Alternative to Superbass 2

[Dicesociety]

I wondered if anyone could help please?
I'm about to join a band after a hiatus of around 10 years and need a new rig. My current amp is a JCM 800 Bass series, Superbass 2, model 1992 from 1983 which is very clean and punchy sounding. I absolutely love the sound and feel of it. Due to it's age though, my plan is to keep it at home and find something else to gig and rehearse with. The problem, is that I'm struggling to find anything I like. I have tried a Genz Benz Streamliner in the past but realised that the class D nature of it sounded lacking to me, and I also felt disconnected as if there's a very slight delay before what I play comes out the speaker. Perhaps class D amps have improved recently.

So what I was wondering, does anyone have any suggestions of an amp I should try?

 

[FutureProf88]

I have been using a UAFX lion for guitar and it has a pretty good Superbass model in it. You could potentially get one of those and an Orange Pedal Baby (how I usually power the cabinet) or use the effect in of a bigger bass amp. The Lion feels as good as real Superbasses I’ve played. Now granted the model is a JMP Superbass and not the JCM 800.

 

[Tatzmann]

Due to it's age?

What are you more scared of? That your amp breaks or get stolen? I'd be more scared to look like a generation-z kid playing a little toy amp.

Just gig your 800, you won't find a much more reliable amp anyways.

 

[V-man]

The Lion feels as good as real Superbasses I’ve played. Now granted the model is a JMP Superbass and not the JCM 800.

The JCM 1992 is likely to the JMP 1992 as the VBA is to the JCM 1992… entirely different animals. Owned the JCM, never played the JMP (yet), but the latter has a drive/breakup character to it whereas the JCM must be virtually dimed and the player must beat the shit out of the strings to get anything more than clean on it.

I have no idea what analogs exist to the JCM (if any) but it’s a bombproof amp, so why not use what you have?

 

[mtbcn]

I've had both an 80s Superbass and VBA400. Both were my favorite bass amps, even more than the 70s SVTs I've played through.

I don't see any reason to retire the Superbass. Just replace the caps when the time comes and keep it going. The only thing that I have found that I like as much as the Superbass or the VBA400 is an Ashdown ABM500, which is small enough that you could bring it on tour as a backup. (I found replacing the 12AX7 with a JJ ECC83S was the best sound.)

Other than that, my vote is to save your money and keep what you have. If you need louder, get a VBA400.

 

[Dicesociety]

Thanks everyone. Re the age, at the moment most of the pots are extremely crackly, and the caps are all all still original, so yes fair enough, I think I just need to get it serviced and the original caps replaced and enjoy it. Will check out an ABM500 and a VBA400 though. Cheers guys.

 

[LoudStroud]

Fat chance of finding anything that will compare to the sound and feel that JCM 800 Super Bass. and as others have said, there’s little to no concern about age.

If it would make you feel more confident about using it, just take it to a tech for a look over for any potential preventive maintenance. If filter caps are still good the more you use it the fresher they will stay. Leave it at home, they dry up. I’d use it.

I’m gigging this week with my ‘71 small box Lead 50. Nothing sounds like it.

 

[Dicesociety]

That's great, thanks for your reply. Yeah, it's sounds really good, the bottom end is massive and it's surprisingly clean for a Marshall which is one of the things I like about it. I didn't realise that the caps last longer the more you use it, so that's really useful to know.

 

[Kossfinger]

Get some deoxit and spray inside your noisy caps, then rotate the knobs to work it in. No need to see the doctor for that? Make sure you don’t touch anything else. Filter caps store electricity. Discharge those first for safety..

 

[Purgasound]

There's stuff that's close but the JCM800 1992 circuit is unique among bass amplifiers. I've never seen another tube bass amp with a cold clipper, ever!

The VBA400, despite being awesome, is not like the JCM800 1992. You may be better off with an Ampeg SVT 3 or 4. There's also the 5 and 6 but they are harder to come by. The 5 has a blendable overdrive channel which can get closer to the cranked 800 1992 sound.

I suppose it also depends on how you use the amp. If you play clean than the VBA400 will work. They're hard to find and cost a fortune to retube. A good tech can test and replace only what went bad though, a shop that's just hanging out repairs everyday might just order eight 6550's because of one bad tube. That's a lot of coin. The cost of ownership is high on that one. All good bass amps typically have that though. The modern SVT tube amps continue to have problems with that stupid bias sensing circuit. That's been a mistake since day one. The old ones are solid of they're maintained but they don't have master volumes. The Mesa 400 and 400+ are great but are also aging.

Eh, it's a crapshoot. I gig with the tube heads I like but I always bring a backup.

 

[Dicesociety]

There's stuff that's close but the JCM800 1992 circuit is unique among bass amplifiers. I've never seen another tube bass amp with a cold clipper, ever!

The VBA400, despite being awesome, is not like the JCM800 1992. You may be better off with an Ampeg SVT 3 or 4. There's also the 5 and 6 but they are harder to come by. The 5 has a blendable overdrive channel which can get closer to the cranked 800 1992 sound.

I suppose it also depends on how you use the amp. If you play clean than the VBA400 will work. They're hard to find and cost a fortune to retube. A good tech can test and replace only what went bad though, a shop that's just hanging out repairs everyday might just order eight 6550's because of one bad tube. That's a lot of coin. The cost of ownership is high on that one. All good bass amps typically have that though. The modern SVT tube amps continue to have problems with that stupid bias sensing circuit. That's been a mistake since day one. The old ones are solid of they're maintained but they don't have master volumes. The Mesa 400 and 400+ are great but are also aging.

Eh, it's a crapshoot. I gig with the tube heads I like but I always bring a backup.

Cheers. Excuse my ignorance, but what's a 'cold clipper'??

Yep, I've sprayed some contact cleaner in the pots and that helped massively with the crackles. I had a crack at biasing it last year, and it still seems good. Perhaps it's not as in need of a check up as I thought.

I did have look at SVT's but the power seems a bit overkill for doing gigs in pubs, the closest Ampeg seemed to be the V4B, but I only had you tube videos to go on though.

 

[Purgasound]

Cheers. Excuse my ignorance, but what's a 'cold clipper'??

Yep, I've sprayed some contact cleaner in the pots and that helped massively with the crackles. I had a crack at biasing it last year, and it still seems good. Perhaps it's not as in need of a check up as I thought.

I did have look at SVT's but the power seems a bit overkill for doing gigs in pubs, the closest Ampeg seemed to be the V4B, but I only had you tube videos to go on though.

A "cold clipper" stage on a Marshall is generally an unbypassed 10K resistor on the cathode of a 12AX7 triode. The stage is generally perceived as clean but when pushed results in nice harmonic content and asymmetrical clipping. They made their first appearance on the 2203/2204 preamp circuits and to my knowledge the JCM800 1992/1987 models are the only ones to feature a cold clipper without a master volume. Unique indeed. The mid-sweep control is also located between the cold clipper and first gain stage and not found on other Marshalls. There's more to the circuit than just those but I think they're cool nonetheless.
I should have also mentioned Fender Bassman amps. They might be able to get in the same ball park. The Bassman 100 amps have master volumes but still need to be cranked to start getting that nice compression. Although those are aging too and need some love to be rock solid. Mainly replacing the electrolytic capacitors and the carbon comps in the power supply.
The V4B's are cool too. I bought my first Bassman because I was playing with a guy who lugged around an Ampeg SVT and the thing was stupid heavy. I loaned him the Bassman so he could get the same tone without breaking his back trying to move the SVT in a road case all the time.