Demeter Bass 400? Anyone used it?

murphy

murphy

May 5, 2004
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#1
VT400D_L.jpg
 
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#2
I have it. I think it's a great amp and may go down as my favorite ever. After owning it for a short while I bought the Demeter VTBP-M-800D figuring it had to be even better, right? Wattage aside, I thought the Bass 400 was every bit as good and sold the 800D.

If I had to sum it up I'd describe the 400 as sounding just like the 800D (it has the same preamp) but is a little quicker than the tube-driven-output 800D, which I like. I thought the 800D would sound much beefier, but it didn't - to my ears.
 
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#3
Though almost double the price of the Mesa D800( for me), I am interested if anyone has a comparison?

I so loved my Alembic F2b/ SWR stereo 800 combination....my hopes are that I might recapture that mighty sound in a lightweight package.

I love my Markbass heads, but they do not compare
 
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#4
murphy said:
Though almost double the price of the Mesa D800( for me), I am interested if anyone has a comparison?

I so loved my Alembic F2b/ SWR stereo 800 combination....my hopes are that I might recapture that mighty sound in a lightweight package.

I love my Markbass heads, but they do not compare
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The combo of the F2B and SWR is going to be hard to beat. I still don't think the light stuff has the heft of the lead sleds.
But the F2B is in a class of it's own. If you find something please let me know.
 
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#6
I haven't tried it against a Mesa D800 or Alembic/SWR combo so I can't offer anything there. I did put it up against my long-standing #1, my Powersoft Puma 1000, and my Tech 21 VT Bass 500, which is a pretty cool amp with a nice tube emulation. The difference was night and day. Tube thickness and heft galore. I sold the Puma and relegated the VT Bass 500 to backup.

The Demeter Bass 400 certainly costs more than the Mesa, Peavey MiniMega, etc. But it is several hundred less than the Demeter VTBP-M-800D and to me sounds every bit as good.
 
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#7
JxBass said:
I have it. I think it's a great amp and may go down as my favorite ever.
If I had to sum it up I'd describe the 400 as sounding just like the 800D (it has the same preamp) but is a little quicker than the tube-driven-output 800D, which I like. I thought the 800D would sound much beefier, but it didn't - to my ears.
Click to expand...

tube driven output in the 800 but not the 400??? I am confused what is the difference?

I see the 800 has two tubes....Tube: 1-12AX7a selected 1-12AT7
 
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#8
murphy said:
tube driven output in the 800 but not the 400??? I am confused what is the difference?

I see the 800 has two tubes....Tube: 1-12AX7a selected 1-12AT7
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The tube-driven preamp is the same in both units. That tube is the one to the left. In the 800D the tube to the right is driving the output section. The output section in the 400 uses a Burr-Brown line driver, which has been around for awhile and is described in Wikipedia and other sources on the internet. It's pretty high quality. I couldn't really tell any difference between the 400 and 800D, sonically.
 
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#19
murphy said:
I received my VTBP 201 today
Running into the poweramp of my Magellan 800
I'm in heaven
Click to expand...

Awesome, is it the older 1 and 1/2 rack space version or the silver single space version?

My first piece of Demeter gear was the silver VTBP-201s preamp and that along with an SWR Stereo 800 power amp was my gig rig for 10 years straight until I was seduced by the Mesa M6 Carbine for about 5 years. As of last year I came upon a used Bass 600, which is a discontinued model that is an HBP-1 preamp with a MOSFET power section and I've been in tone heaven again ever since. I regret being led astray by the Mesa cause the Demeter tone is so much more my sound.

image.jpeg
 
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