Beer of the Bass

I did enjoy the D'Addario tapes I had for a couple of years, other than the B string. Then I had Sadowsky Black Label flats for several more years, then some Fender flatwounds that I didn't quite bond with. But currently I'm about 6 weeks into a new set of TI Jazz flatwounds and getting what I want out of those. They have the mid presence I liked from the Sadowskys, but clearer on the low strings and a hell of a lot less stiff feeling. They also have about the best sounding flatwound B I've used so far. They needed some setup tweaks and I've conciously lightened up my right hand, but they're starting to settle in now and I like what they do. I've joined a new band and got a new amp head at the same time, so I'm going through one of those stages of re-working my sound and approach that goes with that.

I've not seen inside these, but AFAIK, keeping as much as possible in-house is their usual way of working. So I reckon it'll be a proprietary power module in there.

I get the impression they chose to make these look a bit more utilitarian, both to save on fancy potted transformers and chrome plating, and to differentiate them from the Heritage line.

Yep, my Pf-50t has only been out for one gig so far (being a recent acquisition), but did just fine through a pair of 12"s with drums, brass and guitarist with a Fender Blues Junior. The master was less than halfway up and it didn't seem too close to running out of steam. I think the midrange voicing of these amps helps with making the most of their output, as they're not really scooped unless you use the ultra-low switch.

They seem OK - I bought a Pf-50t from them recently, which had a minor valve issue, and while there was a bit of a communication mixup between them and the distributor over the return, they did get things sorted out. And others have have had a much smoother experience with them than I did.

Orange seem to have regretted their proprietary class D design with the Terror Bass too, as there were quite a few failures and they've declared they won't be doing any more class D amps. Markbass don't appear to have run into the sort of issues Ampeg and Orange did, so it might be fair to say that the design and execution of their own class D stuff has been more successful.

I'm a little disappointed that it doesn't have Nobsound across the front in big letters. I'll have to be contented with giggling at the Sola Sound BUM Fuzz Unit instead...

The Fender Rumble combos seem well liked in that size/price range.

I haven't played through the CL, but I recall the VR mini-stack sounding pretty nice when I jammed with one a while back. Not one for massive volume though.

I was surprised at how quiet mine was after reading about the hum issues. I had a look inside mine, and the mod was already carried out from new. Here's a pic of the relevant area on mine showing the added capacitor and resistor. (the extra capacitor is the one on its side connected to the diode leg, and the added resistor is in series with R128).

I'm just back from an afternoon gig in a park with my Pf-50t. Can report that with my homebuilt 1x12" cabs, it has plenty of oomph for the band I'm playing with. Sounded good too! We didn't run any bass through the PA, but the drums were also unmiked so that set the overall level. Regarding the Pf-50t and hum, I've had a peek inside mine, and can confirm that on mine at least, the hum fix linked above is now being applied to them. Mine really isn't noisy, now that my valve issues are sorted. So I feel like it was a good buy despite my initial niggles.

The 50T works nicely at low volumes - the master volume is not too abrubt at the bottom end, so you can dial it in pretty easily. The EQ seems quite versatile too, with the selectable mids, and I don't find it noisy unless the mids and highs are really cranked (which is true of a lot of amps, SS or valve) I'm going to take it out on a gig tomorrow and see how it fares! I was unlucky with valve failures on mine, but most have been fine and they will sort if for you if needs be.

I'd agree about the microphonic aspect - these are vibration sensing pickups, after all. But I did manage to break my J-Tone! It worked fine for several years, and then started giving a crackly, distorted sound when I played more firmly. After ruling out every other posible cause, I got curious and dissected the J-Tone, and found that it uses a thick ceramic disc type piezo element inside, which had cracked on mine.

I noticed there's a new model of Beyma driver, the 612 CM, a cheaper cast-frame speaker. Has anyone modelled it? At a cursory glance it looks potentially useful, but I'm not on my laptop with WinISD on. https://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?id=BMA612CVM28

Yep, I find my KNA to have a fair bit of high end, though it's quite easy to EQ as it doesn't seem peaky. I'm getting better string to string balance and evenness across the bass range than I've had with other wing pickups so far (I've had a Rev Solo II and a J-Tone), though perhaps that has something to do with the G- side placement. Nice and easy to fit too.

I've just played through it for a while, with the old Telefunken in the phase inverter spot. I must say, for all of the niggles (which I seem to have just got unlucky with), it is a very nice sounding amp. It does this great articulate but grunty sound that I reckon will be fun to explore in a band context.

Tapping the valves through the cage using a cocktail stick revealed that it's the phase inverter 12au7/ecc82 that's microphonic. I popped in a very old Telefunken ECC82 I had in my parts box, and it's much less microphonic, but still very slightly so. So I reckon that with a fresh new valve I should be good to go. It's a pain in the bum, but then so is going through another returns process...

Seems I'm not having good luck with this one. It arrived back today, and Polar have replaced the power valves on the original amp rather than sending a replacement amp as the shop thought they would. The bias indicator is no longer going red when it's been on for a while, at least. But now something is microphonic - I can hear it ringing through the speaker if I gently tap the chassis. I'll have a think about what to do, if I can track it down to one valve I might be inclined to sort it myself rather than going back through the returns hassle again.

I did phone them yesterday, the response was that they'd chase it up and get back to me before the end of the day (which they didn't manage to do). I've just had an email back saying a replacement has been dispatched that should be with me by Thursday at the latest, but I wish they'd kept up communication rather than promising an advance replacement then going silent. I think if this one has any minor valve-related issues I'll just sort it myself!

I've just emailed Kenny's again as I've still had no response to let me know what's going on. This is getting silly...

I've tended to have my GK MB200 around when gigging a valve amp, though I haven't needed it yet. I've had one failure of a valve guitar amp on a gig, but it had been dropped on the way from the last gig.

I hope you have better luck than me! I'm just hoping I have mine by the weekend, when I wanted to gig it...

Well, that's Kenny's opening hours finished for the day, and they didn't call back. And that's after not dispatching a replacement last week as they said they would, and not answering my email enquiring about that earlier today. Not sure why the seem to have dropped the ball for me when they've been OK for others. I'm not too worried about the reliability of valve amps in general, or even particularly about this model, as these things happen with all sorts of gear. But it'd be fair to say I'm not impressed with the shop right now.