umph

[quote name='Andy Blowers' post='663266' date='Nov 23 2009, 10:35 PM']Oh god, the power tube overdrive with the Marshall and the Vintage would be quite a scary one. The Simms is 100 watt, but valve, and I'd use that for smaller rooms. I'm using an Ashdown ABM 300 watt 1x15 combo for smaller gigs at the moment, but I just crave that valve sound. Nothing else does it for me. The Simms is currently in need of repair, but is apparently silly clean sounding, with loads of headroom... Guess it will be suck and see.[/quote] i love those simms it's a shame its not one of the kt88 amps, there truely beautiful whats the current wait time on the vintage? i'm really very tempted by one at the minute, giving into gas i think i want a cab with more real low end.

mine isn't

[quote name='jim_bass' post='666929' date='Nov 27 2009, 12:03 AM']Just to clarify - the hernia was not caused lifting the amp, but lifting all the other PA- amp, rack, speakers, piano etc etc. I just want to make life easier and stop the problem recurring.[/quote] oh right fair, if it could seriously cause you problems i'd explain this to your band i'm sure they'd wouldn't mind if it meant you still being able to play with them. The markbass may be a good idea anyway with the smaller cab i'm guessing it'd be a similar sound to the rig you have at the minute.

lift with your knees not your back, that stuffs not that heavy.

don't give up so soon, things like this rarely work first time, stick with it if you can. If you like you can send it to me and i'll get it going for you if you want?

I've been working on something like this that may intrest you it's essentially a 7 - 15ish watt amp depending on what power amp valve you use in it (it's cathode bias so as long as it has the same pinout as a 6v6 / el34 / kt88 type valve it'll be fine to stick it in) which is ran into a dummy load, so you can either use it to power a speaker or as a distorted preamp which sounds mint and is quite flexible in terms of sounds. I think it'd be doable to get someone to build you one into a 1u rack case although you'd definatly have to run some fans full wack on it to stop the dummy load melting.

[quote name='NickSpector' post='666265' date='Nov 26 2009, 02:31 PM']Ok, so my rig is pretty weird. I've got two different channels, one with Sansamp BDDI into Octaver into 30 band graphic EQ into stereo PA head. The other side is my Barber LTD Overdrive into Distortion into phaser into 30 band graphic EQ into other amp of stereo PA head. Basically, this set up is ok, but sounds a bit weak for some reason. I like the idea of keeping the octaver seperate from the other effects, as this creates a wall of sound effect when the octaver and distortion are running together in stereo. However. for other songs, when just the Sansamp and Barber are running, the signal sounds somewhat thin, like it's lacking 'balls' (my EQ on both channels is set up with a huge mid bump from 500hz to around 4K, so this shouldn't be the case). If I ran both sides into a channel, but changed the amp into mono mode, rather than stereo, so all the signal were going into both amps in the head, would that cause problems? i've done it before, and because the input gain is effectively doubled, it sounds a lot beefier and more powerful. Ideas?[/quote] boost your low mids as apposed to high mids

you can cut strips on strip board so you don't have to have a component a line it's what i do. Also you only need 1/2W most people don't even use 2W in amps!

[quote name='basshead56' post='663963' date='Nov 24 2009, 04:30 PM']Hi, Need a wee bit of help. In trying to shift my guitar amp (JCM2000 TSL and 1960a cab), I've been offered a swap. its a Marshall VBA 400 head and matching 4x12. Anyone know if this is a good move? Any thoughts on the amp? Cheers[/quote] jump on it mate, can't go wrong with a vba400 unless you want to crank it haha.

few mistakes on the diagram your tone pot doesn't look wired right and the diode lift is wired wrong, you only need a single pull and it just essentially needs to break the connection between the diodes and the cap. [url="http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=75787.0"]http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/inde...p?topic=75787.0[/url] - this may be a better layout than the one you used that looks quite OTT

[quote name='Chris Horton' post='663223' date='Nov 23 2009, 09:50 PM']has anyone used any THD Hotplates ? I understand they plug in between your valve amp head and speaker cab so you can drive the amp hard and then turn the signal down so it is not too loud but still gives you the desired tone. what do people think of them ? im thinking of geting one as my amp is mostly used in a small ish hall any thoughts greatly recieved [/quote] not a great idea with bass amps as they tend to be more powerful and those THD hotplates wont be able to handle anything over 100watts really without catching fire. You shouldn't have problems cranking a 50-100watt head either.

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='663111' date='Nov 23 2009, 08:07 PM']Nah, no sound at all. Actually i get a tiny bit of sound when it's plugged into a DC adaptor so i suppose there is something wrong with the way i did the battery for a start. The thing is that i think the idea of doing a stripboard is flawed to begin with. I'm considering that i should just get a bead per hole board and that way it'll be a lot easier to have a visual reference with the schematic when i wire it because if there is something wrong with the wiring on the stripboard i seriously wouldn't know where to start.[/quote] i normally use strip board - prefer it to pcbs, much more room for experimenting etc. what layout did you use, can you post pictures and do you have a dvm?

no sound at all? debugging time don't put yourself down! check your wiring then check it again.

[quote name='joegarcia' post='658817' date='Nov 19 2009, 02:05 AM']Tried my new amp today for the first time (thanks again Gareth!) and it's fantastic. However, when I really dug in I got a 'bottoming out' sound which sounded like nasty speaker breakup. It's not speaker breakup and the drive led was coming on, there seemed to be no good middle ground with the gain control between being too quiet and distorting in an unpleasant way. I know there are compressor/limiter options but I'd like to know if anyone knows what 12ax7's might get more headroom out of the preamp. I've been told Philips are good for this but they cost an arm and a leg. Any suggestions? It needs five of them so can't be [i]too[/i] pricey. It has EHX in at the moment I think. Was thinking of putting ECC81's in there as they are lower gain but am worried it won't drive the poweramp hard enough. Any ideas?[/quote] run the master flat out and turn the input gain right down, the preamps are really hot on svt's and they tend to break up really quickly if your not careful with the input. Also you could try changed the first valve for a 12au7 or 12at7 to reduce the gain. svt's are really easy to bias yourself are both the bias lights on the back green?

aye or wire it up so you can do both! Use a switching jack and have the output of the buffer go onto the tip and have the switch go to the blend knob. so when you don't have a cable plugged into the parallel output you'll have a clean blend on the pedal and when you do you'll have a parallel buffered send!

most likely to do with endorsements

stick the blend knob on the side or replace the pot with resistors and have a permanent blend?

[quote name='tauzero' post='274356' date='Sep 1 2008, 10:56 AM']Fenders (aims kick at g**tarist's Fender amp which needs a new hideously overpriced and needlessly complex input jack) Ampegs (aims kick at rehearsal room SVT350H which keeps crapping out) SWRs (sound horrible and thin when used to replace Ampeg SVT which keeps crapping out) Warwicks with thick necks Ludicrously expensive straps Rickenbacker basses Gibson basses Planet Waves cables Hofner violin basses[/quote] ;o fender amps are great, dunno about the modern ones but the older ones are good for cranking. nowt wrong with rickenbackers or grabbers either.

aye that one, and they will have done something similar. you should have no problems fitting it in a box that size as long as your economical with your vero layout.

so you can switch between jumbo tone bender and muff, tonebenders tend to keep the low end better than muffs and have a clearer distortion. i'd recomend a simple buffer with a opamp such as [url="http://www.muzique.com/lab/buffers.htm"]http://www.muzique.com/lab/buffers.htm[/url] i'd recomend the first of the opamp ones - super clean etc and just add a blend knob (wire the output of the muff and the output of the buffer to the two outside lugs of a pot and take the output of the circuit from the middle)

you'll need to buffer your clean blend or your going to create a feedback loop. also i'd recomend adding a switch to switch out the first set of diodes.