Rank a Genz Benz shenendoah 150 LT

[Tommy_G]

Have the opportunity to buy one of these used for under US300.

What did they cost new?

I currently have a Fishman loudbox Mini which I have found tolerable but not amazing. I want more and clearer low end, and an eq that can truly dial out the annoying freqs (rg parametric) and phantom power. Will the GB Shan 150 LT have the edge over the mini? Shortcomings? Pro and cons?

Let me know asap your thoughts. Have 2 hours to make the decision.

[lschwart]

Originally Posted by Tommy_G

Have the opportunity to buy one of these used for under US300.

What did they cost new?

I currently have a Fishman loudbox Mini which I have found tolerable but not amazing. I want more and clearer low end, and an eq that can truly dial out the annoying freqs (rg parametric) and phantom power. Will the GB Shan 150 LT have the edge over the mini? Shortcomings? Pro and cons?

Let me know asap your thoughts. Have 2 hours to make the decision.

Those are terrific amps. New they were around $700 or so. I think it will easily outdo a Mini for low end, and it has much better EQ (the semi-parametric mid is very nice). Capable of a very big, full sound. Good effects--and more choices than the Mini. I'm not sure I could identify any drawbacks in comparison to the Mini. It's bigger, of course, but surprisingly light. It's pole-mountable, which is better than the Mini will ever be for dispersing sound. Your ears, of course, should be the judge in the end.

Louis

[Tommy_G]

Thanks for your input.

I took an A/B pedal and did a quick comparison between the 150LT and LB Mini.

First, the test room was a small apartment living room with very hard surfaces and a thick carpet. Not always easy to get a fair test, but my quick demo assessment concluded the LT was more open and deeper less compressed Bass and also a more musical and livelier treble.

The Fishman had an unhyped more flat sound with muddier compressed bass, perhaps nicer warmer mids and less inherent piezo quack.

I read the specs of the GB ahead of time so I could give it its best showing. What surprised me is the 1/4 inch inputs are line level 47 ohm input impedance compared with instrument level Mega OHM impedance range for the Mini. My passive piezo LL16 would have very much disliked the LT150 had I not brought along my 10M Aura pedal.

What the heck were Genz Benz thinking ! Given I have an Aura pedal. it wasnt a deal killer.

I found the microphones to be very high gain while the line inputs quite low gain. I needed to run the input levels at 9 oclock with the mic inputs and 1 oclk with the lineinputs. I run the input gains nearly identical on the Mini.

There will not be input sharing going on. In spite of the advertised 4 input config.. Lol..

The phantom power was convenient to have on board with my clip on condenser amd dialled adequately with my dobro.

The effects on the LT150 while multi featured were cheap sounding compared to the simple but near perfect voicing of the Mini's effects..

In total, I bought the LT150 because it had better fundamental tone, and phantom power. If the mini is a 6.5, the lt150 is an 8. For near identical used price, a relative standout bargain.

[lschwart]

Originally Posted by Tommy_G

Thanks for your input.

I took an A/B pedal and did a quick comparison between the 150LT and LB Mini.

First, the test room was a small apartment living room with very hard surfaces and a thick carpet. Not always easy to get a fair test, but my quick demo assessment concluded the LT was more open and deeper less compressed Bass and also a more musical and livelier treble.

The Fishman had an unhyped more flat sound with muddier compressed bass, perhaps nicer warmer mids and less inherent piezo quack.

I read the specs of the GB ahead of time so I could give it its best showing. What surprised me is the 1/4 inch inputs are line level 47 ohm input impedance compared with instrument level Mega OHM impedance range for the Mini. My passive piezo LL16 would have very much disliked the LT150 had I not brought along my 10M Aura pedal.

What the heck were Genz Benz thinking ! Given I have an Aura pedal. it wasnt a deal killer.

I found the microphones to be very high gain while the line inputs quite low gain. I needed to run the input levels at 9 oclock with the mic inputs and 1 oclk with the lineinputs. I run the input gains nearly identical on the Mini.

There will not be input sharing going on. In spite of the advertised 4 input config.. Lol..

The phantom power was convenient to have on board with my clip on condenser amd dialled adequately with my dobro.

The effects on the LT150 while multi featured were cheap sounding compared to the simple but near perfect voicing of the Mini's effects..

In total, I bought the LT150 because it had better fundamental tone, phantom power, and a trust. If tbe mini is a 6.5, the GB is an 8. For near identical used price, a relative standout bargain.

I'm pretty sure the 1/4" inputs are 270k ohms, but it is lower than a passive piezo would normally like to see. Not unreasonable, though, for many magnetic pickups, and of course fine an active pickup system. About the same as the input impedance of a Radial J48.

http://www.genzbenz.com/img/manuals/...150_manual.pdf

FWIW, I've never found the fact that the 1/4" and XLR inputs mix together very useful on my ProLT, which has the same feature.

Louis

[Tommy_G]

Had a chance to play in my music room which has a lot more volume to it and ceiling follows roofline so the bass congestion is minimal.

OMG.. Its a wonderful piece of gear! Only weighs a few poundsmore than the Mini, but is quite a bit larger.

It has the depth of bass of a decent PA system, and the parametric seems most useful to dial out standing frequencies of the room, and then use treble to add or subtract brightness. And the bass to mostly to cut boominess as the amp is clearly designed for excellent bass projection.


Very pleased with this purchase. Cannot believe what a great find this was! I will be looking for a Pro for sure,

[lschwart]

Originally Posted by Tommy_G

Had a chance to play in my music room which has a lot more volume to it and ceiling follows roofline so the bass congestion is minimal.

OMG.. Its a wonderful piece of gear! Only weighs a few poundsmore than the Mini, but is quite a bit larger.

It has the depth of bass of a decent PA system, and the parametric seems most useful to dial out standing frequencies of the room, and then use treble to add or subtract brightness. And the bass to mostly to cut boominess as the amp is clearly designed for excellent bass projection.


Very pleased with this purchase. Cannot believe what a great find this was! I will be looking for a Pro for sure,

I'm glad you like it! The ProLT sounds even better, and it has the added option of dialing-in some mild, but attractive tube saturation at the preamp stage on both channels. It is even bigger and about 10 lbs. heavier, without a pole-mount, so that's a consideration. It makes a nice acoustic bass amp as well as a guitar/vocal rig.

Louis

[agedhorse]

Originally Posted by Tommy_G

I read the specs of the GB ahead of time so I could give it its best showing. What surprised me is the 1/4 inch inputs are line level 47 ohm input impedance compared with instrument level Mega OHM impedance range for the Mini. My passive piezo LL16 would have very much disliked the LT150 had I not brought along my 10M Aura pedal.

What the heck were Genz Benz thinking ! Given I have an Aura pedal. it wasnt a deal killer.

I don't know where you got 47 ohms at the instrument input impedance. It's clearly stated in the manual that it's >270k worst case at high frequencies and is closer to 1M below 5kHz (this is part of the Piezo compensation network)

Originally Posted by Tommy_G

I found the microphones to be very high gain while the line inputs quite low gain. I needed to run the input levels at 9 oclock with the mic inputs and 1 oclk with the lineinputs. I run the input gains nearly identical on the Mini.

There will not be input sharing going on. In spite of the advertised 4 input config.. Lol..

The input sharing works well for guitars that have an on-board preamp with level control, but with the wide range of mic and instrument levels out there, this feature will be more useful to some and not at all useful to others.

Hope this helps clarify things. The entire Shenandoah line is still covered by a flat rate factory service program should you ever need service. (e-mail me at [email protected])

[BluesKing777]

I have an old (10 years ???) Genz Benz Stereo 60 in my music room that I have scared the big spider out of and blown some dust off since reading this thread!

I normally use my mixer and headphones because the house next door is pretty close but now again is ok to go....bang, have that.

I like a couple of things about it, number one is the sweepable mid controls on both channels and number two is the low ohmage input seems to like my K&K equipped guitar! Not totally sure why..... the 60 also has the cabinet cutaway so you lean it back like a monitor wedge, looks good but could be a drink catcher.....


BluesKing777.

[agedhorse]

Originally Posted by BluesKing777

I have an old (10 years ???) Genz Benz Stereo 60 in my music room that I have scared the big spider out of and blown some dust off since reading this thread!

I normally use my mixer and headphones because the house next door is pretty close but now again is ok to go....bang, have that.

I like a couple of things about it, number one is the sweepable mid controls on both channels and number two is the low ohmage input seems to like my K&K equipped guitar! Not totally sure why..... the 60 also has the cabinet cutaway so you lean it back like a monitor wedge, looks good but could be a drink catcher.....


BluesKing777.

Your Shenandoah ST-60 has the identical instrument input as the 150LT, see the above post for the information.

In my experience designing acoustic amps and pickups, the point of diminishing returns for impedance is between 500k and 1M depending on the pickup. Very high impedances (above 1M) are helpful for a few piezo-ceramic pickups that employ very small pickups or restricted displacement. With very high input impedances, the downsides are increased noise floor, tribo-electric noise from moving the cable (changing the dielectric spacing, the cable itself acts like a variable capacitance pickup), and sensitivity to RFI (radio interference).

[Tommy_G]

I don't know how I got the wrong impedance info.. Could have been a mistype or misremember.. Good to know about the warantee.

In any event, I can say that I have played through this amp every day since I bought it and I cannot believe how much I like it. I don't fight with the tone like I do on my Fishman. And I have to say that its the type of gear that sounds so darn good that it energizes my playing.

I am very very pleased with this amp.

One question: can the effects input on the back be used with a small PA Board without any issue? Is it instrument or linelevel?

The board is not in my posession or I would try it.

[agedhorse]

It is an amp line that has stood the test of time. Too bad Fender ended up having other plans after they acquired the company.