phoenix555 Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Yo, I've recently bought a Marshall JCM800 bass 1992 MKII head and im reading everwhere that you can get valve overdrive out of it. Im using it in home so you can imagine that i cant crank it up to test if its really overdrives. So does anyone have experience with the overdrive? and can i produce it with a weber powersoak or something of that kind? My second question is: I want a nice cab underneath it, but my room is on the 3rd floor so i need a light cab for it. I was thinking about a 2x10 which should be plenty if i want it for in home, but is it loud enough for gigs and stuff? because if im going to gig then i don't want to buy another cab to support it. Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Powersoaks and other attenuators are generally designed for guitar so they'll only work up to 100w, I don't know what wattage the JCM is, but unless it's 100w or under, you'll damage the attenuators and most likely head. 210s are fine for home use and if you're playing quietly at gigs, it'll do. If you're playing loud rock, it'll struggle though. Personally I'd go for a minimum of 212, preferably 410 for a one cab rig. Neo cabs are generally pretty light, I carried my bass, head and two 212 cabs at once on the way into a jam last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 You'll have to turn up louder for volume into a small cab, so that might help your drive plan, but 100w is quite a lot for a small cab. Power soaks are kind of bad news for amps, they don't react like speakers. Valve overdrive is not for quiet time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 On a slightly more positive note you should be fine if you get yourself a decent 2x10 designed for bass, although if you really want a guitar like distortion a guitar 2x12 will do the same job a hi tech Bass 2x10 will but will add speaker cone distortion at high levels, but will sacrifice some low end and volume. I've got a JCM800 bass amp (a 4150) and you can overdrive the preamp valves by whacking a strong signal through it, but you need to turn it right up to get power amp distortion. You could try a power soak as it's a 100 watt amp or you could try boosting your signal. Bear in mind it's a purpose built bass amp so the tone stack and possibly even the valves (maybe 6550's instead of EL34s) could be different from the guitar amp range so it might not distort in a 'classic Marshall' way. There are loads of valve powered stomp boxes on the market, have you looked in that direction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix555 Posted August 21, 2011 Author Share Posted August 21, 2011 Hey guys, Thanks for the advice and all! Im not looking really looking for a distortion, but it would be nice if its there. But what do you mean by boosting input signal? higher output pickups? (using a MM stingray) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Input level is probably marked as gain on your amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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