bertbass

I am enjoying my grandaughters bithday party at a brewers fayre at the moment. I recon that it doesn't matter what the reasons are for the perceived loudness of valve amps, they sound louder. I'm quite happy with that and again whatever the reasons, .i love the sound of valves. I just suggest to the OP that he gives valves a try. He might find that his problems are solved but then again he may not. I love this forum, all the best to all.

Hi all, I must confess to being a tad provocative here but a quick read of this, http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-levelchange.htm, and this, http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/voltageloudness.html, ignore the maths, will show that all things being equal, you would need a 1000w amp to be twice as loud as 100w, a 10db increase in volume. Doubling of the power of an amp would only give an increase of 3db which is 1.23 times the loudness, not a lot really and probably hardly noticeable. I have played with the same band for 25 years and the backline and drums have remained constant, apart for the bass gear, in all that time I have had a good real world chance to try different things. I wish I could be happy with my sound and although I always am, the dreaded GAS keeps raising its ugly head. The guitarist uses an AC30. An amp that defies all logic as far as volume is concerned. It's a 3 piece and I do the sound checks and guitar and drums do as they're told as far as sound and volume goes. We play anywhere but mainly pubs and clubs and we all know what the volume restrictions are like in these venues and the volumes are rarely loud enough to need PA support. When the band started I was using a valve Hiwatt 100w. No problem in the bass dept. and I loved the sound, but could it be better? Hiwatt sold, how I regret that and Peavey 700w Firebass takes it place. Suddenly the bass can't keep up with an AC30. What? The Peavey broke so I got a Carvin R1000 head. Nice amp but still couldn't keep up with an AC30. Strangely, the R1000 broke as well so got a Carvin B1500. This puts out 1900w at 2 ohms so is just about twice as loud as 100w head and it's a fantastic amp and I've still got it and at last a ss amp that's loud enough to keep up with an AC30. You guessed it. GAS again. I've now got a Mywatt 200 and it's brilliant with volume to spare. The AC30 has never been used flat out and while the position of the volume knob means not a lot, it is quite often set at one. My experience if just that, using valve and ss amps live. Valve amps generally have passive eq so you take away tone away to get the sound. SS amps have active eq so you add tone to get your sound. A sweeping generalization but you know what I mean. Turn up the bass on a ss amp and you drain the power supply so not a lot of volume. Again a sweeping generalization, but is you like a sound rich in mids then a ss amp is probably fine but if like me you like a lot of bass in your sound and little middle, ss amps are not man enough and only valves will do unless you have a 2000w amp of course. Once used an HH 130w bass head with a country band and the two 30w equipped guitarists drowned be out. I bought a Behringer 450 watt head as a spare. I only used it once to try it out and no one could hear a note and it was flat out. I know it's Behringer but that was ridiculous.

I sense a little doubt here. Why don't you try it and see, you may be surprised. Also, try turning the bass on your solid state head to full and see how loud it doesn't go.

Been there and done that and like you, I like a sound with big bottom end. I've tried a lot and I mean a lot of solid state amps and they all suffer from a lack of volume when you turn the bass up. I recon that It's because the power supplies are not man enough for the job. and it seems to me that mosfet amps are quieter still than bipolar amps. When transistor amps first came out it was reconned that a tranny amp was only 1/2 as loud as a valve amp for the same wattage rating and when anyone says that's not right because science says so, they're not using their ears. To double the volume you need 10 times the wattage. this means that you'd need getting on for a 2000w transistor amp to equal the volume of a 100w valve head. Been there and done that as well. I would suggest that you try a valve head if at all possible and see if that solves your problem. I went back to valves and love the volume and sound and perhaps you will too.

I can see for miles, The Who. Love that bass line.

Always use Hotrox. No problems and quick. Competitively priced as well.

Glue 2 table tops together then plane or get then planed / sanded to the right thickness or cut them into 1 3/4" strips and glue the strips together and make a laminated body.

Once you've stoned the frets, use the finest wet & dry paper you can find and using it dry, go across the frets until the stoning marks are gone. Then use the finest wire wool you can find and again go across the frets. The use T Cut the make the frets shine. Job done. Somewhere like Car Crazy or Halfords should sell what you need. Hope this helps.

There are only half a dozen string manufacturers in the world and they all make strings to a price. Whether that price is reflected in the name on the packet is for us to decide.

I like the sock idea. you could save playing a song if you made it pantomime enough added to the time it takes to remove the sock from your foot and then put it back on again.

Sorry, a bit slow with this reply but only just seen it. I only replaced 3 because stupidly, I didn't realise that there were 4 preamp valves and only ordered 3. The only reason that I changed them in the first place is that I'd read that the Tung Sol 12AX7 were supposed to be better valves so I thought I'd give it a go. I haven't changed the KT88s as the JJs are new and it would have cost a lot of cash to replace them as well. Never tried running an amp with only 2 of the 4 output valves and doesn't the output impedance change with only half the output valves?

Did you know that if you position the pickups on a Jazz in the same position that they are on a Rick then the Jazz sounds very similar to a Rick?

Have you tried putting a 9v battery across the speaker terminals to see if the speaker has died. Got a multimeter? Check to see if the speaker has gone short or open circuit. If its gone short circuit it may have taken the output transistors in the amp with it.

I didn't know Hulk Hogan played bass.

What's morning?

I remember those ads as well. We used to use 2, yes 2 of the Linear 30s, the same as RSC, for PA in 1968/9 along with two, 5x8 columns and in the same 2000 seat, well standing actually, venue that the Who played later that year with the first 1000w PA. Compared to the Who, our sound fell off the front of the stage onto the floor and disappeared. We thought it was good at the time though.

In theory, yes. If it's for PA then no problem as you'll never get the PA more than 1/2 volume anyway. It's bass that can kill speakers, the lower the notes, the further the speakers move in and out. The best thing is to use your ears, if it sounds distorted, turn it down or reduce the bass or both.

That's 300w RMS or 600w program. That means that the speaker is supposed to handle 300w of continuous power, such as a signal generator and 600w of music content where the volume of the music is not constant. I'd take both ratings with a pinch of salt myself.

I also say the wire wool method but followed up with T cut for a perfect finish.

Selmer Treble & Bass 100 with a pair of Selmer Goliath 1x18s. Marshall Super Bass 100 with various 4x12s and 18s. Hiwatt 100 as above. Simms Watts 100. Also as above. Sound City 200w with 2 x Sound city 4x12s. Marshall Super Bass 100 with 4 Vox 18" Foundation cabs. Owned an Elgen 100w P.A. amp in the 70s, seriously brilliant amp. I could never afford the bass amp though, but I'd still like one. If it was as good as the P.A. it would be brilliant. My first proper bass rig in 1968 was a Wem ER40 through a Wem Starfinder cabinet. 15" Goodmans speaker. Strange to think that popular opinion is that we suffered bad bass sounds in the 60s / 70s. It's simply not true. The amps we used at that time are now lusted over for their great sound and in my opinion, there's not a lot of difference in sound between a 60s/70s 4x12 and current 4x10s and like now, there was good and bad and all makes sounded different. Power handling may have increased as years have passed but I still wouldn't use a single speaker for bass regardless of how good it's supposed to be. I appear to have gone off topic a bit here so I may as well carry on. I don't care what anyone says or tries to prove with science, a valve amp is louder that a solid state amp with the same rated output. In the 70s it was said that a valve amp was twice as loud as a transistor amp with the same rated output and having tried it, it is very true and I'm not talking about flat out, just normal playing volumes and if you need 10 times the power to make it twice as loud, then you would need a 1000w transistor amp just to equal the volume of a 100w valve amp. Try it and see, I have. Sorry about that, rant over.

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Monitors certainly help to sing in tune but I have my doubts as to whether this would be able to cut through the back line and drums and reach your ears before feedback took over. Probably good for acoustic bands though. Be interesting to see if others have tried one and what they thought..

I've just received an e-mail from Stringbusters with a 10% off Rotosound strings offer. If you're impressed with your complimentary set or feel miffed that you missed out, then here's the link. http://www.stringbusters.com/Ko-Bespoke/productlist.asp?cat=1/BASS%20STRINGS/BASS%20STRINGS%20ROTOSOUND

Always used to be a 100w head and two 4x12s and that did every gig you could think of. You'd need a 1000w to be twice as loud as 100w. I use 200w head and two 4x10s or an 8x10, great sound and enough for any gig.