Painy

A few weeks back the amp in my trusty old Ampeg BA500 combo died at a gig and after it's intended replacement which I bought from here was brutally murdered in transit by myHermes, I had to look for another replacement within my very limited (£200) budget. The problem I had was that (as I was planning to continue using the old combo without the amp as just a 2x10 speaker cab) the new amp had to be able to run down to 2ohms like the old BA500 had (4ohm 2x10 & 8ohm 1x15 = 2.67ohms). Anyway, this is the solution I came up with:- 2 x Behringer BVT4500H heads at just £98 each (thank you very much Thomann) with each head running a cab. By linking the preamp out on one to the poweramp in on the other, they're both controlled from one preamp with the other head becoming a slave. After a first attempt at gigging it all last night my thoughts on the amps are: On the down side- These amps really are not all that loud at all given the 450w rating at 4ohms. To get to similar volume to the old amp set on 2 (my normal gig volume) this was set on nearly 7. Still plenty loud enough but nowhere near as much headroom. Bearing in mind though that's running 2 of them! The controls, and particularly the graphic eq , feel distinctly cheaper than the Ampeg. They are pretty heavy and again I now have to carry two of them about. On the plus side though- The sound! For a while before it died, my old amp was gradually losing bottom end for some unknown reason, but last night it was back in spades. When I hit the open low B with the bass set at 7 it felt like my lungs were going to fall out of my bottom! For the first set I did think it was lacking a little zing and sizzle in the top end but then remembered that the horn was turned all the way off on the cab. After turning the horn back up (to just over halfway) for the second set though - just wow! Classic Ampeg SVT tone! Overall I can happily live with all the downsides in exchange for Ampeg tone and a 3 year warranty for second-hand Ashdown money. The only other thing is it's, er..... A bit big!

I bought an amp from Steve and he was really helpful and accommodating. Unfortunately the courier that delivered it were not quite as conscientious as him and managed to damage the amp in transit. Again though Steve could not have been more helpful in getting the problem resolved fully and was an absolute gentleman in all the dealings I had with him from start to finish. Definitely one of the people that make BC a great place to buy, sell and trade!

[quote name='deepbass5' timestamp='1433080800' post='2787607'] Can someone explain to me how a passive treble and a passive bass control works ? [/quote] Cut only maybe?

I think the reason that Adam Clayton's many and varied signature basses are so widely ridiculed is that none of them are what could actually be described as his signature model i.e. synonymous with the player in the way that say a black P with mirrored pickguard would be associated with Phil Lynott. His basses are signature models only in the sense that his signature is printed on them. It seems to be a case of whenever he happens to get a new bass then the manufacturer - whoever that may be - puts his name on the headstock to shift a few extra units at a premium regardless of whether he will ever actually be seen playing live or in the studio with it. Right, I'm of to scribble my name onto my Fender Jazz that I bought a few months ago despite having played Warwicks exclusively for the previous 10 years

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1432938158' post='2786510'] Blimey, two of the buggers, eh? Should be an interesting setup. Let us know how it pans out. Cheers Geoff [/quote] Well As we speak they're sat in the delivery lorry at parcelforce's local depot so looks like they'll be delivered on Monday in time for my gig on Saturday. I'll get some pics at the gig and then put up a NAD thread.

After my sister's mother in law passed away, one of the grandchildren 'innocently' suggested disco inferno to be played at her funeral which was to be a cremation.

Well I've just ordered 2 BVT4500H heads from Thomann! The amp in my Ampeg BA500 combo (which runs down to 2ohms with a 4ohm extension cab) died on me at a gig a couple of weeks ago. As I plan to use the combo cab (i.e. with the amp section removed) and the extension cab I already have, I needed an amp that could also run down to 2ohms. Unfortunately, the Ampeg b5r head I then bought off here was killed in transit by myHermes so I had to look for an alternative within my very limited budget, remembered this thread and though - why not? I now plan to run these 2 heads together by connecting the preamp out on one to the power amp in on the other andThen running one cab off each head.

The whole 'getting a j to sound like a p' thing is why I love my modern player jazz. The coil tappable humbuckers give you so many options and comparing the neck pup solo'd set to single coil compared to set as a humbucker, you really can get much much closer to a p sound than with a standard j bass.

So, I've just purchased one of these amps from the BC market place, and the very helpful SteveJ, based purely on the fact that it runs down to 2ohms and I love the Ampeg sound in general (the second overdrive channel being a bit of a bonus feature). Now it's due to be despatched early this week so it'll be with me soon enough to have a play and form my own opinions but I was wondering if anyone could give their thoughts on this amp while I wait for it to arrive. Mainly though I'm interested in whether it will give me that typical Ampeg tone as I can't find any sound clips anywhere online.

After last night I was kinda thinking I should never have sold it to him in the first place. Would definitely make a great backup at the very least. I do still like that Ampeg sound though.

So last weekend my much loved old Ampeg B500 combo amp died on me at a gig and, as I'm still in the process of arranging a replacement (deposit paid on an Ampeg B5 head in the BC Marketplace as it runs down to 2 ohms which will let me use my existing speaker set up), I borrowed our lead guitarist's younger brother's Trace Elliot AH400SMX head (which he actually bought from me years ago). Now I always loved the sound of my old Ampeg rig but, for about the last year or so, I've been having to use more and more extreme EQ settings and been struggling to get the sound that I'd had out of it in the past. Well last night the sound was absolutely immense! Not exactly the Ampeg tone I love but there was so much more clarity and bite in the upper mids and real heft in the lows than I had been getting recently. I'm guessing my old amp had actually been gradually deteriorating over a period of time before finally giving up the ghost last week. Anyway, I'm now really looking forward to getting this new amp - just hoping it will give me the clarity and depth I got last night from the borrowed Trace amp but with that Ampeg 'roundsound'.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1368194891' post='2074348'] Does TE qualify as chav now ? That could make a lot of sense . [/quote] Well they were available with 'neon downlighting' Funnily enough, tonight I shall be playing through a borrowed TE AH400SMX in my Rock covers band (my trusty old Ampeg B500 died on me last week - sob) and will be using my P copy on a few numbers although I'll be using my Fender Jazz for most songs. Where does this leave me?!

I have actually been looking to separate the amp out of my Ampeg BA500 combo to divide the weight up and was about to get an SVT style head box made to put it in (the amp unit is the same chassis as the 450h). At just £100 though it would actually be cheaper to buy one of these just for the box and throw the amp in the bin than it would be to make one!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=shHywjPn_I8

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1428235814' post='2739380'] That guy on Fender's youtube demos! [/quote] That'd be Mel Brown. I actually quite like a lot of what he plays in those videos but when I look at his right hand technique I actually start to get cramp myself!

Well thank you VERY much!!! I already have GAS for a Squier VM P5, an SVT210HE cab, an SVT610HLF cab and a 300W all valve head of some sort. The last thing I needed was to add one of these to the list! No, there's no point in apologising now. It's too late. The damage has already been done. And I thought I was done with active basses too... Tsk! Right, I'm of to look at colour options an Thomann. 1st class review by the way

You are ALL Trevor MacDonald and I claim my five pounds!

For those of you who bought a PJ5 you won't be disappointed. I have one (not a deko) which I have gigged and its a genuinely decent bass. The only negatives I found were the nasty printed red tort pickguard which looks like raw beef (I covered mine with adhesive vinyl straight away) and the weak pups (output is pretty low but nothing wrong with the tone). Really wish I'd seen then this morning at that price as I'd have loved one to go to town on modding it up

[quote name='Schnozzalee' timestamp='1348945541' post='1820068'] A Cort A6 [/quote] Well seeing as this thread has been brought back from the dead, I have to say that I had a Cort A6 and there were many things about it that I really liked but if it had sounded even vaguely like a Ken Smith I would never have sold it!

I think your good lady wife is absolutely right and you should therefore sell your VM P5 to me for £50, which you can then use to buy another Harley Benton to replace it which you can string up BEAD

That actually looks pretty sweet. Bit of a departure from your normal choice of bass but that's often when you have the most fun. If you guys support us again anywhere you'll have to make sure you bring it along

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1426851696' post='2722670'] Until you get to the stairs... [/quote] Sorted:

The auto biasing thing does look like a really good feature given the cost of completely re-valving a 300w head. The whole Bugera to Behringer is as Lexus is to Toyota thing is exactly as I usually describe it. Plus the fact that they're not too common kind of adds to the whole boutique vibe. They're actually only about £425ish on Thomann right now and if you're not to fussed about buying B-stock (which I believe are just returns but with full warranty) they've got some for under £400! Really am feeling quite tempted myself.

I've recently been gassing for an all valve amp and as much as I'd ideally love an SVT-CL I really can't afford one so I've been looking online at the BVV3000 which is Bugera's (Behringer's) SVT clone. Now I know generally you get what you pay for and all that but I also believe you can pay a premium for the prestige of a name. Anyway, given that the Bugera can be had new for less than half of what you'd expect to pay for a used SVT, I reckon it's at least worth further investigation. So, has anyone had any experience of this amp that they can share and specifically anyone who has also used an SVT that could give some insight into how they compare sound wise?