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The HandBox Amplification thread


wateroftyne

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally had a chance to use the WB-100 in anger. Band practice for a new (ish) band, two guitarists with 2x12s and a hard hitting drummer.

Used my Barefaced Super Twin, and it sounded glorious. I normally add an EQ curve on my HX Effects to tame the mids of the ST but I didn’t need that at all. This amp sounded much better without it, for this band at least.

And I was asked told to turn down twice.

Marvellous 😁

 

IMG_2718.thumb.jpeg.1d67bd17afb6b01d4d86fa0e2206aeae.jpeg

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17 minutes ago, Merton said:

Finally had a chance to use the WB-100 in anger. Band practice for a new (ish) band, two guitarists with 2x12s and a hard hitting drummer.

Used my Barefaced Super Twin, and it sounded glorious. I normally add an EQ curve on my HX Effects to tame the mids of the ST but I didn’t need that at all. This amp sounded much better without it, for this band at least.

And I was asked told to turn down twice.

Marvellous 😁

 

IMG_2718.thumb.jpeg.1d67bd17afb6b01d4d86fa0e2206aeae.jpeg

Not surprised you were asked to turn down. With that Gain and Master setting that must have been painful in a rehearsal room. Typically at a Vocal PA only gig i'll balance against drummer volume and that's loud enough in both a punk and Glam band with Gain similar to yours and Master at 11 o'clock. I normally have the bass at 1 tho but mine is the B, M, T    EQ version and might make a little difference.

Glorious amps tho and with a P or even a PJ type bass they are sublime. That Precision pick up just works so well with an all tube amp.

What SVT did you have.

Dave

Edited by dmccombe7
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Just now, dmccombe7 said:

Not surprised you were asked to turn down. With that Gain and Master setting that must have painful in a rehearsal room. Typically at a Vocal PA only gig i'll balance against drummer volume and that's loud enough in both a punk and Glam band with Gain similar to yours and Master at 11 o'clock. I normally have the bass at 1 tho but mine is the B, M, T    EQ version and might make a little difference.

Glorious amps tho and with a P or even a PJ type bass they are sublime. That Precision pick up just works so well with an all tube amp.

What SVT did you have.

Dave

Yeah it was a ridiculously loud evening tbh, the drummer is an even harder hitter than my normal drummist who I thought was LOUD!

 

Never had an SVT - I just abbreviated Super ST to ST because I’m lazy 😄 With my TE-1200 I found I wanted to give it a slight EQ curve from the HX Effects to make it sound more like my Two10 cab, which works very very well with the Trace head. TBH the Handbox does too, and for my other musical projects I suspect I won’t need the ST but for this it was nice to keep up with the rest of the band and have a bit of spare headroom. It’s not often an amp keeps getting louder when you get past those settings but this certainly can!

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Did another rehearsal last night. Same band, same room, slightly more sensible volume settings. Sounded bloody glorious with my ACG TKO bass (essentially a PJ in series). Video of a song, professionally videoed and edited by me and my iPhone, warts and all..:

 

 

Edited by Merton
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1 hour ago, Merton said:

Did another rehearsal last night. Same band, same room, slightly more sensible volume settings. Sounded bloody glorious with my ACG TKO bass (essentially a PJ in series). Video of a song, professionally videoed and edited by me and my iPhone, warts and all..:

 

 

Not my usual kind of music but that sounded pretty  good. Bass sounds nice with a little bit of grit / edge on it.

Dave

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On 18/08/2024 at 11:59, Merton said:

Did another rehearsal last night. Same band, same room, slightly more sensible volume settings. Sounded bloody glorious with my ACG TKO bass (essentially a PJ in series). Video of a song, professionally videoed and edited by me and my iPhone, warts and all..:

 

 

Grest stuff @Merton,

 

Band, and bass/rig sound really good! 

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On 18/08/2024 at 11:59, Merton said:

Did another rehearsal last night. Same band, same room, slightly more sensible volume settings. Sounded bloody glorious with my ACG TKO bass (essentially a PJ in series). Video of a song, professionally videoed and edited by me and my iPhone, warts and all..:

 

 

Sounds great… nice one.

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  • 4 weeks later...

A question for all you WB-100 users who use FX as well - how well do the two pair?

 

Reason I ask, I think my Trace TE1200 is a SUPERB amp for effects as it seems to bring out the best in them. The WB-100 on the other hand just seems to make everything feel quite “swampy”. Filters don’t sweep, choruses sound a bit mooshy…. I even thought the (passive) tone control on one of my basses was bust as I couldn’t hear any difference between off, on or the sweep between. Then I realised it’s the same on all my basses….

 

Weird.

 

It’s a bloody superb amp in and of itself and I LOVE the tone I get from it without anything but a touch of compression, but with a couple of bands I need those filters, synths, choruses and they just get lost… Any clues?

 

(BTW I run the FX between bass and amp, not in the FX loop, and the EQ is pretty much flat with the very slightest of notches on the contour control. Maybe I need to try the FX loop?)

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  • 1 month later...

Great amps. I tend to run mine with Gain at 1-2 o'clock and adjust the master between 10-12 o'clock. I like a little dirt especially when digging in. If you want a cleaner tone then how its set in the pic is the way to go and how Leszek from HB tells you to run the amp. I prefer my own traditional way of running an amp and once Gain is set i leave it there and adjust the Master Volume to suit.

Run the Bass anywhere between 11-1 o'clock, Mid between 1-3 o'clock, Treble at 12 all depending on what bass i'm using.

The mid has a quite an influence on this amp but it is a wonderful tone no matter what bass i use. I love my Godin Shifter Classic passive PJ thru it. It seems a perfect match for it.

Make sure you get the speaker output matched to your cab is my one major bit of advice. I always run both my cabs so its always the 4ohm socket i use but if you mix and match your cabs ie 1 or 2 cabs its easy to get it wrong. Valve amps don't like a mis-match at all.

Have fun and keep us posted on how you get on with it at gigs.

Dave 

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16 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Great amps. I tend to run mine with Gain at 1-2 o'clock and adjust the master between 10-12 o'clock. I like a little dirt especially when digging in. If you want a cleaner tone then how its set in the pic is the way to go and how Leszek from HB tells you to run the amp. I prefer my own traditional way of running an amp and once Gain is set i leave it there and adjust the Master Volume to suit.

Run the Bass anywhere between 11-1 o'clock, Mid between 1-3 o'clock, Treble at 12 all depending on what bass i'm using.

The mid has a quite an influence on this amp but it is a wonderful tone no matter what bass i use. I love my Godin Shifter Classic passive PJ thru it. It seems a perfect match for it.

Make sure you get the speaker output matched to your cab is my one major bit of advice. I always run both my cabs so its always the 4ohm socket i use but if you mix and match your cabs ie 1 or 2 cabs its easy to get it wrong. Valve amps don't like a mis-match at all.

Have fun and keep us posted on how you get on with it at gigs.

Dave 

Thanks for the advice, it's appreciated, all my cabs are 4ohm and my main gigging is a Barefaced 1400 watt 2x12, so I don't ever need more than that onstage, there's a two-page instruction manual on the Handbox web page, but it doesn't tell you much, is there anything else available anywhere on the web, I've seen the few videos on YouTube, I'm just wondering if there's a proper manual anywhere? Or can anyone send me a copy of the manual if you have it?

Cheers,

Ste

Edited by Stephen Houghton
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On 25/07/2024 at 18:19, wateroftyne said:

Meant to post these instructions earlier. Thanks for the reminder, @Merton!

 

wb-100 instructions.pdf 70.14 kB · 24 downloads

 

31 minutes ago, Stephen Houghton said:

Thanks for the advice, it's appreciated, all my cabs are 4ohm and my main gigging is a Barefaced 1400 watt 2x12, so I don't ever need more than that onstage, there's a two-page instruction manual on the Handbox web page, but it doesn't tell you much, is there anything else available anywhere on the web, I've seen the few videos on YouTube, I'm just wondering if there's a proper manual anywhere? Or can anyone send me a copy of the manual if you have it?

Cheers,

Ste

@wateroftyne shared the instructions in an earlier post see above. Its a one A4 sheet with enough to explain the amp. The rest is trial and error i'm afraid. I read it when i got mine but its pretty standard stuff. Worth a read tho.

All the best

Dave

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