VTypeV4

I've spotted 'em on ebay at £24.95 a pop.. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12AX7-ECC83-Rocket-Tube-Preamp-Valve-NITROUS-GRADE-Higher-gain-Guitar-or-Hi-Fi-/231076387104?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Valves_Vacuum_Tubes&hash=item35cd39d920#ht_1592wt_958"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12AX7-ECC83-Rocket-Tube-Preamp-Valve-NITROUS-GRADE-Higher-gain-Guitar-or-Hi-Fi-/231076387104?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Valves_Vacuum_Tubes&hash=item35cd39d920#ht_1592wt_958[/url] Not sure I'd be willing to throw that much money at 1 pre-amp valve. I recently bought a quad of Shuguang EL84s for my Leak for the same monies. And inspite the stigma of 'Made in China', they're great sounding. These may well be from the same factory..

Lovely V6!

Most of the valve amps I own and have owned have been pretty reliable with the exception of my old Trace V4 which Longtime Fred now owns. Ashton BV300: Owned for 2.5 years with no issues. It's done a number of gigs and rehearsals with plenty of travelling. Trace TwinValve: Only had it six months but so far so good. Leak ST20: Owned for 2.5 years with no issues. Gets used most days for hours at a time. Linear L30: Owned for ~10 years with no issues. Gets used at least once a week. Beavis 50: Owned for 16 years with minimal issues. I had an exploding cap about ten years ago so had a number of suspect ones replaced. This amp has been everywhere, used, abused and hammered in just about every situation for as long as I've been playing. Still in regular service getting used at least once a week. Zero issues since coonversion to 6550 from EL34 back in ~'07. +1 on looking after them although other than the odd valve failure I've found them to be as reliable if not more than some of the transistor amps I've had in the past.

Fancy site, very nice.. Has anyone tried these yet?

The proper posh ones are made from leather although the one I had was made from a nylon type stuff. I think because they only have one adjuster and the material is soft that they hold the reed in a more uniform manor. My experience was that it reduced the hard (probably my bad technique) and brittle sound in the upper registers. Made it less prone to squeaking too..

+1 on Buffet B12 although I found a change to the Rovner style ligature to make both the playing of and sound much smoother with less squeaks..

Whilst I don't use FX on my bass, many years ago I used to play my Korg MS-20 in a psychadelic group. During that period I tried many modulation units but (as already mentioned) nothing came close the agressive snarl of an Electric Mistress Deluxe.

Thanks Phil, those Altec things look awesome! I've seen the 'big daddy' version of these as a guy over on the Carver forum has a pair. [url="http://thecarversite.com/yetanotherforum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=9073&p=2"]http://thecarversite.com/yetanotherforum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=9073&p=2[/url] With regards to horns, I too like the increased efficiency which is why I'm also part of Bill Fitzmaurice's site and plan to get some of his OT12s built. These will go with my big folded horns when I get the other pair built. I plan to go big! My folded pair were originally a quad from a disused club. All four were ran from one JBL MPX1200 amp and it was truly devastating shaking my eyes in their sockets first time I experienced them! The other pair went into the Rigger when we changed the system a while back and I have the others. Mine still have their original JBL 2241 whereas the ones at the Rigger have a 3600 Crown up them and are loaded with a PD.918 one side and a Celestion FTR18 4080HDX the other. I'd put mine in the Rigger if we had space but It'd shake the building down! [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/EVWbin_zpsd56efe78.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/EVWbin_zpsd56efe78.jpg[/IMG][/URL] A quick pic of the EV driver being loaded yesterday.

Well I've ran them both up today with three different drivers just to see how they perform. I've put decent guage wire in them too as the existing stuff was like old phone wire! I started with using the EV driver (SRO frame / EVM cone) as an 'intermediate' reference then tried both my JBL 2225 and a nasty cheap Sica / Ashdown to see what would happen. As Phil suggested, they colour the sound massively but not in a horrible way to be fair. Very 'oldskool' if you know what I mean! I was surprised that a change in driver didn't much affect the sound as the other horns i have you can tell the difference when swapping drivers. I should have tried the JBL 2226 too but I couldn't be bothered to pull the enclosure apart to try it although I don't expect it'd have made any much difference. They have a distinct hump at about 80Hz with extention down to about 60Hz although they don't really want to go any lower than that. Maybe if I corner loaded them and stacked at 90 degrees with a v-plate on top they'd do a bit more? As for their future, I'm not really sure what to do with them. They don't offer enough sub to work effectively as the bottom end of a PA and they don't suit my bass sound either. The Celestion Powercel is in good order although I want to use that for something else. That with it's ali dustcap it sounds sweet with a bright HF extention so stuffing it in a horn seems pointless. The K series on the other hand is totally goosed flapping nastily and an in-curable voice coil rub to boot. Scrap! An interesting bit of design and nicely constructed boxes, just a bit obsolete in this day. [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/BigJBL2_zps7618db0c.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/BigJBL2_zps7618db0c.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Won't be changing these ones tho, love 'em. JBL 2241 loaded. Sweet!

It may well be, a friend had a Trace V-type combo that had a fried transformer which did the same. Did they so how much it was to replace the transformer?

Seems you have an offer of help from Ashdown themselves so I'd take it. Fuses blowing twice sounds like potential trouble to me, maybe an issue with the power stage or supply problems. Once might be a freak occurance but twice is telling you something isn't right. Good luck with it and keep us posted.

I love mine.. It just 'fits' so to speak.

Many thanks.

[URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/Powercell1_zps26b4862d.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/Powercell1_zps26b4862d.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/Powercell2_zps13d94cf9.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/Powercell2_zps13d94cf9.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/Powercell3_zpsa422345c.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/Powercell3_zpsa422345c.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Pulled one of these out of those W-Bins I've 'adopted'.. It seems to be in good working order and looks massively chunky although it would probably be a bit cruel to put it back into that bin. Maybe the 2225 JBL I have would be better suited.. [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/WbinCelestions_zps9fcdf314.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/WbinCelestions_zps9fcdf314.jpg[/IMG][/URL] I'll post a pic of the speaker later.

Just acquired these today.. [URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/WbinCelestions_zps9fcdf314.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/WbinCelestions_zps9fcdf314.jpg[/IMG][/URL] They're in need of some restoration but their construction seems pretty solid. One has a serviceable (I think at least) Celestion Powercell driver with a big magnet and cast frame whereas the other has a knackered K15E 200. A severe voice coil rub and a caved dome probably will see it scrapped but we'll see.

[quote name='stjohn' timestamp='1380412347' post='2225051'] No, of course not, sorry for generalizing! But the jist of my post is that really that [i][b]vast majority of the audience couldn't care less what the bass sounds like at the level of valve vrs tranny.[/b][/i] [/quote] If they've even noticed that one guitar has less strings than the other and of course it's purpose! On a serious note I do think that your sound should inspire you and your playing and because surely the sound is nearly if not as important as the notes. A sound that isn't inspiring and pleasing is enough to knock me off my game. The valve amplifiers I own help with this goal.

Bass machine, Ineteresting that yours has a balanced direct out on XLR whereas mine simply has lights to show pre / power stage status. I'd rather the DI!

I ran a bright box for a bit, same as the one pictured above. It gives a top end extension above about 2Khz which could be handy if the 1518 is a bit dull. I never had a 1518 so not sure how they respond but some 15s are running out of steam above that frequency. Hope that helps.

Wicked!

[quote name='warriorbass05' timestamp='1379817436' post='2217058'] Does that the fact that I have 3 Trace Stacks count???? [/quote] Pictures please!

Trace Elliot and valves.. Makes me very happy!

As per the sig: Ashton Valve head and matching 410 & 115. 25 + 35 + 40 KG = ~100KG ouch! Trace Elliot Twin Valve combo: ~35 KG less ouch but still ouch a bit. I'm currently 30. I expected to see Ampeg near the top but there's a definate trend towards the lightweight MarkBass / Genz type amps. Surprised there's not more mentioned about Ashdown as they're often discussed on here too.

[URL=http://s778.photobucket.com/user/VTypeV4/media/TwinV3_zpse245b865.jpg.html][IMG]http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy70/VTypeV4/TwinV3_zpse245b865.jpg[/IMG][/URL] The valvey good bits inside my Trace Twin Valve, it's had a bit of a dust out today. The pair of PM 6550s that do the biz can clearly be seen. Not a valve brand I'm familiar with but they sound great in this application.