Lightweight or D class amp that sounds like a Valve amp

[Musicman20]

Agreed, although SLAM is definitely not lacking with the Streamliner. It sounds huge. It needs playing with EQ wise somtimes, but once its set, BAM!

I need to A/B my AD200 with my micros soon.

[dan670844]

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1342946' date='Aug 17 2011, 11:50 AM']Agreed, although SLAM is definitely not lacking with the Streamliner. It sounds huge. It needs playing with EQ wise somtimes, but once its set, BAM!

I need to A/B my AD200 with my micros soon.[/quote]


Maybe I should try it then someone said they have developed some kind of coil to reserve current inbetween the PS and the output module, I thought it was balony, but glad to be proved wrong.. my back!!! and it has a real valve preamp as it runs in HT. All other lightweight stuff i have tried seems to be wimpy although loud it just does not have that shove of current to dump when told too haha!

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='dan670844' post='1342965' date='Aug 17 2011, 12:12 PM']Maybe I should try it then someone said they have developed some kind of coil to reserve current inbetween the PS and the output module, I thought it was balony, but glad to be proved wrong.. my back!!! and it has a real valve preamp as it runs in HT. All other lightweight stuff i have tried seems to be wimpy although loud it just does not have that shove of current to dump when told too haha![/quote]
Yip - the Streamliner is the first Class-D amp I've used where the notes really push, in a '3D' sort of way IYKWIM.

I noticed it straight away... it was a revelation to me.

[Musicman20]

I think Genz were criticised for not having 'beefy' bass amps, (lacking in low end).

This is there answer to it. You have to cut the bass it sounds that big!

[Merton]

Stop giving me Streamliner GAS

[Musicman20]

Well, at first I really liked it. Quality/build is, IMO, much higher than the Shuttle series. It feels more solid, more like the Markbass amps.

I then had a period where I didnt use it, and missed my LM3. Because I hadnt used it I thought about returning it. I had 3-4 hours with it this weekend, and now I like it more than I did when I first heard it.

It definitely feels and sounds like a high quality studio tube-pre...very warm, very crisp. It is VERY loud. Very.

Now Im going to source a LM3 to use as well, as I cant sell/return this, its too good!

[ShergoldSnickers]

[quote name='Merton' post='1343042' date='Aug 17 2011, 01:05 PM']Stop giving me Streamliner GAS [/quote]
I've had to have hypnotism therapy for that condition. It's just stopped working reading this bleedin' thread.

[thebassman]

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1343056' date='Aug 17 2011, 01:14 PM']Well, at first I really liked it. Quality/build is, IMO, much higher than the Shuttle series. It feels more solid, more like the Markbass amps.

I then had a period where I didnt use it, and missed my LM3. Because I hadnt used it I thought about returning it. I had 3-4 hours with it this weekend, and now I like it more than I did when I first heard it.

It definitely feels and sounds like a high quality studio tube-pre...very warm, very crisp. It is VERY loud. Very.

Now Im going to source a LM3 to use as well, as I cant sell/return this, its too good![/quote]

Thanks for all the info guys.
Are we talking about the 600 or 900? And through what cabs?
I have a 2x12 Mesa boogie 4 ohms.

Edited August 17, 2011 by thebassman

[bozzie]

[quote name='thebassman' post='1343604' date='Aug 17 2011, 07:56 PM']Thanks for all the info guys.
Are we talking about the 600 or 900? And through what cabs?
I have a 2x12 Mesa boogie 4 ohms.[/quote]

In my own case I run a GB Streamliner 600 through a Bergantino AE210.

For more info on the streamliners the manual can be downloaded from the Genz website.

[thebassman]

[quote name='bozzie' post='1343630' date='Aug 17 2011, 08:26 PM']In my own case I run a GB Streamliner 600 through a Bergantino AE210.

For more info on the streamliners the manual can be downloaded from the Genz website.[/quote]

My set up should be loud enough then, because if I am reading it right. The berg ae210 is an 8ohm can, so running at 375 watts.
my cab is 4ohms, so would run at the full 600 watts.

I presume you don't have any volume issues.

Cheers

Thebassman

[bozzie]

[quote name='thebassman' post='1343763' date='Aug 17 2011, 10:18 PM']My set up should be loud enough then, because if I am reading it right. The berg ae210 is an 8ohm can, so running at 375 watts.
my cab is 4ohms, so would run at the full 600 watts.

I presume you don't have any volume issues.

Cheers

Thebassman[/quote]

no no volume issues for me. You're right the berg is an 8ohm cab, I had considering pairing it up with another berg cab, but as they are not making the AE anymore it was not to be. Who knows might check out the new range sometime?

[wateroftyne]

I used to use a pair of Berg HS210s in all but the smallest gigs.

Now, I almost always use a single cab... the tone of the Streamliner is perfectly placed for my needs, and thumps away where it counts quite happily with one cab.

[thebassman]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1343778' date='Aug 17 2011, 10:35 PM']I used to use a pair of Berg HS210s in all but the smallest gigs.

Now, I almost always use a single cab... the tone of the Streamliner is perfectly placed for my needs, and thumps away where it counts quite happily with one cab.[/quote]

You don't see them up for sale on here very often, that's always a good sign.

[rodl2005]

FWIW- If U can PLEASE try the STL600/900 out in a BAND environment BEFORE you buy one. I personally think the SOUND of the STL is great BY ITSELF, but as soon as playing in a decent sized band (in my case I tried it with 2 of my bands -1. 8-10piece soul/funk. 2. Classic Rock 4 pice 2gtrs Bass Drums) It Just lost ALL definition. I couldn't get it to be PRESENT in the mix no matter how I tried. Maybe it was my cabs, tho I tried ALL of mine-
Bergs AE112-OK. AE212- awful, AE410 OK. NV215 pretty bad, Mark bass Hr115 x 2 Just OK But in NONE of the gigs did anyone - all the band members, sound eng. reg. audience members that've seen us MANY times - think they could actually HEAR the bass (nor feel it) they said it was a "boomy mess". I tried LOTSA basses too.
Obviously It's ME & the way I play also, but just saying TRY in this situation B4 buying.

Remember- I did say I LOVE the tone of the STL 600/900 ...... just not in a band mix. Of course everyone's different- thank God, & luckily I still LOVE my GB Shuttle, & I CAN Crank the bass if I wanna on that!

My 2c.... take it or leave it.

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='rodl2005' post='1343965' date='Aug 18 2011, 08:04 AM']FWIW- If U can PLEASE try the STL600/900 out in a BAND environment BEFORE you buy one. I personally think the SOUND of the STL is great BY ITSELF, but as soon as playing in a decent sized band (in my case I tried it with 2 of my bands -1. 8-10piece soul/funk. 2. Classic Rock 4 pice 2gtrs Bass Drums) It Just lost ALL definition. I couldn't get it to be PRESENT in the mix no matter how I tried. Maybe it was my cabs, tho I tried ALL of mine-
Bergs AE112-OK. AE212- awful, AE410 OK. NV215 pretty bad, Mark bass Hr115 x 2 Just OK But in NONE of the gigs did anyone - all the band members, sound eng. reg. audience members that've seen us MANY times - think they could actually HEAR the bass (nor feel it) they said it was a "boomy mess". I tried LOTSA basses too.
Obviously It's ME & the way I play also, but just saying TRY in this situation B4 buying.

Remember- I did say I LOVE the tone of the STL 600/900 ...... just not in a band mix. Of course everyone's different- thank God, & luckily I still LOVE my GB Shuttle, & I CAN Crank the bass if I wanna on that!

My 2c.... take it or leave it.[/quote]
Ah, I guess it just clashed badly with your style or your cabs.

out of interest, did you roll the lows off and push the mids a significant amount?

[Musicman20]

Hmm, I havent used it at very loud settings yet. Just fiddled about with different cabinets. It does have a lot of low end, but as yet I wouldnt say it was too boomy....id say it had a very very thick low end. Even my RH750 gets boomy if I use a cabinet (rear ported) too close to the wall. Not saying you did that, obviously!

I need to give it more of a test drive. I have a few long gigs coming up, and another new band that want me to join in October, (luckily they havent just started out, I dislike the 'new band' situation!).

I had the bass on 10 ish. Mids 2. Treble to taste. That's with a Stingray which has a lot of low end available anyway.

[thebassman]

[quote name='rodl2005' post='1343965' date='Aug 18 2011, 08:04 AM']FWIW- If U can PLEASE try the STL600/900 out in a BAND environment BEFORE you buy one. I personally think the SOUND of the STL is great BY ITSELF, but as soon as playing in a decent sized band (in my case I tried it with 2 of my bands -1. 8-10piece soul/funk. 2. Classic Rock 4 pice 2gtrs Bass Drums) It Just lost ALL definition. I couldn't get it to be PRESENT in the mix no matter how I tried. Maybe it was my cabs, tho I tried ALL of mine-
Bergs AE112-OK. AE212- awful, AE410 OK. NV215 pretty bad, Mark bass Hr115 x 2 Just OK But in NONE of the gigs did anyone - all the band members, sound eng. reg. audience members that've seen us MANY times - think they could actually HEAR the bass (nor feel it) they said it was a "boomy mess". I tried LOTSA basses too.
Obviously It's ME & the way I play also, but just saying TRY in this situation B4 buying.

Remember- I did say I LOVE the tone of the STL 600/900 ...... just not in a band mix. Of course everyone's different- thank God, & luckily I still LOVE my GB Shuttle, & I CAN Crank the bass if I wanna on that!

My 2c.... take it or leave it.[/quote]

Umm, that's a bit worrying.
I tend to sit quite high in the mix in my band. My current sound is punchy and clear, with a bit of grit when needed.
I really don't like wooly and overly bassy tone.

That's the only draw back to shop auditioning, you don't get a true reflection of how you will sound in a band environment.

As others have said, perhaps it was your tone adjustment or cab pairing.

Kind of puts me off though, it's an expensive gamble.

Cheers for all your comments guys

Thebassman

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='thebassman' post='1345654' date='Aug 19 2011, 05:21 PM']Umm, that's a bit worrying.
I tend to sit quite high in the mix in my band. My current sound is punchy and clear, with a bit of grit when needed.
I really don't like wooly and overly bassy tone.

That's the only draw back to shop auditioning, you don't get a true reflection of how you will sound in a band environment.

As others have said, perhaps it was your tone adjustment or cab pairing.

Kind of puts me off though, it's an expensive gamble.

Cheers for all your comments guys

Thebassman[/quote]
Just try a Shuttle 6 or 9 then, If the newest release from a company isnt right for you then dont be put off by older offerings Look how many Jazz and P basses are bought after all these years.

I think these clips are great
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-27szg61bw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-27szg61bw[/url]
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94kI7XW-wdc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94kI7XW-wdc[/url]

Just noticed even Ed has fallen foul of the myth about the 9.0 having more low end than the 6.0 as it scrolls past on the screen, Both are shelved at 37hz.

[Musicman20]

Pete - even the Genz engineers have stated the 3.0 and 6.0 have a high pass filter to stop unwanted low end into the small compact shuttle cabs. Boosting bass will help, but the 9.0 doesn't have the shelving set like the 3.0/6.0

It was designed like that so they didnt blow up the small combos! Clever idea really.

The 9.0 isn't drastically different but wow, the Streamliner really is an amp to be reckoned with. Full meaty bass tone, even with the bass dialed down.

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='thebassman' post='1345654' date='Aug 19 2011, 05:21 PM']Umm, that's a bit worrying.
I tend to sit quite high in the mix in my band. My current sound is punchy and clear, with a bit of grit when needed.
I really don't like wooly and overly bassy tone.

That's the only draw back to shop auditioning, you don't get a true reflection of how you will sound in a band environment.

As others have said, perhaps it was your tone adjustment or cab pairing.

Kind of puts me off though, it's an expensive gamble.

Cheers for all your comments guys

Thebassman[/quote]
Well, I wouldn't write it off. The last thing I'm interested in when it comes to gear is what it sounds like in the shop.

The Streamliner is punchy and clear to me, but it's naturally punchy and clear lower down in the spectrum than most. Proper bass, IMO.

It is an expensive gamble, though.

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1345825' date='Aug 19 2011, 08:41 PM']Pete - even the Genz engineers have stated the 3.0 and 6.0 have a high pass filter to stop unwanted low end into the small compact shuttle cabs. Boosting bass will help, but the 9.0 doesn't have the shelving set like the 3.0/6.0

It was designed like that so they didnt blow up the small combos! Clever idea really.

The 9.0 isn't drastically different but wow, the Streamliner really is an amp to be reckoned with. Full meaty bass tone, even with the bass dialed down.[/quote]
At what point do humans stop hearing bass though? If the lows are shelved at 37hz on both (which the manual states for both) that's what it sends to the output stage surely? Doesn't matter if it has more power to send out as lows if it's cut out below 37hz, maybe it's just that it has more power to sustain the lows for longer? I can hold a couple of bars of sustained rumbling low B's at high volume anyway

[dave_bass5]

All this talk of the Streamliner is giving me GAS lol. Just kidding.

Its a great head but i do think it can be quite fussy what cab its used with, as i found out. I agree with all the comments about it having loads of low end, giving each note a decent amount of punch, more so than any other head ive used, and the grit/distortion is nice. Its not an out and out dirty head in my experience, but it does have a nice edge to it if needed.

[thebassman]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1342511' date='Aug 16 2011, 10:39 PM']Just read this again and thats defo where your getting mixed up, The idea of a blend rather than the typical setup like a guitar amp of input/output is to give many more options. The shuttle can go from super and I mean super clean to actually quite gritty, much more than I would ever need TBH all without losing the volume that the single knob amps would. I did use the full valve gain for Blur's Song 2 once as it was just a request on the fly and my zoom was not set up, Put gain to full and reduced the input volume a bit (only needed a bit) and it was quite passable for that situation and took what 15 seconds to get?

The streamliner takes this method further I beleive by blending more knobs and valves (3) to get even more sounds, The good folk here seem to think they are simple enough to work with too. Like I said they are not for me as I dont use what valve grit I have now so more not being used is not worth if for me but could be what the OP is after, Mark at Bass Direct will no doubt show him one with all the others mentioned in the thread, he might even just do what Gareth Musicman20 does and buy them all! [/quote]

Well i finally managed to visit Bass Direct up in Warwickshire today, what a bassists dream that place is. Full of great amps, basses and effects. Mark is a great guy also, no hard sell just lots of free advice and no rushing.

I explained to Mark my current set up and what sound i was looking for, without hessitation he recommended the Streamliner 900.
I got to try out the Genz Benz streamliner 900, he put it through a Vanderkley 212MNT and plugged in a Musicman 5 classic.
What a great sound, all the way from clean to lots of valve overdrive, with bags of power. The sound was huge.

I would love to try out this set up in a live environment, just to see how it sounds at high volume.

I have now got serious gas for this, so watch this space, there might be some Mesa gear going for sale soon

My other problem was that i spotted loads of nice new bass guitars i want.

cheers

thebassman

[stingrayPete1977]

I feel a visit coming on too, Amp is sorted but I fancy a tasty 5'er and man does Mark have a selection of those! What else did you try?

[thebassman]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1350704' date='Aug 24 2011, 08:42 PM']I feel a visit coming on too, Amp is sorted but I fancy a tasty 5'er and man does Mark have a selection of those! What else did you try?[/quote]

Unfortunately I didn't have time to try any other amps, I had the family in the car after a trip to the castle.
I am going to go back again soon, armed with my bass.
I spent a good 30 mins drooling over the musician basses though, he has some nice stock.