Anyone built a bass amp?

[jcat5503]

I have a friend who wants a bass tube amp

Anyone?

Thoughts?

Cheers!

[marcoloco961]

I have a friend who wants a bass tube amp

Anyone?

Thoughts?

Cheers!

Working on one now. It's getting closer. Still tweaking on the circuit, I should be done in a year or so......LOL 50W w? 2-6L6GC's. Cosmetics are getting close to done, still searching for the holy grail of tone.

[Cliff Schecht]

My bass player is bugging me to build him an amp too. He wants a lot of power though so I was thinking at minimum a P-P KT88 pair. What is considered loud enough for playing bars (big and small)? We play blues and rock mostly but he also plays in a metal band. Those guys always want something ridiculously loud I've noticed.. My friends who play metal shows all have 100W+ heads and never turn them up past 2 .

[KellyBass]

A good one to look at is the sunn 200s...

http://sunn.ampage.org/site/schematics/200s2.jpg

Great sounding 2 x kt88 amp! And I would imagine with a little experimenting the 6AN8 could be eliminated.

[selloutrr]

yes.

- assuming you want a tube bass amp -

If you want a nice starting platform it's hard to go wrong with the preamp section from the Ampeg B-15 or the Fender Showman.

If you want stadium volume the output of the Sunn Modet T, Hiwatt 200 (mod'd to KT88) or Ampeg SVT.

Studio Quality it's hard to improve on the bass tone of the B-15N.
The fender Twin Reverb also makes a nice studio bass amp.

solid state is a whole other bag.....

If you want to go SS take a listen to walter wood, Trace Elliot SM7GPS combo, early 90's SWR (220 studio Pre) 900, and Eden World Tour WT-800.


From what I've learned working on and building bass amps as well as being a bass player. It's all in how well the amp can recreate the notes that are being played. i.e. not mudding out when a Low B is played. and not being so bright it hurts when you slap. which translates into a nice rich warm sounding preamp out to a compressor(or FX loop/insert) on to a very quiet and efficent power supply capable or running the speaker(s) with plenty of volume and power to spare.
My main touring rig was:
'96 Stingray musicman 4 string / '98 G&L 2500-custom 5 string (w/Bartolini active elec)/ '67 Fender P-bass / '79 Gibson RD Artist / '81 Fender Fretless Jazz bass (w/bartolini Active elec).
I seldom used FX pedals - Sansamp / ProCo Rat / Boss Flanger / Dunlop Bass Crybaby / ibanez delay
SWR 220 studio Preamp (first generation)
Korg Rackmount Tuner
(True bypass mod) Peavey Dual 15 band graphic LED eq - not inserted but a good light show
Avalon U5 - Di
Urie 1176LN compressor
BSS Delay lines for time aligning the cabinets
Crown K2 (1 SVT cab pr Ch.)
(4) SVT 810e (2) SVT215e
(all cables Canarie / switchcraft connectors)
The head room is amazing and every note can bloom without bottoming out or becoming muddy. Every note on the fret board is balanced and you can go from clean to mean and not loose any detail.

[jaysg]

I've seen pro's succeed with the Music Man HD-130 and Ampeg V-4(B)s. Those are about 120 to 130 watts clean. For Fender, imo, you need at least one of the 85 watt amps like a Showman. I sincerely recommend buying an older amp vs. building. You'd have to love the whole experience since to do it right, you're going to have to build a heavy sucker to do it right. I suppose you can get 150 watts from two KT-88s in class B, but it's going to weigh as much as any of these:

Ampeg
Fender
Hiwatt
Music Man
Traynor
Sunn

My personal rig is a diy single channel Alembic F-2B into a QSC PLX power amp. The amp weighs ~25 lbs in a 6 space rack.

[Structo]

I am by no means a bass player but on occasion I was drafted to play bass in various groupings.

I think it really depends on the type of tone you are wanting from the bass.
Do you want that real round, warm tone that is almost more felt then heard?

Or do you want a more percussive bass like Chris Squire from Yes or Geddy Lee in Rush?

I'm sure there are many more but those two are at opposite ends of the spectrum tone wise.

I suppose a good amp can do about anything.
Don't forget the drivers or speakers, it takes some real heavy duty speakers since most bass amps pump the watts.

[KindaFuzzy]

I built my own based on an ampeg portaflex. It's not terribly loud, but I play through a single 10" eminence basslite right now, so that's expected. Great tone for a practice amp. Here's a pic:

[img:500:375]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2760/427 ... b82987.jpg[/img]

[Drumslinger]

KindaFuzzy,

Nice bamboo cab. where did ya get the material?

[jcat5503]

I'm thinking a dual pp kt88 output section for about 120 watts, which should be more than enough

I like the warm fat tone for sure

[harryk]

I have made different tube bass amps with 100 w, 200 W and 250-300 w output power categories. The newest one Bluetone Ace of Bass is now two weeks old. It`s power amp is based on 4xKT-120 tubes which give some 250-300 W power depending on distortion level etc. Power stage is ultra linear and pretty straightforward design. PT is a toroid which is nice in bass amps. KT-120 is a pretty new tube sounding very much like KT88/6550. My next bass amp project will maybe be with 2xKT-120 tubes giving some 150 W power. Here is a link to my Bluetone Ace of Bass amp www.bluetone.fi/32

[Structo]

Very nice Harry.

I'll bet it thumps nicely!

For you guys that have built tube rigs for basses, how many watts do you feel is the bare minimum for a small rock band?

I know the SS amps claim a bunch of watts but I don't know how that translates to tube watts.

[jon]

Here's my current rig it is a Supro Thunderbolt into a EV designed TL606 Cabinet with a EVM15L in it. The am is only a pair of cathode biased 6L6's running at 90% PD. This amp has amazing tone and warmth. I would feel totally confidant playing a garage jam and maybe a bar with it.

I am convinced that 75% of good bass tone is from the cabinet and speaker. With that said a Sunn 200s is a great home brew choice, another would be a B18N Ampeg, or a Univox 1236.

Here is a pic of my Supro Rig

[img:600:800]http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j250/ ... G_0178.jpg[/img]

[KindaFuzzy]

KindaFuzzy,

Nice bamboo cab. where did ya get the material?

Leftovers from my kitchen floor. Looks cool, but it's pretty heavy.

That's good to hear you could get enough volume from cathode biased 6l6s, love the supro.

[jaysg]

...into a EV designed TL606 Cabinet with a EVM15L in it.

pls forgive the tangent -- did you build the 606 or buy it? If so, from whom?