VTypeV4

The V4 had a little hiccup a few months back with a horrible cracking through the speakers, lightning inside one of the EHX KT88s and ultimately a fried fuse. The EHX are still currently untested but being safe rather than sorry, I replaced the fuse and installed some old SED 6550C that I'd acquired - these thankfully brought it back to life. They've been fine but I wanted something a bit newer and special for the big Trace so having done a bit of research, I came across these 'Linlai' branded '88s. Initially, I thought they were re-branded premium Shuguang but seemingly, I was wrong and it's a new factory set up by former emplyees of both Shuguang and Psvane specialising in big hifi tubes such as 845 and 811 plus smaller 6SN/L7 and ECC83/2/1 types.. 

With only about 45 mins on them so far, it's nowhere near enough time to evaluate them but initial impressions are very good. They look fantastic, biased up and remained stable after about 25 mins plus I noticed an exceptionally low noise floor - the V4 isn't noisy anyways but it was near silent with these.

We'll see how they go - I got the best part of ten years out of the EHX (and there's a chance they're still ok) which is longer than I've had out of any other set that have ever been in there. Whether these will match the Russian built valves is yet to be seen but having paid £150 including delivery, the V4 feels great and I'm a happy camper.. 🥰

This sought after set have just been pulled from my Trace Elliot V4 although they started life as a sextet in a friend's SVT II a number of years back. The remaining four are old but still working fine and have happily done the last six months in the V4 with no bias drifting, internal lightning or blown fuses but I fancied a change so have installed some brand new Linlai KT88s. You can just about make out the SED logo and other prints in the first pic. There's a 5th valve somewhere that if I find it at the time of sale, I'll also include.

SED Winged C 6550C

£100 posted.

Many thanks to Wayne for a great transaction.

My old Trace Elliot 122H has gone to a loving home in the North East.

Have confidence and faith in this guy - he's 100%.

20 hours ago, ossyrocks said:

Is there anywhere on the internet which provides a documented informative timeline/history/details of the Ampeg SVT, V4B or B15?

 

I'm interested in these amps, but an understanding of them eludes me just as much as the Musicman Stingray!

 

Rob

There's the Ampeg book, too although it covers all models up until about twenty years back. It's little out of date now but is still an easy and interesting

read.  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ampeg-Story-Behind-Gregg-Hopkins/dp/0793579511

20 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Love that, you don’t see those for sale very often , I bet it sounds great, hope you get it 

Thanks, I'm reasonably confident we'll put something together as the fella that owns it is a good mate. 😎 For the record, it's number 191 / 500.

In a change from my usual love for 'all things green and black', I've been using this lovely old thing of late. It's an '87 Skunkworks SVT-HD which I don't yet own it but there's a deal in progress. It's got bags of power plus it's amongst the most 'musical' of things I've ever plugged into, and yes, it's totally worth the weight..

Making use of Mark's Wing at St Joes although thankfully the college now has it's own Wing and two SD16 stage boxes. 

There's almost as many photos of M32 consoles as there are 02Rs on this thread. 🥰 This particular example has been my trusty steed at Bloodstock Festival for the last 5 years, now - still reliable, still up to the job and still great to mix on. Yes, they're showing their age a little, now but I'm more than happy to mix with them. It's looking likely that a different company will be providing the audio on both Sophie and my stage so next year so A&H and Yamaha are a possibility. Thankfully the new company have retained the staff so we've all kept our places for next year - it's just different gear, seemingly.

The mighty Midas HD96 pictured here at the 2025 Notting Hill Carnival. This was one of two examples at the Hornimans Garden site - I used both but not at the same time. The above pic was my mix / recording console used for the 'Panorama' Steel Bands night whilst the other was somewhat under-utilized as FOH console. They're an intuitive machine taking the best of the Wing and the best of the Pro series into one console - I'm more than happy to have one of these.. ❤️

Various stages and consoles pictured throughout the UK on the recent TOH 45th anniversary tour. Allen & Heath and Digico have been common place on this run with a single Soundcraft VI and a solitary Pro2 - not a single Yamaha in sight! 😬  

Thanks for the replies so far, folks.. 👍

Very recently, I picked up an exceptionally cheap Ashdown 2x10 cab. It works perfectly and sounds really very nice but I want to use it with all my amps so it needs to be 4 ohms not eight. The V4 will operate happily at eight but the Ampegs, Beavis and the V6 need two or four..

I've looked at various drivers and a while back, remember modelling some Celestion Pulse (not the XL) in the very similarly sized Trace Elliot 2x10 cab with seemingly favourable results. Frustratingly, my Eminence cab modelling software doesn't like this computer.

The cab itself is just over 100 litres and tuned to around 50Hz. Tonally, I'm after non-rising-rate mids so a smooth, flat-ish response and the Celestions seem to fit the bill quite well.

Has anyone done similar or used different drivers and found great results?

SOLD PENDING COLLECTION - MANY THANKS

I made the mistake of gigging it this afternoon - it was immense.. 🤣 Whoever finally gets this lovely amp will not be disappointed..

5 hours ago, basslondon said:

I would venture it sounds better than my SMX 300 era head and certainly is up with my Series 6 AH500X.

 

I'm gonna continue my search for info and thank you for your help so far

I think my 400SMX sounds better than my 300SMX - only by a hair but there's something about it that just 'breathes' in a slightly more natural way..

Hope you get to the bottom of what it is - very cool. 👍

Looks like it could be a MK1 GP11 although I'm not so sure the case is original.. With the first couple of generations of Trace Elliot gear, I believe all woodwork was painted black before the change to the grey 'pimple' type that lasted until the mid / late '90s ie, the early SM and SMX ranges..

Hope you have fun with it..

Trace Elliot 122H Combo - £280 collected or I'm willing to deliver it within 15 miles of Stoke on Trent for free.

It sounds nothing short of incredible with plenty of punch and power from the Clive Button 300 watt MOSFET amp section plus the last generation of the 12-band preamp has some useful additions over the previous SMX. The Celestion C10H drivers are original and have that classic Trace 'snap' to them plus the Fostex HF unit helps with added 'ping' if you want it - I always do.

I did a little maintenence on it when it arrived which was simple cleaning of the pots and jacks - you can see it's insides on the pics. It's never put a foot wrong or done anything daft. Condition is generally excllent all round with no rips or tears in the carpet but it does have the odd mark on the grill plus evidence of some sort of spilliage around the back in a previous life but for something that is 26 years old, it's superb.

Obviously, it's not as loud as an SVT with an 8x10 and if your guitarist has a 100w Marshall through a 4x12, you'll need another cab to go with it but I'd put money on it at least matching the performance most other 2x10 combos.

You're welcome to come try it at Synkronize Music Group - this thing is 100%.

You've all seen it before but I thought it looked particularly good with a bit of light on and the Fender / Ampeg back drop..

On 21/07/2025 at 08:23, Pow_22 said:

 but recently I've looked into an old Bassman 135 as I see you can run 1 x 8ohm cab off the extension output and they also have a line out for FOH. 

They're a lovely amp - not big power but usually enough through the right cab(s).. Mine seems to have no problem working at 8 ohms on the 'extension' output although it usually works at 4 ohms on the 'main' output with it's matching 2x15". The line out is after everything so it's level is proportional to the output level but it really sounds great - I have a cheap passive DI box attached with some velcro in the back so I can use it as a balnced line. Not recently but I've done quite a bit of recording using it. 

5 hours ago, BassmanPaul said:

I don't know what the tube complement of  the Ashdown but the 7027 tubes used in the V4B are very very expensive. up to a thousand bucks for a set of four from Fliptops. They mention the British KT88 are an alternative.

The reissue Ampeg V4B models run a quartet of 6L6GC rather than the lesser spotted 7027.. Ashdown went the other way and did it with a pair of '88s..

Back in the land of the 02R, this Waves Y56K / ADAT card arrived safely from Japan this morning..

Thankfully I encountered no issues during installation and chose to make various Renaissance EQ and Compressor strings as stereo sub-group inserts. Gig and recording ready.. 👍

I've had good service out of these cards as there's one in both DM2000s, too. As I've probably mentioned previously, the sounds of the plugins are a little different - arguably, they have a little more character than the stock Yamaha ones. Both the 02R96 and especially the DM2Ks have more than enough processing to do pretty much every job that comes my way but the extra bells and whistles afforded by the Waves card is very welcome. 🥰     

My lovely old '96 helping the TOH boys out at the studio - heavy and bulky but ever reliable and useful.. ❤️

Beautiful flagship Soundcraft Vi Sounding and feeling great at Tolhuistuin venue in Amsterdam..

Smoky soundcheck in Amsterdam - a truly fantastic venue..

The Slaughter House / Kulturfabrik in Berlin..

A slightly questionable setup and vast amounts of dust at the 'Forever Now' festival in Milton Keynes. It took a few songs but I got there in the end..

And the monsterous 'Summer Sessions' for The Skids in Bellahousten Park, Glasgow. Digico SD12 and a D&B rig with a truly outrageous amount of power..

On 10/05/2025 at 17:23, mike257 said:

He hasn't seen me yet, but I've just spotted @VTypeV4 in the wild, and doing a bloody marvellous job of making Spear Of Destiny sound great!

 

Ah brilliant! 🤣 Thanks Mike - so cool to speak in real world albeit a little brief. Hope your shows played out as well as ours? I'll be honest,we had a great day with all the fun of the seaside including ice cream, seafood and a run out on a speed boat not to mention a lovely gig. ❤️ 

@mike257 It really does look like we will actually work together! Excellent! 😃

I was at the Scarborough Punk gig a few weeks back with The Skids - there's some pics below. I had a great time plus I thoroughly enjoyed the band and of course, the lovely CL5. ❤️

Glad to see you're out and about, Mike - looks like you've more than enough on to keep you going? It's funny you mention the A&H thing, I've seen more SQ and dLive than literally anything else this tour. I think we're 12 shows in as I write this and other than a few Digico (including an awesome SD8), it's been entirely A&H - not an M or X32 in sight..  

It's been a decent run so far - fingers crossed it stays that way. 💯

These two (studio example pictured) are still going strong and continue to be the backbone of a lot of my studio based work. I know they're old but they still deliver just as they always have. 😃

A job for friend and his disco band pictured here at the Civic Hall in Nantwich. I have to conceed that these thigs are probably my favourite of the newer generation as I can't really find any reason to dislike them and love how they're both incredibly powerful but reasonably straight forward to use. I may even have to purchase one.. ❤️

Very interesting..

On 15/03/2025 at 09:31, Chienmortbb said:

What could you do if your mixer does not ( yet) have pre-delay. Is there anything else you can do? 

Maybe there's a delay on the return channels? The Yamaha's very usefully have delay on all I/O. Try starting with around 20ms if it's an option and see how you go from there - there's no true right or wrong here, just use your ears to judge..

On 13/03/2025 at 22:10, Phil Starr said:

Oh I asked for help on using reverb and delay when I was setting up my mixes and got this advice from @VTypeV4 It's now my standard set up for live vocals with the sends and returns adjusted to suit, basically quite a lot applied to my own bvs where I'm just filling out the sound and a bit less to the lead vocals. I find the delay particularly helpful for the bv's.

 

"My personal starting points are usually a short-ish plate or hall reverb of around 1.2s - give or take - and then in addition to this a short delay with 180ms (or thereabouts) time with around 30% feedback. These are approximate settings and won't work on everything all the time (plus different fx units have their own sound too) so you'll no doubt find some vocals will lean towards sounding better with less of one / more of the other and vice-versa - adjust to suit the sends / returns to suit.

 

Good luck. 😃"

 

Here's the original thread 

 

Happy to have helped, Phil - hope others find it of use. 👍

I own a few rigs that have multiple cabs from the same..

2x SWR Goliath Jr III (2x10 + HF). When a friend was moving to lighter cabs about ten years ago, he sold these to me at a great price and I figured two cabs made for a modular rig although being honest, I've nearly always used both together. 

Trace Elliot 2103H & 1153 (2x10 + HF and 1x15 respectively). These came with a Trace AH400SMX a few years back but currently they're used with my Trace V6. I use both as the V6 requires a maximum load of 4 ohms so both together achieve this. They do have a different sonic characters but seem to work well enough together.

Ampeg 410HE and 115E (4x10 + HF and 1x15). Again, the cabs came as part of a rig - an SVT CL sits on top of both as, much like the V6, the SVT doesn't want to see anything greater than four ohms total load.

Trace Elliot V-Type 4808 and 115 (super compact 4x8 and 1x15) This mini-rig is powered by a Trace Elliot AH300SMX and is a pokey little power house. The 1x15 is good enough but the 4x8 will knock a hole in a wall - it's true gem of a cab and would happily swap the 1x15 out for another 4x8.

I appreciate using two cabs with a different configuration operating over the same frequency range can cause phase correlation and potential dispertion issues but given most gigs are via a house system these days, I think it's probably less of a problem especially if the rig is used as the local monitor. It's fair to say that with any 'stack', most of what is heard close to the rig will be the top cab anyways - particularly if that cab is a little more sensitive, voiced with more midrange or fitted with an addional mid or HF unit.

23 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

One can never have enough Jazz Basses. They just sorta get under your skin.

 

I had one of these Japanese Millers - really loved the sound, but it weighed more than a cruise liner's anchor, so sadly it had to go.

@HeadlessBassist Agreed - I've almost forgotten how many I've owned! ❤️ And yes, it's a bit of a beast on the weight department but the sound makes up for it.

2 hours ago, Geek99 said:

What do the controls do?

@Geek99 The two silver knobs are pickup volumes and the bottom black ones are the active bass and treble controls..

I've put it through the V4 / SWR setup with the NE-1 and Ampeg Optocomp today and it was glorious - I even A/B'd it against some of the MM tracks and my version of that particular sound was reasonably convincing, My own tastes are tiny bit more low mid and and a bit more 'ping' really high up but that super-smooth attenuated upper mid plays right into my wheel house. 🥰