100W Stoneham valve amp - small footprint, lighter weight

[Merton]

Cool. Fender tonestack is out then. Can totally understand why

[la bam]

I'd love simple 5 slider. Lo, lo mid, mid, hi mid, hi.

 

Theres so many amps Ive not bought because of lack of eq flexibility.

[dmccombe7]

30 minutes ago, bassist_lewis said:

 A Schmidt Array pedalboard (due in a couple of weeks), Noble Preamp (due in November), and a Serek MW 5 (due in November/December).

Sounds interesting. Now i can relax 

Dave

[JapanAxe]

1 hour ago, la bam said:

I'd love simple 5 slider. Lo, lo mid, mid, hi mid, hi.

 

Theres so many amps Ive not bought because of lack of eq flexibility.

… and yet I find that many bands to be annoying!

 

I’m fond of the James tone circuit in my B15 clone but it is quite ‘lossy’.

[Owen]

2 hours ago, bassist_lewis said:

 A Schmidt Array pedalboard (due in a couple of weeks), Noble Preamp (due in November), and a Serek MW 5 (due in November/December).

That should keep you busy. 

[ikay]

Worth mentioning maybe that the James/Baxandall circuit is quite different to the Fender tone stack and similar to a regular 2 or 3-band cut/boost eq in operation.

Edited July 20, 2022 by ikay

[skychaserhigh]

No sliders please...thanks!

[JapanAxe]

3 hours ago, skychaserhigh said:

No sliders please...thanks!

I imagine sliders would add significantly to the cost in terms of both components and machining.

[Sparky Mark]

55 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

I imagine sliders would add significantly to the cost in terms of both components and machining.

I think sliders are good for saving space on control busy front panels. Otherwise, if you're only looking at three, four or perhaps five EQ knobs on a large (I've never seen a micro 100 watt valve head) front panel traditional pots with knobs are more attractive. 

Edited July 19, 2022 by Sparky Mark

[Nickthebass]

A good DI is a must to me. The ability to connect two 8 ohm cabs (without daisy chaining) via Speakons would be great. (I know you can get 1 to 2 adaptors but it’s another thing to lose!) There’s probably some physics reason that means most valve amps have only one output each for 4 and 8 ohms. 

 

The ability to use the DI without a speaker load would be useful, but not a deal breaker.

PS: I’d look to come down from Edinburgh for a NE bass bash!

 

[walshy]

25 minutes ago, Nickthebass said:

A good DI is a must to me. The ability to connect two 8 ohm cabs (without daisy chaining) via Speakons would be great. (I know you can get 1 to 2 adaptors but it’s another thing to lose!) There’s probably some physics reason that means most valve amps have only one output each for 4 and 8 ohms. 

 

The ability to use the DI without a speaker load would be useful, but not a deal breaker.

PS: I’d look to come down from Edinburgh for a NE bass bash!

 

Yeah DI is a must I agree. The NE Bass Bash is a great day, about 60 P basses and a Ray last time 😂 

[danpb]

There seems to be two kinds of user for valve amps, valve tone with clean headroom, or broken tube sound. A clean switch like the Orange Terror Bass would be useful to keep both sides happy? Not sure how this works in the Orange, I assume it removes a gain stage? I know the terror bass can do serious gain but something to remove any preamp breakup or make it break up sooner could be useful?

[Nickthebass]

15 minutes ago, walshy said:

Yeah DI is a must I agree. The NE Bass Bash is a great day, about 60 P basses and a Ray last time 😂 

I could bring 3 Js so there would be a few with the right number of pickups. 

[dmccombe7]

46 minutes ago, Nickthebass said:

 

PS: I’d look to come down from Edinburgh for a NE bass bash!

 

Not been to a Bass Bash for quite a few years now. Used to go to the Moffat Bass Bash organised by Alan at ACG and Chris from Overwater but not sure if that is still going.

A NE bash wouldn't be too far away from me depending on what you class as NE of course.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

4 minutes ago, Nickthebass said:

I could bring 3 Js so there would be a few with the right number of pickups. 

Proper basses you mean 

Dave

[Downunderwonder]

1 hour ago, Nickthebass said:

There’s probably some physics reason that means most valve amps have only one output each for 4 and 8 ohms. 

Makes a doofus think again before hooking up an illegal load. One for 4 + one for  8 = much less likelihood the disaster you would get hooking up one of each.

[Merton]

12 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

Makes a doofus think again before hooking up an illegal load. One for 4 + one for  8 = much less likelihood the disaster you would get hooking up one of each.

Yep, this ☝🏻
 

Also consider two 8 ohm cabs actually present a 4 ohm load (when conventionally wired in parallel) so you need to use the 4 ohm tap from the output transformer, not two 8 ohm taps… 

[Stoneham]

So far I'm going with a 3 band EQ, but will be capable of boost or cut and will be flat with dials at 12 o'clock.  It should have the option of some pre-amp drive so a gain switch could offer that.  Yes sliders add a lot of complexity to a small production run, plus pots are so much easier to service or replace long term.

Speaker outputs - jack and speakon, 8 ohm and 4 ohm outputs.  I don't like impedance switches due to the high currents, it's a weak link.    Transformer driven D.I output.

 

Do you guys bother with send/return jacks?  Or a pre-amp output

[Downunderwonder]

18 minutes ago, Stoneham said:

Do you guys bother with send/return jacks?  Or a pre-amp output

S/R is very handy for inserting a highpass filter.

 

Preamp output isn't something I have used except for experimenting.

[Matt P]

Just now, Downunderwonder said:

S/R is very handy for inserting a highpass filter.

 

Preamp output isn't something I have used except for experimenting.

 

 

same here,

 

would a footswitch for drive be possible?  the 3 band cut/bost eq is perfect for me, DI is a very useful feature too.

[Merton]

57 minutes ago, Stoneham said:

So far I'm going with a 3 band EQ, but will be capable of boost or cut and will be flat with dials at 12 o'clock.  It should have the option of some pre-amp drive so a gain switch could offer that.  Yes sliders add a lot of complexity to a small production run, plus pots are so much easier to service or replace long term.

Speaker outputs - jack and speakon, 8 ohm and 4 ohm outputs.  I don't like impedance switches due to the high currents, it's a weak link.    Transformer driven D.I output.

 

Do you guys bother with send/return jacks?  Or a pre-amp output

Thanks Martin! Bang on for me 😎

Personally I don’t use s/r or pre-amp outs but I may be in the minority 🙂

[Nickthebass]

2 hours ago, Merton said:

Yep, this ☝🏻
 

Also consider two 8 ohm cabs actually present a 4 ohm load (when conventionally wired in parallel) so you need to use the 4 ohm tap from the output transformer, not two 8 ohm taps… 

This was exactly my point. A common modular rig includes two 8 ohm cabs but with the set up on most (all?) valve power stages that I’ve seen you can’t run both cabs off a single 4 ohm output without a splitter. 

 

Personally it would limit the gig-ability of an amp if I was limited to using only one cab. It sounds like there is a big quality / relatability compromise in building that flexibility that I wasn’t aware of - hence the question. 

[stewblack]

56 minutes ago, Merton said:

Thanks Martin! Bang on for me 😎

Personally I don’t use s/r or pre-amp outs but I may be in the minority 🙂

Keep it simple.

Always.

 

[warwickhunt]

2 minutes ago, Nickthebass said:

This was exactly my point. A common modular rig includes two 8 ohm cabs but with the set up on most (all?) valve power stages that I’ve seen you can’t run both cabs off a single 4 ohm output without a splitter. 

 

Personally it would limit the gig-ability of an amp if I was limited to using only one cab. It sounds like there is a big quality / relatability compromise in building that flexibility that I wasn’t aware of - hence the question. 

 

You just daisy chain 1 cab off another.  Very few cabs have no parallel option.  

[Nickthebass]

1 hour ago, Stoneham said:

So far I'm going with a 3 band EQ, but will be capable of boost or cut and will be flat with dials at 12 o'clock.  It should have the option of some pre-amp drive so a gain switch could offer that.  Yes sliders add a lot of complexity to a small production run, plus pots are so much easier to service or replace long term.

Speaker outputs - jack and speakon, 8 ohm and 4 ohm outputs.  I don't like impedance switches due to the high currents, it's a weak link.    Transformer driven D.I output.

 

Do you guys bother with send/return jacks?  Or a pre-amp output

For me - an effects loops on head are a waste of space. I’d rather be able to hook up 2 8 ohm cabs to the 4 ohm tap if it were possible. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Nickthebass