VTypeV4

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1399749262' post='2447333'] It is, it is ! [/quote] Cheers man!

Sorry guys, it's not [i]that [/i]exciting.. I had a series of big ones let go in a QSC MX series and they did look great, proper burst open and the electrolyte sputtered all over the inside of the case. Just before it died, it did a great impression of a smoke machine and stunk the room out.

Sadly, it's not quite as exciting as the title makes out. If you look in the second pic, you'll see on the left that there's three caps next each other and that the middle one has it's top missing with just a little bit of the innards on the outside. The other two still have their black tops intact. I haven't had a cap fail in a valve amp for a while and forgot how much they stink and smoke. There was a little pool of the electrolyte juice too.

Very cool.. Power and control, just hope your speakers are up to it! Ha

It's gone to the tech man today so hopefully next time I see it, it'll be sorted. I left him a note asking to replace the faulty cap, any he thought that might be suspect and if he thought they were underspecified to put better ones in.. [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1399665614' post='2446566'] If you are going to upgrade your caps, don’t go for bigger values, as this can cause your rectifier diodes to fail. By all means go for higher working voltages though, for a wider safety margin. [/quote] I've learned something today, thanks.

As suggested earlier, 3 x 12 ohm 2x10s is the equivilant* of a 4 ohm 6x10. Nothing really new but it makes a modular '6x10' which I can see the appeal of.. * All things being equal of course..

Waiting for the fireworks indeed! Out of all the cabs made by Barefaced, the 69er did appeal for my 60 watter but the usual finance (and space!) issues have prevented me pursuing it.. I've only ever heard two BF cabs and I don't know what models they were but they were great sounding. I wish Alex the best of success with his new line and hope they're as good as the previous models.

I've used 8, 10, 12 & 15" speakers over the years to good effect.. Currently I'm using a 4x10 and 1x15 (I know I know!) plus my combo which is 1x15. One of the best sounding rigs I had was a 4x8 combo which great if not heavy. To me, the size of the speaker is not so important but the sound of it is paramount. I seem to come back to Celestions for bass (and more recently PA) as they seem to sound sweet and just get on with it without drama. I know Eminence are generally more popular, lots of OEM units are made by them too. I had good service from a Peavey 410TVX loaded with a variation of their 10" pressed chassis.

There's two bigger ones on the end plus there's a choke on the top behind the mains transformer.. I wouldn't mind some greater capacity ones (or two, three etc) in an attempt to circumvent a repeat incident tho. I should state that this amp has worked faultlessly since purchase and has been used quite a bit probably averaging twice a week for a couple of hours each. Might buy it some new valves when I come back from holiday..

Those big voltages scare me a bit thats why I've opted to let someone else worry about it. If it was something on the pre-amp board then maybe I'd have a go.. Plus if there's something else that's caused the cap fail, hopefully he'll spot it.

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..