guntherbuffalo

Great thanks for the advice. We have settled on £350 and I pick up this weekend! Prett excited! As it happens Martin Penning is only 50 mins drive from me so may pay him a visit once my wallet has been re-charged!

Cool! Thanks for the info! Have offered £350 for the czech bass which they are happy with and will be heading over to take a look at it next weekend!

Also looking at this one. Comes with an adjustable bridge and pickup Though is a bit out of my price range, Might be able to barter them down a bit... http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/115575872/bh-excelsior-double-bass-very-good-quality.html

A possibility! Thanks for the help! Also looking at this one. A bit further away and pricier, but appears in better condition. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172361544003?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT I don't know whether B&H Excelsiors were chinese or czech made in the 80's or whether it would be laminate top. Not sure which one would be best. Cheers!

Have been looking at maybe taking the plunge buying my first double bass and thought I would seek some advice before going for it - https://www.gumtree.com/p/double-bass/czech-double-bass-3-4-size-great-beginner-intermediate/1191168533 I am looking for something to play jazz/blues/folk style playing. The bass is unbranded but has a "Made In Czechoslovakia" sticker. Looks to be 1980's all plywood. Hardware etc looks similar to that of the Boosey & Hawkes Excelsior or similar. Price seems very good to me so would leave me a bit of dosh for a half decent setup, pickup and maybe some nice strings. Thought I would run it past the basschat experts first though to see if there was anything anyone saw that my novice eyes can't see! Just want something that sounds nice for pizz playing that isn't so hard to play it will put me off! THanks!!

Looks like a great forum. Ideally need a kit with everything all in one, as this will be my first build. Will try all the modding stuff after when I know I can build the simplest amp.

It is for guitar by the way! Can't seem to find any specifically UK guitar forums.

Great thanks, I actually have an old Watkins Dominator that is 18 watts which I use that is great for big gigs. Nice and loud! This amp is more for smaller pubs, and rehearsals. We have started doing one in particular where the Dominator doesn't even come close to breaking up for more rocky songs, I think I had the volume on 2 and a half! And that is still quite loud! So it would be for that sort of thing. The kit I am looking at is 4w, when the champ is normally 5w, but all other 5f1 kits are abroad and I can't be doing with the huge shipping costs!

Any one had a bash at this DIY amp kit? Wanting a tweed style amp that will do for band rehearsals and small pub gigs for the blues band. Gonna try matching it with an Eminence Ragin Cajun 10" speaker as I wanna get it as loud as possible. Anyone built this kit? How loud have you managed to get it? Giggable?

Anybody got an old 10" ELAC speaker hanging about that they want to get rid of? Preferably 3 or 4 ohms.

Thanks, but I am gonna go for making a full on guitar combo. Have you worked with this exact model?

Yeah. this one is the perfect shape to stand on end. planning to replace the speaker with maybe a 10" or 12" if it will fit, and mount it where the tape deck is now on some baffle with grill cloth like a combo! Maybe a greenback if I can get my hands on one! I will see how the amp sounds before modding and maybe go from there

Thanks for the advice. First thing I do will be to get the kit made safe. Is it likely that a lot of work will need to be done to gear it more towards a guitar amp? For example an AC15?

...Awesome!

If one EL84 is 5 watts, would 2 in push pull put out 10watts? A 4ohm speaker would suit, as the 10 inch ELAC speaker I have found is 4Ohm and 10 watts.

Wow, 18 watts could be pretty tasty! The seller has said the amp gets pretty loud with variable tone.

Hehe. I don't know about the rectifier. Will be getting a modern plug fitted by an amp guy I know. I will ask him and get him to fix it so that it is safe/useable. I think I will see how it sounds as it is and go from there in terms of modding, as I don't know a huge amount about electronics. Might be able to get an old 10" ELAC speaker and fit it where the tape machine part is. Any idea how many watts this could push out? I don't know how you find this out. Will having a lower Ohm speaker bugger up the amp? Also, would that produce more overdrive? Thanks!

[color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Hi,[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Just bought this for £25 - [/font][/color] [url="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?campid=5336713463&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2FCOLLARO-SOVEREIGN-reel-reel-tape-VALVE-AMP-EF86-12AX7-EL84-magic-eye-EM-81-%2F221202665191%3Fpt%3DUK_Consumer_VintageAudio_RL%26hash%3Ditem3380b4cee7"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COLLARO-SO...item3380b4cee7[/url] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]The amp has EF86 12AX7 EL84 magic eye EM 81 valves.[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]It is my intention to strip the reel to reel machine and connect up a 10 inch speaker to use this as a valve guitar amplifier.[/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]I can find very little information on this unit. Any idea what sort of maximum wattage the amplifier will put out? [/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]I have seen a few people make these into guitar amplifiers with great results, just could do with a bit more info to match up watts/ohms for a 10 inch speaker. If I could get the amp to overdrive, that would also be a bonus![/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]this one is mono and has a 1/4 jack mic input. I have heard some people just plug in and play and hook it up to a cab and sound amazing, also heard lots of people say you need to mod stuff a lot. [/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Any advice would be greatly appreciated.[/font][/color]

Tried it with my SG and sounds good, Will be trying it with a bass in a few weeks when I give it to my bass player. Fingers crossed! With all the calculations etc and such a good speaker, it should sound tasty! will report back!