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Ashdown Little Bastard


Pow_22
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Got gas for one of these but really worry about gig volume juice. I love all-valve and dont mind a bit of breakup but dont want full on mushy distortion. It would be paired with an Ashdown VS-212 cab, played with a flats loaded P bass against 2 guitards with 80w hybrid marshalls and a fairly loud drummist.

The option ive considered is renting one for a week to see how i get on before taking the plunge but none of the local rental places have them. Anyone on here either gig with one or prepared to lend me one for a week in return for my TC RH450 for a week?

The other option is the Little Bastard 550 but these are hard to come by and are only pre-amp valved

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[quote name='Pow_22' timestamp='1404196206' post='2490090']
Got gas for one of these but really worry about gig volume juice. I love all-valve and dont mind a bit of breakup but dont want full on mushy distortion. It would be paired with an Ashdown VS-212 cab, played with a flats loaded P bass against 2 guitards with 80w hybrid marshalls and a fairly loud drummist.

The option ive considered is renting one for a week to see how i get on before taking the plunge but none of the local rental places have them. Anyone on here either gig with one or prepared to lend me one for a week in return for my TC RH450 for a week?

The other option is the Little Bastard 550 but these are hard to come by and are only pre-amp valved
[/quote]

Your band sounds LOUD! Too loud for a LB. What about the CTM amps? If that's too much money, maybe check out some of Mr Foxen's* older amps like Sound City etc.


Where has he gone, anyway?

Edited by Roland Rock
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[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1404198405' post='2490100']
Against 2 guitards with 80W Marshals & noisy drummard - I don't think you've got a chance TBH :rolleyes: (TBH also = to be heard) B)
[/quote]
This. I tried one in a shop, through a mahoosive Orange cab, and it wasn't loud on its own. IMO it would be lost among 2 guitarists and a drummer.

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I have actually gig with one but it just have enough juice in my band to get away. My band is not loud and we play in a small venue at that time. If the bass is DI and stage volume is low and controllable then it will probably do the track. If is straightly backline with no PA support, you will struggle ...... unless you use something like a 8x10 then it might be ok ...... but that kinda defeat the purpose of using an small amp.

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Been there, done that, with that exact rig. Only just kept up with guitar, keys & mallets.

Loved it to bits, but even with 30 valve watts it easily gets outgunned. After trying numerous amps - Ashdown Spyder 330, Markbass LMii, Markbass F1 and an Orange TB500, I now have a Markbass TTE500 that gives all the LB tone and can stun cattle in the bottom field without going over ½ on the Master.

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[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1404198075' post='2490099']


Your band sounds LOUD! Too loud for a LB. What about the CTM amps? If that's too much money, maybe check out some of Mr Foxen's* older amps like Sound City etc.


Where has he gone, anyway?
[/quote]


He's here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ampstack/351966881575839

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Yup, i know Oli well and done a few deals with him. Had a SC200 MkIII not long ago and loved it. Could never get on with the two 120's i had tho, lacked balls. Ideally im looking for something in the smaller side of things

Edited by Pow_22
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[quote name='Pow_22' timestamp='1404334245' post='2491753']
Yup, i know Oli well and done a few deals with him. Had a SC200 MkIII not long ago and loved it. Could never get on with the two 120's i had tho, lacked balls. Ideally im looking for something in the smaller side of things
[/quote]

Unfortunately, if you want a valve output stage, then it'll come with a minimum weight per watt - thats just the way it goes when putting bass through an output transformer.

There are some big valve amps out there that have lightweight power supplies, but if you want old school then that means mass. Otherwise, like you said you need to be looking at hybrids.

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I have a Little bastard drophead, which is currently for sale at Drews (Manchester Bass Lounge) it is a brilliant bit of kit and when teamed up with the 212 it has plenty of power. Ive gigged with it at Soundcontrol, Drybar and a few other places. I get the sound engineer to mic it up rather than DI as it bring out the best tone that way. The DI built in is too hot after halfway. The best thing about the amp is the tone... I have record with this through a 8x10 ampeg and it sounded ridiculous. Amazing quality sound.

I have an Orange AD200 mkiii and 500w terror and the sound/tone doesn't compare.. Depends on what you want I guess

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Well if you got it from Drew then, yes you did have my old VS212! That cab was brilliant with the Ashdown.. I didn't really want to separate the set but as i'm selling the Ashdown drophead theres no need in having both. I have an AD200 and an orange bass terror with orange isobaric and a 115 Markbass.. One thing I have definitely noticed is that the mids and the warm tones I was getting have vanished. I'm searching for a setting to mimic this but not having much joy. Its a shame as the tones the ash down could produce are what I love so much about it. Just the 30w head could not cut it in medium sized gigs..

Of course 200watts of valve power and 1000w of cabinet headroom give me plenty of power, those sweet discernible tones are being sorely missed!! I hope you enjoy it!

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[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1404990068' post='2497584']
Your VS-212 is 8 ohms as well, so you'd not get full power out of the head with that cab. You'd need a 4 ohm cab, and even then you'd struggle with only 30 watts I reckon.
[/quote]

The LB is a valve amp, so it gives out its full power at both 4 and 8 ohms. The 'less power at 8ohms' thing is a micro amp/class D thing.

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The LB30 is all valve head so it will run full power whether you use 4ohm or 8ohm cab. By running it at 4ohm and connect 2x 8ohm cabs you can use more speakers to push more air.

I heard from some BC memeber that BF cab works best with the LB30 because is a sensitive cab.

I'm running mine on a old Trace Elliot 1153 atm and it sound pretty good actually.

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[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1405060466' post='2498332']
purely academically, but what kinda of super sensitive cab could make 30 valve watts work? Some kind of BFM cab?
[/quote]

One of the old-school approaches to getting the maximum useful volume out of low-wattage valve amps has been to use cabs tuned to have a hump in the midbass. Conveniently, this can often be achieved with quite inexpensive drivers in small cabs (hence the popularity of the cheap ceramic magnet Eminences as a replacement driver in the old B15n amps). This can sometimes sound boomy, but gets you an extra few decibels between 100 and 200Hz.
I guess another factor is having guitarists who are on-board with the low-wattage concept! I wouldn't want to turn up with a 30 or 50 watt bass amp when the guitarist is using a 50 watter with a 4x12", but if they were using a small combo I might consider trying it.

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I brought one and used it for half a gig only, I teamed it up with my Mark Bass cabs 1x15 and 2x10 but couldn't get anywhere near enough volume out of it, I traded it in for a 100w Hiwatt head the following day, considering my guitar amp is only 15w and fully giggable I thought a 30w head through decent cabs might do the job on the bass but no...not by a long way!

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I posted a thread a little while ago and got massive flamings for it!

Forget the LB, anything louder than a chilled out jazz trio and you will get drowned. I have tried it with a LB112, LB212 (both designed for the head) plus loads of other cabs. If you like it massively dirty, but still unaudable over the drummer, go for it.

Also, before you stick it in to the PA, buy [url="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=xlr+Attenuator&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb&gfe_rd=cr&ei=vfHCU_KvFMXR8geZg4GoCQ#channel=sb&q=xlr+Attenuator&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&tbm=shop"]an attenuator[/url] or it will be cliping all the way to a fuzzy mush. I have 2 x 20dB

Think of it as an awsome recording / practice setup and get yourself 100w valve amp for the gigs.

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My blues band isn't very loud but my LB30 (through a Barefaced Compact) couldn't keep up, which is a shame as it's the best tone I've had. I got a Little Bastard 550 instead and it's been great - loud enough, very similar tone, very light.

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