JPJ

Martin, My big heavy SWR is fitted with both front and rear rack ears and in truth, the amp also sits in the rack on its rubber feet. I know a valve amp probably wouldn't like being stored on end like I do with the SWR but I still prefer the look of rack mounting over an old school marshall style guitar amp head :-)

Just a quick update - I emailed Synergy at two minutes to eight last night. I received a helpful reply at seventeen minutes past eight! That, ladies and gentlemen, is customer service

[quote name='bumnote' timestamp='1395085466' post='2398542'] They are looked after by Synergy [url="http://www.synergydistribution.co.uk/Welcome.html"]http://www.synergydi...uk/Welcome.html[/url] They are very helpfull, [/quote] Thanks for that, email despatched to Synergy :-)

Hi folks, Now as some of you may know, I am a fan of using compression to even out my occasionally cack handed playing. Normally, my built-in compressor is set just to trap the really big transients and to almost be invisible the rest of the time. However, we are adding a new track to the set that features a bass intro that is heavily compressed. I am therefore thinking of sticking a true-bypass compressor pedal inline before my amp but need one that can do that heavy squish and as its only for the one track I don't want to spend mega bucks. What would you chaps recommend?

I have a couple of minor issue with my PJB Briefcase combo that are starting to get to the 'must do something about this' stage. Firstly, the compressor/limiter is becoming 'noisy' with an audible 'click' when the LED illuminates. Secondly, and this is a bit of a strange one, it makes a farting sound when you switch it off. If you switch off using the front power switch, it makes this sound (like a capacitor discharging through the speakers) but if you turn it off at the wall, it doesn't make this sound? Any clues or is it time for trip to see PJB's recommended amp service centre (hang on, is there an amp service centre in the UK?).

Can you not put a spacer in the hole? My U-Retro came supplied with little rubber 'o' rings for that purpose. I had to use them on one pot and they work a treat?

What about a mini-toggle switch mounted 'vertically' (i.e. up/down in the playing position), you'd be less likely to hit that mid gig? I've just fitted a custom U-Retro (active blend and same contour as J-Retro) to my Perception. The U Retro five knob comes with a passive tone which is in both the active and passive tone paths. I am amazed by how useful this is even when in active mode. It allows you to open up the sound a little more or darken it down with a twist of only one knob. I'm not sure if that's available on the ACG circuit but it might be worth considering?

'Tis a thing of great beauty! What is the control layout going to be, I'm fascinated by the pots behind the bridge? Also, what a cracking job of the PRS style knob recesses, they are a bugger to do and get to look right imho!

Thanks for all the helpful comments - I guess I need to try 200 valve watts in a live situation and judge for myself

[quote name='VTypeV4' timestamp='1394673930' post='2394002'] If 200w ain't enough... I'd be worried! [/quote] My main gig has two 100w 4x12 loving guitarists cluttering up the sonic soundscape. I like a big fat juicy clean tone and my concern with 200w is that I might be pushing the amp to the point of breakup hence the desire for 300/400w under the hood. My current rig is 1500w, although that's transistor watts and I know they are quieter than valve watts ;-)

[quote name='obbm' timestamp='1394648786' post='2393728'] Looks very nice and I'm sure it sounds wonderful however why build a modern day amp to the width of a Marshall 4x12 cab when most folk are using cabs that are much narrower. Even a 19-inch flight case can be too wide for some. Having an amp hanging over the cab just looks ill conceived and untidy. [/quote] Dave, this is very much a prototype, built on a chassis Martin had spare in the workshop and using a similarly spare head case. The finished article will be sized smaller to suit 'modern' cab sizes and I know he's still chewing over the aesthetics.

At the moment, this is very much a prototype assembled in a couple of days on a spare chassis Martin had in the workshop, so no pictures of the internals yet :-) Size wise, we discussed a smaller width, to suit standard cabs, so more 19" style than the current case and Martin is looking into this as he said there is a lot of spare real estate inside the current case. As for speaker cabs, these are in the pipeline but too early to say anything now ;-) I'm hoping Martin will join in on here so he can get your feedback first hand. Interestingly, it was me pushing him toward 400w, as I'm not sure id be happy with only 200w behind me.

[quote name='andrewrx7' timestamp='1394640986' post='2393619'] As ever, interesting reading, and thanks to Bill for sharing his knowledge. Does he ever sleep?? [/quote] Some say he's a ninja and that he has no need for sleep.......

Hello boys and girls, Like an excited small child at Christmas, I have to share this with you I've just spent the afternoon in the company of Mr Martin Ballinger of Stoneham Amps [url="http://www.stonehamamps.co.uk"]http://www.stonehamamps.co.uk[/url] and his prototype 200w hand wired british made valve bass amp. Whilst I must stress this is very much a prototype build, he is definitely on the right tracks as far as I am concerned. The amp looks like the old Marshall Superbass, and offers a three-band passive tone stack, gain & master volumes. The other two controls in the pictures are currently labelled feedback and presence but these are for development only and I understand will not feature in the finished product. The tone stack is very musical, none of your semi-parametric +/-15dB nonsense, just a good old fashioned musical tone stack that does what it says on the tin. The thing I particularly liked was the mid control, and how it affected the sound without introducing any brittleness to the tone, even when fully open. The bass and treble worked in exactly the same way, and I'd recon it would be nigh on impossible to get a bad tone out of this amp. Yes, your not going to be able to get the super scooped mid sound you get with a 12 band graphic eq, but that's not what this amp is about. Now its been along time since I owned a full valve amp, but on plugging in I was immediately reminded of the 'spring' that a full valve amp offers over a transistor or hybrid amp. We tested the amp using my SWR 6x10 and the roundness of tone was something to behold. I loved the way the full 'width' of every note is heard and how 'digging in' affected only the output level, not the tone. The amp was barely idling in my home office but it handled everything my clumsy playing could throw at it (including some five string low B 'bombs') without breaking up. Unfortunately, I couldn't really drive the amp hard at home so cannot comment on when/if distortion occurs or how musical the distortion is, but based on the clean sound, I'm sure this will also be a joy to hear. Martin plans to upgrade to either a 300w or 400w output stage (I requested 400w for maximum guitarard killing capability) and to finalise the layout to suit a more bass amp 'standard' (i.e 19" width). The finished product will include niceties such as a mute switch, tuner out, DI with ground lift & possibly pre/post switching, and an effects loop will be offered as an option. Martin would welcome any feedback from you guys as to what features you might want/expect from an all british, hand wired, valve amp, so please comment away! Oh, and if the final models come in close to the price point he indicated, then please form an orderly queue behind me Final thing, if your going along to the North East Guitar Show this coming Sunday, then Martin will be there with the prototype for you to try out for yourself.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1394571051' post='2392944'] The depth per se doesn't make much of a difference, but the volume of the enclosure determines how the speaker will perform. Too small and the low end will be choked off while the midbass will be boomy. [/quote] Interesting to read that Bill because my perception is that deeper cabs seem to project better - but that's probably just that the deeper cabs are nearer to optimum volume?

Sounds like a capacitor on its last legs?

As it would appear that my knackered back as further knackered itself (nothing at all to do with humping my man-sized bass rig honest ), I might be forced to consider moving to some of this new fangled lightweight gear sooner rather than later. Having had a mooch around online and on here, one amp that interests me is the GK Fusion 800, reason being I liked the sound of the old GK Fusion (550?) and 800w would give me the comfort of knowing that I should be able to get my preferred clean sound at higher stage volumes. I know the 800w version is relatively new, but have any of our esteemed membership been up close and personal with one of these babies yet? If so, what's the verdict?

Being a huge fan of the SWR sound, I was wondering what, if anything, is going on at SWR these days? Last I heard they'd been bought out by Fender and a quick look at their website gives no clue with most of their signature products (SM Series, Redhead etc) no longer listed.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1392301769' post='2366999'] Something that is never quite right for any application..... [/quote] Hmmm I have to disagree with that, based on using the "one-knob" compressor on both my PJB Bass Buddy and Briefcase. In my main gigging rig I'm spoiled as the SM1500 has a full feature (threshold, ratio, attack, release) four knob solution built-in, but before that, I used one side of an Alesis 3630 to good effect in my signal chain. I've also used the little Aphex pedal compressor too, which is great for trapping peaks, but won't do that big squish if that's what your after.

The Schroeder I had was the best cab I've owned at filling a room with really good bass sound, and yes, I regret selling it

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1392800088' post='2372786'] But you don't need big drivers to do this & remember, driver diameter has no bearing on how much bass a cab produces, that is down to the tuning of the cab. [/quote] Amen brother, and a well known to any of us who have ever used any of the Phil Jones Bass stuff with the 4" speakers.