this weekend's experiment

[Big John]

Sitting here with caffeine in a cup, thinking about the pedal-friendly amps in my current inventory. Not much. I've gotten some killer OD and distortion pedals in the past year and by God, I want to fricking use them all. One of the very best pedal-friendly amps in the universe is the old Dual Showman. Tons of players have used pedals with this amp to produce amazing tones. And...I don't have one.

Now the coffee kicks in.

It was also one of the best bass amps back in the day according to local pal Dave Shriver (R.I.P., bassist for Eddie Cochran & Trini Lopez). Then it hits me....I have a tube bass preamp here with a signal path that's a knock-off of the old Dual Showman, the Demeter VTPB201. And I have Mesa 20/20 and 295 power amps sitting here collecting dust bunnies. Well, shit a brick, I had a rackmount Showman 2nd-cousin here the whole time.

So after raking the leaves today, the experiment begins.

 

[The Ballzz]

Another step of the same experiment is to simply run that preamp into the effects return of almost any amp you choose! That is, as long as the amp HAS an effects loop. This bypasses the amp's preamp.
Just A Thought?
Gene

 

[Big John]

Well, the experiment went superbly. Signal chain: guitar-pedals-preamp-20/20-pair/1x12 cabs. All the pedals sounded great and distinct: Soldano, Bogner Red, Blackstone Appliances, Mesa V-twin, Tim, Timmy, Analogman BD-2. I wouldn't mind gigging this menagerie of a rig out just to make other players scratch their heads.

I've done the loop return thing before with other preamps, just not with the Demeter. Might be next on the list.

 

[Soul Tramp]

John, you are on to something. My Soul Tramp Chaos preamp circuit is VERY similar to a Showman, the power amp is a quad KT88 ultra-linear 150 watt monster, and there's a footswitch control "Soul" channel that gangs in cascading gain stages.

The Showman/Dual Showman is such a fantastic amp. Killer pedal platform and beautiful sounding bass amp. Musicians always rave about Marshall O/D, but I find a dimed Fender to be smoother, more harmonic, and better articulation than a cranked Marshall.