check the thread titled "best amp and cabinet for AB1"

[quote="stickman":1lgim0im] I tend to be a tube/analog purist, [/quote:1lgim0im] Then IMHO you'll be very dissappointed by bass amps. there's some amazing class A tube guitar amps - you know - boutique amps, etc. with all the amazing class a tube sparkle and complexity we all love... Also quite expensive. But try and find he same class a hand wired tube boutique bass amps. Not there. Basically you find two compromises - solid state preamps with "signal complexity" circuits or low voltage tube preamps that obviously don't have the tube complexity of class A tubes saturating. You mentioned PJB. Well he's got a hand wired class A bass head (pre and amp) - it's only 10K!! OR there's the SVT - all tube and weights too much... It also is somewhat limited in it's tone characteristics (resolution). So you're stuck with "regular" amplifiers and tube preamps for economic and weight reasons. To my ear the sweet complexity of tube saturation (not obvious distortion of course unless that song wants it!!) coupled with how signal intensity continuously varies the sound is what you might be talking about. i've tried most every solid state bass amp imaginable including studio channel strips like Neve, API, Focusrite, GML, etc. Some of the discreet stuff does sound good - but to my ear the tone was not fat enough - the fundamental is pure and etc. but lacked the fullness the harmonic structure of tubes brings. (anthony jackson uses API and his tone is amazing!) So far as tube front ends I've also tried them all Aguilar, Alembic, etc.. I started to try studio channel strips - Manley, Avalon, Millenia - and I couldn't get them to do what I was "hearing" in my brain. So after asking all of the manufacturers at NAMM to help me understand what I was after they said there are only a few products that "do that". One of them is a Summit Audio TPA-200 a dual channel class A tube (hybrid) tube pre amp. If you check their site you'll see what I mean - you can drive the front end of the pre amp and they even give you a light to tell you when the tube is saturating vs. distorting. And then you can cut the output level so it matches with your amplifer and you're not sending a lightning bolt that overdrives the amp imput. i've used the Summit for about 4 years now. I use the summit into a Manley tube pultec (which mostly I use to cut highs) and a Distressor compressor set to the 10:1 special optical setting like an 1176. I use it for funk only now as explained below. About 6 months ago I got curious about a channel strip that was smaller for gigs and tried the Universal Audio LA-610 - tube pre and compressor. It blew my mind!!! The creamy tube complexity is exactly what I have been looking for for years! At the same time, being a studio piece, it has stout low end and crystal high's you might also want... (Did I mention I use it all the time?) The other thing I noticed once I got this tube saturation stuff going was the fact that the bass filled much more of the sound spectrum at lower volums. You know how it can be tricky when you get a strong fundamental so you're "loud" but you have a hard time "hearing" the bass..?? Well this solves the problem. The tube harmonics are those cute (and missing from solid state) frequencies that fill the mid and mid high spectrum that let you "hear" the notes more easily. The balance is much better. (like drawbars on the organ)... The only down side is the LA compressor is slow so it's not good at all for funk slap. Everything else is fine. I spoke w/ the UA folks at NAMM this year and they said they are working on faster recovery time light units - maybe in a year or so. So you might look at the unit that is the 610 pre and the 1176 compressor. It's more money but will give you the control over compression if you need it for slapping and etc. Amps wise I've settled on QSC. I've tried every amp out there and to my ears QSC is the best balanced amp so far as true highs and stout lows. (Cheap amps sound like crap.) I do use a Steward 1000 watt single space amp for some gigs too. it's the chrome face studio version and is made to much better tolerances than the gray 1200 watt versions. It's a little bright but since it weighs 11 pounds that's OK for some gigs... So far as cabinets, I've got a PJB 6 pack I use alot... It produces an impossible amount of sound for it's size and is chunky for solid state. About as good as it gets so far as that goes. For louder stuff I usually use a PJB 16B and 8T. Once you've heard them there's not much more to say. I also like a Bergantino with the 12/10/ and horn. It's got an interesting sweet sound and they've pushed the lows - they've really eq'd it for a specific sound so if it's not the one you like it doesn't work. Finally........ I just played with an aspiring artist from Nashville on a west coast gig. I had my Prima Artist (w/ Z2 pickups FD3's) with the UA preamp. The band just stared at me and said it was the best bass tone they'd ever heard in their life.... I agree. it's the best sound I've ever heard. (Thanks Sheldon) Now cables are a whole 'nuther topic....

Greets 2-Port. Sound like you've taken the tone quest to 11! If you're ever performing in the Northeast lemme know; I'd love to hear you. Curious that you find the SVT heavy, but use the Phil Jones cabs, although I agree they sound better than anything I've ever heard.

[quote="lomo":rga7a0bi]Curious that you find the SVT heavy, but use the Phil Jones cabs, although I agree they sound better than anything I've ever heard.[/quote:rga7a0bi] The PJB's are on wheels! Really the opportunities for playing with the sounds came from studio work..... It's also where I got my a*% chewed for overplaying and learned to play groove... and finally made hopelessly addicted to compression... I realize the downside of this but really - I interact everything with how the compresison works..

OK I just put together an Aguilar DB680/DB728 combination. I have only taken it out to one gig, but on the basis of that one gig I was very impressed. The low end seemed tighter and more controlled than my other all-tube head (Mesa Bass 400+). The tone controls are very useful, and the preamp gain can give a nice gritty sound. The other guys in the band (who are usually pretty clueless about what amp I take to any particular gig) all remarked on the sound. The down-side is that, in an 8-space Calzone rack case, it weighs about 50 kg. My other main rig, which I have been using for some time now, is an Alembic F-1X preamp. Alembic SF-2 superfilter, and Crest CA-9 poweramp. I really like that combination. And it weighs "only" about 38 kg. As far as cabinets, I usually use a pair of Eden 210-XLTs, and have been pretty happy. Alternatively, I run a pair of Schroeder cabs, a 410 and a 21012. These are much deeper sounding than the Edens, but the mids and top end are perhaps not as nice. However, there are lots of nice cabs out there.

If you are going with pre/power amp, many players swear by the Crest CA9 in bridge mode. I've been powered by Thunderfunk for a while now. For speakers, I rely on Accugroove. Best of luck in your search! Ken

I've recently come to appreciate just how much of a difference the speaker cab has to do with the sound. I'm really hooked on the Eden sound right now, especially the 410 XLT cab. Man, great growl and definition with even my way old GK400B head. Tonight at a gig I tried the Eden WT400 head I recently bought with the 410 and loved the sound! I've not been able to say that for any rig I've owned ever before. What a pleasure to get the right kind of "feedback" from the amp: makes playing just that much more fun. John