and flexibility.

 

Nice!

[Yorkshire Bottom End]

This set-up is better than I could have expected. I put it through my two cabs and it easily keeps up with the drummer (Sumo at about 2 o'clock) with loads of headroom to spare.

 

I like tinkering with my tone and have been through so many combinations/amps but I'm settled on this. Perfect for gospel. Clean and almost hi-fi quality. I want to borrow my mate's Ampeg SGT DI to see if it'll work for my other band who do more rock stuff. Funk, jazz and soul are covered with the Sadowsky.

 

I'm also going to upgrade and minimise my pedalboard for what I do. Tuner, chorus, eq (for boost mainly) and a tickle of compression. But it doesn't need it, because to my ears, it sounds compressed anyway.

[Jack]

Is the peavey a newer one where the octave is labeled as 'kosmos b'? If so I might be interested. 

[Yorkshire Bottom End]

52 minutes ago, Jack said:

Is the peavey a newer one where the octave is labeled as 'kosmos b'? If so I might be interested. 

It certainly is Jack. Up on ebay if you want to have a look. 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205176089890

[msb]

Very nice ! Thankyou.

[NancyJohnson]

I got my Baby Sumo on my birthday (start of December).  It's blindingly good/capable.  I've just got a Samsamp 2112-DI pre-amp at the front end.

[msb]

I’ve been using a preamp for a while now too , and using my Forte as the back end. I like the simple layout of the Sumo , just having a volume knob appeals to me. I’ve ordered a new power amp that’s based on the Demeter Minnie , but with just 500 watts. Looking forward to the one knob simplicity.

[Yorkshire Bottom End]

30 minutes ago, msb said:

I’ve been using a preamp for a while now too , and using my Forte as the back end. I like the simple layout of the Sumo , just having a volume knob appeals to me. I’ve ordered a new power amp that’s based on the Demeter Minnie , but with just 500 watts. Looking forward to the one knob simplicity.

 

3 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

I got my Baby Sumo on my birthday (start of December).  It's blindingly good/capable.  I've just got a Samsamp 2112-DI pre-amp at the front end.

 

I love the Sumo. Wish I'd have got a separate power amp before. I managed to try my mate's Ampeg SGT DI through it and it sounded immense. Not the sound I'm looking for for the gospel stuff I do but it really impressed.

 

And yeh - one big knob!! I'm keeping my gear as simple as I am nowadays and it's fantastic. Feels like a hi-fi amp almost, and I've had lots of comments about its simplicity and looks, as well as the great tone I'm getting from this pairing. Happy.

[Owen]

The Sadowsky Pre really does it all live. I have way too many pres. The Sadowsky is the one which comes out with me. 

[NancyJohnson]

On 30/12/2024 at 14:14, Yorkshire Bottom End said:

Wish I'd have got a separate power amp before.

 

It took a long time to admit/realise that I was never 100% happy with a standalone amplifier that had dedicated pre/power stages; while I'd used separate Trace Elliot pre-amp/poweramp stages, I think the simplicity of jacking a BassPOD into the effects return of an old Ashdown MAG combo was the first revelation, what 25+ years ago?  Pretty much that point I knew, for me at least, power amps were the purest way to go, allowing you to have control over what you needed to amplify rather than what manufacturers felt you needed. 

 

[msb]

It’s funny , I had been using the original Forte , with the compressor rather than the drive . Clean , transparent hifi , I loved the sound. And then picked up a tube preamp and just used the back end of the Forte to power the pre. Complete direction flip. Love the sound.
Before the Forte I had been running a GenzBenz Streamliner , which has a 3 tube preamp and a fairly warm , dark coloured sound. Before the Liner various GK heads.