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The HandBox Amplification thread


wateroftyne

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6 minutes ago, ikay said:

Don't we now also have to pay VAT on all imports from the EU? I've been mentally adding 20% to EU prices on that assumption. I'd love this to be wrong!


It’s all a bit hit-and-miss. As Dave mentions above, some have slipped through the net, and others (me included) paid £50, but that was for the WB which was more expensive in the first place. 
 

Factor in 20% and you might get a pleasant surprise.

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9 minutes ago, ikay said:

Don't we now also have to pay VAT on all imports from the EU? I've been mentally adding 20% to EU prices on that assumption. I'd love this to be wrong!

That's how i calculated it when i bought the WB-100 but it only came to £47 so wasn't complaining.

I had assumed 20% VAT plus Import Tax at 3%.

For an amp of this quality at under £1k for the WB-100 incl all taxes and perhaps £800 max incl taxes its still far superior to any other amp of this type.

Honestly you wont be disappointed. I've now gigged mine a fair bit and it just gets better and better.

I love it.

 

Dave

Edited by dmccombe7
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12 hours ago, ikay said:

Don't we now also have to pay VAT on all imports from the EU? I've been mentally adding 20% to EU prices on that assumption. I'd love this to be wrong!

In the case of new amp sold out of the EU the advertised price will include EU VAT so I believe you are wrong!!! The vendor sells it to you with no EU VAT being applied as it is being exported. To do that he must go through the correct export process but it's pretty simple. Thomman are all over it and I would expect Mr Handbox also.

 

Sadly nobody seems to be able to get their head around EU VAT refunds on used goods exported privately. So for bringing in used stuff the 20% number may be close. You're in the cart for UK VAT on the shipping cost as well as as the purchase.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone used the WB100 and a Marshall VBA400?

 

I have been playing on a VBA400 at rehearsals and totally blown away by the tone. Less excited for the weight though... Takes two people to lift it on to an 8x10 and makes JCM800 feel like carrying a class d.

 

Just wondering if anyone can offer a comparison between the two? The tone I'm after is an abrasive clanky grit fest if that helps. 

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12 hours ago, MrDinsdale said:

The tone I'm after is an abrasive clanky grit fest

I am doubting 100w can give enough heft to go along with abrasive clanky grit fest if you are doing that with 400w currently. That's some full metal jacket bass going on and you would have lost 6dB of headroom, sounding more like another guitar. Maybe that works for you but unlikely.

 

Cue the "I play metal with my LAF drummer and my 100w does just fine" comments. Everyone's drummer is loud and some are louder.

 

6dB is 6dB everywhere every time. Assuming the cab you were using was handling all the 400w, that power deficit is literally fully the difference in heft between 100w going into a 410 cab vs two 100w amps going into two 410 cabs.

 

Let that sink in. Same difference as your guitarist trading 50w + single 412 for 100w + stack of 412's.

 

For me tubes do the effortless warm thing when I can be bothered. None of my tube amps are bigger than 200w and I am not trying to rearrange innards. There's pedals for aggro.

 

I had a 50w one that was lovely at low volume and disappeared when push come to shove. Same 6dB down on 200w.

 

It's a similar effect comparing an additional cab on a solid state amp that pretty much doubles output at 4ohm.

 

If you want to be royally rowdy without the weight you're looking for a nice preamp and a class D power amp.

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I play in a 70's punk band where guitarist uses a Marshall head with 412 cab and the WB-100 copes really well with master at 10-11 o'clock and Gain set at anywhere between 12-2 with 2 being the crunch mark. If i hit that distortion button it boosts the volume considerably and i get that really overdriven valve tone. Its not something i generally like but i've played some large 200 capacity venues with the WB-100 and Mesa 210/115 cabs without PA support and its never missed a beat. 

I do appreciate that grunge metal bands will play at higher volumes than i would ever dream off. 

It depends on whether you actually need that kind of volume on stage. Surely same tone at lower more manageable volume on stage with FOH providing the volume out front would produce the same listening results.

Having had Marshall stacks when i was younger i do get the loud stage volume tho. Its an age thing but make sure you are wearing ear protection.

Dave

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8 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

I am doubting 100w can give enough heft to go along with abrasive clanky grit fest if you are doing that with 400w currently.

 

That is on the assumption that the poster is achieving his present tone from driving the valve power section of his 400w amp quite hard.  

 

It would be good to know if you are getting your 'tone' from the pre/power or both.  If you are operating your power stage at less than full chat it could be that the Handbox 120 watts might be what you need.  I totally appreciate that @Downunderwonder was saying that everyone thinks their amp is loud enough despite there being no means of comparative on stage volumes between different bassists/drummers/bands but I'm sure @wateroftyne will attest that my regular band (which he has kindly depped in, for me) are pretty loud when you are judging on stage volumes and my Handbox coped.  I am NOT saying that it was barely ticking over or that I had as much headroom left as a 400w, that would be silly.  I ran my Handbox with the output on 100% and the preamp/input gain at or about where 'crunch' is indicated on the lettering/legend of the faceplate.  However, it did achieve gig volumes that meant I could project my backline without PA support in small to medium rooms.

 

The Handbox is not the be all and end all of valve amps but for it's size/weight and cost it is pretty bloody good.  

 

BTW I have no affiliation with Handbox... in fact I don't even own one of their amps any more, I sold mine.  :)  

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12 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

That is on the assumption that the poster is achieving his present tone from driving the valve power section of his 400w amp quite hard. 

Yep. Also the possibility of driving the everloving pish out of the rehearsal cab that gets the 

 

22 hours ago, MrDinsdale said:

abrasive clanky grit fest

particularly the clank.

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Hey!

 

Thanks for all the replies. For a little extra context I think the highest I got the master on the VBA400 was around 8 o'clock so it's not being driven hard at all, gain on about 11-1 o'clock. I've been running it into an EBS 8x10, not sure on the specs of it but I'm confident it's barely breaking a sweat.

 

Some of the tone is being helped by my Model Fet preamp although just picked up a Jad Freer Capo which is very likely to replace it permanently!

 

Perhaps next week I'll try running into the FX return of the VBA400 and compare that with my GK, that should help decide if the tone I'm looking for is coming from the power section vs the preamp.

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Also need to consider what frequencies are actually being produced and how audible they are. High pass filters do wonders for making sure power gets used in an efficient way.  

 

BTW, my WB100 replaced a valve-pre (Ampeg SVP) and a 460W Mosfet power amp. I play in a loud band. Two heavy guitarists. Tone is different with the WB100, but I don't struggle to keep up any more than I did with my old amp. In fact quite the opposite. Grit, grind and clank would be all too easy. I play a P with the tone sometimes rolled completely off and use flats. I like a good, thick, warm and meaty low end, with a little bit of sizzle on the top, which is a particularly power hungry tone. I sometimes use a high pass filter to get that little more juice out of it sometimes too, but not all of the time. If I put more mids into that and drove it, nobody would be hearing a drummer. It would be earsplittingly painful. :)

 

One caveat is that when I changed amp, I also changed cab from a Gen II Barefaced Compact to a Gen III Barefaced Super Twin, so there would be a db increase there. 

 

 

 

 

Edited by bigjohn
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11 hours ago, MrDinsdale said:

Some of the tone is being helped by my Model Fet preamp although just picked up a Jad Freer Capo which is very likely to replace it permanently!

Putting another preamp in front of the VBA is very likely to get a lot of tone happening before the power stage. You're 'preamping' a signal that is already good for power amping when it was expecting only pickups. No wonder the input gain was set low.

 

Likely the signal hitting the power stage attenuator is quite overclocked making the attenuator knob position unreliable also.

 

Good idea to test your pre into the power stage.

 

If you are A/Bing amps be very sure to power down the tube amp before unplugging the cabinet, and vice versa. You can kill a tube amp in short order by having it operating with no cab.

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7 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Amazing tone. Certainly a great bass rig altho that cab will be a heavy beast.

Dave

 

Meh the Mesa cab was alright... it was the ridiculous H&H 1x15 next to it that could be used to anchor a zeppelin (sorry, 'weather balloon').  ;) 

 

The HH was so heavy it induced medical injuries just by looking at it, in at least 3 of the bass players present!  Eh @cd_david  🤒

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I just remember all gear was very heavy back in 70's/80's. Of course i was only 9.5st back then.

I once had a Trace Elliot 410 combo in late 80's and that weighed a lot.

My custom flightcased cabs were also on the very heavy side and most of my gear was a 2 person lift back then. 

Dave

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