6v6

[quote name='tbonepete' timestamp='1427302872' post='2728617'] Latest lm3 apparently has been changed to class D, but MB didn't exactly make a show of it,..... More of a stealth change [/quote] I thought it was still a class AB power section, but they moved from a linear to switch-mode power supply. Certainly my LM3 hasn't got a big transformer in it, but it's light, sounds great and has been reliable, FWIW.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1426713681' post='2721277'] That's still a little cheaper than the cheapest new 1x12" bass cabs I can find, and almost certainly uses a better driver. So I guess that's good value! [/quote] Heh, I guess so - I find it's best to avoid thinking too much about the obviously obligatory investment in new power tools or countless hours I spent in the shed working on it

DIY cabs are a lot of fun, but as others have already said, it's not a route to a cheap cab by any means. I documented my 1x12 build here http://basschat.co.uk/topic/200152-1x12-diy-cab-build - I didn't add the costs up accurately but it was definitely more than £100, probably over £150 when you add up all the little items and postage etc which soon adds up. Also good quality ply is surprisingly expensive. It's also an extremely slow way to get a cab unless you've got a lot of spare time and/or are a pro-woodworker (mine took months of scarce spare time, but I did get delayed by family stuff for a while). All that said, I will probably build another one over the summer

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1426109649' post='2714619'] These guys have a range of transformers made by Danbury in England which are well priced, though the range isn't huge. [url="http://livinginthepast-audioweb.co.uk/index.php?p=messages&sw=none"]http://livinginthepa...essages&sw=none[/url] [/quote] Thanks for the link - AFAIK Danbury make the transformers for ampmaker, and IME they are good stuff (I've done about six builds with them, all sounded great). The 100w ones do look more expensive than Hammond but I guess it's nice to support UK manufacturers when possible.

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1426105235' post='2714547'] Actually I spent a few minutes yesterday starting to price parts on tube-town.net for Kevin O'Connor's "improved" Portaflex build from his TUT3 book - quite a bit simpler than the Trinity version with SS rectification, single channel, cathode bias 6L6 power section only. Got interrupted, but it was getting on for €300 for Hammond trannies, valves and chassis before adding any other components or hardware. I'd say all told you'd be nearer €450 (£320ish at today's exchange rate) by the time you'd be done, but with the added faf of machining a bare chassis, having a faceplate made to your own design, etc. I know, personally, I haven't the time or inclination for that end of things any more, so £600 for a full kit of parts and ending up with a superior amp would be worth the extra for me. Having said that, I probably have enough bits and pieces knocking around and enough know-how to make myself something like this instead: [url="http://arkhamsound.com/octling.html"]http://arkhamsound.com/octling.html[/url] [/quote] Fair enough - my builds are always on a budget, and/or substuting parts I already have (or am recycling) so I probably don't place quite the same value on the convenience of a kit. Good luck whatever you end up going for!

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1426089502' post='2714250'] I think the $1600 is for a built chassis. If you click on the "kit info" link it shows $670. Price to ship to the UK is the question... [/quote] It's got to be at least $100 given the weight of the transformers, which would make the landed price over £600 in the UK after vat/tax etc. Given the amount of excellent info on the forum (schematic/layout etc) you could quite easily order comparable parts from UK suppliers for around half that. If I were going to build one (I'm quite tempted actually..) I'd probably select the comparable Hammond transformers, e.g those rated for the output tubes I wanted to use, then order a hammond enclosure and other bits from one or more UK suppliers: http://www.londonpower.com/hammond/matching.htm http://www.bluebellaudio.com/ Ok, Hammond isn't Heyboer, but IME they are easily good enough.

[quote name='Bottle' timestamp='1425668350' post='2709629'] Anyone had any experience of the maker? Or DIY kits in general? [/quote] I've used ampmaker in the past for parts to make several small (Marshall 18w-ish) PP amps - the parts (and particularly the transformers) are good quality and well priced. Personally I'd caution against doing a big-power build initially, there's danger inside all tube amps, but a 100w+ monster is seriously intimidating and dangerous, even for experienced builders. Re books, I've got the Torres book, and it's OK but not great IMO - if you have any technical background or electronics experience, you might prefer the first volume of the Kevin O'Connor TUT series: http://www.londonpower.com/ultimate-tone-books More technical still is the Radiotron designers handbook, which is available free online, along with loads of other vintage tube tomes, e.g: http://tubebooks.org/technical_books_online.htm

Good to hear you're taking care with all this Those rat traps have fuses on the live anyway don't they? Upgrading from the banana connectors (you could always leave just the earth there for the anti-static stuff?) to one of those sounds like an excellent plan, so fitting one with a small value fuse and and RCD plug sounds like cheap insurance to me - good luck!

tbh a 240v *output* from a bench power supply sounds terrifying As does the fact that a temporary short on your house electrics "destroyed something" - if it's wired properly (you do have a decent/recent consumer unit with RCD trips and MCB's right?) all it should do is trip a breaker. Back on topic, you might consider an auto-resetting fuse of some sort: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/16a-auto-reset-circuit-breaker-ak08j Not as good as a proper current limiting circuit, but it could be a decent saftey net on the outputs to protect the regulators and transformer. IMHO a normal (low rating) fuse and RCD plug on the 240v side should suffice - if you're regularly shorting mains wiring something is really wrong (sorry, that sounds harsh, but don't hurt yourself! )

I'd be looking at a 1u rack mount mixer. Not sure that many have on-board limiters and headphone amps though so you might need a couple of additional boxes wired in (limiter pedal in an insert plus whatever headphone amp you currently use?)

[quote name='Weststarx' timestamp='1421761665' post='2664627'] What about solidstate? I might be involved in a band soon playing guitar but not keen on the sound of valve amps (even though everyone says they have the best tone) [/quote] There are plenty of great solid state amps, if that's what floats your boat - Roland JC120, MusicMan HD130 (valve power stage with SS pre), some of the Fender "red knob" series, Session, etc etc. If you want loud and clean (which I'm assuming you do, if you don't like valves) SS isn't a bad way to go, but IMHO valves trump SS every time if you want a bit of musical compression, grit and warmth. Back to the OP's question - a very small valve amp such as the BlackStar already mentioned would be good (I've played an HT5 and they are good), for pure home practice though it's hard to ignore the practicality and convenience of a modelling pedal, amp or even iPad app nowadays (they're much better than they once were, and that's coming from a total ampaholic )

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1421405577' post='2660765'] Protection Racket 7051. Bit bigger than a slimline gig-bag, due to it being semi-rigid but plenty of storage and easily fits the TH500 and all your leads/strap/tuner. [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/protection-racket-7051-electric-bass-guitar-bag/5444?gclid=Cj0KEQiAiuOlBRCU-8D6idaPz_UBEiQAzTagNGIr6uHDY_3CESbm1UksJcAyCAAsCtQVrM72XvZpt-kaAjuA8P8HAQ"]http://www.gak.co.uk...pt-kaAjuA8P8HAQ[/url] [/quote] +1 - I've got one of these and I can fit my LM3 in the big front pocket, and a few leads etc in the other one. Not the lightest of gig-bags though (particularly with all that in it!)

If you're determined to replace the speaker, check out my build thread for some ideas on how you can model the response of the driver to check it works in the box: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/200152-1x12-diy-cab-build/page__hl__1x12%20cab It's not as hard as some folks make out, you need a (free) bit of software, the dimensions of the box (to calculate the volume), dimensions of the port, and the specifications of the replacement driver. AFAIK, if the resulting graph doesn't look like the hind leg of a dog, you should be OK If I were you, given the high cost of neo drivers, I'd sell the hartke and buy a used Mark Bass CMD121p for about £350 - If you spend nearly £200 on a premium neo driver, the total spend won't be that much different (there are some cheaper Celestion neo drivers you could check out, but I have no idea if they'd work).

Given your preferences, you can't go wrong with an Ibanez SR IMO - incredible playability and value for money (I had an SR500, which was great, but I swapped for a Precision as I wanted a more traditional vibe). They're not that popular used, so you may pick up a bargain if you don't mind getting something second hand.

What's the impedance of the current driver? IIRC my kickback 12 was 6 ohms, which isn't easily available, meaning if you fit an 8ohm replacement you will lose power, and a 4 ohm may blow up the amp. You could consider getting a kickback 12 - mine was not that heavy and I sold it for less than a typical neo replacement speaker. You might also want to pull the driver and weigh the cab/amp part - IIRC mine was made from thick MDF, so you may not gain a massive amount if you lose 1kg by fitting an expensive neo speaker.

+1 for TI's if you want low tension, I almost find them too low tension sometimes, but that's probably due to my technique (or lack of) rather than the strings.

Great, thanks to you both for the feedback!

Thanks for the review, can you provide any more comparison between the Mark Bass and Aguilar sound? I'm a P-Bass with TI-flats guy and currently use a LM3 - it sounds good, but can't help wondering if the TH500 would be more well suited to what I play, which is mostly old-school blues, rock and rock-n-roll.

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1420800773' post='2653497'] By the way, do you ever have any problems with condensation or water affecting the cables if you're using a kettle to supply the heat??? [/quote] Unless it's really a one-off, I'd be wary of doing that, I'd rather use a gas hob, lighter, soldering iron or any other form of "dry" heat rather than scalding my fingers over a kettle only to end up with steam inside the connector causing corrosion later. You can get a basic heat gun for a tenner from screwfix (or a slightly better one for under £20), so I'd really reccomend just getting one (check screwfix, toolstation or even argos). Toolstation also do heat-shrink at reasonable prices FYI.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1420807536' post='2653645'] We didn't patronise our local music shops. Then again, a lot of local music shops have contributed to their own downfall due to often appalling customer service and refusal to see where the business was heading... Still got to feel sorry for them really. [/quote] Kind of depends on your definition of local - if you're prepared to travel a bit then there's outlets of UK based companies who also do online sales, where you can try stuff and pay something close to a competitive price. It's right to say we, collectively, have killed small enthusiast owned local music shops - they've not only been killed by large online retailers though, it's also small online traders e.g ebay shops and the like providing stuff at much lower margin than maintaining a physical shop.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1420588174' post='2651147'] Phase problems won't differ because you use different brands, that's really just about the distance between the radiating parts of the speaker, additional speakers will lose the top end response off axis more quickly because of this but it would be much the same for any two speakers of this size. [/quote] I guess this was the crux of my question really, e.g is there a way to model the dispersion and/or is there a way to calculate the optimum spacing of the two drivers, assuming they are vertically aligned on the same axis? I'm sure all that may well be "way beyond an amateurs skill set", but as a professional engineer whose not scared of a bit of maths, I can't help wondering about these things [quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1420588174' post='2651147'] I recognise the bug though, you want to try something different this time because you can. You'll end up with a perfectly useable 1x10 and the two speakers might work OK with each other they'll certainly make a louder noise. Sensibly another identical speaker would preserve your sound and give you a lot of headroom. I've gigged that set up and it is impressive, but if it were me curiosity would probably trump common sense. The best value mid price 10 seems to be the Beyma SM110, give it a look at least. [/quote] Haha, yeah - guilty as charged - I know building another 12 is the logical choice, I may end up doing that anyway given the reasonable cost of another SM212, I just can't help the serial-experimenter's urge to try out something different too

Ok, thanks all, trial and error I can do just wasn't sure if there was a more scientific method I could be applying.

[quote name='Mikey R' timestamp='1420495312' post='2650081'] Since you like more prominent mids, you could swap the eq out for a tweed deluxe one knob, and use the second knob for the master? [/quote] Not a bad idea, or use a concentric dual gang pot on the treble control so you can have a combined treble/bass control with 250k dual pots, and add a 25k mid control in place of the 6.8k fixed mid resistor. That would allow you to dial in a lot more mids (doesn't solve where to put the master tho )

[quote name='Mr.T' timestamp='1419855651' post='2643196'] I was wondering about the Mackie Thump range? SRM650 ... 46lbs Thump 15 ... 36lbs. Thump 12 ... 25.5lbs. [/quote] Don't buy a Thump - we have a TH12 and it's not been reliable. They are light in part because the stock woofer is underrated and won't handle the power of the built in amplifier. When I took ours in for repair (after a sudden complete failure at a gig) the service centre said they'd repaired hundreds of them - similar story for the newer SRMs apparently (we have some v2 ones which have been OK but they are heavy).

Hi all, So a while back I made a [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/200152-1x12-diy-cab-build"]DIY 1x12 cab[/url], using the Beyma SM212 12" woofer, following [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/199000-which-ceramic-12-driver"]some discussion[/url] and considerable help from generous folks on this forum. The cab has worked out great, I've done numerous gigs with it, and it holds it's own in most pub-gig scenarios absolutely fine with just one cab. That said, I'm considering a second cab to stack on top, so I've got a modular rig which will work for both bigger and smaller gig/rehearsal situations. Obviously, I could just build another identical cab (I know this may be the technically best solution), but ideally I'd like to pair it with another smaller (more portable) cab. I'm considering building a cab with a 10" (or even possibly 8") driver to stack on top, but how can I do so in a way which won't cause undesirable phase issues? I've read about designing stacks of dissimlar driver sizes for "similar phase response for optimal coupling", but how do you do this in practice? (I'm somewhat familiar with WinISD, do you just compare phase graphs in there? If so what aspects of the enclosure design infuences that response?) Also thoughts on a suitable driver appreciated - I'm considering a celestion BN10-300x as the sensitivity is comparable with the SM212, it's light, and the price is good for a neo driver (not modelled it yet though..) Thanks in advance for any thoughts