power amp help

[neo2150]

Hi,

even it's not directly a Diezel question, I believe or hope you can help me in this matter. I want a smaller setup for smaller gigs. I want to use my POD X3 Live and I need a power amp which can suit playing bass and guitar.

I know about the Tech21 powerengines. But what about tube poweramps? Is is possible to play bass over a guitar (tube) poweramp (Marshall EL34 or rocktron velocity solid state for example). Or does ist sound bad, cause it is not suited for the bass frequencies...

Of course I would have a guitar or bass cabinet depending of what I need. Perhaps Peter or Olaf can help me out, cause they know a lot about tubes, sound, etc.

And Peter, what abut Lucy? Thank you guys!

 

[jesserides2005]

My preference is the original Mesa 50/50. It's a great power amp, sounds good by itself even, & you can pick 'em up on ebay for around $450.00. I've run mine with just stomp boxes in the past & it sounds awesome!

 

[Lexicon Devil]

You may also want to look around for one of the old Marshall 9000 series power amps, it's 50x50 watts output, and I think it may also be capable of being bridged for 100 watts mono output. --They seem to be fairly cheap on Ebay, and they deliver the goods like a regular Marshall.

 

[neo2150]

Thanks guys. So it is no problem using a guitar poweramp with bass cabinets? Anbody ever did something like this?

What kind of tubes would suit bass and guitar? Or are some tubes absolutly horrible for bass?Doesn't Lenny from Motörhead uses a guitar/bass head with El-34?

 

[i.ak]

Thanks guys. So it is no problem using a guitar poweramp with bass cabinets? Anbody ever did something like this?

What kind of tubes would suit bass and guitar? Or are some tubes absolutly horrible for bass?Doesn't Lenny from Motörhead uses a guitar/bass head with El-34?

Yes you can use a bass amp for guitar as well as a guitar amp for bass.

Generally what you may find is that for bass guitar purposes you may want to get as much clean headroom as possible and thus e.g. 6L6 and 5881 tubes may be a bit under rated where as KT88 and 6550 tubes may bee too "clean" and powerful for guitar use. But...once again it is a matter of personal preferences.

EL34s work fine for bass and give nice "grit" to the sound when pushed. However, I personally think that there should be a sextet of EL34s when used for bass guitar. Another very good tube for bass amp is 6CA7 (which I think that only Electro Harmonix "produces" currently) -- the 6CA7s are also interchangeable with EL34 tubes.

Please experiment and create your own conclusions. We can only give you raw ideas.

 

[neo2150]

Hey, thank you! Of course, raw ideas are just ideas and your own ear will always tell you what is best for yourself.
But these raw ideas about tubes and sound characteristics help much...

Of course, news about Lucy would be very nice ...

 

[i.ak]

I just thought to add that my band's bass player uses an old amp originally made more for guitar use (Soundcity 120 MKIV), which has 6x EL34 tubes in it. Also, as being a guitar player, my other amp (VH4) is equiped with either EL34s or 6CA7s and another (Mako MAK2) with 6550 or KT88. I usually use both of those amps simultaneusly into separate cabs. As a side note, I use 7 and 8-string guitars so my tone is not necesarily the most common (but FAR AWAY from i.e. scooped mush...the lower you tune the more you need midds! ).

I really enjoy the Diezel amps' ability of being able to change the power tube types. And believe me, I have gone through many with my VH4. So far I have always returned to EL34 based tubes -- currently utilizing EH 6CA7.

Also if you are geared towards EL34 direction, please check also the KT77 (JJ) tubes. They might do it for you and are rather often favoured by the ones utilizing lower tunings as well as among bass players.