VTypeV4

Happily playing away this afternoon (a bit of Level 42) then all of a sudden I have no sound followed by a 'that' smell and a couple of clouds of smoke. An exploded electrolytic was quickly identified as can be seen in the pix. [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/AshtonFail1_zps3d1f37bc.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/AshtonFail1_zps3d1f37bc.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/AshtonFail2_zps5f01846e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/AshtonFail2_zps5f01846e.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/AshtonFail3_zps9c81937d.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/AshtonFail3_zps9c81937d.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Off to the repair man on friday to replace one if not a number of these bad boys.

Not sure Celestion or McKenzie speakers were standard issue!? I'd expect to find JBL, EV, Oxford, Altec or Jensen..

Lovely old drivers in there, especially that old Celestion G18!

[quote name='TraceAmp' timestamp='1399138621' post='2441463'] [/quote] How does the head sound? I've looked at these and rather like 'em..

I've mixed Alan any number of times in both Gunslinger and Warlords and as stated above, he's a top chap. We had the Warlords at the Rigger last week and it was a great show. A real pleasure.

Some pics would be great. I love things like this.

^ Wow! I'll take a pic of the 10H but it's rather dinky compared to the above.

I must try one of these, they're one of the few Ashdowns that grab my attention.. I wonder how they compare to the old Trace V-Type range as they were always a personal fave.

I'm partial to my little Mamods, Wilescos and the couple of Stuart Turner engines I have.. I partially re-built the ST 10H as it's cylinder was damaged when I had it but I got a new casting and machined it along with a new piston. The end plate was still in good order so I re-used it and old newspaper as a gasket. Runs great on compressed air but never had a boiler man enough to run it on steam.

I'm not bad on Trace history from Series 6 through to Gibson / closure but I haven't much of a clue about the '80s stuff.

A fantastic oscillator system, Casio must have really been thinking outside the box when they developed the 'Phase Distortion' design! Never owned one but they're on the 'list'.. !

So it's likely our TwinValve rigs are too?

Very pretty and very comprehensive by the looks of things! I'd quite like something similar at home for recording purposes..

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1395958467' post='2408494'] A lot going on with my amps at the moment. I love my Red Iron amp through the '69er, retro heaven. However I have recently gravitated towards a more clean fundamental sound for my band, and the Glockenklang is great at that. The Glock is currently paired with the '69er, but will soon be paired up with the Super Twin, which arrives on Monday Then I 'accidentally' bought another head! The Trace Twin Valve popped up on BC for a very low price, and I knew it would be snapped up in minutes. I was in the middle of typing the usual "I'm not in the market, but bargain, GLWTS" post, when something made me delete that and PM the seller offering full asking price instead ...and I like it a lot! I like the 'Dualit toaster' looks, and it's not too heavy. It's really easy to carry in one hand with one of the side handles. It has been around the BC block a bit, and has a few scars; it has a couple of broken/use-the-fingernail EQ sliders and a replaced master knob. I've not had the chance to really push the power valves yet, but it seems to be really loud with a lovely core tone. There is a mid EQ shape button which, when engaged, gets really fat (possibly scooped?) and is great for my reggae basslines. My only trouble now is deciding which amp to gig! I think that lack of space/money will mean that I'll have to decide which cab works best with all these heads, and return/sell the other. Before I do that, however, I want to play the 'Power Rangers' rig at least once. This is stacking the Super Twin on top of the '69er, then put the Glock and my Crown power amp on top of that. I put the Glock pre into the Crown to get 800w into each cab, either all frequencies to both, or crossed over with Super Twin getting everything <90Hz and the '69er getting everything >90Hz What fun [/quote] I love my TwinValve too and totally agree that they seem to have a lot of power considering the ~100w rating. The 7-Band Trace pre-amp is a classic and the pre shape you mention is +6dB at 50Hz and 2K6 and -6dB at 400Hz. I bet it's that lovely low-Q boost at 50Hz thats working the reggae sound!

Personally, I'd restore it, just depends if you have the time, patience, funds and inclination.. I think you're dead right about losing those nasty grilles and getting a cloth cover instead. As for the drivers, the 4 / 16 ohm thing isn't great but maybe you could move them on and get a pair of equal impedance units instead? Those HH speakers are seldom seen these days and I doubt they're worth much but you might be lucky. I bet a pair of the old Celestion Powercels would sound great, they too have the metal dustcap which can promote that bit of top end bite..

There's pretty much always EQ going on with my setup. On the Trace I use both the pre-shape and graphic in conjunction with each other. On the Ashton, I use the Yamaha NE-1 before the amp. I might use the EQ on the Warwick to make subtle changes but that normally stays flat..

I love the 'Road Scholars' album, especially the first track.. +1 on Spyro Gyra being a top group!

[quote name='Matte_black' timestamp='1395771890' post='2406118'] Thanx VType! I've seen a lot of 2103s and one 2102, pretty cheap. What about the sound and the woofers' performance on the various models? Is the 2102 dark sounding or the woofers are "extended range"? [/quote] I couldn't really comment on th '80s Fane loaded models as I've never owned or played one. At the time (and probably into the '90s) Trace also sold two versions of their 'bright box' to extend the high frequency response so there's a chance the older versions did sound a little duller than later models. Also you'd rarely see one without it being paired with a 15" or 18" cab too suggesting the bottom end wasn't as capable as we'd expect from newer 10" cabs. Lastly, remember Trace were very much into the bi-amp thing during reign of the AH350 and mighty AH500 which would save high excursion of the 10" drivers allowing them to play louder before any unpleasnt noises occured. All speculation of course! The 2103H (with Celestion C10H) I had offered a decent full range sound (*only ever bi-amped it once) with enough of weight on the bottom if needed as well as detail and transparency further up the frequency range. I bought the cab as an extention for my 712 SMC combo and it seemed to add both top and bottom in addition to the single 12" in the combo. The woofers themselves work very well in the cab as long as you bare in mind it's a compact 2 x 10 so don't expect them to deal with or reproduce a bottom B on a 5-string at full-on gig levels. The cab was always much better when i paired it with the 15 as it offered a significantly greater amount of bottom end which I then wound out of the graphic so could drive the whole rig a bit more without the speakers complaining. If pushed too far the drivers will compalin giving that unpleasnt papery flap but they did have to be moving quite a way for that to happen. I never saw spec sheet for the drivers but I'd hazard a guess they were a tweaked version of the BG10-80 with a bigger magnet that might imply a greater motor strength and damping. Xmax probably didn't exceed 2mm or 3mm but despite a modest spec, not a bad driver IME. * Just a note on the bi-amp. I had a 600SMX for a while which offered a crossover facility so I grabbed all the cabs I could at the time just to try it. On the 'high' side I ran the Trace 2103H and 1048H then on the 'low' I ran the Trace 1153 and a Martin Audio EM series 1 x 18" which was part of the PA at the time. It was truly monsterous!

Not entirely sure but it's at least four different models (not including variations ie different covering) that I'm aware of. In reverse order as I know it.. The current model 2005 onwards. 1028H: Pimple finish, Celestion speakers plus HF component, 400w. Vented enclosure witth slot port along the bottom. The previous model up to about 2001, 2103H: Pimple finish and Green carpet, Celestion speakers (C10H) plus HF component, 200w. Vented enclosure with two front mounted round ports. 2102 came witth no HF unit and the H is dropped from the model number. Earlier model up to around '93 2103X: Pimple finish older models loaded with earlier version of the Celestion driver, newer ones loaded with C10H and two 5" paper cone mid/HF drivers. 10" drivers are slightly offset. 200w. Vented enclosure, round ports behind grill. Vintage versions (2102?): Pimple finish loaded with Fane speakers, no HF component and red stripe. Vented enclosure with round ports behind grill. Some (poossibly all?) came as a wedge shaped enclosure to act like a stage monitor. Not sure of power handling. I had a 2103H and it was quite a good little cab but I asked a bit much of it at the time. Sounded great once I'd bought an 1153 to go with it (compact 1x15") with a 300SMX driving it all.

[quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1395760517' post='2405900'] Do power amp colour your tone or does it only pump out power to drive your cabs? [/quote] Depends.. A modern power-amp (probably like the O/P is looking for) shouldn't colour the sound at all, it should simply take the tiny signal from the pre-amp and make it big enough to drive the speakers. The amplifiers already mentioned, Crown, QSC, Chevin, Peavey etc should all be considered to have a flat enough response not to colour the sound at all. On the other hand if the O/P was looking for a valve power amplifier then these tend to add their own characteristic sound especially when turned up. An example might be the Ampeg 300w power-amp lifted from the SVTs circuitry or the Marshall 9100 / 9200 models. The power section in your Trace Elliot shouldn't colour the sound, all the tone shaping is done in the pre-amp section. Hope that helps.

I've never owned an Ampeg 810 but I did own the Trace Elliot one, the mighty 1084. I could have ruled the world with it! I don't miss it's bulk and only ever did a couple of shows as I was offered twice the money I'd paid so sold it but it was probably the best sounding cab I ever owned. I'm not sure which model Celestion was inside but they were great. Congrats on your cab, hope you enjoy!

[quote name='Subthumper' timestamp='1395332082' post='2401263'] Don't know about the cab but that looks like H/H drivers in there. Worth researching the cab, some of . The park stuff is worth bucks. [/quote] +1 on those being HH drivers. I wouldn't worry too much about the surface rust, as long as the drivers sound good of course. I'd have thought the original units might have been Celestion G15C or possibly Powercel if it is indeed a genuine Park / Marshall cab. The HH speakers are at least fitting with the period.. Loving the ali dust-caps!

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1395215638' post='2399737'] The occasions where I don't use my own rig are things like festivals where there is a hired rig, or multi-band lineups where another band is supplying the rig (a large proportion of our gigs are multi-band jobs) It's not a matter of my rig not being portable, but [i][b]swapping rigs seems so much hassle in terms of stage space, extra time, and soundguy disapproval[/b][/i]. 100% of our gigs are at a place with in house PA and engineer, and they are [i][b]usually keen to put the bass through the PA, even if it's a small venue. I suppose they like the control.[/b][/i] [/quote] My rules are usually something along the lines of 'you can do as you please as long as you A: let me know what the plan is and B: make sure you're where you're needed to be and ready to play when needed' Other than that, it's usually all good with me. As for putting the bass in the PA, if it's big enough for kick-drum then it should handle bass guitar too. And IMO, if you're not doing one, then don't do the other or conversely if you are doing one, then do the other too. In terms of mix, they should sonically 'fit' so to have control of both helps to shape the bottom end of the mix as these are often the first to be 'lost'.. Just my pennies worth.. When it comes to using my rig, I often use my own (not that I've done many in the last 18 months) but if I can't, I do try to use my own head and EQ unit. Assuming a half decent speaker cabinet is available of course. Failing that, I'll take my combo.

KT88 vs 6550.. Now there's a battle! Personally I like clean bass sounds with just a touch of power stage compression (venue and arrangement permitting of course) going on.. I've also used both valves in various guises and in different amps too and agree they all have a slightly different flavour so making that choice will always be tough. My 60w amp runs a pair of re-issue Tung-Sol 6550 and if pinned will get all Lemmy but as stated I prefer to run it clean so tend to back off as the amp compresses but it does have quite a wide area where that compression happens before we get into grit town. I appreciate it's as much circuit design as the valves but this combination works great. The big Ashton runs EHX KT88 and it too does the compression thing nicely but is rather loud when it does and doesn't really break-up even flat out. I found in a nutshell that 6550 have more compression and grit with pronounced lower mids whereas '88s are altogether more hollow and transparent staying cleaner when maxed. I know there is a number of 'fluffy' statements and sweeping generalisations in this paragraph but they are based on real world experiences. If the Stoneham amps are built to order then maybe on application, the customer could specify their playing style and consider the options between a KT88 or 6550 loaded model?

I borrowed a Hiwatt 200 a number of years back and whilst tonally I didn't really get on with it, it was mega, mega loud. I think you'll be very pleased with just how far 200w of KT88 power will go..