franzbassist

Bit of a longer chat with Dan at Empress just now, giving him some more detail, and he says 9V should be just fine for my needs.

Thanks for that, but yowzah that's an expensive solution. I think I'll just buy a dedicated 24V PSU for the Empress and have done with it. Any recommendations for a PSU rated at 24V (130mA)?

Hi folks Although it can take 9V, I'd like to power my new Empress ParaEQ with the full 24V they recommend. Any suggestions? Cheers Gareth NB: Edited original post to focus on Empress, rather than daisy-chaining it at 15V with my Bassbone

I would highly recommend Sandberg. My VT5 is a wonderful bass: beautifully put together, lightweight, tone for days and it looks the biz!

Sold some tuners to Matt. Instant payment and great communication. Happy to deal with him again.

[quote name='Sharkfinger' timestamp='1364653723' post='2029264'] Not especially heavy, about 9lbs. It feels neck heavy. The weight save I think would be the equivalent of removing one of the tuners. Might try that and strap it on and see how it feels. [/quote] That was going to be my next suggestion.

Is it neck heavy (i.e. does the neck dive?) or just plain heavy? If it's the former, it may well be worth doing, but if it's the latter I wouldn't bother.

If it were me, I think/hope/pray I would use the P to scratch the "back to basics" itch. If the Clover already does a good impression of a Jazz then keep it.

[quote name='D.I. Joe' timestamp='1364382900' post='2025605'] 500. I wouldn't think the 800 would be much different would it? More headroom I suppose... [/quote] 500 is an analog power section, while the 800 is digital. [quote name='Opticaleye' timestamp='1364388716' post='2025742'] If the TTE sounded muddy, maybe the colour control was up. [/quote] +1 to this.

I have no problem with reliced basses as long as it is done well. Indeed, I have a Sandberg VT5 (a PJ5 to you and me) that I bought to partner by fretless 1970 P - which I have since sold - and I have to say Sandberg do an amazing job.

When I had an Ashdown LB30 I checked with them that it was okay to try lower gain valves in the preamp. They said it was, but it would change the character of the amp. My current amp, a Markbass TTE500, has four valves in it (one each for gain, compressor, eq and colour) and when I asked them they said that I should only use the valves the amp was designed around. So, check with the maker, as they should know best!

[quote name='Mark_Bass' timestamp='1363882147' post='2018884'] Theres no gain pots just the eq, which i generally run flat or pretty much flat -just just a bit of extra treble boost more than anything else. I've emailed Mesa, i brought the amp used so theres probably no reason for them to worry about voiding any warranty. [/quote] I think Vic means pop the lid off and see if there's a trim pot inside which can be adjusted, rather than what's on the front panel.

[quote name='Mark_Bass' timestamp='1363874839' post='2018734'] So in otherwords it "should" be ok to try different valves just don't coming crying to us if your amp goes bang IS this something that you guys would recommend doing? Not that im going to blindly follow your every words but id be interested to hear of any experiences users have had when trying this out. [/quote] Why not drop Mesa an email and ask them whether there are any issues trying different valves?

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1363872237' post='2018680'] That page seems to miss an important bit about the different impedance of the different valves having an effect on the circuit, which shifts tone around in various possible watys depending on what the valve does, the two halves might do different things. [/quote] That's true Oli, but they do say this: Before you discover the new possibilities in your amp, let us give a [b]disclaimer[/b]. Your amp was originally designed for a certain type, and although tube amps are often forgiving, it may not have a tone that you like with a different tube type. For instance, changing the tube type doesn't only change the gain factor; there are other variables as well and your amp may have a circuit that is more particular than others. As a general rule, the substitutions we describe here should work well but there are exceptions and [b]we don't warranty[/b] any problems that result from trying mismatched tube types.

Well the manual says: [font=sans-serif][size=4]INPUT: This jack feeds the first tube in the all-tube preamp of the BIG BLOCK. It is set up with enough headroom to handle both passive and active style instruments. For active instruments you may find yourself running the GAIN control somewhere between 10:00 and 2:00 for optimum headroom. If you do hear a softclip creeping in at higher settings, don’t worry, this is the beauty of a tube front end.[/size][/font] [font=sans-serif][size=4]So it sounds like your amp is doing what it's meant to.[/size][/font] [font=sans-serif][size=4]If you don't like it then try a lower gain valve in V1. If you look at the page [url="http://www.thetubestore.com/Gain-Factor"]here[/url] it will give you an idea of the other valves out there.[/size][/font] [font=sans-serif][size=4]Enjoy![/size][/font] [font=sans-serif][size=4]Gareth[/size][/font]