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Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 5:33 am
by lshaia
I'm with you, Jim; that tube Yorkville looks awfully good. I need to buy a new power amp, but for another $200 I could...down GAS! Bad GAS!

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 8:35 am
by jnbass
whoa that YBA200 looks mighty tempting, but 200 watts outta Sovtek 6550s...

I smell smoke.

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 9:03 am
by loendmaestro
Yeah that Traynor is sweet! A little too much amp for me though. That Yorkie XS400 is PLENTY for me - never had it past '3'with 2 guitarists & a thunderfoot drummer! They have also introduced a 800w (!) version of that model as well!
http://www.yorkville.com/products.asp?id=291&cat=15&type=32

I swear by the Yorkie stuff...Oh Canada!!!

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 9:28 am
by thx1955
Naw, the Sovteks are up to it, and there's 4 of them, the Ampeg SVT's at 300w use a set of 6, so I think they'd be ok. In any case I'd not be running it anywhere close to the Max.

I just need to find a dealer here in Ottawa, or try to persuade Traynor to sell me a factory second !!

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:50 pm
by learning_curve
I have found the only problem I have with my GK set up is tranporting it. New it when I bought it, but I wanted to get the most expensive amp first. Can't beat the sound with no effects and a Ric. I am looking at the Carvin amps for smaller gigs and practice when I am not here in the Garage. Carvin makes a bunch of nice choices and they are priced right along with everyone else. Want to try that Cyclops with the 15" and two 8" s and a horn. I think they have one with 4 8"s in it too bet that sounds great with a Ric too and it's smaller!

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 4:24 pm
by highway_star
I had an interesting audition tonight. I went into the local GC to try out some Ampegs and guess what bass caught my attention? The Mesa Walkabout combo! You've got to hear this amp to believe it! It's basically the Walkabout head stuffed into a combo body with a 12" Celestion and some kind of passive speaker on the bottom of the cabinet. And the best part is that the power section is detachable from the cabinet and so you can use it with almost any other speaker configuration you want.

Here's the neat part - I was comparing it to an SVT-3 PRO and a 410 HLF cabinet. I'd have to say it smoked the Ampeg! It had all the tube-style fullness and depth of bass of the Ampeg with a cleaner presentation. And it only weighs about 50-60 lbs.

Now it isn't cheap at $1150, but I figure that I'd spend way more on a cabinet to go with the SVT 3 and if I get can get a sound I like better out of a smaller package, then it sounds like a winner.

The only thing that stopped from buying it tonight was that I'm going to try out an Ashdown ABM 210-300 on Saturday. I can get the Ashdown at a closeout price that is a bit lower than the Boogie. So we'll see what happens.

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:26 pm
by jps
Mesa/Boogie makes great gear that is worth the price of admission. I toured the factory a couple years ago, and I came away very impressed, so did my girlfriend. I have never seen the combo so my only concern is that the passive radiator on the bottom be well protected from damage.

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 6:13 pm
by highway_star
The radiator has a metal grille on it and the feet appear to be about 1 1/2 - 2" tall, so it looks to be well-protected. I'm going to try a Walkabout head later with some other cabs to see if I want to go this way, but a 50 lb. combo does sound tempting. My friend is concerned about its volume based on a report from Bass Player Magazine, but I suspect that it will be sufficient for small venues and jams.

Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2004 8:31 pm
by atomic_punk
Mesa stuff is awesome. The guys at GC hate it because it is the only amp they don't get a discount on. Image I like it even more now!

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 3:06 am
by jps
Image (as our illustrious Jared would no doubt say)

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 4:43 am
by highway_star
You guys are making this really tough :-).

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 9:17 am
by jnbass
buy em ALL, let your creditors decide!
ImageImage
Image
My favorite for small rooms...
Image

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 9:49 am
by jnbass
or if you're really into abuse...
Image
just re-cap the power supply, change out the voicing caps and resistors, add 1.5K screens, jump the channels...

whew!

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 10:33 am
by highway_star
Actually Jared, that Marshall would probably give me an early Roger Glover-type sound if I can find the matching bass cabinets.

Now I find out the local shop has a used Aguilar DB 659 preamp. I may have to look into it.

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2004 1:00 pm
by rictified
I think Roger Glover used Marshall Majors, not positive though just an educated guess. I used to use one for bass.