I've got the ol Mesa Boogie Diesel 115 / TL606 Cabs, EVM15-L (400 watts/8 ohms)

Looking for a power amp to power one of these bad boys.

Currently have just a Traynor TS-50B. It was fine for a while but new practice space, guitarist got a new amp, drummer is a heavy hitter, possibility of shows at small to medium/small venues--I need to be louder

Do you need JUST a power amp? Or a whole bass amp more powerful than the TS-50b?

Honestly I would just find a good deal on a GK 800rb and call it good. Campout last weekend was definitely reaffirming its complete awesomeness for me.

Garth wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 7:04 pm Honestly I would just find a good deal on a GK 800rb and call it good. Campout last weekend was definitely reaffirming its complete awesomeness for me

And 400rb. Both are fantastic utility amps.

I have a Peavey Classic 60, 60 watt mono tube power amp that I use for all kinds of crap. its great. My bandmate has a Peavey 120/120 which I think can be bridged to 200 watts of tube power. These rack mount Peavey Tube Poweramps are freakishly cheap. Like under $300 all the time. The 60 was only $125 and is awesome with a Rustybox. If you just need Power and don't want to lug around something huge, maybe a Quilter?

Another vote for the 800RB or 400RB.

400RB. I was a big proponent of the Peavey Mark series and the subsequent silly named models with similar circuits, the Firebass and such. They don’t last forever though. You’ll get your moneys worth out of a $100 Peavey, but you’ll get your money’s worth out of a $250 400RB too, and you do get what you pay for.

Garth wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 7:04 pm Do you need JUST a power amp? Or a whole bass amp more powerful than the TS-50b?

There's always running a Tronographic Rusty Box into a Carvin power amp or whatever if specifically recreating the TS-50b sound.

But yeah, another vote for GKs here too (older ones, not the 'Backline' stuff). We invited a friend over to play bass a few weeks ago and he just plugged a P-bass knock off straight into a 400rb. Sounded perfect.

penningtron wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:26 am
There's always running a Tronographic Rusty Box into a Carvin power amp or whatever if specifically recreating the TS-50b sound.

I know we've talked about this elsewhere but every other application I've tried or heard others use of separate pre+power amps has been...lacking in some way I can't easily define. It's like there is some sort of voicing or tone-shaping or something going on in the power amp section that makes it sound more "right" to my ears. i've even noticed this when I used to use a sansamp plugged directly into the effects return of a bass amp compared to using it w/ a Crown. I was like "why am I using a bass amp, should be the same thing." The bass amp just sounded right even though all the tone controls were effectively bypassed, whereas the power amp was sterile-sounding.

Admittedly cringing a little bit to not having the language to quantify this better but it was something I couldn't quite put my finger on. closest I can say is that it sounded like the power amp was too clean? Or hi-fi? It wasn't thin exactly, but didn't have any character, even though it was doing what it was supposed to do: cleanly amplify a signal. Too bright maybe? Could also be imagined on my part too, not ruling that out. I think last guess I had was that because a PA power amp is designed to replicate the entire spectrum cleanly you end up getting some responses in freq spectrum that are just not associated w/ what you think of as a good bass sound.

Maybe this works better w/ a Rusty Box, I dunno. Again, I could be completely full of shit here.

Garth wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:43 am i've even noticed this when I used to use a sansamp plugged directly into the effects return of a bass amp compared to using it w/ a Crown. I was like "why am I using a bass amp, should be the same thing." The bass amp just sounded right even though all the tone controls were effectively bypassed, whereas the power amp was sterile-sounding.

I could see that being the case side by side. I'm the type that would probably try to minimize the differences by messing with the EQ or even throwing something else in the chain. That said, I played guitar with a Boxidizer into 2 borrowed Traynor power amps for a spell and didn't stick with it. On paper it should have been fine, but for whatever reason concluded that I liked the Boxidizer more into the front of an amp.

I’ve definitely had a similar experience, hence recommending the GK. I was using a SansAmp BDDI into an 800RB, a la Chris Slorach of Metz, in my last project.

Thanks everyone. I had this same sort of set up years ago with a GK 400rb and felt it was all I really needed--unfortunately the GK got stolen.

Looking for a power amp suggestion was me looking trying to avoid finding and older GK. I've had decent luck buying used gear in the past but it has been a while. I might save money if I went the power amp route...and time.