Mikey R

Personally, I think it would be a real shame if Matamp went entirely down the hybrid route and we lost the GT200 from the catalogue. There really is something special about output valves.

Friday night, and Im spending it on the sofa designing the bias circuit... Im leaning towards a Hiwatt style power amp, but modified with the inidividual bias adjust for each power valve from Merlin Blencowes book. Schematics of all the Hiwatt variants are at http://hiwatt.org/tech2.html - this is a really great resource.

Still waiting on the transformers, Johns custom winding them.

What kind of sound are you after?

Billy, was that your Matamp rig at the Harrogate bash a couple of years back? Playing through that rig has had a lasting impact!

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1357259883' post='1920166'] Re-jiggled my 'utility' board a bit Si [/quote] Cool, you got a Sonic Kitchen! How you like it?

Thats an odd website, the banner stays in the middle of my screen so youve got to keep scrolling up and down to see the pics around it!

Hi 6v6, Im in a similar boat but approaching it from the other end - got the speaker cab and building the head to match. One thing Ive learnt by reading into this stuff - reproducing bass is way trickier than guitar. A guitar may sound alright through a bass amp but a bass sounds pants through a guitar amp. That extra octave is really hard work and requires the engineering to be so much more precise. Enjoy yourself!

Reverb in the right context can fill alot of space. In the wrong context is also fills alot of space, unfortunately its the space that everyone else is trying to fit into as well. The real problem is sealed 4x12 cabs. A 30 watt open backed combo sits really nicely with a rock drummer and bassist, and doesnt make anyones life difficult, but then I just like that retro sound.

[quote name='thebassman' timestamp='1359983620' post='1962847'] Perhaps i should just nobble the rhythum guitards amp. [/quote] Sounds like a plan! It might be that the rhythm guitarist is stomping on your frequency range, not the other way around. Try cutting some of the low frequencies on the guitar amp.

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1359762395' post='1960182'] Excellent, share the specs please. [/quote] Youre just going to have to wait

Evening all, Ive not got much to say about the specs for what Ive got planned, but Im kind of excited so had to write about it. Since not all that much is decided at the moment, I wont be giving out any details, but heres the background. Those who know me, know that Ive been thinking about putting together an old school lead / bass amplifier for a while, but Ive never really been able to kick myself into getting it started. However, reading about all the thermionic goodness that a few of our Basschat membership endulge in has been the catalyst to get me started. Ive been staring at schematics, reading everything I can find on the net, as well as Morgans excelent book, for long enough and I think I just need to take the plunge and get something underway, even if its only a platform for experimenting on. So, first up, I needed a pair of transformers. There are a few places that do them, a couple of guys wind transformers in the UK, and there are a few from overseas. The amp builders in the US tend to use Hammond transformers from Canada, surprisingly they are available in the UK for not too many beans. However, I wanted to use stuff locally made if possible, just for the mojo. Enter the infamous John Wood. Now, John Wood is an absolute audio guru - solid state or valve, he knows it all. I heard on Basschat that John winds transformers, so I got in contact. I was expecting a short "Yeah, Im after something like x," and "Ok, that'll cost you y," but John doesnt work that way. An hour long telephone call later, and my brain was totally expanded with all the knowledge he had transferred. I was making notes so fast, I can barely decypher what I'd written. And then he asked me, who I planned to get to wind the transformers. "You, I hope!" I replied, "but Ive got a few things to sort out first." We agreed I would call him back in the new year, which I did, and we put together a spec for what I was going to build, what I would need, and agreed a price. He's winding them right now, so with any luck I should have them soon. Ive got a few other projects on at the moment, so this is going to take a while, but I'll try and keep this build thread updated as I go along. EDIT: Ive finalised the specs, so here they are: Preamp: 2 x ECC83 with solid state EQ bass + treble, possibly a mid, possibly an effects loop Driver: 1 x ECC83 phase splitter,1 x ECC81 long tailed pair driver, 1 x ECC82 cathode follower (6550 are quite a heavy load to push) Power amp: 6 x 6550 Speaking with John, if I have 600V on the plates and 300V on the screens, then with three pairs of modern valves I should hit 200 watts bang on. I could hit 200 watts with two pairs, but with 400V on the screens, but this would be quite hard on the power valves and I think it would be less expensive in replacement and more prudent in the long term to be more gentle.

Did anyone find a venue for this in Leeds?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1358636778' post='1942759'] Also... I've noticed an increasing tendency for people to shout instead of talking at a reasonable volume... why? [size=4]It's a noisy world, people.[/size] [/quote] Im pretty sure its all down to iPods. Until recently, I used to have an hours commute on the train every morning and evening, I started listening to music with decent headphones just to drown out the sound of every one elses iPods, and even then I could sometimes hear them over the quiet bits of my own music. The problem is only going to get worse. Being musicians, Im aware we're a bit more sensitive to what we can hear than the norms, but some of these poor people must have really damaged their hearing, hence the shouting.

As musicians, we are used to calling the attenuation on the input "gain" and the output "master" or "volume" - we've been calling them that for 40 years, we all know what they mean so lets keep on calling them that. There are good technical reasons for this, but they really dont matter since theres no need to redefine a language that works.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1358001512' post='1931639'] Designers like Barefaced have grasped the opportunities of new materials and cheap amplifier power. By using long throw speakers they can get more sound out of single drivers and they can get deeper bass without compression or exceeding the limits of speaker movement but the 'cost' is very good drivers, which are expensive, and long coils which are by their nature less efficient, This isn't a problem in a world where you can buy lots of watts for relatively little outlay. The big plus is a versatile sound and light weight. [/quote] From the Barefaced website, the basic Compact, which is a single speaker in a well designed box, has a sensitivity of 100dB - this is rediculously good, which means the cab is incredibly efficient. If Barefaced do have a rep of requiring lots of watts, it could be because people dont understand how it works. Just because the compact can handle a 600 watt amplifier, it doesnt need 600 watt. When Im at home, I run a 30 watt bedroom blaster head through my Compact and get tons of SPL. Just ask my neighbours. [quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1358002888' post='1931669'] Indeed, its a tradeoff. Tone from preamp through super clean power amp: same tone at all volume levels - almost always more volume on tap without affecting tone should you require it. Tone from hard driven power amp: much lower power amp spec required but tone is dependent on volume. [/quote] And thats why I like the 30 watt Ashdown LB, by the time youre pushing the power valves, youre really starting to get some grit, but you can do that at a reasonable volume. Im planning sorting out a much larger amp for working with the full band, but in the mean time Ive got the Hartke. It will get the job done but with less style.

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1357213464' post='1919093'] You don't need an Italian supercar to do 150 miles an hour, but I'm guessing it's fun. Likewise, you don't need a massive fridge of a cab to be loud, but it's so much fun when you do. A lot of number crunchers forget this. From this viewpoint- more speakers. Interestingly, I also think the people you work with or play to judge the volume you play at with their eyes, ie they take one look at you squeezing through a door to a band call with a 410 on your chest and your face redder than a baboons arse and they think "the bass is too loud" before you've even plugged in. Turn up with the cab in one hand you can play the same volume and you can be complimented for being "sensitive!" In that respect (and it does earn you more money!) - more watts. [/quote] Putting it the other way, is there a danger of arriving with a 1x12, and the band leader thinks "this guy is never going to keep up"?

So is the problem here that people new to bass come to BC to get some tips, and come away with the impression that as well as practicing like hell, they also need to spend a load of money on a rig? That would be bad. I kinda see where youre coming from. I have seen a few threads where people have got half of the message, got a complicated and difficult to use rig that doesnt suit them, and are struggling to get it to work for them. My point is that [i]owning[/i] a rig that gives you that kind of control doesnt make you a good bassplayer. A good bassplayer, through experience and research, might have figured out how to build the rig they need and get the kinds of sounds they want from it. Personally, Im going through a bit of a gear head phase. Since joining BC, going to a few bashes and listening to some very interesting talks, Ive started experimenting with valve amps and compressors. This has improved my tone, and now that my kit can reproduce subtleties in what I play that were previously hidden, I play a little differently. This is a good thing.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1357723154' post='1927107'] They may know what they want, but will they know how to get it? Often it is not until you actually try (and/or buy) a piece of equipment that you find out if it delivers what you thought it would. Which brings us back to the GAS again... You can read all the manufacturer's specs you like, but it's not until you actually use something that you find out if it is for you. [/quote] Exactly - the experience of different bits of kit, different instruments, different setups, is all built up over time. Thats what Im arguing is part of what makes a player better, as well as mastery of fingering and fretting technique. As to arguing over the percentage of each of the ingredients is important, youre going to get a different set of numbers from each bassist - that just the way it is, we all value different parts of the craft differently, and next year we may reevaluate our percentages. Cheers guys, an interesting discussion!

Im wondering if its worth getting a good di box for the pedal board just for that reason, giving the sound engineer something to plug an XLR into might win him over. If the di is derived from the power amp then thats not his worry.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1357689848' post='1926971'] Great to violently agree! There is, and you are a right. I think, tbh, I was rebelling against the amount of posts, articles, opinions etc that are expressed regarding ash vs alder, how molecules in wood line up with resonances making older electric instruments sound better and people going to pains to have a bass in a less hardwearing finish all to achieve differences in tone I'm pretty sure will always escape me (and, frankly, I don't mind if they do). [/quote] Yeah, people tend to want to understand everything and assume that everything must be predictable, but the truth of instrument design is that nothing is predictable due to the explosive number of variables involved. If its a good instrument and you like playing it, play it. However, I think we all agree this wont guarantee greatness - you cant buy your way into being a better player. When you start out, a typical thought might be "if I got that amp or that stomp box then I could finally nail that line" when in fact to nail that line, you just need to play it again and again till you get it. You see this alot more with sports, where people buy kit to try to get an advantage, but its the same mental process that causes GAS. A better player will know what they want from their kit, that is the absolute extent of it.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1357676161' post='1926628'] Is that why no-one has said that? [/quote] Sorry dude, that was the message I was getting - that tone is entirely in the fingers. I only wanted to say that gear choice is also important and is something a player can influence. [quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1357676161' post='1926628'] Shouldn't we be putting our efforts into playing our basses better rather than playing better basses? [/quote] Indeed we should. But music is one of those things you never stop learning. You can put effort into learning to play, if you want you can also put effort into learning how you like to set up your instruments, how to fettle them to get the sounds you want, how to stroke them to get other sounds, how you might want to mix up the combinations for musical effect. I think we're violently agreeing here. I dont know anything about cameras, but I guess there may be an aspect of getting the best results that is a combination of skill in setting up and skill in using the kit?

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1357643949' post='1925736'] So many factors. So many variables. But the biggest one is the player themselves (IMO of course!) [/quote] I agree - but for different reasons. It is the player who knows that he sounds better with [i]that[/i] compressor set in just [i]that[/i] way, which allows him to sit better in the mix, and allows him to concentrate on playing rather than being heard. Alot of people misunderstand the old phrase "A bad workman blames his tools." This doesnt mean that a good workman does good work with whatever tools he or she has to hand - it means a good workman will use the correct tools to get the job done to the desired quality. This may mean that the tools themselves need to be of a high enough quality and maintained to a level to achieve this goal. Saying that choosing and maintaining your kit isnt important is total rubbish. If you hired a carpenter to fix your shed, you wouldnt care if he turned up with rusty saws and used his hammer on his mortice chisel, but you would care if this meant he couldnt do a decent job on the shed. Billy Sheehan spends tons of time setting up his intruments so that he is able to play the way he plays.