Mr. Foxen

[quote name='Phil Starr' post='1085940' date='Jan 11 2011, 07:25 PM']If this is the sound you like then why not go for a couple of lightweight active PA speakers?[/quote] PA speakers tend to not go very low, because for PA purposes you have a sub to cover that when it becomes necessary. Plus your vocalist will assume he can use them.

Is there a wah of getting a response chart cheaply, from your PC or something, using some live level output from your amp?

[quote name='51m0n' post='1084000' date='Jan 10 2011, 10:41 AM']Barefaced Super12, Bergantino AE212; take your pick. Hartke LH1000 bridged or LH500 if you like.[/quote] Fairly sure those aren't flat, the use a classic passive valve eq, which is fairly far from flat, as pleasing as that voicing is.

Are the handles on those peavey 2x10s side stacking friendly? I had one and totally don't remember.

That is a bit balatant, but stuff like this means quality has to speak for itself, rather than letting a brand label speak for it. Which is a win for the discerning consumer, issue being most consumers aren't discerning.

Barefeced Big One or the 12" version, a PA tpye power amp and a really simple clean preamp, possibly one not intended just for bass.

I post vids of this lady whenever someone goes 'I have small hands so I need a skinny necked/short scale/miniature bass instead of learning how to play properly'.

Those heads are great, and the value of watts is vastly overstated, no real point in changing cabs to squeeze more watts from the head. You shouldn't struggle with 200w into that cab unless you boost loads of bass or detune loads, and the head will be running nice and cool (mate of mine melted the transformer in his by running it at half an ohm and bypassing the safety trip), even if you add another cab. Those heads are really good, using the valve section will give you some compression and drive and make the most of the power, if you wanna be louder than that, you'll need a second cab.

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1081690' date='Jan 8 2011, 12:14 AM']I don't think heat sinks are a factor because you can't get more power out of an amplifier just by increasing the size of the heat sink.[/quote] I meant more in the style of with more heat sinking, you can run it at 2 ohms minimum rather than 4, as the excess heat generated is dealt with. [quote name='flyfisher' post='1081702' date='Jan 8 2011, 12:31 AM']Fair point about DC theory not being strictly applicable, though it's one way of 'visualising' what's going on - to a very rough approximation anyway. Given, as you rightly say, all the variability involved with music waveforms and speaker behaviours, it's a wonder we bother worrying as much as we seemingly do with precise 'matching' of speakers and amps. But I guess describing a speaker as '4 ohms' or '8 ohms' also helps people 'visualise' things - to a very rough approximation. [/quote] That is why it is 'nominal impedance', and it isn't DC, because it is impedance, rather than resistance. You get a graph and the nominal is determined from that, there is some sort of rule, which made the Barefaced big one come up as 6 ohm rather than 8ohm due to the crossover, but in the end, the impedance of the woofer was the bit that mattered.

I think heat sinking is factor too. Running more power means it all warms up and the transistors don't work as well hot, I'd guess their internal impedance increases. And beeinf up heat sinks is a big weight gain (see Peavey amps that run to 2ohm).l

[quote name='charic' post='1081235' date='Jan 7 2011, 03:58 PM']A backwards volume control so when the guitarist tries to turn you down you get louder [/quote] Actually, controls you have to push in to engage would be good, no sabotage or people messing without permission.

[quote name='dan670844' post='1080975' date='Jan 7 2011, 12:41 PM']He he I was in fact not assuming someone was going to copy existing designs, i was responding to the comment about SS preamps, yep its a touchy subject, but in a live environment If you really want good control of your signal then a good SS circuit, in terms of price performnace and cost is defo a consideration, it need not be like the ones i mentioned it could be a new concept[/quote] [quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='1079658' date='Jan 6 2011, 11:39 AM']Bass Gear is commissioning an [b]all valve[/b] bass amp head to be made in low volume, by hand, by a reputable 'boutique' amp builder in the UK. The resulting model would then be sold exclusively through Bass Gear but keeping the maker's brand.[/quote]

Shows the power of photography, the wibblyness of the top doesn't show at all. Glad mine is satin, and post that much sanding, it ain't very flat, as I found when I put my bridge on.

Every knob that isn't on full is money you have wasted buying that amp.

Nut type thing at the headstock end. Is pretty choked with paint and not had need to adjust to left alone. Just done a black powder coated steel scratchplate for a mates Rick, totally forgot to take pics.

[quote name='dan670844' post='1080597' date='Jan 6 2011, 11:43 PM']Yep Leo Fender was a genius he did the SE-5 tone stack and deluxe when in the 50's? You really think SS preamps are lame?[/quote] For the purposes of a valve amp, yes. All that other stuff you said, doesn't belong in a what do you want in a valve amp thread, because, as you specify, they are all in amps that are already made. I use separate pre and power amps according to need. Building all of them into one amp would make very little sense. People that want fiddly can make something fiddly out of bits. For the purpose of a valve amp, what I describe is what I want.

[quote name='PaulE' post='1080362' date='Jan 6 2011, 08:09 PM']Someone please answer me something Ive always heard mixed answers of? The quality of squier?[/quote] The name and quality of items don't necessarily really relate, especially not in the case of Squiers. They have been made all over the place to varying price points so the quality of things with the name on varies, but within particular series are comparable.

Also Laney. Doom.

How did control voltage fit in to the history bit, did it just predate MIDI and be not good enough to be useful?

For the people demanding 3 band EQ, check out [url="http://www.duncanamps.com/tsc/"]this program.[/url] I shows how much more flex you can get from a 2 band tone stack, and less knobs is less cost. Going solid state for the pre is a bit lame, and active valve preamps give you the issue SC120 mk IV have with noise, because they have all the noise of three gain stages.

[quote name='sk8' post='1079869' date='Jan 6 2011, 02:11 PM']No standby switch[/quote] Standby switches are really useful as a mute, a mute switch does the same (as I think Matamps have). Like end of gig massive feedback, and then silence ritual, rather than the farty fade out from killing the power switch.

[quote name='henry norton' post='1079779' date='Jan 6 2011, 01:07 PM']From what I understand a fairly large part of true overdriven 'valve sound' stems from the output transformer saturating, which would lead to the question, do you want an ultra clean, hi-fi sounding valve amp, in which case you might be better off with a largeish, modern toroidal output transformer, or do you want classic output trans saturation, in which case maybe an under rated laminated core trans would be better? You could include both on the chassis as switchable options, but with two output transformers you'd probably need a fork lift to get it on top of your 8x10 [/quote] You don't have to make it big just because it is toroidal. Aside from they are round so their form necessarily takes up a bunch of space. Small transformers just pass less power and cut low end, really not a win for bass. It is like using inefficient speakers so you can crank the amp more without loudness. Have a look at Umph's build thread where he ordered a transformer to go down to 50hz (not considered that low in the scheme of things, higher than the E string fundamental), it is huge.

[quote name='algmusic' post='1079724' date='Jan 6 2011, 12:25 PM']Simple - gain, bass, mid, treble, passive active input as light a possible[/quote] 3 band EQ with valves means Fender tone stack generally and that means you can't boost mids. That sucks. [quote name='Roland Rock' post='1079727' date='Jan 6 2011, 12:27 PM']The EBS T90 (6500s rather than KT88s but a reasonable comparison) didn't really take off in the UK, I think people think 90W is too quiet. More on: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=102651&st=0&p=955888&#entry955888"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...mp;#entry955888[/url] Like others on that thread, I think it's plenty with the right cab. Perhaps that's something that would need to be emphasised in the marketing material[/quote] Can squeeze a fair chunk more than 90w out of a pair of KT88s, depending on how you run them (and how you choose to describe your specs in marketing). Potentially they can be run really hard because replacing a pair (or even one, with individual bias) isn't nearly as prohibitively expensive as replacing a matched quad. Fairly sure 300w is giant overkill with modern cabs, if you have a valve amp, you ain't scared of heavy things, and if you want squeaky clean power stage, go SS. Oh, something else to add to my spec, actually decent valves coming stock. Even if I buy new, I have to consider the cost of replacing a bunch of valves, and that points me straight at the second hand market.

Winding on the OT for a line out/DI so it gets the power stage goodness. 2xKT88 power section, so it is a ~100w and will drive, but with KT88 flavour (this is doable, but unusual, make a little market space for yourself there). Individual bias on these two valve (only one extra pot) so don't have to mess with matching. My Ashdown valve head has a feature so that the VU on the front acts as a bias meter, that would cover the above post. Accessible pre valves for valve rolling. No avoiding modern feature that are better just because it isn't how old amps were done (like using toroidal transformers, because they are plain better, even though they don't look like drakes/partridges). Tone stack bypass. Maybe a tone stack other than a Fender type, that would be cool, although the Fender type works great for bass, even Orange are sticking it on their amps, and only scooping the midrange isn't always fun.