Hey Tyler, great video. I agree with you. The transformer in amps plays a massive role in the tone and if you look at a lot of old valve amps, especially ones that were meant to pull double duty as PA or Bass amps as well as guitar amps back in the day, you'd see massive transformers and this is a key ingredient in why alot of old valve amps are loved for their tone and a key ingredient of why they weigh so much! I feel that people need to take a holistic approach, its not JUST a preamp or JUST a power amp or JUST a transformer that makes the amp, but the combination of all three as well as the efficiencies and deficiencies of each section that can make an amp special. Sometimes technical efficiency does can lose some of magic that something inefficient has. Solid state started becoming more popular (especially for bass players) due their cost, ease of production, weight and low maintenance needs as well as its ability to stay clean at high volumes. With the progress in technology it became easier to make the transformer smaller and more efficient....but this progress was driven by efficiency, the transformer is an incredibly FUNCTIONAL part of an amp and I suspect the deficiencies of old tech is part of what make them special. Solid state does a "better" job at amplifying things cleanly and reacting in (on paper) expected and predictable ways. It was much later that manufacturers started putting valves in the preamps of solid state amps, especially when pedals with preamp valves in started existing, to get some of that "valve tone" and with mixed results, a great amp can still be a great amp but a single 12AX7 in a Markbass amp isnt the same as an Ampeg SVT......people then started talking about Power Tubes and you start getting pedals like the EQD Acapulco Gold (and amps like the Markbass TTE) that start emulating the power tubes sections and again...it's part of the jigsaw but not the whole thing. Now there are companies that will even manufacture transformers as stand-alone pedals or will include them inside the pedal (Origin Effects as you say, JHS's Color Box and the Hudson Broadcast spring to mind). Personally, I believe a great amp is a great amp regardless of what its made out of but people clamoring for valve-tones from solid-state gear need to consider the transformer too.
@TylerSpicer
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for sharing, I totally agree! It really is a sum of the parts. The Broadcast is definitely one of the pedals that really springs to mind when talking about transformer colour, as well as something like API's Select TranZformer range. T
@paultraynorbsc627
Жыл бұрын
Thanks Tyler 🎸🎸
@TylerSpicer
Жыл бұрын
No problem Paul, thank you for watching! T
@PaddyLeggBass
10 ай бұрын
Fantastic video
@TylerSpicer
10 ай бұрын
Thank you dude!
@EirikHasselberg
Жыл бұрын
Tubes driven hard rob the bass of bottom. These days I tend to just find the bass with the pickups/sound I want, record through an Apollo, slap an UAD Ampeg B-15N on and that is it. I have spent thousands on equipment that just end up making the sound artificial and weird so now I just try to capture the sound of the bass and the player and that is it. Some slight transparent compression and EQ and that is it.
@bones2532
Жыл бұрын
Something to think about... When I first got my Ampeg SVP Classic Preamp, I was a little bit disappointed, because it didn't give me 'THAT SVT SOUND' I was actually looking for. Its circuitry's just not designed to produce heavily overdriven tones, but it delivers crystal clear, warm and punchy sounds with that unique sparkeling highs, harmonics and a little bit of tube compression when saturated. It's a fantastic all tube preamp/DI for clean tones and I don't want to miss it. Those roaring overdriven tones, SVTs are famous for, are - from my experience - result of a saturated power section, which consists of not much more than power tubes and output transformers. Haven't found any tube preamp yet, that's really capable of emulating the sound of a saturated tube power stage. There's more about it than just harmonic distortion and a different EQ curve. I think you're right, maybe the big transformers, necessary in tube amps and rarely used in solid state circuits, as they're heavy and expensive, make the difference. I remember that Warwick once designed a special signature solid state power amp for Jonas Helborg with big output transformers in it. Heavy weight and pretty expensive. I think I have to try some transformer based DI/preamp devices. Seems to be an interesting option... Thanks for the interesting content and inspiration, Tyler!
@WoWwYnAtoR
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the video! Super interesting to think about. For reference, is it possible for you to make an AB comparison soundclip? Thank you for everything you put out for us! Love it.
@Ithumpify
Жыл бұрын
I would be interested to hear what you think of the Gallien Krueger legacy 800.
@mojoemurphy
Жыл бұрын
Personal favorite for me is SVT with an 810. It's remarkable really. After that my faves are the mesa subway 800 and then GK 800 RB
@marvinrockon
Жыл бұрын
Yes. The big and heavy bass amps are the best. I never got impressed by any class d amp, but i love the chunky ones. They just have the juice and meat i love.
@kevindean9613
Жыл бұрын
after years of using digital amp I've gone back to using Tube ( ashdown CTM100) It's not that heavy & it gives the two sounds I mainly use instantly .
@ulis3082
Жыл бұрын
exactly what i say since a decade. For me is not the tube the important. But: what preamp (pedals) are out there with quality transformers (output and perhaps even input)?
@TylerSpicer
Жыл бұрын
The Hudson broadcast is one of them… The Cali76 TX here also. I think the Caveman (I think that’s the name!) BP1 does too! T
@Infectedbyevil
Жыл бұрын
100% agree
@rydawgi
26 күн бұрын
Can you point me in the right direction regarding some transformer based bass amps to checkout?
@BigBeansi
Жыл бұрын
Can you write down the preamp versions you mentioned? The Neve and Capi you said you use? Right now I have a Avalon 5 and a Monique (dove cage) here to test both. But I go through a Focusrite 2i 2 and not sure if it's a good choise to get the best out auf those preamps (it clips quite fast and with two signals (it gets less volume and clips even faster, almost not usable, maybe i do something wrong...) My amp is a Eich T900. Want to test it also as an power amp with the Monique in front (maybe also with Avalon 5 in Front? Saw people use it live, but i guess mainly to use the signal for PA?) Any suggestions from your side what to test for recording or live situations (with the gear) or where to add / upgrade something (like the Focusrite)?
@TylerSpicer
Жыл бұрын
Hey! Thank you for watching and commenting. So I run the U5 as a DI into either a Neve 1073 or 1084 preamp (or clone, depending on what's available) or into an API style clone or preamp in this case a CAPI VP25. I find both add a lovely saturation and size to the sound on bass. I have used the Avalon as a tone shapper in front of amps before, using the EQ switch in particular which definitely has an effect, so you can use it for both PA and your amp sound. If you have a look on my channel, I do a comparison between the Focusrite 2i2, the UA Apollo Twin X and the Apogee Duet and I think you can tell a difference between them. If you are on Mac, I would strongly suggest upgrading to a second-hand Duet 2 as they can be found for a bargain price now the Duet 3 is out. Alternatively, the Audient stuff is great, and well worth a look too! The converters there are definitely the weakest part of the chain from what I can tell in your setup. T
@BigBeansi
Жыл бұрын
@@TylerSpicer thank you a lot! appreciate your long answer! I will have a look..
@alanwadey2848
Жыл бұрын
This is definitely food for thought Tyler. I'll look out for the inclusion of transformers in gear from now on. Are there any transformers in particular that are superior for bass players?
@TylerSpicer
Жыл бұрын
General rule of thumb: the bigger the better! The CAPI VP25 I have are (I believe) the biggest transformers in the CAPI range and punch the lowest. T
@alanwadey2848
Жыл бұрын
@@TylerSpicer I've had another thought about this and it's led to another question; in the event that one does not own, and is not about o imminently own one of the described devices, how would you suggest immitating the effect? Use of compressors, drives, pre amps et al. Appologies for bad grammar and punctuation.
@PorchBass
Жыл бұрын
Tubes do add harmonic distortion. An ampeg with lots of gain colours the sound a lot. Class A tubes are handling a lot of current and have no crossover distortion. The Avalon is valve isn't it? You can buy a transformer splitter from studiospares or avid and experiment with transformer sound if you want. Just feed it a really hot input. When you do I think you'll find it doesn't make a huge difference. Output tubes saturating an output transformer sounds different, plus that transformer is usually choking the DC current so that's part of that saturation.
@TylerSpicer
Жыл бұрын
It doesn’t have valves, correct. It’s cool to hear everyone’s take on it, thank you for sharing! 🙏🏻 T
@peterhammond4570
Жыл бұрын
So is there a way to do this with a class D head, e.g. putting something the the effects loop (between preamp and power Mp sections)?
@PorchBass
Жыл бұрын
@@peterhammond4570 a DI box is a transformer in a box. You could try putting a DI box in the fx loop and driving it. I don't think it will change the sound much. A tube DI like the REDD DI will, for the better
@PorchBass
Жыл бұрын
@@TylerSpicer only the top of the line VT Avalon has valves indeed. One wonders why Avalon use valves?
@brianengquist2110
Жыл бұрын
So the new Boss Katana bass amps are supposed to punch far higher than their wattage rating. I guess this is due to the fact that they are A/B power amps. Does that mean transformers? This is all kind of Greek to me.
@mkosmos
Жыл бұрын
Same question is bugging me also. I was in store last week, played Boss Katana amp and it was wonderful. To bad I didn't tried some other A/B amps to compare
@TylerSpicer
Жыл бұрын
I just had a quick look at the schematic and a brief look doesn't show any transformers - though some major sections are quite quickly covered with to much detail. Class A/B doesn't necessarily mean transformers, but is a way of splitting signal between multiple transistors, as far as I understand. T
@RaggaDruida
Жыл бұрын
I'd say it is more of a class A/B amp design thing...
@TylerSpicer
Жыл бұрын
It could be, it's good to get everyone's take on things. I just find the more transformers I stack between the source and the output, the richer and bigger it sounds! T
@RaggaDruida
Жыл бұрын
@@TylerSpicer I mean, the best rig I've played with was an EBS class A/B amp that had that "magic" of the tubes, and I could kinda hear it in a couple of tests of the offerings by Orange and Harley Benton... It is kinda sad that there aren't that many class A/B manufacturers anymore...
@Belman5
Жыл бұрын
I'll add one thing here..........Jules Monique :-)
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