Hi all
Around Feb/March last year I won an Ashdown 330 Touring 210H in a DV247 competiton - it's a lovely amp and a bit of a beast, I don't gig so it has never left the room but does get used for recording and such. Lately I've been thinking I don't need it sat there taking up all the space, and i tend to prefer a DI sound than a miked speaker, since I go for a sortof motown/Jamerson tone. I like it to sit right on the very edge of valve saturation so that it is just starting to break up, with the option of going further and having the gain push it over the edge and really pile the grit on - where you can hear the distortion creeping in soloed but in a mix it still sounds clean. The 330 just doesn't seem to get there though, even on max gain the tone is still really clean.
This last week or so I've been thinking about moving it on and getting a Little Bastard instead - a nice compact head would probably do me better, it has the same simple passive EQ that I like and no bloated stuff like EQ and compression, and from what I've seen it's easier to overdrive the gain? I could always get/make a 1x15 if I felt I needed one at some point. Plus the all-valve aspect is really appealing (albeit technically more costly to maintain) and I can have more fun experimenting with valves and finding something I like.
What do people think? What would I get for the amp I've got and how much should I be looking at for the LB30 (used)? Wouldn't mind a UK made one