spaners Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 (edited) [font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif][size=6]New amp day On my way up to Stoke on Trent I foolishly stopped at PMT (Birmingham) just to take a break. As I wandered around admiring the great range of stock I spotted the amp. Small, sexy and demanding my attention. It was hooked up to a MI-Bass1x10 and after a few questions I had a bass hooked up. After a few minuets I was hooked! Now this thing aint guna blow the roof off, but the tone, (you gota like grit, drive n distortion) and at a level I can use indoors. Now that said I normally wouldn't buy an amp without trying it through my cab with my bass, but after 15 mins with this tone machine I broke that rule n pulled out my wallet. Im away all week, no bass n no cab to hook up to this baby so its guna be a long wait till I get home on Friday to try it out again but soon as im home ill update with a few more thoughts. First one is something's gota go. So if anyone fancy's a BH250 with the three switch pedal, an Epiphone EB3 short scale limited edition in white or a Squier vintage modified telecaster special in black give me a pm[/size][/font] Edited September 4, 2013 by spaners Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Obviously it was loud enough to deafen you, though! Shouting!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaners Posted August 17, 2013 Author Share Posted August 17, 2013 Ok so here's an update on my new amp ( CTM15 ) So I finely got to hook the new toy up to a my RS112 and chose my pawn shop mustang to try first. To be honest I was a little disappointed couldn't get it to sound as sweat as the one in the shop and cranking up the gain gave a lot of background noise. spent about an hour fidling around with the EQ trying to get the sound just right but it just seamed harsh n flat. Went to bed thinking is it just a bad match to the speaker, is the mustang pickup a bit to hot for the amp ? is it a dodgy amp ? Anyway had another go this morning . Tried it into a couple of other cabs and with a couple of other basses. still couldn't get what I wanted. As I have a few spare vales kicking around I thought well, lets try a valve swap n see what happens before I send it back. After a rummage through a couple of junk boxes I had found one new JJ EL84 and a selection of preamp valves. A short drive to my local guitar shop and I had procured a second JJ EL84 tested and matched to the one I had (thanks Oasis music) I fitted my two new output tubes and decided to go with a GT 5751 (about 30% les gain than a 12AX7) In the pre . Big BIG difference Still quiet noise with the gain cranked up but not as loud a hiss as before (acceptable I would say) The tone is now much more to my liking the harsh brittle sound now replaced with a smoother more mellow tone. So my fist recommendation, change them nasty valves. Ok so now I have a tone n what a tone, so I'm guessing you wana know how loud n could you gig with it ? Ok so I live in a smallish flat. Between 10 n 12 on volume with the gain on 0 for max clean is about as loud as I would wana go (mustang volume on half) That is going to be enough to get the neighbours complaining. Between 12 n 3 it starts to get a little hair n the neighbours are guna be nocking on my door 3 to 5 (fully cranked) don't make a lot of difference. Now the gain this is what dose it for me its what this amp is all about, If you love the fuzz your guna love this amp wind in the gain and it gets much louder and much hairier beating the pants off all of my distortion pedals (just a shame you cant switch it on and off) As for is it giggable ? well I doubt it after all it is only 15w. That said in a small venue or acoustic set it might be useable with the right set of speakers, but gigging is not what this amp was built for! Conclusions thus far, If you can afford the price tag for a home/recording head id say its a good choice as nothing sounds quiet like a tube amp. If you want something to gig with then look elsewhere. For me its a keeper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanEly Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 So I'm looking at getting a Aguilar DB112 cab and potentially this head to use with it some small gigs with PA support. Do you reckon it would be a good match? If not, this cool head seems great for home rehearsals and perfect for the studio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badboy1984 Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 For small gigs it depend how loud you guys play, but with PA support it should be fine in my opinion. I went for the LB30 instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaners Posted August 18, 2013 Author Share Posted August 18, 2013 Hi Dan, well I can't speak for the DB12 as I haven't tried one but I believe they are quiet highly regarded. It really depends what kind of sound you are looking for I think. From the comments I have read they are quiet sensitive cabs but that said I don't think you would hear yourself on stage without a monitor (but that would depend on the venue/type of music ect) what I would suggest is order the head on-line (that way if it aint what you want its easy to send back) then take the head around a few good shops n try lots of different cabs. I plan on doing a bit of a road trip to try a few myself, maybe next week. The real home for this head is def home/home studio. Worth a try I recon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaners Posted August 19, 2013 Author Share Posted August 19, 2013 I got myself an Ashdown VS112 today from Acadamy of sound in stoke. Ex artist (second hand) as new for £99 to go with my CTM 15. Sounds very sweat with it, better than it dose with my TC RS112. Not as loud n a lot heavyer! Around 20kg I would gess. So now I'm looking for another. HIGHLY recommended Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Tried one today through a mag410t. I was bowled over. What a great recording amp, and smaller gigs. My only sticking point was no D.I. But as a home use amp, I'm sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaners Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 the more I use this amp the more I like it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaners Posted September 4, 2013 Author Share Posted September 4, 2013 some pics of my tube amps [url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69/jtrb.jpg/"][/url] [url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/31/jnfu.jpg/"][/url] [url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/836/4gce.jpg/"][/url] [url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/843/xo2b.jpg/"][/url] [url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/skuy.jpg/"][/url] [url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/189/r0hs.jpg/"][/url] [url="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/32/6irr.jpg/"][/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaners Posted September 15, 2013 Author Share Posted September 15, 2013 Got a VS115 yesterday Mellow thunder [URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/404/49sa.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/404/49sa.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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