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SWR or Ampeg

rahock said:
If you're scouting around the 2nd hand market, keep an eye out for a Seymour Duncan 4000.
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I used to have a Seymour Duncan Bass 8000 and 2 original Hartke XL 4x10s. It was one of the best sounding amps I've ever had!
 
prickly_pete said:
I used to have a Seymour Duncan Bass 8000 and 2 original Hartke XL 4x10s. It was one of the best sounding amps I've ever had!
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Yeah, Seymour Duncans were on the pricey side but they were some of the best sounding stuff I've come across. Their guitar amps were hot too :)
Rick
 
rahock said:
Yeah, Seymour Duncans were on the pricey side but they were some of the best sounding stuff I've come across. Their guitar amps were hot too :)
Rick
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I had a couple of Jazz basses then with EMGs -- this was back in the 80s. I would love to hear a Stingray through that old setup :) The only amp I have now is a SWR Super Redhead.
 
My opinion second hand amps = Peavey. They work
Never seen more solid other than EBMM


tk
 
Bang for the Buck , Peavey has always been one of the best deals out there, but there is better gear to be had.

I believe that's why Seymour Duncan stuff pretty much died on the vine. I choked when I first saw the price tag on mine. Had no desire to even try it out at that ridiculous price. Plugged it in just for kicks and bought the @#$%& thing five minutes later. Bang for the Buck factor went right out the window :eek:

Hey Prickly Pete ,
Recently had an opportunity to try a SWR Redhead in a store. Tough to make an accurate call from that limited experience, but it had the same qualites and personality as the Seymour Duncan stuff IMO.
You've had both Pete... what's your opinion?

Rick
 
rahock said:
Bang for the Buck , Peavey has always been one of the best deals out there, but there is better gear to be had.

I believe that's why Seymour Duncan stuff pretty much died on the vine. I choked when I first saw the price tag on mine. Had no desire to even try it out at that ridiculous price. Plugged it in just for kicks and bought the @#$%& thing five minutes later. Bang for the Buck factor went right out the window :eek:

Hey Prickly Pete ,
Recently had an opportunity to try a SWR Redhead in a store. Tough to make an accurate call from that limited experience, but it had the same qualites and personality as the Seymour Duncan stuff IMO.
You've had both Pete... what's your opinion?

Rick
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Good call Rick.

Yeah, the Duncans really had a clean high fi sound like SWRs. Of course the Redhead does not have as much power as the big Duncan heads, nor does it have the eq flexability of the Duncans.

Also, like the Duncans, the SWR stuff is pretty pricey.

I'm really happy with the Redhead, but I mostly just play at home now with the stereo -- I got a day gig now :) I am thinking of adding a 2x10 cab to the Redhead pretty soon, so we'll see what it can do moving a little more air!

btw, when I tried out the biamp 8000, it was with a pre-Fender Kubicki -- talk about tone :)
 
Pete,
I've got to believe that Redhead has more than enough to push two more 10 inchers :)

As to the eq flexibility....to me, that's just a little icing on the cake. The older I get, the more I find that the Volume , Bass and Treble knobs of yesteryear can take you just about anywhere you want to go ;) .

Once in while I drag out my Hagstrom 8 string (odd beast) and on those rare occassions the eq provides some added umph on the mid/upper end. It's also nice if you want to pretend you're John Enthwistle :D . Other than that....no big deal.

Rick
 
Im a hardcore SWR player, the perception that they have no balls is wrong. They are a very clean tone. As my SWR manual says they don't add any character sound to the guitar, they leave that to the e.q and and aural enancher (e.q cut/booster). They basically enhance the sound of the bass. I use a SUB with the bottom end and upper mids boosted and it sounds great, very clean and precise but a slightly raspy bottom end. They are suprisingly very popular with heavy metal bends as they cut through the mix briliantly and they are well-known now for creating awesome slap tones. I am acutally a Gk dealer myself and was previously a player, i'v now switched to SWR and am trying to become a dealer for SWR as Im so impressed

Please see http://www.hotpiranha.co.uk
 
I have a Seymour Duncan Bass 400 head that I bought used probably 20 years ago. It's 400 watts into 4 ohms and 600 watts into 2 ohms. It just recently started to spit a little bit when it warms up but still sounds as great as when I bought it used.
I'm going to take it in and have it repaired but it's one of those things that may take a while to find because it only does it once in a while. So, because of all this, I thought I would buy a backup head, and after much research and talking to those in the know, I decided on a used GK 800RB and got one on E-bay for $400. I must say that you can't go wrong with either head for a clean, warm sound. I do think that the GK is a little more punchy sounding with well defined notes. I guess the bottom line point I'm trying to get to is that I wouldn't be afraid to buy either one of these heads again, used.
 
cybrpunk said:
I had never heard of a SD bass amp before, but here ya go for those interested
http://www.freedomguitar.com/description.php?II=8955&UID=2004112013250565.168.216.112
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Hmmm......mine is tagged as a "4000" not a "400" and was also from the early 90's. The eq set up, contour switches etc. looks the same . The only difference on the face is the lettering. Mine has a little "Seymour Duncan Research" label on the right side and small "Bass 4000" lettering next to that. Don't know what else is different :confused: .

Although I own one, I haven't seen a whole lot of SD Bass rigs around either and I'm certainly no expert. I just know what I like, and I REALLY like what I've got :)
The term "Best" is very subjective so I avoid it like the plague, but I will say that SD amps will stand mighty tall against any top dollar gear I've found.
I've seen/heard a few of their "Convertible " series guitar amps, and IMO , they were absolutely outstanding too.

I've got schematics from Seymour Duncan and according to their documentation the "4000" and "8000" share the same pre amp, but obviously the power amps are unique to their model number.

Power is rated at 200watts/8 ohm, 400watts/4 ohm, 600watts/2 ohm (although 2 ohm is not recommended).

Sorry... getting kinda long winded here. Anyway, Seymour Duncan= top shelf stuff.
Nice find by Cybrpunk...I hope some one here takes advantage of it :)
Rick
 
Originally Posted by cybrpunk
I had never heard of a SD bass amp before, but here ya go for those interested
http://www.freedomguitar.com/descri...565.168.216.112


This is my amp exactly! Never saw another one. I would be tempted to buy it if it wasn't so darn expensive. Is this new or used? Price is kind of heavy for used and it's kind of hard to believe that a 20 year old bass amp is brand new, but maybe. I'm not sure what I paid but it wasn't that much and now I'm starting to think I got a great deal. One thing for sure, it's not a tube amp and I'm wondering why they are advertising it that way? Anyway, definitely one of the best sounding bass heads ever and power to spare.
 
BigStrings said:
Originally Posted by cybrpunk
I had never heard of a SD bass amp before, but here ya go for those interested
http://www.freedomguitar.com/descri...565.168.216.112


This is my amp exactly! Never saw another one. I would be tempted to buy it if it wasn't so darn expensive. Is this new or used? Price is kind of heavy for used and it's kind of hard to believe that a 20 year old bass amp is brand new, but maybe. I'm not sure what I paid but it wasn't that much and now I'm starting to think I got a great deal. One thing for sure, it's not a tube amp and I'm wondering why they are advertising it that way? Anyway, definitely one of the best sounding bass heads ever and power to spare.
Click to expand...

I second that its not a tube amp. I had a Bass 400 and a Bi-Amp 8000, and neither had any tubes.
 
Yeah, no tubes on mine either. I didn't even notice that :o

Big Strings,
Price tag is hefty, but SD stuff was always that way :eek:
You may be the only guy out there who can claim he got a DEAL on a piece of SD equipment :) .
Rick
 
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