Merton

I remember Gallien Krueger making a fuss about their original MB Fusion head, saying the preamp valves operated from a ~300V supply rail and that anything less was wussy and weedy. Not sure that’s actually true but I, like you, don’t know the ins and outs of preamp valve requirements and design!

Correct - can operate from 12V but 15-18V are preferred

Yup apparently NWR wanted the valve to drive harder than the, er, original OriginAL pedal. I don’t really associate him with heavy overdriven tones so that surprised me but there we go! My favourite setting is low input and drive gain levels with the drive level balanced so I’m getting a nice tip into overdrive if I dig in my it stays crisp and clean with a lighter touch. It is very responsive to this I’ve found. (That said the tone I got in the video of Nowhere is quite lovey too and may well become the core tone for my punk band if we ever get back to gigging)

AFAIK the valve is only there for overdrive, I can’t remember seeing any diodes but I wasn’t really looking tbh! @Al Krow the “thru” can effectively be used like that, albeit unbalanced via a jack. I use it to feed my tuner so that is now out of my signal chain. The actual balanced DI is essentially always affected by the 5-band EQ and so on. EDIT - didn’t read @JapanAxe’s question properly. AIUI the valve is the source of the overdrive and the Valve Drive control os there to push more single through it to get it to clip in that lovely way we like.

Not strictly true... Gibson killed Trace in the early 2000s. Peavey rescued them and originally released a range of 7- and 12-band amps etc around 2005, which they kept going til around 2012ish. IIRC back then they were slated for NOT trying something new and cutting edge*. Yes there was a brief period then where the brand didn’t seem to have anything new to offer but we now have the Elf etc. I’d say Peavey have actually handled the brand quite well in recent years with the reboot. Sure, the range is limited and we would all love to see some bigger powered heads and an SMX style preamp but maybe that’s all in development, or maybe Peavey have just aimed this range at those looking to downsize and/or use in-ears. Trouble with a brand like this is that there’s so much affection for the older classic stuff that Peavey are almost damned if they do and damned if they don’t. *not that I’m calling the “range” cutting edge btw... there’s still some work to do To get to that haha. But I see this set of gear as aimed purely at those looking to downsize and/or use in-ears. Which let’s face it, is becoming the norm more and more...

That’s my other demo video which I did way back in Lockdown #1 😂 Check out the video linked above in this thread for a more balls-out overdriven valve tone. It can go further than that too PS - other features include an aux in, headphone out and a “thru” output which is not affected by any of the pedals settings at all. And the DI is a transformer-based one so rather lovely.

Looking good Peter! Can’t believe I missed this thread - thank you for filling me in on FB with the deets. Will watch closely. I love my Zoot Funky, it’s not chambered but still light as a feather

Just a different 12AX7; I think it’s a Ruby but can’t remember! Will check over the weekend

Fiddly as hell but I did it. you need to remove all the k lbs and basically take the whole thing apart. Or send it to Ashdown and get them to do it 😄

Cheers! They did one album and an EP back in the mid 2000s, then the singer went on to form The Union with Luke Morley from Thunder

Btw I did another demo of this last weekend. Sounds pretty good to me, save the crap playing!

Originally (erm...) it was called the Origin, but that was a bit too close for comfort with another brand, so they added the "al" on the end. Not sure if PMT have just given it a weird name, as far as I'm aware it's the just OriginAL valve pre-DI still.

I love it. £199 is a great price!

Oooh I wonder if I can remember all mine... Vester Jazz bass - still own but on long term loan with my best mate Fender MIM V - upgraded to Bartolinis and a J-Retro, cost me loads and eventually sold for Less than the PUps and Pre together Status Groove fretless - the last “real” Groove ever, before Rob made three with a graphite neck a few years later. Bought direct from Status and eventually sold in about 2014 Status Groove 5 string. Bought from an old Bassworld chap via eBay, sadly the seller died about a year later. Think that’s with a Basschatter still, @silverfoxnik had it briefly IIRC Dean Edge - bought when a band of mine had a deal with Dean back in the mid-2000s, sold when I quit the band a year later. Actually had 2 IIRC Status Retroactive J - commissioned in 2006 and main bass until 2015, sold it to my uncle in 2018 after he fell in love with it At least two fretted Status Groove 4s, I remember former BC member Toasted brokering one of the deals for me as he was round the corner from the seller. One was white, which I bought after my Nan died. The other was sunburst. Great basses and still for me one of the most comfortable on the strap. Status Shark 5 - I owned this twice 😳 Sold it when I decided I didn’t want a 5er anymore then bought it back when the guy who’d bought it from me decided he didn’t get on with it. Sold again when I converted to shelter scale and ACG. ACG Recurve - owned for about a month back in 2014 then decided I needed to commission my own. I sold it to a BCer but embarrassed to say I can’t remember who. ACG Finn 5 custom. 33” Scale, beautiful bass. Commissioned 2014, sold in 2017 when my function band days seemed over. (All the basses above now gone, all the basses below I still own) ACG Finn 4. My go-to bass to this day, ash body, maple neck and board, single P-type pickup, passive, 32”. Glorious. ACG Skelf 32” 5-string. An all-out rock monster, limba body, ash neck, rosewood board, twin reverse and overwound P pickups. Sounds massive, plays beautifully. Zoot Funkmeister 32” - a glorious passive super-J, basically replaced my Status Retroactive as my more “traditional” looking bass. Conway Instruments Taranis Fretless - the first bass built by a friend of mine. 30” scale, 5 string, very tasty selection of woods and a single Nordstrand MM5:4 pickup. ACG Finn 5 32”. Well, I missed the old custom one so commissioned a new one as a nod to both that and my Finn 4. Ash body, maple and bubinga neck, maple board. Two slimline humbuckers, East Electronics UniPre. Best 5 string I’ve ever played ...and this is almost here...: ACG TKO Classic, 4 string 30.5” scale, no more specs til I get to show it off later this year 😎 I’ve missed off a few basses which barely stayed in the house longer than a week, if I can remember them I’ll come back and add them in. At least 3 missing I think 😂

Interesting little project! Will enjoy watching this develop

It’s not too far from me. If I have too many shandies next week I might get in trouble. Again. 😜

Coz you’ll need one for this beauty. Superb amps! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ASHDOWN-BTA-400-TUBE-BASS-AMP-HEAD-HUGE-SOUND-/324458757802?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

I think the tone stack is similar yeah, it’s just designed to be a super simple clean amp and have to say it sounded great on a recent Andertons videos review.

PS the old Super 12 from Gen 2 had the option of without tweeter (Super 12) or with tweeter (Super 12T)

Not quite. The Super Twin is the Gen 3 2x12, no tweeter included. The Big Twin 2 is a Gen 3 behemoth, the cab for the 12s is tuned lower (I think) and it has a compression driver. It’s designed to be a reasonably FRFR option in a passive cab.

In my experience I found the Gen 2 drivers more harsh/brittle sounding. The more customised drivers they have in Gen 3 sounded “rounder” and smoother if that makes sense?

Just been involved with @petecarlton’s first transaction on Basschat (I bought a cab off him) and it was sublime. Excellent, quick comms and information all along the process, excellent packaging and item bang on. Deal with confidence

New year, new cab for my ABM for all these gigs I’ve got coming up 😂 ... 😢

Lockdown video #6492756 or something. This is a play thru of the song “Nobody” by Winterville. I removed the bass using one of those AI things and then stuck my own poor-man’s version of the bassline on instead. It’s really been done to show off the Ashdown OriginAL pedal because I think it sounds ace, it’s responsive to the dynamics of my (ham-fisted) playing and ultimately sounds (to me) like a valve amp at full tilt. EDIT: I’m case you care, the bass is my ACG Skelf 32”. Limba body, ash neck, rosewood board. Two reverse P pickups and P retro preamp. For this I just used the neck pickup and set the bass to passive with the tone about 3/4 up. Enjoy. Or don’t. 😄

I chuckled at that. Almost like they don't quite understand what they're talking about