King Tut

A Harley Benton D Seed delay pedal, a Comfort Strapp and a subscription to Classic Rock magazine. Happy Colin!

It's interesting where this thread has gone and I've had a thought relating to 'old being better' in terms of 'actual old' rather then older designs. I personally get a kick out of gigging cheap basses occasionally, although with Stray I always use a Ricky for the Stray set and either a Rick or a Fender for the Blues Devils stuff. This is mainly to do with the Punters expectations and the fact that Stray's original bass player used a Rick, and my desire to present a pro approach by using what is seen as pro gear. Having said that, when I was playing covers I'd often happily use a cheaper bass which did the job just as well. Even now I'll occasionally take my Ibanez BTB30 out as my spare. With regard to actual old basses, I think there's a mystique that somehow the magic of all its previous players, previous gigs and previous experiences may somehow seep through the ether and improve the players' performance. Certainly if an old instrument is still in circulation, then it's proof itself that it's stood the test of time and is probably a good player because it's still in use. There's no rights and wrongs here - I'd love to try one of these Harleybackers but I have waaaay to much stuff!! Much love to all x

I hate the Vic club with a vengeance. Buggered my arm up helping load a sub down those stairs. Ended up turning gigs down there.

Doh!

So I've learned from this thread that most lighty up amps are lit by LEDs and not valves and that preamp valves don't usually glow. Thanks fellas. Anyone else out there rocking a Veyron T at the moment?

It's described as hollow in the description. Body wood is Mahogany which would probably make it quite a dark sounding bass, so not s Rik soundalike!

Interesting! https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_rb_414cs_classic_series.htm

Gone!

Bought a VT Bass from Dan. item was as described and well packed. Comms were good. Post Office were slow to deliver due to Xmas, and Dan got in touch and sent pic of postage receipt to reassure me, even though I hadn't enquired as to its whereabouts, which i thought was a nice touch! Deal with confidence.

Crikey that's a proper steal!

@Ashdown Engineering - I'm touring the UK in Feb/March with Stray - double header with The Groundhogs - If you'd like me to road test one of these . . . . . . . . .

Want

Mate - as said before, be the better man and forget the revenge stuff. But by asking you to do the gig they're taking the pee. Take the misses out for a nice meal or do something else you really enjoy instead. And if anyone asks why you didn't do the gig, just tell em you were sacked. No one will think any worse of you. Move on bruv x

Hahaha that's funny, I thought only the valve one glowed!

AHH thanks for that - interesting!

I had a sneaking suspicion all was not as it seems, so I took the top off of my Bugera Veyron Tube and switched it on. So, it seems that the very lovely valvey glow that shines through the front of the amp isn't the valves glowing at all, but three orange Led's, cunningly set on a dimmer so they gradually fade in after you've turned the amp on. What's that all about then? I don't know much about valve amps - maybe someone could enlighten me as to why the actual valves dont glow? I can feel heat coming off them so they appear to be real and not just for show!

I've got the Tube version. It's pretty impressive and great for Classic Rock

Have you got the MOSFET or Tube Bugera?

No I was playing passive basses into the passive input. My eyes told me I was driving the pre quite hard but I never heard anything nasty so maybe they're like some Trace amps where you really have to push the pre. I can experiment with this at home. Its no great sweat as I bought the amp on a whim and have other stuff that serves me well. I'd just never had an Ashdown analogue head and heard lots of good stuff about their warmth and heft.

Yeah man!

Cheers Dave - yeah I get all that, but comparatively, my other heads with similar rating cope admirably (as I remember) through the single 4x10.

I picked up an Ashdown MAG600 from here earlier in the week and was keen to try it out last night. I think the model is an EVOIII although it's not labelled as such, it just has the 15th anniversary logo on the front and all the facilities found on the later MAG's. It's well equipped with the usual Ashdown VU meter and passive and active inputs. It has a five band EQ entered around very useful frequencies and deep and bright switches. The EQ can be switched in and out from the front panel. It has a one knob compressor and an octave down facility and overdrive, again switchable from the front panel. The distortion can also be operated with a foot switch. The Octaver is a bit of a waste of space - sure it works well and sounds good but without being able to foot switch it in and out you could only really use it for a whole song. On the back it's just got an IEC mains in and switch, two big fans and usefully, a pair of Speakon/Jack combo sockets - so all round, a pretty well equipped amp. I played with Stray, a fairly loud but not stupid loud, Classic Rock five piece at Leo's in Gravesend. It's a nice rock venue with a medium stage and a good sound engineer and PA. I was running the amp through an Eden Nemesis 4 x 10 which is an 8 ohm cab rated at 500W. I've used the cab with other heads and it's never been lacking volume, but of late, I've been running a 2 x 12 stack to get the sound closer to my ears (which are protected with ear plugs). Tonally, I bloody love the thing. The EQ, as mentioned is really useful and the tone is solid and clear but warm with a hint of grit when pushed. I played the first set with a Jazz Bass and the second with a Ric 4003 - two different beasts and the Ashdown really brought out that difference. In isolation I was over the moon with the tone. I had the deep switch in and each EQ knob pushed a bit past noon with a bit more top and high mid than the rest. Once we'd kicked off sound checking though, I had to really crank the master volume and by the end of the night it ended up around at around 3 o'clock. Bear in mind that with my Class D heads (A GK MB500 and a Bugera Veyron 1001T) I seldom get the master volumes past 11 o'clock - so this surprised me a bit. Having said that - the tone did not break up at all - it was sweet. I think - having not used the 4x10 for a while, the perceived lack of volume may have been down to all the sound coming past my knees. I know I was pretty loud cos the Jazz fed back a couple of times. I'm also going to experiment with not having the deep switch in, so I can drive the front end a bit more. To summarise - the amp is well equipped and easy to dial in great tone, but the verdict is out on for the time being on volume. I'd be interested in the collective opinion on my observations.