ikay

I asked Leszek about the changes and this is what he replied: Hello, English musicians like the Middle knob, so we made the middle tones. There was a Contour knob on the R-400 and WB-100 and nobody used it in the UK, and in the US, the contour tone is the norm. The biggest changes concern the inside of the amplifier, i.e. some very time-consuming assembly operations have been eliminated.

Worth mentioning maybe that the James/Baxandall circuit is quite different to the Fender tone stack and similar to a regular 2 or 3-band cut/boost eq in operation.

The tone stack is very different to a regular set of BMT controls. It's a series of 'stacked' passive filters that all interact with each other in quite complex ways. I found this explanation helpful: http://pickroar.com/1003/the-tone-stack-explained-in-english-for-humans/

I'd like to throw into the mix the idea of having some sort of voicing control to adjust the character of the sound from modern to vintage and points in between. This would be useful for someone like me who needs to cover a range of styles and could possibly widen the amp's appeal. Here are a couple of examples: 1. The Pure Tone Offset amp which has both Normal and Bright gain controls and allows you to mix the two together. See first demo below at 5m 25s. 2. The Ashdown Little Stubby which has a 'Feedback' control which sweeps from modern to vintage by adding low end saturation. See second demo below at 5m 25s. I'm honestly not wanting to overcomplicate things or detract from the idea of a great amp with it's own core tone. Just a little tweakability in the way of modern/vintage voicing.

Please add me to the list for clean headroom.

I contacted Ashdown to check this and anything that shorts out the RS connections on the Stubby DI would likely set fire to the amp!! Glad I asked 😵. It would need a modified TRS to TS cable. I have wiring details so if anyone needs to know just drop me a message.

I already have a DHA VT1 valve preamp and run that into my LM. Great pedal and adds some nice harmonic richness and valve character to the sound. I've also toyed with the idea of a hybrid head. But both of these (valve pedal or hybrid head) still seem to lack the full-fat 'valviness' delivered by the output stage of a full-valve amp. I'm thinking that taking a DI from the output stage of a small full-valve amp like the Stubby into a Class-D power amp might do the trick. I'd cut to the chase and buy a proper 100W-200W valve head if it wasn't for them being so stupidly heavy! Or, in the case of boutique lightweight all-valve heads like the Pure Tone Offset (which I love), so expensive!

Hmm, sounds like it could work. How about the TRS jack out on the LS DI into the TS of the effects return - the TS would short the RS connections on the TRS ...?

Here's what it says in the LS user manual. The DI out uses a TRS jack though and the effects return of the LM3 uses a TS jack which might be a problem. A DI is provided on the rear panel , connection is made via a TRS type jack socket .This is transformer derived from the output and as such will have all the adjustments made with the tone controls , all effects in use and some influence from the speaker in use. The level obtained is dependent on playing volume. But as a general rule is suitable for line level (0,775V). The DI is totally isolated and as such may be used as a line out (note a TRS jack MUST be used and you can obtain an in phase or out of phase signal) Note That the amplifier must always have a Load connected. This can be a speaker or a load box for silent recording.

I've also just discovered the Ashdown CTM30 Little Stubby. I love the 'feedback' control which lets you dial in a gorgeously thick vintage tube tone. That's the sort of sound I have in my head. I wonder if I could run the DI out of this into the effects return of my LM3 to get more power (when needed) while still retaining the full tube tone? Probably a stupid thought. It surely can't be that easy!

47cm just fits my Berg cab. No distributor in the UK as far as I can see. I'll email them and enquire.

I've just stumbled across the Traynor YBA100 all valve 100W head. Quite compact and weighs in at just 10kg. Price is around $1,000. Anyone have one of these or know anything about them? Traynor YBA100 Tube Bass Head

Thanks for the very kind offer Mike. It was really the ampwedge thingy that caught my eye but I can improvise something along similar lines. Cheers

Ah, didn't realise there was a supply issue, thanks for that.

I emailed Handbox for prices of the WB-100 and got the following reply from Leszek. Price seems very reasonable to me. I've contacted Sims re UK distribution and waiting to hear back. Hello Ian, The price of the WB-100 is £ 800. Transport to the UK is around £ 25-30. Tubes prices have risen by 50-80% since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Most of the famous brands are produced in Russia, unfortunately. Theoretically, I work with Sims Guitar, but the cooperation is not going well. They have had the equipment from me for over two years and have not sold anything during that time. All the Best Leszek

Thanks for the ideas jakester. IKEA laptop support is an interesting one. The Mark Stand looks rather cheap and nasty but I guess it does the job!

Anyone know of something similar to this, which is no longer available? I believe it's made of acoustic material so a bit like a tilt-back Gramma platform. I know I could just use a couple of books or something but this looked like a bit neater. Although, if they went out of business maybe it wasn't such a great idea!

Lord of the Strings - https://lordofthestrings.com/en/bass/electric?types=4&categories=6&brands=37

There are some threads on TB suggesting nylon strings don't always work that well with a Fishman piezo bridge (example below). Old thread alert (2016)! I have black nylons on a bass with Graphtec piezo saddles and that works fine. I did try white nylons once (on a non-piezo bass) and noticed that they were super light tension which certainly wouldn't help. There's not much that can go wrong with a piezo saddle - it either works or it doesn't. The contact pressure from the string is critical to how much of a signal it generates though.

Thanks!

A 100W that comes in at around half the weight of the YI200 would do nicely! Most new breed 'lightweight' valve amps still seem to weigh in at close to 20kg. I wonder how Pure Tone managed to get it down to 7kg?

Ah, I didn't see the Rheingold B100 which is very much in the ballpark. Unfortunately not the price. Looks like I may need to reset my expectations..

Hmm, at 1.6k for 15W I expect the 80W will be heading towards Pure Tone territory...