Quilly

These big 300+ W valve monsters are great and all but really they were designed in a time when the rig on stage was intended to be the source of bass for the whole concert. I can’t imagine lugging around 35-40kg of an amp to casual pub gigs . People do and more luck to them . For me 100w and a decent cab is plenty. that’s not to say I never came close to buying one on more that one occasion 😂😂

I think everyone should have at least one valve head but you needn’t go crazy and get an SVT or anything. Valve heads can surprise you volume wise and a 100w amp can be all you need using the correct cabinet. Even 30-50w amps out there that can quite easily manage small to medium gigs . You don’t need to break your back

I hear good things about these also - Good price aswell https://reverb.com/item/43320658-peavey-tour-vb-2-head-made-in-usa

Its a great feeling when a gig goes so well you secure more gigs out of it.

Stay away from valve heads… you’ll quickly get obsessed with them 😭

I got drafted into a Ragtime / New Orleans type jazz band as a substitute bassist for a gig last week and I was planking it. The band are really nice folks (and forgiving) but I was totally out of my comfort zone in terms of musical genres as this was their first gig in ages, I didn't want to make a dogs dinner of the bass. I needn't have worried (too much) its was a blast and I was able to blagg my way through most of it, the crowd loved it.

Not really but I tried a Mex Player Precision bass in a shop and thought, this is way better than I expected, ultimately bought one.

They're still for sale on their site, so I presume they're still making them. I have the CTM100 and I love it but they seem to be kind of rare these days. You tend to see a lot more CTM-300s and CTM-30s / Little bastards around. CTM-200s are as rare a hens teeth.

Whos left standing here ?

The beige one ?

The handbox WB100 is supposed to be a great amp also

I’ve the 100w Ashdown ctm100 head and their 30w “little bastard” , both pure valve and both cracking amps. Don’t let the low wattage fool you , the 100w amp can get seriously loud and even the 30w head can comfortably handle small gigs . The LB -30 appears regularly on this site and reverb for sale around the £300 mark. Well worth it

He picks the songs !

My little bastard/ barefaced two10 “rig”

Na , just trust your ears . They’re very forgiving these valve heads . The only thing that kills them is running them without a load.

I always tend to use the 0db input with my active bass set flat , maybe a smidgen of bass boost and it never hurt any of my valve heads . The worst that happens is the that the preamp tubes overdrive a bit - oh Damn 😅

I’ve the Ashdown little bastard so I reckon it might be in that ball park volume wise. I read some of the spec and the drivers are only 25w ea. Probably not practical as a bass amp and too expensive.

Just a query about these guitar amps...i.e. the 50w 4X10 guitar combo. I presume these were originally meant to be bass amps but were then adopted by guitarists, The question I have is: Are the ones today useable as bass amps ? The should sound amazing but I'm not sure of the speakers are able for an actual bass guitar.

Check out Fugazi

A cheap Thomann brand PA 300w driver (the “box” replacement), there’s another 15” driver positioned at right angles . Together they make 700w/4ohm. The replacement sounds good to my ears anyway

They're great amps and they pop up fairly regularly here around the £350 mark .

After a driver replacement on the Schroeder I decided to try this mongrel pairing. Works really well and way louder than what you’d expect from 30w. Not the prettiest set up , but if it works it works .