LukeFRC

Well I disagree that all class D stuff is the same - we covered that earlier in the thread- comparing the inside of say your Vivid amp or a modern tecamp puma with a powersoft power amp and you would see the massive difference! I think what it is is that a lot of companies are using the same modules two or 3 to build the power amp and supply section of their amps. I'ld also say that there are quite a few companies giving a "full range pure" sound to their amps - Glockenklang probably being the biggest, the review of their Blue Soul head in Bass Gear Magazine showed a ridiculously flat response.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1392162346' post='2365623'] Regarding that much-vaunted OOMPH: I had an Ashdown rig with mahoosive toroidal mains transformer and traditional solid-state power section. Every note came with a free OOMPH, but it wasn't until I got my first Class D / Neodymium setup that I realised that OOMPH had been denying me the subtlety, growl, and sweetness that I should have been getting. [/quote] I would suspect that it had more to do going from a mahoosive ashdown rig to the Genz Benz/TC with barefaced cabs than with the power supply!

[quote name='TomRichards' timestamp='1392160344' post='2365589'] I believe Vivid Amps does (vividamps.com) [b]Their approach is to make an amp that doesn't color your tone or signal at all,[/b] and reproduce the full range. The new VB1500 was designed using lots of comments from this forum but ultimately around their approach that bass players will use their bass or an outboard eq in many cases to get their "sound". So they try not to do anything to that. Fuchs has a new Bass Bruiser Jr. which has a valve pre and Class D power section. Also knows what they are doing. Getting power without weight, cutting down on some of the heat, but keeping the warmth and life of tubes (fuchsaudiotechnology.com) Check out both if you want to see what they are doing with Class D. I will agree though, lots of new Class D stuff out there. The Peavey one with the chicken head knobs is a good little amp and has some nice retro touch with the knobs. I saw a bunch of stuff at NAMM this year, everyone pretty equal. Nice stuff by Tecamp, Phil Jones added a new one, and even Fender had some decent additions. [/quote] isn't that just a power amp with a few extra knobs then? I think you've hit something in that last para - "everyone pretty equal" - it's all the same few class D modules with 101 different manufacturers putting them in their own boxes with their own power amps - looking at photos of the newer tecamp stuff it's gone back a few steps compared to the earlier powersoft pumas in terms of what's under the hood... not saying they don't sound nice but....

a dome with reflective walls.... oh dear. I had similar practicing problems in a room in the arches of a church roof, everything that wasn't stone or wood floor was glass! Personally if it's just for practicing I would go one cab that you can tilt back to point at you. More than one source the more random reflections will go everywhere...

aren't they less than that secondhand now?

I'm all for cheap stuff - but cheap metal parts are the worst - I would rather have the worst bits of plywood in the world - a neck that splintered and frets in the wrong places than the internal anguish and frustration that stripped screw heads cause me.

given how long that must have taken and my estimated cost of that... how do the guys at alpher manage to afford to eat?

[quote][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The EBS rig is serving me fine as such, but I would like some more options with placement (rehearsal room issues), and also see if I could get a hold of an actual two channel amp (t switch between fretted/fretless playing.[/font][/color][/quote] technically what are the issues in the rehearsal room and how would having more options with placement make them better? and... you've got a micro bass 11 in your sig - with that having 2 channels, and your amp having another one- you've already kinda got 3 channels... Also- I can understand EBS and Glock being in the same territory amp wise - but TC is very very different.....

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1392066939' post='2364376'] Daddy, what did you do in the loudness war ? [/quote] This is your father's [i]Dynamics saber [/i]Luke, a more elegant musical tool from a more civilised age....

can I just say. what a great first post!

I've been looking for smaller cabs than a 4x10 and all I can find is 4x10's... I think if I were upgrading, given the choice I would try something other than ashdown.

I've played a couple - really really nice basses. I dunno what else to say really, the two I've played have been similar to a super jazz in sound and feel. They use really nice woods, I saw a stupidly light ash body there and an awesome wenge neck, Chris really does love his fancy wood tops! They're nice pups and active circuits made in the UK, and the woodwork is really good, good attention to detail etc. No screws used I think all Hex Bolts. When I visited Chris had his Sadowsky and Valenti kicking around and I had a play on all of them, you couldn't really say any were "worse" than the others - just built to different goals. Part of me though doesn't know what to say about them, they are good high end basses and great people - what I think makes me like them is my own bass sat in the other room. I moved down to leeds about a year ago and had a warwick that was really almost unplayable cos of fret wear - well new city you don't know the cow boy techs from the really good ones and asked on Basschat for recommendations, I don't even think Alpher got mentioned but I found another thread where I found these guys in Saltaire who were making basses... going on the basis that if you could build a bass you would be able to set the frets up better I got talking to them.... My warwick is one of the greatest playing basses I've played, the action could go stupidly low (if I wanted it) and it's just such a top quality job. Highly recommended. Oh and they have their own brand strings I like too. Need to buy a few more packets of them.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1391955626' post='2362935'] So, in the spirit of this thread, who can do the DSP for us tech-numpties? [/quote] some power amps have DSP built in with handy visual interfaces for the PC - it wouldn't surprise me if given the plans for a cab and the graphs of what it will do you could work it out yourself...

either - value it on the value of some its parts... or by who put it together - theres some folk on here you would trust to come up with the good stuff

I haven't been able to find it for months.

I've had a few fender precisions down the years and played even more of them. The '70s Yamaha BB1200 I picked up almost by accident knocks the socks off them - it can kinda do precisiony - but it's so so so much more musical an instrument.

[quote name='squeezer' timestamp='1391867897' post='2362139'] As Bill F. said you can make a good or bad amp (with a good or bad power supply) of any class. Designing good class-D amps is more difficult but can be done, the other side of this is that because it's "easy" to do "high-power" class-D amps with SMPS (small, light) lots of manufacturers cut corners and make bad ones with insufficient energy storage or power reserve, and this applies just as much to bass amps (maybe more) as PA power amps. But some do it properly -- if you want *really* loud punchy bass but think class D amps can't deliver it, you could try connecting one of these up to your pre-amp and cabinet(s)... ;-) [url="http://www.pknc.com/3phase_eng.html"]http://www.pknc.com/3phase_eng.html[/url] [/quote] 15,000w watts into 4 ohms.... I think if you tried that you would get punchy sound..... one punch and your speaker cabs would disintegrate!

I would look secondhand. I have a old Yamaha BB1000 and a old Warwick SS1 which I picked up over the last few years - both of them were in the same price range as these instruments you've listed here and would be considered (rightly or wrongly) to be "better" than the brands you've suggested. Both were very very good deals I was lucky to find - but they are out there. I guess I would also ask what is it about a neck through that you're after?

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1391781469' post='2361207'] As ever, Bill, I am impressed at your generosity. And your patience. [/quote] +1 bill is a legend

[quote name='LawrenceH' timestamp='1391729126' post='2360814'] Purely hypothetically, if port area were too small for the power levels being used then a relative loss of bass as volume increases is exactly what you'd expect. Port compression should start to kick in as airflow resistance increases, before onset of more obviously objectionable chuffing. This is something we have talked about a lot and would like to address empirically with the prototype. Simulations and anecdotal reports on air speed suggest that with long throw woofers, port size is usually inadequate and this is as much or more of a limiting factor than xmax. [/quote] which is what I found with my old "less than adequately engineered" cab - not only did it seem to be tuned daftly high but what bass there was would drop out when you turned up leaving lots and lots of slightly grating mids.

[quote name='funkle' timestamp='1391724757' post='2360739'] Damn, so good I said it twice.... I'm down to my Acme B1, the Berg IP112ER, and the Berg CN112. Not too bad, really... [/quote] you should keep thinning them down!

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1391722254' post='2360699'] Yeah yeah yeah...... try the ACME.... yadda yadda yadda. The ONLY time you will ever have an obscure piece of bass kit (possibly the only one in the UK) within a 10 minute drive in this area and it has been months since you said you were going to! [/quote] Regional High End Cab Hoarders - N Wales branch captain. (as awarded by the Scottish Captain Funkle)