I've been rehearsing with both my bands out in the woods. It's been a lot of fun and a great opportunity to get back up to speed on DB, but some of the stuff we play simply won't work on DB and I need to play electric bass - with the covers band a good example would be Won't Get Fooled Again, with the rockabilly outfit an equally good example would be Summertime Blues.
So here's the solution: Battery Pack --> DC-powered micro-head --> small bass cab. And it works, Well, it works but with wrinkles and I don't understand what's going on.
Informed advice would be most welcome.
First, the building blocks.
Battery pack = https://www.woodbrass.com/accessoires-amplis-et-effets-pedalboards-boxking-rechargeable-pedal-power-supply-12800mah-p303438.html
Micro-head = https://www.thomann.de/gb/hotone_nano_legacy_thunder_bass.htm
Small bass cab = EITHER http://www.gigmaster.biz/gigmaster_soundworks_v4_008.htm OR https://www.db-bass.com/product-page/embee-1210 and that's where the fun starts.
I started by using a https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sanyo-eneloop-Pedal-Juice-battery/dp/B007BZAGW4 which I already had knocking about. Great device with little to criticise except that it only has 9V outlets and the Hotone Thunder Bass needs 18V. Luckily anough, another useful device that I had knocking about was a https://www.andertons.co.uk/truetone-voltage-doubler-24v-or-18v-tt-tvd?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpZT5BRCdARIsAGEX0znb8Zrf0UBw5NvtqH0LfHrsiBfeJ08HwI9rCH3nAbt0tfw828zl7WIaAkbjEALw_wcB
The resultant rig was a little clunky to look at, but it certainly worked. The 9V doubled to 18V was enough to power up the micro-head but the sound from the Crazy 8 (which is an 8Ω cab) was distinctly 'farty' and lacking in 'oomph'. I do hope you're keeping up with all this technical jargon.
So then we tried swopping out the Crazy 8 and using instead the EmBee 12/10 (which is a 4Ω cab). The sound was cleaner and louder, but still not quite there yet. The 'fartiness' was the sound I associate with too little power in the rig rather than too much, so the jury-rigged 18V DC supply was the obvious suspect. What the hell, in for a penny in for a pound and I ordered the Box King unit.
[For the avoidance of doubt, I had of course also tried plugging the rig together but using the mains supply for the Hotone Thunder Bass. The rig sounded great with both the Crazy 8 and the EmBee 12/10. Not as similar to an SVT as the advertising would have you believe, but a really nice-sounding head which is easily enough to deal with rehearsals, perhaps even with winebar gigs.]
The Box King is a more modern unit than the Eneloop, size-wise it is designed to fit underneath a Pedaltrain Nano so it doesn't take up valuable real estate on top, best of all it has a dedicated 18v/24v outlet running at 450mA plus a USB charging socket for your phone.
It arrived this morning so I plugged it all together. The instant I plugged the Hotone into the Crazy 8 (1/4" jack to Speakon) the Box King died. It didn't melt or catch fire but all the lights went out and the power went away. Hmmmmm. Disconnect everything, switch on, all fine, plug back together. The instant I plugged the Hotone into the Crazy 8 the Box King died. Again I say, hmmmmmmm.
Disconnect everything, switch on, all fine, plug back together, but this time I plug the Hotone into the EmBee 12/10. Everything works fine, the sound is much better, the fartiness pretty much gone. And thrice I say, hmmmmmm.
Given my appallingly limited understanding of volts, watts and ohms I can just about convince myself that connecting the Hotone to a 4Ω cab will draw current much faster than connecting it to an 8Ω cab, and that the rapid drain could somehow trigger a thermal protection circuit of some sort ... but actually it's the other way around. My battery-operated micro-rig works better with the 4Ω cab than with the 8Ω cab.
What am I missing?
Hah! That's exactly where I had this done:
