JapanAxe

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

I'm sure I remember some valveholders with clips that went over the valve - I've never encountered a KT66 in the flesh but have met up with a few ECC series and 12AX7s. Would it be preferable to use those, so your 12AX7s don't become KT66-seeking projectiles, or are the valveholder bases sufficiently strong to resist earthquake-type forces?

I’ve used twist-on shielding cans on the 12A_7 valves in all my previous builds but they were all the sort where the valves hang below the chassis. I’ve just re-biased a friend’s amp where the line 12AX7 hangs like this, and despite there being no retainer it has stayed there for several years since the last time I did the job! I’ll be the only person transporting the head around and I’ll make sure it stays right-side-up in transit. The valve bases are good quality Beltons.

Wired up the input jack and pots, plus some runs of screened cable.

9 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I guess if it wasn't for @Merton making the suggestion in first place then maybe Stoneham wouldn't have picked this one up at all.

If the designer picks up on a suggestion he thinks is worthwhile i'm sure he'll install it in the new amp.

I like the idea of a company making the amp that bassists are asking for altho it does become a wish list more than anything else.

I guess we like to dream a little. 

Dave

I'm guessing the coffee-maker attachment won't make it to the final design...

1 minute ago, garyt said:

I like this.  For years I had my Stingray, Trace Elliott combo and a lead.  If there was decent FoH, I’d leave the Trace at home.  
Didn’t even carry spares, just make sure all the gear is reliable stuff, and everything is well maintained.  
I don’t think I would have the patience with temperamental gear, keep it simple, nothing is going to break .  

... until it breaks.

3 hours ago, skychaserhigh said:

No sliders please...thanks!

I imagine sliders would add significantly to the cost in terms of both components and machining.

1 hour ago, la bam said:

I'd love simple 5 slider. Lo, lo mid, mid, hi mid, hi.

 

Theres so many amps Ive not bought because of lack of eq flexibility.

… and yet I find that many bands to be annoying!

I’m fond of the James tone circuit in my B15 clone but it is quite ‘lossy’.

31 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I love my Barefaced Super Twin.

 

18kg, wheels, 1200W handling, 4ohms.

 

It’s ace.

 

 

Or 17kg with cloth grille rather than metal. I looked at a few one-cab solutions and the Super Twin came out on top.

4 minutes ago, Merton said:

Definitely dials - my original suggestion to Martin was a simple 3 band BMT EQ

I dunno, that's a bit OTT!

Installed some of the hardware. I hate wrestling with bear-trap retainers but not as much as I would hate the sound of a broken KT66 rattling around inside the enclosure. I haven't fitted screening cans for the preamp valves as this is a fairly low-gain design and the enclosure is one big Faraday cage.

Also wired up the circuit board. Some of the eyelets are as yet unsoldered as they will take leads from the transformer.

How was my gig last night? Rather lovely, that's how it was. 

Wedding celebration in a teepee-style marquee, in the grounds of a farm-cum-wedding-venue. Bit of a hike from the car park to the teepee but we were well looked after by the organiser and of course the weather was lovely. We optimised the space by putting the drums off to one side - we're all on in-ears anyway.

'Must be willing to dress up a little bit crazy' - but not too crazy, don't want to upstage Julian do we?

'The band's image is that of a gang of individuals' - who are so individual that they all have long hair.

'Will best suit somebody who doesn't mind that they aren't the songwriter' - you won't mind making zilch from publishing, even if you came up with the killer bass line that everyone hums when they think of the song.

'Location: Camden, London' - where dreams go to die.

5 hours ago, scalpy said:

This particular gig it was bottles of champagne. The guitarist was constantly moving them away from his floor mounted Kemper and off the subs. We all made the move to in-ears not so long ago but the singers have been on them for over a year- we’ve definitely noticed that the stage invasions and littering have increased with the lack of psychological boundary. We thought that the lack of monitors posed less of a hazard for punters but actually the singers have had more people piling into them and their iPad, it’s daft how these things work out.

Ah yes, the old comedy somersault over a wedge monitor!

With subs you may as well display a sign saying ‘stick your glasses here’.

29 minutes ago, Merton said:

@dmccombe7 not sure if you’re aware of the “new” Ashdown Little Bastard - this will be closer to what Martin is aiming for however he wants to make it his own:

 

https://ashdownmusic.com/products/lb-30-2-n

 

We’re also aiming for 40cm wide as that’s what the original Little Bastard was, and it is the max I want to go for to suit my Barefaced cabs

Just clocked the price of the new LB - ooft!

40cm wide sounds good, around 15¾inch in old money.

'Age 22-40'. My age will soon be 22+40.

I have long hair but like Happy Jack I don't usually wear it.

15 hours ago, scalpy said:

Punters on stage is recurring issue for us, as is using the stage edge as a bin.

In pubs with an open ‘stage’ setup I sometimes have to remove punters’ pints from the top of my amp!

I’m a bit conflicted on how to vote! Yes I’d love a small-footprint 100W valve bass amp but I’m well into a 50W build and I have to be realistic about what I can fit in my kit cupboard…

Actually the footprint thing is a significant issue for me. My bigger cab is a BF Super Twin which is 19” wide, but many (if not most) valve heads are much wider and I can’t tolerate the overhang. Hence the home brew solution.

1 hour ago, mrtcat said:

Almost identical on all 3 occasions. 1st was punters climbing on stage mid set and trying to sing into mics and grabbing our spare guitars out of the rack. 2nd we had someone get on stage while we were getting changed who decided he wanted to try drums. He hit the snare so hard that by the time we got to him he had gone through the skin. That was the start of problems but the clincher was when lads were on each others shoulders on the dancefloor and barging into each other until one of them fell onto stage and took out 2 mic stands and cracked the screen on guitarists helix. 3rd one was a fight broke out on the dancfloor (rugby lads) and then spilled over into all our gear resulting in broken lights and a toppled PA stack.

 

We video all of our gigs on the offchance we actually do something worth sharing on social media. This is cracking evidence when we walk off.

Blimey!

10 minutes ago, mrtcat said:

…

 

We have packed up mid gig 3 times since covid restrictions were lifted and on each occasion the contract has backed us up. Our agents are ace too and have backed us each time too.

What were the circumstances that led to this?

57 minutes ago, itu said:

...

 

If you want to make an uneducated trial, you could try to use smoke to see, how the air is circulating. I know it may be more or less an experiment. But if there are dead corners somewhere, you may be able to see them. Use PC or any other clear plastics on top of the unit.

I think the @Chienmortbb is hoping there won't be smoke

Marked, punched, drilled and de-burred all the holes in the top surface of the chassis. That's a lot of holes! Also fitted the grommets for the transformer lead holes. Oh yeah, fitted the feet to the bottom plate.

DIY Ampeg B15 head into a BF One 10. 22W of vintage tube tone in my music room, although the Origin Bassrig ‘64 has been getting a lot of love lately.

Valve socket holes cut and mounting holes drilled.

Last night and this morning have been all about metalwork. Never my favourite subject at school but it just has to be done. The big challenge here was cutting a rectangular hole in the rear panel (0.91mm steel - about 28 gauge for our US friends) to fit the IEC mains inlet. I started with a 6mm hole inside each corner, then took out the bulk of the material with a 20mm panel hole cutter. I managed to remove some more with a hand nibbler (yes it's a thing!) before defining the edges with a cutoff disc and a grinder on my Dremel-a-like tool. I'm pretty pleased with the result.

That's all the front and rear panel holes done, plus the mounting points for the eyelet board.

My current bass heads include Class AB (both valve and solid state) and Class D. Each is a good example of its type and I enjoy playing them all.

I see no value in generalisations based on personal preference. If something works for you, that’s a win so go with it.

Made some progress on the board:

(1) Covered the board with sticky paper recycled from an eBay label and marked out all the positions of eyelets, mounting holes, and bias pot.

(2) Drilled all the holes.

(3) Set the eyelets. I ended up moving one because I thought it was a bit close to its neighbour, given the 720V between them!

(4) Fitted the stand-offs and the bias pot, straightened some copper wire and soldered the earth bus in place.