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So what's the actual problem with class D amps?

microplastic wrote:So what's the actual problem with class D amps?

That's what i'm trying to get to the bottom of!

huggernaut wrote:

microplastic wrote:So what's the actual problem with class D amps?

That's what i'm trying to get to the bottom of!

It's all about them transformers. A d class is a totally different technology.
Why a lot of us hate them? They lack that kicking you in the chest type of punch that a conventional amp has. Also they lack moral fiber.

I would go to Guitar Center or wherever, and just play through a few. Maybe you'll like them. I honestly haven't played through many class D amps. I didn't love the ones I've tried, but lots of people do. I'm probably the wrong person to offer advice on this anyway, because I usually play through a tube amp and 8x10" in conjunction with a solid state amp and 2x15" (or 4x15") when I play bass in a band. "Light-weight" is clearly not a priority for me.

JTurbide wrote:

huggernaut wrote: I wouldn't mind spending a little more for something I don't want to upgrade right away...

Well I personally think they sound great and alot of people use them but if you want to pay a little more and have a lightweight amp maybe look for an orange OB1 or an acoustic 360

Man...these OB1 demos sound so

huggernaut wrote:Damn, Kosta, for years I played through an old TNT 1x15 combo that my old guitar teacher rehoused into a 2x10 + 1x15 combo plus a horn. I loved that amp, but left it with a friend on the East coast when we headed out here.

That sounds real dreamy. Hope all's well on the left coast my man! If I lived in LA, I'd go to Old Style and see if they had something cool, and then Caveman, and then Future Music.

Not sure how to constructively give advice other than go over what I ended up with/why I liked it.

For two and a half years I played bass in a five piece band that included drums, synths, guitars, lap steel, kaoss pad, all sorts of heavy noises and tones. I ran a Sansamp bass driver into an Ampeg PF-500 head with a SVT 4x10HE. And I know its not going to rumble as hard as an SVT PRO with an 8x10 but I aint lugging that shit around on tour playing small venues and not seeing any scratch for it. But that set up slayed and was versatile as heck. Team Awesome Fuzz Machine in gated mode through that ripped and had so much low end.

I think the Portaflex series is Class D... I really couldn't tell you. It was small, portable, and kicked out the volume to support four dudes making wild noises. If you aren't getting paid but having fun/being creative, save yourself the back ache and get a portable rig.

Ghost Hip wrote:Not sure how to constructively give advice other than go over what I ended up with/why I liked it.

For two and a half years I played bass in a five piece band that included drums, synths, guitars, lap steel, kaoss pad, all sorts of heavy noises and tones. I ran a Sansamp bass driver into an Ampeg PF-500 head with a SVT 4x10HE. And I know its not going to rumble as hard as an SVT PRO with an 8x10 but I aint lugging that shit around on tour playing small venues and not seeing any scratch for it. But that set up slayed and was versatile as heck. Team Awesome Fuzz Machine in gated mode through that ripped and had so much low end.

I think the Portaflex series is Class D... I really couldn't tell you. It was small, portable, and kicked out the volume to support four dudes making wild noises. If you aren't getting paid but having fun/being creative, save yourself the back ache and get a portable rig.

These seem way more common, I'll try to check one out! Thanks!

huggernaut wrote:

Ghost Hip wrote:Not sure how to constructively give advice other than go over what I ended up with/why I liked it.

For two and a half years I played bass in a five piece band that included drums, synths, guitars, lap steel, kaoss pad, all sorts of heavy noises and tones. I ran a Sansamp bass driver into an Ampeg PF-500 head with a SVT 4x10HE. And I know its not going to rumble as hard as an SVT PRO with an 8x10 but I aint lugging that shit around on tour playing small venues and not seeing any scratch for it. But that set up slayed and was versatile as heck. Team Awesome Fuzz Machine in gated mode through that ripped and had so much low end.

I think the Portaflex series is Class D... I really couldn't tell you. It was small, portable, and kicked out the volume to support four dudes making wild noises. If you aren't getting paid but having fun/being creative, save yourself the back ache and get a portable rig.

These seem way more common, I'll try to check one out! Thanks!

The OG coming through with some reasonable, grown-ass advice. Salute!

Mudfuzz wrote:It's all about them transformers. A d class is a totally different technology.
Why a lot of us hate them? They lack that kicking you in the chest type of punch that a conventional amp has. Also they lack moral fiber.

I understand the difference in a technical sense, I'm just not sure I could tell the sound difference in a blind test. Not that I'm implying that anyone else can't, I've just sort of come to the realisation that I'm not exactly a "sophisticated listener". For me I'll take a nice sounding lightweight combo that's loud enough for rehearsals and run a DI out for any show that needs it because I am a b a s i c b i t c h.

Which is weird because when I'm watching bands if the bass player has a huge wall of fridges I'm always v. excited.

(Oh and also those Orange OB1s are dope af and I'll probably snap up the first used one I see xo bless)

I'm another person who gets along with tiny modern class D amps pretty well. If you're like me and not the pickiest with exact tone they're decent price, loud and light. Not the best sound in the world but good enough for me (and plenty of good bands I've seen)

Whatever you get having a DI out option is good. going direct into the DI with pedals at a show can suck and it should sound a bit better at least through your preamp.

But depending on the band I don't even hate going direct to DI for my whole sound at shows, so I'm a bad person and you shouldn't listen to me

coldbrightsunlight wrote:I'm another person who gets along with tiny modern class D amps pretty well. If you're like me and not the pickiest with exact tone they're decent price, loud and light. Not the best sound in the world but good enough for me (and plenty of good bands I've seen)

Whatever you get having a DI out option is good. going direct into the DI with pedals at a show can suck and it should sound a bit better at least through your preamp.

But depending on the band I don't even hate going direct to DI for my whole sound at shows, so I'm a bad person and you shouldn't listen to me

Any particular class D amp you dig?

I can't claim to be super familiar with anything in particular because I've never owned one and this is opinions from borrowed gear...

In terms of relatively cheap, light bass heads in general I'm a fan of Gallien Krueger. Always seemed like good bang for buck to me, I've got my eye on picking one up to use with my band.

Quick update: managed to play a GK class d amp that was nice, but didn't floor me.

The Fender Rumble sounded nice, but.........ehhhhh.

The Orange OB1 is fucking MONSTROUS and awesome, bigger and heavier than the others (class a/b, so naturally) but it is a sweet and MEAN sounding head. The clean tones were a bit generic, but the dirty tones were there.

But my favorite tones of the day were actually the new Way Huge Pork & Pickle into the Mesa Boogie Subway 800. The cleans on that amp were SUPER nice and it just seemed to LOVE getting smashed by the p&p.

So step one is always buy a new dirt pedal... but the mesa seems like it has a lot of what I'm after.

Everyone loves that Mesa. Read the talkbass classifieds to get cab ideas. I got a Barefaced, which was damn expensive but so light & fine.