HH amps

[billynoband]

Real quality stuff HH.
I bought a VA60 1x12 combo in the early 80s which the dealer told me was made by people who used to work at HH.
Hideous in stippled red or gray finish but I used to gig it in a punk band and for small gigs (200people) with no PA connection and it still cut through the sound, real quality.

[Prosebass]

I had VS in the 80's but sold it when I got my Orange. I picked one up at a local auction room for £5.00 in about 1996 for which I built a hardwood case (it was a bare chassis) and then sold that a few years later.
Sounded really good for fretless especially at low volumes.
Would definitely have another if I could find one for a fiver....it could sit on top of my FAL combo glowing....

Edited August 25, 2008 by Prosebass

[nick]

Just bagged a H/H Studio 60B 'Bass Baby' for £30.
Surprisingly loud for its size & very punchy. Buit in compressor, parametric EQ & bi-amp outs too!
Like the look of it, quite 80's retro IMO.
Its a tad noisy, so I'm gonna give it a look over this weekend, but I'm happy with it.

[Mog]

Aint Laney reintroducing the HH brand? Though Pete had a thread about it a few months back.

[Musky]

[quote name='nick' post='1046632' date='Dec 3 2010, 05:58 PM']Just bagged a H/H Studio 60B 'Bass Baby' for £30.
Surprisingly loud for its size & very punchy. Buit in compressor, parametric EQ & bi-amp outs too!
Like the look of it, quite 80's retro IMO.
Its a tad noisy, so I'm gonna give it a look over this weekend, but I'm happy with it.

[/quote]
Congratulations Nick. I used to have one of these for practice use and they've got a great tone to them. Never did find a use for the bi-amp though.

[Big_Stu]

I was reliably informed that Marc Bolan used HH almost exclusively for recording. Vamp valve amps for image, HH for sound.

[4-string-thing]

I've got a pair of HH P.A cabs in the garage, that someone gave me. Only rated at 100w with 12" drivers but they take a lot more than the 100w and are really loud and clear. Trouble is, they each weigh as much as a ford fiesta!

[wateroftyne]

My dad has piles of H||H stuff... he's got a guitar combo (somewhere in the pile in the pic below), a pair of Dual Concentric PA cabs and a load of 100w mixer heads and slaves...

I used to gig with a mixer head and a PA cab.

Edited December 4, 2010 by wateroftyne

[scalpy]

My first cab was a HH with 2 15s. Make no mistake, it was dreadful. Weighed a ton, just wooly rumble. I put different speakers(Celestions) in it with only minimal improvement. The only thing it was good for was turning at my Halls of Residence for the first time and watching the look of horror on my new neighbours faces! It finally died at a gig in Nottingham and I remember chucking it in the skip at the dump and driving off seeing it sticking out of the top in my rear view mirror. Good riddance.

Came across plenty of pubs and village halls with HH amps as well at the time. Rubbish. Don't let time fool you- they're terrible.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1047164' date='Dec 4 2010, 10:38 AM']My dad has piles of H||H stuff... he's got a guitar combo (somewhere in the pile in the pic below)

[/quote]

I take it they are stacked in the garage like that specifically for these winter moments... fire them all up and bask in the valve warmth.

[nick]

[quote name='scalpy' post='1047191' date='Dec 4 2010, 11:09 AM']My first cab was a HH with 2 15s. Make no mistake, it was dreadful. Weighed a ton, just wooly rumble. I put different speakers(Celestions) in it with only minimal improvement. The only thing it was good for was turning at my Halls of Residence for the first time and watching the look of horror on my new neighbours faces! It finally died at a gig in Nottingham and I remember chucking it in the skip at the dump and driving off seeing it sticking out of the top in my rear view mirror. Good riddance.

Came across plenty of pubs and village halls with HH amps as well at the time. Rubbish. Don't let time fool you- they're terrible.[/quote]

TBH never had any real experience of their cabs. However, I did like the V-S Bassamp head I had many years ago, & the little combo (above) I just picked up, whilst not being in the same ballpark as anything like MB,GK etc, does sound OK to my ears, certainly not 'rubbish'. It's loud enough for pub gigs, fairly flexible EQ, quite punchy & clean sounding. Not sure if that constitutes it being 'terrible'(?)

Edited December 4, 2010 by nick

[BassBod]

Wouldn't it be interesting to do a comparison - something like a Shergold Marathon or early Wal, paired with an HH combo or Sound City 50 Plus...and a late 70s P or J with an Acoustic or Polytone? I've got a feeling the Brit gear would stack up pretty well. At the time most players spent a fortune getting the US gear, but I wonder if we've all changed over the last two or three decades?

When's the Bristol bass bash I wonder?

[Musky]

[quote name='scalpy' post='1047191' date='Dec 4 2010, 11:09 AM']Came across plenty of pubs and village halls with HH amps as well at the time. Rubbish. Don't let time fool you- they're terrible.[/quote]
I'm not letting time fool me. I've still got my Bass Machine, and I'm hanging on to it for a reason - I really like it's core tone.

And a mate still regularly gigs with his old VS plus an HH slave unit. I'd imagine they're not for everyone though.

Like Nick I've not used an HH cab, but quite honestly there are very few drivers dating back to the late 70's that can handle bass at a decent volume.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='Musky' post='1047331' date='Dec 4 2010, 02:16 PM']Like Nick I've not used an HH cab, but quite honestly there are very few drivers dating back to the late 70's that can handle bass at a decent volume.[/quote]

I used to have one of the horizontal HH 2x15 cabs (early/mid 80's) and that used to struggle with the moderate output of the monster 200w amps I used back then!

Mind I loved the fact that I could drop the back seats in my old Renault 5 and the cab, amp and bass fitted in snuggly.

[scalpy]

Maybe I'm not the right person to be wading in about old kit. Seeing as I had the honour of playing through two vintage B15s, and was really disappointed when these feature on about half of my favourite recordings, I'll bow out and wish you luck with HH!

[JTUK]

I think they were ok for the time.
They still have one or two in rehearsal studios around here but to be avoided like the plague, IMO.

[steve-soar]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='1047334' date='Dec 4 2010, 02:20 PM']I used to have one of the horizontal HH 2x15 cabs (early/mid 80's) and that used to struggle with the moderate output of the monster 200w amps I used back then!

Mind I loved the fact that I could drop the back seats in my old Renault 5 and the cab, amp and bass fitted in snuggly. [/quote]The was my first cab back in 1985, hehe, it was a stinker.

[Slipperydick]

Never really liked the VS Musician. I used to use an early IC100 guitar head with 2 HH 15" PA cabs and it sounded great. Before that I used the same amp with a Marshal 4X12 and a marshall looking 1X18 which was also good, I got the amp in a straight swap for a SL100 head back in the mid 70s. Still got the IC100, it sounds good with my Fender 2X15 cab, but I dont really use it any more.

There were a few versions of the IC100 output PCB, which might be why some people didnt like em.

I still have an HH B50 1X12 combo that I use as a practice amp as well. Really good under rated gear IMO, unpopular now though, cant believe how cheap you can get em on ebay these days.

Edited December 4, 2010 by Slipperydick

[3below]

Saw Wilko Johnson using HH combo, seemed to work rather well for him. I had an IC100 and HH 2x15. Seemed OK at the time (1980 ish) with 77 precision, but would not like to judge by today's standards. Celidh band I was in used HH pa amp for many years, light good sound & realiable. Had the offer of degree sandwich year at HH but did not take it up in the end. The good old days before the 80s recession.

[nick]

[quote name='BassBod' post='1047287' date='Dec 4 2010, 01:32 PM']Wouldn't it be interesting to do a comparison - something like a Shergold Marathon or early Wal, paired with an HH combo or Sound City 50 Plus...and a late 70s P or J with an Acoustic or Polytone? I've got a feeling the Brit gear would stack up pretty well. At the time most players spent a fortune getting the US gear, but I wonder if we've all changed over the last two or three decades?

When's the Bristol bass bash I wonder?[/quote]

That would be interesting Duncan....
Think it depends on sort of tone someone's after really. H/H amps are never going to be 'hi-fi' quality!
I'm gonna give this combo a go at the next small pub gig. For R&B,pub rock etc... reckon it & P-Bass with flats may do the job. Will certainly be less hassle than carting the V-Type rig about! For other gigs, I probably wouldn't use it. Though I'm tempted to put the spare 15" Kappalite I've got knocking around in it, just to see how it sounds.

Edited December 4, 2010 by nick

[bumnote]

[quote name='BassBod' post='1047287' date='Dec 4 2010, 01:32 PM']Wouldn't it be interesting to do a comparison - something like a Shergold Marathon or early Wal, paired with an HH combo or Sound City 50 Plus...and a late 70s P or J with an Acoustic or Polytone? I've got a feeling the Brit gear would stack up pretty well. At the time most players spent a fortune getting the US gear, but I wonder if we've all changed over the last two or three decades?

When's the Bristol bass bash I wonder?[/quote]

I was using an HH 100 with a Fender Dual showman fitted with JBLs with a precision and then I bought an acoustic 450 with a 406 2x15 Cabinet, there was honestly no comparison. The HH was POS in comparison

Those old acoustic amps still sound great today although they are large and heavy. Towards the end some of the models they introduced were aimed more towards the cheaper end of the market , but the early stuff was pro quality.

[Fozza]

I've got an old HH V-S Bassamp combo at home. I used it solidly for years and it never let me down.

It's been sitting unloved in the back room for about eight years. I'll have to plug it in and see if it still works. I might try and flog it on here if it does. I reckon I could make all of £5 from it!

[Spoombung]

Still my main amp:

[nick]

[quote name='Spoombung' post='1049788' date='Dec 6 2010, 08:10 PM']Still my main amp:

[/quote]

I'm happy to say, [i]that[/i] amp is on some great music in my collection!

Edited December 6, 2010 by nick

[Spoombung]

[quote name='nick' post='1049797' date='Dec 6 2010, 08:16 PM']I'm happy to say, [i]that[/i] amp is on some great music in my collection! [/quote]

nice one!