Chienmortbb

I was perusing the Vox site today and they have two models both 30” scale. https://voxamps.com/en-gb/series/starstream-basses-en-gb/

That just about sums up my concerns.

Strange that they cover the top and back with Tolex. Probably means that they have wood panels there? The tweeter on the 12 Cube seems almost hidden by the grille. Lots of other things that I would not like but you can't argue with the weight. Interesting YouTube video on carbon fibre here

It's funny but I have never seen one befoere. I was intriguesd by the NuTube concept though. The cabinet looks moulded. Is is wood or resin based?

You horrible man. Just when my finances were starting to get back on track you show me this? Yes this wouild be ideal if you are doin a lot of work, and like Ashdown, they have excellent customer service being in the UK and nice Devonian people. Over the years I have used Antex, Weller and varoius cheap and cheerful brands but as I amsemi retired I now only use the Antex irons although I am tempted....

One problem with the soldering irons on EBay are that new bits are hard to find. Of course a temperature controlled iron is great but a good one is expensive from a reputable manufactur Having soldered for 50 years (with the odd tees and wee break) I would suggest that someone new to soldering choose an Antex iron. These can be picked up for about £20. Although not servo controlled they do maintain temperature well. They are UK based and do have temperature controlled irons. However I would suggest an 18 or 25 watts Antex fir about £20 is your best staring point.

Sounds like you should be OK then.

I am just wondering what motherboard and processor you will be using... Seriousley though, the amp itself will be 90% plus efficient but the biggest issue with those amps is the inductors. They often use the wrong core material and many people replace them with improved inductors. You will know if you run it at even moderate levels, if the inductors get hot you may need to change them. For those that are wondering, the inductors are the black squares.

No I used to do that when the washers came from beer bottle tops but using ring pulls, you end up with a picture like @marleaux62 😎

You're fine. its pixelation from a low resolution picture. you just need a better camera. 📸

Just to add, those amps are incredibly efficient and shoiuld be fine as used here.

Welcome Phil.

There may be several reasons for this but the main reasons are, IMHO the density of wood is not consistant plus the wide tolerance of the electronic components. Body = Alder varies from 26 - 42 lb/ft3. Or can be almost 63% heavier for the same volume. Neck = Maple varies from 39 - 47 lb/ft3. Or can be almost 21% heavier for the same volume. Fingerboard = Rosewood varies from 50 -55* lb/ft3 Or 10% heavier for the same volume, depending on species. Then it seems clear to me that an alder body with a density of 26 will sound much different to one with a density of 42. Althought the amount of change in Maple is much lower, more of the string length is above Maple and so it could have a similar, or bigger effect on the sound than the body wood. Electronics. The pots and capacitors in a passive bass usually have a tolerance of =/- 20%. A typical P bass has two pots and one capacitor. These react with pickups that also have a tolerance (usually undefined). A 500K pot could be 400K or 600K. The electronics as a whole, form a tuned circuit and changing anything affects the tuning, and in the end the sound.

All true although my knowledge of Trace was confined to the BLX130 a small combo that weighed as much as a small house. However it was well designed and well built and did what was expected of it. I suspect the amp was the same design as the higher powered variants as it had space on the PCB for an extra aet of output mosfets. Having seen inside the bass offerings from big companies from both sides of the pond Trace were a cut above. (They also looked cool at the time). The only real bass amp maker I knew at the time were Ampeg and although I expect some flamimg for this, they looked like they had been built in a shed from surplus components. In fact the treal surprise is that Ampeg survived the various sell-ons and is still around today. However there was no magic in Trace Ellioit. We have moved on 30 years and both tastes and technologies have changed. AShdown are a worthy successor to Trace and although I will fondly remember my BLX130 my back says no. To be fair to HH the amp's were very good for their time and the basic design of the later HH Mosfet amps were the same building blocks as those used in the Trace mosfet output stages. Although again being fair, both probaby owed a lot to the Hitachi reference designs of the time. HH were built like the proverbial brick outhouse with military grade wiring harnesses and were conservatively rated. I still have two from the early 70s and both have only had their pots replaced. The electroluminescent panels were great and the only downside was the perspex/plexiglass fascias. The cabs were quirky but not very good though.

On a back of an envelope calculation, my amp is about 700 watts, so not quite one horsepower. I am now wiping away the tears so I can search for a REAL amp.

I have one too. Have you ever used the software?

If you count that one its four as I also built one of early iterations that had the horn horizontal rather than vertical. That is what I meant by too many cabs.

I really do not heed another cabinet. My second/third MK3 cab is assembled but not yet painted or fitted with drivers. I really need todfinish my self build head, BUT of course I am IN.

It’s a shame they stopped the Retrovibes.

The bridge angle mimics the tradition BBOT gend bridge when correctly intonated. Of course the string used can change the intonation but in general the E string saddle should make the active part of the E string the longest followed by A and D wth the G string shortest, it's saddle furthest forward.

The tail piece is in two parts and will come off when there is no striing tension, the bridge is tiny and strainght, no compensation. I cannot see any way to intonate it unless there are moveable saddles that are covered and even then there would not be enough adjustment for my liking. On my Greg Bennet semi acoustic it used a Tune Tune O Matic bridge tailpiece with limited saddle adjustment BUT the bridge is angled.

Retrovibe are now owned by Chowny.

Looking at the package made me think. It would make a great head amp. With the controls on top it would be easy to see and adjust. Easier than either a traditiaonl head or combo.

Unlikely. An SMPS and Class D amp together reach 80-85% efficiency. Even if they could somehow defy physics, that means today's 200w amp could reach maybe 235W-250W at 100% eficiency.