otis_spunkmeyer

I just thought I'd reseerect this topic by adding a little review of this amp: Construction: This amp feels very solid and well put together. It’s not just the fact it’s in a metal casing but the overall feel of the various knobs and switches which do not feel at all loose in the way that many cheap products do. Add to this the fact that this is meant to be rack mounted and the level of protection should be enough for even the most active gaggers. Ease of use: There’s no manual for this as of yet but I believe Dave is in the process of writing one and he emailed me when the amp was shipped with a nice guide to getting started. Overall it’s fairly simple to get the amp up and running- you just need to work out which direction is on or off for the various switches (it’s generally up) as they are not labelled. However, once you get used to it I particularly like the fact that the start up sequence is more reminiscent of a pilot starting up a plain than a muso firing up his amp. The only complicated thing about this amp is the way in which the various features interact with each other. For example the distortion switch that flips between Si Ge and off, has a noticeable affect on the volume depending on which you choose as does the fat boost. This is not a big problem as these are not designed to be switched on the fly, but it does mean you find yourself having to tinker with the levels a lot more when trying out a new sound. Features: The amp has all the basics you need to get a vintage tone. Usefully it features a bendable valve driven fx loop which allows you to control the ratio of wet to dry signals. I haven’t personally used this too much as yet, but it’s a really good idea and seemed to work well even when I tested it using a borrowed cheapo mutlifx. There is also a built in compressor, however as meantioned in other reviews this proved far too noisy to be of much use. It might be possible to get a usable sound from it by cutting levels elsewhere such as the gain and eq sections, but the way I have tended to set up the amp makes using the compressor a big no no. Sound: Definitely the best part of this amp is the sound. I haven’t yet succeeded in getting an entirely clean sound out of it, but then if that’s the tone you want you’ll probably be better off with a solid state amp anyways. Nonetheless, the sounds you can get out of the amp are extremely versatile; it does every form of distortion you’re likely to use except for hi gain fuzz. However for these sounds its probably bets to use some form of pedal and on a similar note I have to say the amp does sound very nice when I run my Tech 21 XXL in front. As you would effect from an (almost) all valve amp the sound is pretty vintage. I’m no expert on the all valve sounds of ampeg etc but to my ears it definitely sounds much more like an all valve than a hybrid amp. Even it you can tell the difference when using the solid state power amp, keep in mind that this probably won’t show through in a live context and in the studio you can use the 3 watt output and have an all valve sound anyway. My version also has the new valve driven eq circuit. Apparently the previous passive design didn’t have much effect on the tone. I’m happy to report that I found the current system very usable. Although its all variations on a theme it was certainly possible to tweak my sound to add a bit more bass and treble when I needed to (the amp naturally has a very clear mids which is a definite plus when sitting in the mix). Overall impression: I’ve had this amp for just over a month now and its definitely not going anywhere soon. I’m still getting used to the whole valve thing, having previously only owned a trace hybrid amp. I still love my trace but currently find myself torn between its ultra clean solid state sound and the warmth of the DHA, but I guess that sums up the debate between valve and solid state which has been raging in the bass world for many years. I would definitely recommend at least trying this amp out to anyone looking to break into the valve amp route. Lets not forget that for an all valve jobby this amp is actually at the budget end of the price bracket- not bad for something which sounds amazing and is built like a nuclear submarine!

plus 3 = 653

the bassman was indeed designed as a bass amp, but a lot of guitarists took a shine to them and started using them to amplify their six strings. I suspect the amp model is included for the use of guitarists but if its an accurate emulation then it should sound great with bass. It all comes down to how close line 6 came when they created the program for this amp- the only way you're gonna find out if its any good is probaly to try it...

[quote name='man_at_arms84' post='85087' date='Nov 7 2007, 07:29 PM']It may be worth mentioning a speaker jack got stuck in the amp and we had to break the casing for one of the inputs to get the jack out. this was on the same night. But again afterwards I tested the rig for 5 and it seemed good.[/quote] When this happend did it involve a lot of wrenching the speaker jack to try and get it out? What i'm getting is releasing a stuck cable have caused the clip inside the socket to come a bit loose. A similar thing happened to my mp3 player (alright completely different beast but same prinicple) which caused a sort of intermitent fault where the headphones splutter out if the lead gets knocked or pulled at the wrong angle. If something like this has happened to your amp then it might explain why its sometimes fine and at others farts out- it would all depend on the strain on the cable as you move round the room. Of course it could be something completely different...

[quote name='DHA' post='65516' date='Sep 25 2007, 08:14 PM']Sorry to correct you Sug but it's a VT5-400 now that you are not having the overdrive channel. So that's 5 valves. That's 1 (2 stages) in the compressor, 1 (2 stages) in the Fx loop, 1 (2 stages) in the pre-amp and 1 (2 stages) in the driver. The output valve is a NOS Mullard EL90 which I would bet is older than 3/4 of the BC members. It is running in pure single ended Class A mode with Cathode bias. It will drive a speaker or the internal dummy load when the speaker is not connected. The 400W power stage picks up the signal from the dummy load which is reduced back to line level. So its the valve power stage signal after the output transformer that is sent into a very clean SS power stage. I am having great fun building this amp, pictures soon. Dave[/quote] This really does sound tastey! Up until i've been quite happy with my hybrid Trace amp, but assuming this is as good as it sounds i may well fell a touch of GAS coming on. Nice to hear you're enjoying it Dave. Thats what its all about really (well at least until you start rivaling the likes of Ampeg...) Good luck with the rest of the build -James