three

Clive Brown in North Yorkshire has an excellent reputation (thiugh contact isn’t always easy)

I’ve posted fairly extensively re: unexpected behaviour with the Hellborg power amps - my stereo power amp went straight back to Thomann (I’d previously owned a mono power with which I wasn’t entirely happy). The pre, on the other hand, is stunning IMO

There’s a beautiful natural US Lakland Bob Glaub PJ (jazz taper) in the classifieds. I have the same bass but in oly white. These are outstanding instruments and my favourite Fender clone by some distance. I had an Overwater in the same spec (but natural) until recently - the new owner added a lovely tort plate - outrageously gorgeous

Didn’t Epifani do this with some very expensive cabs?

Not had the lid off mine, but you can start to see where some of the money has gone

Excellent, thank you all – I’d read the manual to but didn’t pick up the sentence relating to the combined input’s positioning. As you suggest then, no need to use a further DI for the jack. I thought it sounded pretty tremendous anyway – we are always looking for marginal gains! Thanks Hellzero for your very kind offer in relation to the Millennia, though I may just find another use for it! Thanks again all

Thanks Hellzero and rsint - I'm afraid that I don't posses even the most perfunctory skills in reading schematics. I'm eager to see if the jack/xlr provide different routes (either vie the input transformer of not) - I'm not sure if there's a definitive answer to this one without taking the unit apart... given the above, something for which I certainly don't have the skills! Any further views very welcome... I suppose I could just try it with the balanced line from a Millennia TD-1

This is really interesting, and something of which I wasn’t aware. I use the jack input and the very powerful EQ fairly extensively. This has me thinking. Would it be possible/useful to use a Pre/DI (Millennia, Avalon et cetera in pre eq mode and take a balanced line into the Hellborg pre - nice to see what extra the input transformer might provide (the jack alone is wonderful) - maybe a nice idea for passive/vintage basses?

hahaha, I sold my first Hellborg power amp for £150 because of the harmonic colouration! Hmmm...not the most wise of decisions!

Utterly wonderful deal with Owen - an absolute gem of the community - extremely patient whilst Parcelforce contrived to hide the parcel for a couple of days! Deal in absolute confidence - I notice that I'm adding my recommendation to an extremely long-list of perfectly satisfied members

Very close to my own rig - though many more cabs and options! I use the B Amp into a HD210 or DB750 into the same. Interestingly, l find the latter configuration has the greater authority - all subjective of course!

Hmmm...sounds to me too that you're describing either Noble or Monique. I use the former but have considered the latter on many occasions - both boutique (a fairly extreme form) and both would fit the bill. The Monique may be a little more versatile, though in my experience the Noble provides an out of the box 'produced' sheen - sort of your bass through a valve pre/high-end desk. Solid, clean, even and imbued with quality valve saturation. Neither option is cheap (but if you're going with IEMs, a big saving on a high-end rig, and carrying the latter?) One final point, I find that the Noble works better (brilliantly!) with Fender type or vintage basses rather than modern/active instruments.

I've played some really lovely pre CBS Fenders and to me, it was usually the neck dimensions and feel - and sometimes weight - that provided the greatest attraction (the wear in the lacquer on the back of the neck, often through to wood makes, for excellent playability in my experience). More recently, I've found that Lakland (the US Fender clones) have been able to replicate very brilliantly the dimensions and feel of those earlier Fender necks (though radiusing is different). Not a particularly cheap alternative but I'd tend to recommend over a £4/5k pre CBS Fender (in terms of feel, sound and weight). Playability of the Laklands has been uniformly superb too in my experience, with adjustability way-beyond that available on the vast majority of older Fenders. If you really must have that vintage Fender, I can understand, and I still see/play some really good ones out there...though prices don't appear to be coming down

I can't see that anybody that makes the investment would be disappointed - just be aware that this is very heavy gear (the stereo power amp is over 46lbs and the mono 500 is around 42). It's massively over-engineered and also a little bit quirky - good racking (sleeved or shock with wheels) is probably a good idea if it's going to be moved around a lot. There's a sort-of known issue with the lights behind the pots - these fail and sometimes start to flicker (not a very expensive job to replace but I'm told the original bulbs are no longer available - there's a slightly less bright alternative at around 1 Euro per unit). At the current Thomann prices, these units are an utter bargain. It's been an offer that I've been unable to resist and I already had two PR40s. I've been through a lot of amps and preamps - the Hellborg rig is the best I've ever used, other than using a Hellborg pre as the front-end for an Aguilar DB750 - outrageous tone and power. If you can only go for the preamp, do it - I've had this up against all sorts from channel strips to exotic valve pres and it performs wonderfully (better to my ears but it's all very subjective - I prefer very immediate response and super-accurate dynamics and shaping). Even against a Millennia TD-1, the PR40 holds its own perfectly well. And Thomann are fast - my packages arrived in around 5 days - don't forget the dedicated 3u or 5u head rack too - very functional and attractive (with dinky wheels)