ninehertz

1. • alan
   • A bass one. Noisy.
     
     I know nothing, so any suggestions?!
   • [11:46 on 26/09/08]
2. • Podge
   • there is one available at my house.
     
     trace elliot
     
     250 watts
     
     recently serviced
     
     7 band (i think) eq
     
     i can get you the full spec when i'm home
   • [12:07 on 26/09/08]
3. • Beerman
   • Yes, do your homework. I've just bought one myself and have just been through the process. There's loads of musician forums giving honest opinions on all sorts.
     
     One of the big questions to answer is how big? Do you want it for gigs, band practice or home use. Practice amps are plenty loud enough for the home and are portable which is important as you can't always play in the living room and if it's ugly, you'll want to put it away when you've finished. The draw back is most sound crap and they can only be used in the home, they wouldn't last 5 minutes outside of it. The exception to this is the Philip Jones range, which are very expensive
     
     The middle category is the one I went for. Has to be turned down in the home, is portable (just), but best left where it is if you can find a corner of the room that is forever England. The quality is many times better, they don't buzz and some look quite attractive. I went for the Ashdown ABM EVO II 500. I also bought an Ashdown MAG 300 head S/H for £100 which can be run from the EVO II line out into a separate Ashdown 15" cab which I picked up S/H for £80. I'll use the MAG 300 as a spare / one for my mate to play when he comes over / it's there if I ever decide to gig. I found the Trace Elliot was built like a brick shithouse but lacked a bit on sound quality.
     
     For gigs you need power to match your venue. You've see the equipment bands use, Peavey, Laney, Marshall, HiWatt etc. often with two cabs to form a stack wit the head sat on the top. Heavy, ugly and very loud. IF you want quality, go for Orange (£1000+ for a head though).
     
     If you buy S/H again, do your homework. Work out what is a good price and stick to it. Ebay is great but not quick. You have to be prepared to get out bid at the last moment and let the item go if the price goes too high. You will eventually get the one if you wait long enough.
     
     [Edited by Beerman at 21:59 on 28/09/08]
   • [14:15 on 28/09/08]
4. • Big Si
   • Frankly, if you want something huge and money's no object, you simply cannot do better than an Ampeg SVT Classic. The killer there is that you will need either two cabs or, for preference, a big ol' Ampeg 8x10".
     
     Since you say you need a head, I assume you have a cab already - details?
   • [14:25 on 28/09/08]
5. • MatthewRedStars
   • Anything with valves + distortion pedal FTW. I can't think of any scenario that would make me buy a transisitor amp again.
   • [18:17 on 28/09/08]
6. • Beerman
   • I Agree with the Ampeg recommendation. I never got around to hearing it becasue I thoought it too powerful for what I needed, but everyone I spoke to praised it,
     
     If you want to play it in your home then you'll need headphones. Beware, the bigger amps don't have them. If you don't have a headphone socket, you may have to use the speaker sockets with an an adapter, but you really need 2 speaker sockets for this or the adapters gets very complicated. Or do what I've done, use the line out socket with a headphone amp and a pair of cordless headphones. You'll also need a line in to play your cd/mp3 player through the amp so that you can play along.
     
     
     
     [Edited by Beerman at 22:15 on 28/09/08]
   • [22:11 on 28/09/08]
7. • Tino Insana
   • quote:

     I'm in need of a head
     
     
     You should have to the 'a' out of that thread title
   • [23:37 on 28/09/08]
8. • odoom
   • Tino Insana says:

     quote:

     I'm in need of a head

     
     
     You should have to the 'a' out of that thread title
     
     
     damn straight... i was just about to say that myself...
     
     any offers?
   • [11:05 on 29/09/08]
9. • Podge
   • Beerman says:

     go for Orange (£1000+ for a head though).
     
     
     FAIL, over priced under powered.
     
     
     MatthewRedStars says:

     I can't think of any scenario that would make me buy a transisitor amp again.
     cost would be the main one.
   • [11:39 on 29/09/08]
10. • bad admiral
    • i played through an obscure vintage italian transistor head a couple weeks back. it was meaty. i don't think i've ever played a valve amp.
      
      ashdown is run by pricks. product is not as spectacular as it should be.
      
      trace elliot (before they were brought out) are tone MACHINES!
      
      orange are too pricey, when for a bit of digging about, a matamp is better for about the same price.
      
      
    • [11:44 on 29/09/08]
11. • odoom
    • i'm the proud possessor of an original trace elliot although i hardly use it anymore cos i've but my bass playing to rest at the moment but it is indeed a belter and just needs a bit of an overhaul as i've had it for over ten years now. me speaker cabs fucked too. in fact all my speaker cabs i own are buggered at the mo. thank god i've got generous mates who lend me shit
      [Edited by odoom at 11:55 on 29/09/08]
    • [11:53 on 29/09/08]
12. • Podge
    • bad admiral says:

      i played through an obscure vintage italian transistor head a couple weeks back. it was meaty. i don't think i've ever played a valve amp.
      
      some tranny amps are good, infact many tranny amps are good.
      if you are going to put more than 1 pedal in front of it or never use the clean sound then a tranny is generally smaller, lighter, cheaper, more robust & more reliable than a valve head
      
      ashdown is ex trace staff, everyone i know who's had an ashdown (including my self) has had to have it fixed.
      
      trace aren't built anyone since fender bought them out, they were good but the latter era stuff suffered in the same way as the ashdown now does.
      
      i would be really surprised if you found a matamp suitable for bass for less than an orange, plus matamp, like any custom made item, are susceptible to workmanship problems
      
      what you really need is a smokey into a power amp, if it wasn't for the fact that my 150 watt (now pushing 175 i think) 1960s all valve hiwatt hadn't cost me more than its worth to fix i'd happily swap it for that set-up
    • [12:07 on 29/09/08]
13. • bad admiral
    • i'm looking for a head unit too since mine died. it has to be:
      
      a) very cheap
      b) very loud
      c) working
      
      i don't really give a shit if it's good or not, tone wise. i like amps with lots of dials on them and a bit of writing. something that lights up quite a bit as well would be sterling.
    • [12:13 on 29/09/08]
14. • alan
    • Whoa, thanks muchly for the advice. I need to do me some thinking.
    • [12:14 on 29/09/08]
15. • JenTheHen
    • bad admiral says:

      i'm looking for a head unit too since mine died. it has to be:
      
      a) very cheap
      b) very loud
      c) working
      
      i don't really give a shit if it's good or not, tone wise. i like amps with lots of dials on them and a bit of writing. something that lights up quite a bit as well would be sterling.
      
      
      Hee. You've just lost some "pretentious points" with me Rich. Good man!
    • [12:25 on 29/09/08]
16. • bad admiral
    • JenTheHen says:

      bad admiral says:

      i'm looking for a head unit too since mine died. it has to be:
      
      a) very cheap
      b) very loud
      c) working
      
      i don't really give a shit if it's good or not, tone wise. i like amps with lots of dials on them and a bit of writing. something that lights up quite a bit as well would be sterling.

      
      
      Hee. You've just lost some "pretentious points" with me Rich. Good man!
      
      
      i'm the least pretentious person you know.
      
      or maybe i'm pretending to not care and i reality i want something handwired by kiddies with diseases.
      
      i'm not pretentious. apart from pretending to be a turk or latin. but that's probably just a big ironic joke.
    • [12:40 on 29/09/08]
17. • Ollie
    • I've never been too keen on the Trace Elliot sound, I always found it a bit to clean. Our bassist used to have a Hartke head but it sounded like a fart and he needed to use a drive pedal in front of it to give it any beans. He now uses an Ampeg SVT into an 8x10 cab and it's the most incredible bass sound...full, fat, warm and rich. It really makes the air move. Some of the old 70's Marshall valve bass heads sound pretty sweet as well but may lack a bit of power.
    • [14:00 on 29/09/08]
18. • MatthewRedStars
    • Podge says:

      Beerman says:

      go for Orange (£1000+ for a head though).

      
      
      FAIL, over priced under powered.
      
      

      MatthewRedStars says:

      I can't think of any scenario that would make me buy a transisitor amp again.

      cost would be the main one.
      
      
      Not true.... my 135w 1970s Bassman was around £200. Sounds amazing with a pedal through it.
      
      Transistor amps LIE. This fucks me off. If a valve amp has 6 x 6550s you know it will put out 300w. Tranny amps power ratings seem to have no relevence to the output volume which is ALWAYS massively exagerated.
      
      I've used a 1400w tranny power amp, a 1200w Sunn tranny amp, a 500w tranny Ampeg on full tilt.... and not any of them are as loud as my Sunn/Mesa/Fender valve amps with the master on 1 out of 10.
      
      Another plus point is that any local repair shop can fix an old broken valve head because they are incredibly simple. If a tranny amp blows anything other than a fuse its back to an authorised repairer for a new PCB.
      
      In summary: Old valve heads are cheaper, easier to fix, more musical (no amount of circuitry can match the warm compression of a valve been pushed) and 3-4 times louder than any solid state head of a similar listed wattage.
      
      
      
    • [14:24 on 29/09/08]
19. • Jack
    • Valves win every time
    • [14:45 on 29/09/08]
20. • Ollie
    • MatthewRedStars says:

      Podge says:

      Beerman says:

      go for Orange (£1000+ for a head though).

      
      
      FAIL, over priced under powered.
      
      

      MatthewRedStars says:

      I can't think of any scenario that would make me buy a transisitor amp again.

      cost would be the main one.

      
      
      Not true.... my 135w 1970s Bassman was around £200. Sounds amazing with a pedal through it.
      
      Transistor amps LIE. This fucks me off. If a valve amp has 6 x 6550s you know it will put out 300w. Tranny amps power ratings seem to have no relevence to the output volume which is ALWAYS massively exagerated.
      
      I've used a 1400w tranny power amp, a 1200w Sunn tranny amp, a 500w tranny Ampeg on full tilt.... and not any of them are as loud as my Sunn/Mesa/Fender valve amps with the master on 1 out of 10.
      
      Another plus point is that any local repair shop can fix an old broken valve head because they are incredibly simple. If a tranny amp blows anything other than a fuse its back to an authorised repairer for a new PCB.
      
      In summary: Old valve heads are cheaper, easier to fix, more musical (no amount of circuitry can match the warm compression of a valve been pushed) and 3-4 times louder than any solid state head of a similar listed wattage.
      
      
      
      
      
      I've noticed that about valves against tranny amps with my guitar rig. I use a 50 watt valve amp and it has way more apparent volume that the 100w Laney Linebacker head I used to have, that thing was weak but the valve Marshall has plenty of guts. The bass is pretty much the core of most bands' sound so you need something that fills that space...valves every time. Plus they are easy to fix, most of the time it's just a valve that needs to be replaced and that's it.
    • [14:55 on 29/09/08]

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