Quilly

I see loads of ads for 'nearly new' or 'never gigged' equipment on various sites, GAS and subsequent buyers remorse I reckon.

I found out that if an amp is a quality amp, it’s a quality amp, regardless of if its all valve , AB solid state , class D or hybrid. The most enjoyable and fun to play through though is a low wattage all valve amp ...hands down . Esp with EL34s ! But KT88s probably more practical for low end power.

Apparently British valve amps that use British valves produce a more warm 'scooped;' tone and American Valves are supposed to be 'flatter' with more midrange. It would be interesting to swap out the EL84s for say, a 6BQ5 or other American variant and assess the difference. (of course you would have to talk to an amp tech to avoid unwanted fires.

I recently relieved a guitarist of an unused 50W late 90s Carsbro 50 top guitar head for a bag of beans, got new tubes and a basic service. I coupled it with a barefaced two10 and I was blown away by the sound of it. Much more attack than a standard bass amp and I can get a pretty decent low end from it (if I crank the bass all the way). The added bonus is that it has a 'dirty' channel that has the best OD tone I've ever heard on a bass.

You're a brave man to dep in with a 30W head. 😂.

If you like that sound it should be fine for what you need it for...the cab efficiency is a critical parameter.

I think my CTM-100 would perform better through a good 410. I'm currently using a barefaced 210 with it and its 'loud enough' . When I play with me TE-500 the 210 is ample but again...its a different sound. I like the difference.

Valve amps have to be pushed a bit ... that’s why the ctm-30 sounds so good

Yes playing a 300w valve monster at low levels is no fun .

I read on another thread the CTM-300 was discontinued?

I wonder why Ashdown never made a 200w valve head to compete with orange AD200b, it seems like the perfect power rating for a valve amp

https://reverb.com/item/18725709-ashdown-427-small-block?utm_source=ios-app&utm_medium=share

The trace is far more potent that the ctm 100, well it is 500w. I saw an Ashdown 427 small block for sake in reverb...they are beasts

The ctm 100, if you want real power go for an SVT

I play with a ctm100 and it’s loud ‘enough ‘ but not earth shatteringly loud . It doesn’t have tons of headroom either. I have a 500w AB MOSFET trace Elliot and it would eat it for breakfast

Yes 30w is 30w at the end of the day . It might sound as loud as a 100w class d amp . From experience 100w is probably the entry level for a useful amp for valves

The CTM-30 is a great sounding amp but I really recommend scouring the internet for a second hand CTM-100

If you had a really good efficient cabinet, like a barefaced two10, you might (just) get enough volume out of it . You’d really be surprised how loud they get

The pickups in the bass have a very high output especially in the mid/lows , they are Delanos with big single pole pieces per string.

Hi All I currently have a Mayones Jabba Passive (Jazz) Its a great playing bass. The bass comes with a the standard vol/vol tone set up however it also has a series / parallel switch which is quite handy for boosting the signal. I like it in passive mode but the tone seems a bit dark? I play my Sandberg California in passive mode or else flat across the and it seems much brighter in comparison. I'm using the same strings and if anything I would expect the jabba to be brighter as it has a hardwood maple fingerboard whereas the Cal has a rosewood finger board. Is it the capacitor , tone pots ? I can usually get around this by using an EQ pedal.

It has a fair amount of bass as-is and the option to use it as a guitar head is there. I don’t really intend to gig with it but it’s tremendous fun!

Apparently you can modify a valve guitar amp at the input stage to bypass a high pass filter (or something🤔) to get more bottom end but I like the sound of it unmodified. I already have a ctm 100w bass head, that does warm round bass tones to a T, so this is something different.. there is ‘enough’ bass from the guitar head (if you crank the bass to 10 😂)

Don’t dismiss valve guitar amps. I picked up an early 2000s 50w Carslbro Top for very (very) small money. It’s powered by 4 x 12AX7 valves in the front and 2 EL34s at the back. Plugged it into a barefaced two10 and it sounds amazing. A bonus is that it has a dirty overdriven channel that sounds wicked with bass. If you like a chunky p bass with plenty of attack this it for you . If you’re after silky smooth low end with crystal clean top end, look elsewhere...but you won’t have as much fun !

I didnt realize it only had one handle...until you pointed it out

Sounds good (except for the weight)