DGBass

5 hours ago, agedhorse said:

Since it’s a direct coupled output topology, those caps can’t possibly be coupling caps. Therefore, the rest of the information provided is suspect.

Thaks for the clarity @agedhorse. Smoothing caps would be correct as Phil Star kindly pointed out. I wouldn't agree entirely with your sweeping logic, I did point out as with anything electrical with dangerous voltages present, you have to be careful and if in any doubt an amp tech would be the way to go. I wouldn't say safety advice or a suggestion to take it to a tech if you have any doubt about what to do was suspect information. Forum diagnostics are never going to be a perfect way to help another member fix a broken amp, it was only my experience of Laney RB designs I was trying to convey.  I'm sure we all only try to share our experiences with best intentions and maybe if enough people do, especially the more learned forum users with vast knowledge and experience of musical equipment and i'm not reffering to myself as I'm a DIY-er,  another potential diy-er might gain an insight into the innner workings of their equipment from collective viewpoints, take that first step to realise that it may be possible with an appreciation of electrical safety, some thought, and bit of learning to save a broken amp from the dumspter.  And of course save £££'s in repair bills.

2 hours ago, boristhespider7 said:

I'm an ABM 500 Evo III owner. Is it worth upgrading to the Evo 4?

I appreciate its only 2 extra sliders on the EQ plus some more gain to the valve section. Is it worth it?

There isn't a monumental difference between the EVOIII ABM500 and EVO IV models in my experience. Some early EVO IV's around 2017 were still using the green EVOIII main pre-amp board with the newer 9 band tone circuit. Later EVO IV's use the blue Ashdown re-designed pre-amp main board with the 9 band tone circuit. Transformers in both EVOIII and early EVO IV's were more or less the same, large output Xinzi branded, and had a T12A output fuse to protect cabs from excess output. Newish ABM EVO IV's have a new redesigned high quality/very quiet Euro designed transformer and also thermostatically controlled fans that only come on when you put your foot down. New EVO IV's are very quiet in operation and ideal for studio/home use because of this. There is a bit more grit in the later ABM EVO IV mainboard and also as mentioned you have two more sliders to fine tune tones. If your EVO III is working fine with no issues and doing the job, might be worth saving your money for the EVO VI if / when it comes along😁 I'm sure someone at Ashdown will be already drawing up the specs for it! Both EVO 3 and 4 are very capable amps and either can do that ABM sound. 

A loud uncontrollable hum on the speaker output usually means something has gone on the output section of the amp, test for dc on the output that shouldn't be there. But not always! Laney amps of this era are fairly simple to repair and parts can be found for them easily online. If an output transistor had failed, it would usually take out the fuse as well, so it may be a failed smoothing capacitor or even a dry solder joint on one of the caps. Vibration over a long period can rattle things loose and from Laney RB bass amps I've worked on before, they seem to be sparing on the hot glue to keep big caps fixed and stable on the circuit board.  The pic below is from a bigger 300w RB version of your combo that had similar issues. The big black bits with 5/22 on them are the smoothing caps. If they move or feel wobbly at all it could be they've worked loose. Any good amp tech would find an issue like that very quickly. Can be diy but as with anything electrical with dangerous voltages present, you have to be careful and not get yourself electroplated. If in any doubt, an amp tech is the way to go. Any amp is worth repairing if its cheaper than buying something to replace it. 🙂

Yes, both cabs are damped with the same material but the MM does have a litte less of it. Mainly so as not to obstruct the porting mechanism at the rear of the box.

I have a couple of cabs from different manufactures of different era’s, designs, sizes, materials and weights with identical drivers in them( Faital Pro 15PR400). Both these cabs seem to be able to perform in a surprisingly similar way sound wise to the point it’s difficult to really tell them apart individually in a live setting. If anything, the MM is slightly brighter sounding when pushed, and works better in larger rooms, the TE goes all silky smooth when pushed, sounds very even tone wise and works well in either small or large rooms. At low volume which is the only time I’ve tried them together, the tone appears very even from both cabs. Neither looses the other. I suspect that might change slightly at gig volume.  I haven’t used them live together because a) there has been no need because they are sufficiently loud on their own, b) I can’t fit them both in the car at the same time without a major faff. Just for info, the TE is 38 years old, the MM is 40+ years old. Had they been fitted with their original drivers, the differences between them would I’m sure have been much more noticeable when used together or on their own.  So, Identical drivers in different cabs in my experience might go someway to narrow a cab mismatch if the cabs are reasonably similar designs and tunings eg ported + ported or sealed + sealed. The box itself will add colour/affect the sound in some way and as has been said already combinations really need to be tried and tested, preferably at loud volume where I think a cabs true character is revealed.  The TE cab was actually a project to see if i could get the same performance from the bigger MM cab in a (slightly) smaller package. It seems to have worked well and i now have two very similar performing cabs that i'd be confident enough to stack if the occasion came along. If you have mix and match OCD, best look away now. 

A lovely old amp for sure. The plexi panels front and rear would suggest the manfacture date is sometime in the 1960's. Marshall were famous for using up back stock of parts from previous years even when they changed models and they are known to have still been using plexi panels into the early 70s before they switched fully to aluminium control panels. Manufacturing date and originality are usually the most important thing where value of these old beasts are concerned. Saying that, anything  Marshall from the 1960s sells for crazy money these days and the next step of anything pre-1972 is also jumping in value these days.

I was lucky enough to have a 100 watter on my bench early in the year. It turned out to be roughly 1971-1972 vintage. Hadn't been fired up in over 20 years and despite a few crackles which were easily sorted, it was working fine and sounded amazing. The current owner and previous owner had some good history and stories to tell of when they owned and used the amp and that seems to be quite common for old Marshalls. Their owners to tend to keep a hold of them for years and years. Its good to know in those cases that they also still get used and aren't gathering dust on display somewhere or stuck in storage. I used a 77 MKII Superbass 100 and an 81 JCM800 Superbass 100 for many years and neither ever let me down despite being gigged hard and always sounding great. Both are on my list of things I wished I'd never sold. The one thing that this 72 amp did remind me of was the weight and the heat that comes from them. If any of my modern amps got as hot as a Superbass does, I'd be worried but thats just the way they are and always have been. Great amps.

Yes still could be a good buy. Until anyone looks inside to see whats needed, we'll never know for sure what it would cost to fix. Dave Green at Ashdown could no doubt work wonders with the internals but I'm not sure if Ashdown employ any panel beaters to fix bent metal work😆 I've had occasion to try and straighten out a bent ABM in the past and its fairly heavy grade steel these are made from. They don't bend out of shape or back into shape easily.  Definitely a project for a real enthusiast methinks.  

4 hours ago, TheGreek said:

I think it's a new, but damaged, head and, as we know, Ashdown will probably repair it for a pittance. Anybody want to snap it up?

I saw this recently and for me anyway, its not more than fifty or sixty quids worth of parts without a few photos of what has happened internally. Apart from it being an ABM1200 which is a rare beast and fairly impractical for pub gigs, the damaged back panel looks particualrly terminal. Any impacted surface moves a fair bit in the direction of impact before springing back into place albeit in this case not all the steel panel has come back flat as it should be. The back board will be broken for sure. Both fans likely impacted the dual output boards and hit the heat sinks. They could be ripped out of position or the boards split. Either way thats two APC033 output boards, potentially two new fans, a back board and its possible the transformer could have been impacted. If that needs replacing you could be looking at a £400 repair bill in parts before the metal work is straightened out. I suppose if you already had an ABM1200 it would be and ideal source of spares you could pick at for years to come, but not for the current asking price. The case also looks like it has a split or been weakened at one side🤔 Must have been a very heavy impact and no telling what else might have been damaged.

3 hours ago, jezzaboy said:

The man knows Ashdowns inside out and may have an idea? Sorry for putting you on the spot Will 

Thanks for the bump G🙂 Umm...never seen inside an MK500 but they are simpler than your average ABM. These MK amps are getting on a bit now and were mostly new around 2005-2006 or thereabouts. Yoy can get the odd buzzy gremlin occasionally if the amp has never been serviced. Difficult to say what it might be but if its had a lot of use a buzzy noise like in the video could be a ground issue. Could be something as simple as a loose screw that needs a quarter turn on a ground post on either the output board or the pre-amp section. Could also be a dry joint on the input jack ground. Not sure if anyone has suggested yet but it might be worth plugging directly into the return jack to isolate the pre-amp. if the buzz remains, it's likely ther power amp section. If it clears its likely the pre-amp. All academic if its going back and the op isn't keen on popping the hood. 

I'd tend to agree with the contact Ashdown idea if its a keeper. They have the ability to sort it and check it over and seem to do it very reasonably cost wise. Big Ashdown's like these are reliable and great sounding but everything needs a little TLC now and again, even an Ashdown. The good news is that they are always easy to repair and restore to gig condition. Dave Green is the man the OP should call if he intends keeping the MK500.

4 hours ago, jezzaboy said:

t`s always amazed me that Ibanez don`t re do some of the older models, I mean Fender have been doing it for decades!

 

But maybe the only ones who would buy them would be sad gits on bass forums 

You might be onto something there G😉 I did own one first time around in 79/80, a Blazer 800 in two tone sunburst, slab body and one piece maple neck. It was my first ever new bass after a string of used planks i'd owned. The fit, finish and quality was immense. It felt like and was a proper quality instrument and sounded brilliant through my Marshall Superbass half stack.  The Fenders of the time looked rough by comparison. Seems such a long time ago and the photo shows that! Not sure if I'd buy a re-issue if that ever happened. Ibanez still make great instruments but nothing like they were in their heyday.

A slightly better photo of it just before it was sold on circa 2010.

7 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Only covers bands need their own PA.

 

Originals bands play venues with in-house PAs and engineers. Since the mid 90s the only venues I have played with an originals band that didn't have their own PA were ones that do not normally put on live music and for those we hired in a PA.

My covers band do indeed supply their own PA. Got me thinking though, the originals band I'm in also supply their own PA and thats my simplest setup. Bass - Lead - Tascam24. And of coure finally the PA.

I miss the days of bass - coiled curly lead - amp and everyone tuning up to whoever's bass/guitar was most in tune audibly before the gig. The audible tuning was unprofessional when I think of it but it let everyone in the venue know the band was about to commence. Tuning up with pitch pipes on stage was never cool. I have forgotten the power supply to my board on occasion in recent times and played straight in with only a clip on polytune for comfort. It was fine and the show went on. I do like my LMB3 and my floor polytune for muting though and I may yet slim things down to just those.  

I've been using this vintage EVO300 head at rehersals of late and its quite impressive for 20+ year old amp. It's all original and has its factory 300 watt mosfet output board and XTE3 transformer. I've owned a few 300 watt ABM's and they have all done the job. They may not have the raw grunt of the bigger 500/600 watt variants but if anything they sound more refined and the mosfet powered ones imho do sound a little warmer and smoother.  Not a huge difference in loudness between the 300's & 500's either when they are cooking at gig level outputs. I've always been curious whether Ashdown sell many of the 300 watt models these days as they rarely come up for sale used. Could that be because their owners like the 300's as much if not more than their bigger bretheren? or is 300 watts just an ideal size for pub gigs?

On 30/07/2023 at 21:22, jezzaboy said:

To be honest, the 4 x 8 is blooming heavy and not any good for my band on it`s own, it really needs to be paired with the 15

Ashdown on occasion come up with some super sounding cabs that seem to excel in certain circumstances. The ABM 4x8 is in my experience a tremendously good sounding cab in lower volume environments like studio and small rehearshals despite its massive power rating. It does need a bit of scooping on the low end to get the best from it or run with a second cab. Another cab that comes to mind which has an almost similar profile in my experience was the latest Rootmaster EVOII 2x10 sealed cab. Loved the sound of it, really was great for home and light studio session use but it really struggled in a live enviroment without even being driven with anywhere near the power it was designed to cope with.  Used alongisde an RM EVO II 1x15 it sort of worked for live use if the power was kept well inside spec.

Not sure 100 watts of class d power fpr the beta bass constitues a hard sell IMHO, especially at nearly $800. Maybe 1000 watts would?. Could be a typo on the sale blurb?

A 100 watt class D head that weighs 26Ibs and costs $799 ( probably £799 if it is released as retail here in the UK). It's a novel approach. The amp and matching cabs do have a classy old school vibe to their look. The 2x15 cab is also rated at 100 watts. At a guess its going to be very efficient as the drivers are designed with 4 inch voice coils?  Maybe all you really need is 100 watts to gig with and someone at the new Sunn thinks that.  🙂   

34 minutes ago, 40hz said:

their heads are still some of the best in the business (the revised low-end EQ on the LM4 is excellent)

I do miss the LM3 I owned previously. The Little Mark amps are a very mature and well thought out product that can do almost any genre of music. If I was to buy another class-d head, The LM4 would high up on my list of considerations 🙂

On 28/07/2023 at 05:46, Musicman666 said:

weird oxidation all over the pot metal casings, like a real thick hardened dusty coating ...  

Storing a bass in a sealed gig bag for a period of time can cause unusual issues, mainly due to even small amounts of air moisture being trapped in the gig bag when its zipped up and left for a while. Bunging a silica gel dessicant pack in the gig bag will absorb any moisture that could enable corrosion or oxidisation of any of the metallic parts. Certain kinds of airborne spores like white mold can also cause fur on certain surfaces and even metal if they are trapped in a static environment and left long enough undisturbed with no air circulation. I had a bass I'd left zipped in a cheap gig bag in a cold cupboard for about a year. Half of the body was covered in white powdery mold residue when I eventually opened the gig bag to get the bass out.  Wiped off ok with mild disinfectant without damaging the laquer. If you have furry white deposits on your pots its likely white mold. Left long enough it would spread to more areas. Silica gel packs are a good defence. Same with guitar cases, always worth using silica gel packs if you are storing something for a long time.

If its just basic patching you need to do to protect exposed wood on the cab and you aren't super fussed about matching the grain try searching for Grained Faux Leather Fabric Heavy Duty Leatherette Vinyl in your search engine of choice. Sounds a bit kinky but its legit and several big online stores sell it by the metre for around a tenner. Sticks well with normal spray contact adhesive, especially the stuff that has the fabric backing and as a lot of it is intended for furniture its quite hard wearing.

8 minutes ago, Bluewine said:

Working with good people over good musicians is the right way to go. If you can get both it's rare

Yes I'd agree, its a rare combination in my experience. I feel lucky to have that in the here and now. It was worth the wait and I wouldn't change any aspect of my current band lineup 🙂

I would have been more selective about which bands I joined. The current crew are the nicest, amiable gents I've ever gigged with as well as all of them being higly proficient musicians. Having good players around makes my playing better. So many bands in the past were a struggle, drummers who couldn't keep time, guitarists who didn't own a tuner, singers who struggled to stay in key and my pet hate, band members who show up at rehersal and obviously haven't learned the new tunes or who don't show u at all. Especially if they were mates.

Minor changes of less importance:

a) would never have sold my 78 Jazz🙄

b) would never have sold my 79 Pre EB Stingray😬

c) I should have bought the 79 Les Paul Standard sunburst flame top that was in McCormack's January sale in 1980 for a grand. It was stunning, sounded and played amazing and its tone still haunts me to this very day.

I'm fine with who I am personally even though the high mileage is beginning to show in many areas. A few less aches and pains would be nice nowadays. 🙂 Going back and making major musical/band changes can be a bit sliding doors. If I'd bought that Les Paul for instance, I might not have become a bass brother and be surfing on TDPRI tonight😄

1 hour ago, MrDinsdale said:

I miss my GK 700rb, sold it a while back for virtually nothing when I wasn't really doing much music stuff along with my 410rbh. Awesome gear!

Indeed. I see a few regulars on here still using their trad GK RB's, plenty life left in them yet. Strange though, GK always appear niche to those who have never tried them and loved by those who have and who know how good they are. Good all round amps and imho especially good for blues/rock music as the mid range availability is quite formidable. Not forgetting the boost feature🙂

I've always been more of an amp hoarder than a bass guitar hoarder. ATM I have four gig ready heads at my disposal.

Trace Elliot AH250 GP11 head

GK 700RB

Ashdown Blackface ABM500

4U Rack using a Trace Elliot GP12 SMX stereo pre-amp with a Harley Benton Class D GPA400 power amp.

Any of these will get me through a gig. I did have a Markbass LMIII as my backup amp until recently but sold it as it was never needed. I'll probably come to regret that as I'm playing without back up for the first time in years. So far so good. You do get to know each amp though if you've had them a while and can often tell when they might need a service. One bonus with having a few amps is that rotating them keeps the wear and tear from gigging/ rehersal minimal.

Always pleasing to see nice clean examples of these amps still available. Owners of them do tend to keep them in excellent order. The EVO II 500 was one of the best ABM versions I ever owned and I've owned a few. Solid build, vast low end and loud as thunder, and of course dependable. I always tell propsective owners that you get an awful lot of amp for the money when these come up for sale for around the same as your average class-d 200watt micro amp. GLWTS!

On 15/07/2023 at 20:25, uk_lefty said:

£260?????!!!!!!! 🤯

Its an American Standard 😁 No lefty option though.