Stereo amps/preamps

[fivestringdan]

Phil Jones make a two channel combo. Anyone have experience with that company?
https://www.pjbworld.com/cms/index.php/product_suitcase_compact_bg-400/

[keith_h]

My only experience with Phil Jones was with their Micro 7 which is suppose to share the preamp with their Session 77 combo and from the looks their newer BE-17. I bought the M-7 for when my wife and I are traveling and as something I could use with folks playing acoustic guitars. I ended up returning it. I could not get a  balanced tone without a lot of distortion at anything above conversation levels. That experience has put me off their smaller amps. If I were in the market I would consider one of their 4 speaker or larger combos but would have to spend some time with it before making a permanent decision.

[bigredbass]

The best I ever sounded was through a component rig with one of the 80's Yamaha P2200 amps;  I forget the model #, but the big one with the VU meters.

These things were BUILT.  We did a house system install in a club that later burned down.  We retrieved the rack with 4 Yamaha power amps, and three of them went on to live long (albeit always with a slight smoke smell even after all the cleaning we could do), productive lives afterwards.  In those days, all the likely suspects (Crown, Crest, QSC, etc.) were all players, but none were built as well as the P-Series Yamahas though they could be very good, and none of them were as anvil-reliable in all cases.

I would not hesitate to buy any of their current offerings, IF I could walk away from lightweight Class D rigs and could go back to hauling Big Iron.

[fivestringdan]

I agree the Yamaha power amps sound fantastic. I use a Yamaha X8 and I like it as well.

I was think about a smaller rig for stereo as well. I have two Marshall Dynamic Bass System 7200 that i use as a stereo rig as well. Talk about monstrous! I saw that Phil Jones use to make a D-600 two channel amp. Maybe find one used see how it sounds.

[hammer]

I can’t really say that much about the smaller PJB suitcase type of models but my big rig consists of my Yamaha power amp, SF-1 and a pair of F1-X preamps when I want to go the stereo route. Those are played through an 8 x 5 cab ( which I use alone for smaller gigs that are acoustic other than me) and 16 x 5 plus the other cab for all electric. I’ve had lots of compliments on my sound being “clean” and able to nicely cut through the electric guitar and drums (and one negative comment that my sound was too clean and I needed to produce a more “DD & D” sound (the drunk commenter defined it as “down, dirty and distorted”

[cozmik_cowboy]

The best I ever sounded was through a component rig with one of the 80's Yamaha P2200 amps;  I forget the model #, but the big one with the VU meters.

Well, I have been racking what's left of my aged brain for hours, and cannot call up the models (help me out, Wolf?); I do seem to recollect that we used 3 different models in that line:  A 2-space unit for highs, a couple of 3-space ones for high- and low-mids, and a big honkin' one for lows.

These things were BUILT.  We did a house system install in a club that later burned down.  We retrieved the rack with 4 Yamaha power amps, and three of them went on to live long (albeit always with a slight smoke smell even after all the cleaning we could do), productive lives afterwards.

Yeah - now that's the reliability I'm talking about!  I'm just shocked that one died.


Peter

[fivestringdan]

I wanted to try some of their larger cabinets. I'm very happy with my Bag End cabs atm but would hurt to check something else out.

I can’t really say that much about the smaller PJB suitcase type of models but my big rig consists of my Yamaha power amp, SF-1 and a pair of F1-X preamps when I want to go the stereo route. Those are played through an 8 x 5 cab ( which I use alone for smaller gigs that are acoustic other than me) and 16 x 5 plus the other cab for all electric. I’ve had lots of compliments on my sound being “clean” and able to nicely cut through the electric guitar and drums (and one negative comment that my sound was too clean and I needed to produce a more “DD & D” sound (the drunk commenter defined it as “down, dirty and distorted”

[hammer]

I purchased the cabs from a member in Chicago so they were used. Shortly after they arrived I noticed distortion in one of the cabs and traced it to a specific speaker that looked and sounded blown. Called PJB and talked with some really nice people there about the problem and not only did I have a replacement speaker at my doorstep 3 days later (at no cost to me)  but installation instructions so detailed a 8 year old could have done the work and some free PJB schwag.  I know a lot of people who just don’t buy the PJB premise that an array of many 5 inch speakers moves as much air as a few large ones, but if clean sound and letting your Alembic sound shine through is what you want along with getting plenty of low end the larger cabs are worth a try.

[BeenDown139]

been lurking on this thread.  it's a prototypical sloppy march winter day here in the mile high, i'm as little bored, between dog walks and getting baked so here we go...

I know a lot of people who just don’t buy the PJB premise that an array of many 5 inch speakers moves as much air as a few large ones, but if clean sound and letting your Alembic sound shine through is what you want along with getting plenty of low end the larger cabs are worth a try.

i've been in the stereo camp for years.  these days my stereo basses consist of a 4-string fretless anneversery and a 5-string fretted series II.   i've never gotten a good solid bottom out of my neck pickup channel with anything smaller than a 15", especially with the 5-string.  my road 15" cab weighs 38 lbs. including the integrated 250 watt amp.  a fair trade-off imho.

i use a PJB 2x4 for the bridge pickup channel in my home setup.  the definition and impulse response is definitely a cut above the 2x10 speaker i use for my road cab imho.  i can get away with it in stereo mode because the bridge channel doesen't really pass any fundamentals, it's all overtones, fret rattle and string noise as far as i can tell. 

ymmv and all that rot.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I will side with Beendown here.  I have been told that (for instance) eight 5" speakers make a 40" air column, thus more than one 18".  Not so; eight 5" speakers make eight 5" air columns.  Bass needs a large air column to be right; at least a 15", 18" even better (I have no experience with 21" speakers, but smile at the very thought....).

Smaller speakers are fine for bi-, tri-, or quad-amping, but you need some meat down low. 

Peter (who will admit to being a cranky old fart, but wants to feel the bass)

[fivestringdan]

I just got a PJ 2x7 cab with a smaller driver for the highs. I have it set up with a Genz Benz 1x12 and together they sound great. I would really like to hear the larger PJ stuff and there are some very large cabs local. I've only run one amp through it so far and need to get some others to test out but beendown's description is close..lol More fiddling for sure and I need to find a room to listen other than a slab floor like me house.

[fivestringdan]

I will say that the PJ box is how I like to hear highs. I haven't compared it to my Bag End 15 cab with the horn but I'm liking the PJ so far.

[BeenDown139]

guess i didn't address the neck channel.  last summer i was putting together a new stage rig so i experimented with this setup to figure out what i really need for each.  i'm sure there's some body of knowledge out there about this so i've probably re-invented the wheel. 

with the SII especially, the sonic spectra from each pickup seems to have no middle ground.  i.e. i only get fundamental out of the neck, very little high frequency content except for transients like from popping the strings.  the bridge is just the opposite.  even using the neck channel to amplify the bridge pickup yields very little bottom end.  so i used that to my advantage.  i don't need an especially high-quality/full range cab for the neck cabinet.  it's just gotta be able to handle me pounding on the B string without coming outta the basket.  the brand i picked for this purpose is relatively cheep, lightweight and pumps out the grunt.

the bridge speaker doesn't have to handle low frequencies at high volumes, so a small, quick responding driver can deliver the squank without getting blown out by low frequencies.

pretty sure i've heard about guys using a guit@r amp for the bridge channel in their stereo bass rigs.  makes sense to me, that's essentially what the PJB is in my rig even though it's called a bass amp.

this won't work as well with a mono bass btw imho.  i use the same rig driven in parallel with my mono basses but they don't come close to the clarity and definition i get from the stereo basses.  same with using the stereo basses in mono mode.  stereo is the shizzle.

[fivestringdan]

I had not considered that. I have a peavey classic 50 that's a screamer. I bet it would sound great used as the bridge pickup amp.

guess i didn't address the neck channel.  last summer i was putting together a new stage rig so i experimented with this setup to figure out what i really need for each.  i'm sure there's some body of knowledge out there about this so i've probably re-invented the wheel. 

with the SII especially, the sonic spectra from each pickup seems to have no middle ground.  i.e. i only get fundamental out of the neck, very little high frequency content except for transients like from popping the strings.  the bridge is just the opposite.  even using the neck channel to amplify the bridge pickup yields very little bottom end.  so i used that to my advantage.  i don't need an especially high-quality/full range cab for the neck cabinet.  it's just gotta be able to handle me pounding on the B string without coming outta the basket.  the brand i picked for this purpose is relatively cheep, lightweight and pumps out the grunt.

the bridge speaker doesn't have to handle low frequencies at high volumes, so a small, quick responding driver can deliver the squank without getting blown out by low frequencies.

pretty sure i've heard about guys using a guit@r amp for the bridge channel in their stereo bass rigs.  makes sense to me, that's essentially what the PJB is in my rig even though it's called a bass amp.

this won't work as well with a mono bass btw imho.  i use the same rig driven in parallel with my mono basses but they don't come close to the clarity and definition i get from the stereo basses.  same with using the stereo basses in mono mode.  stereo is the shizzle.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I had not considered that. I have a peavey classic 50 that's a screamer. I bet it would sound great used as the bridge pickup amp.

I am reminded of Cipollina explaining the reasoning behind his rather mind-blowing rig, which was, for each pick-up on his SG, a Standel bass amp for lows; for highs one got a Fender Twin Reverb and one got a Dual Showman head driving 6 Wurlitzer horns:  "I like the rapid punch of solid-state for the bottom, and the rodent-gnawing distortion of the tubes on top."

Peter