Vin Venal

Selling my beloved Darkglass head. I need to downgrade my gear a bit, this is more amp than I'll ever need.

I bought it used on here, think I've had it a couple of years. As I'm conscious it's probably a few years old now, I've priced it to sell. Even so feel free to float me an offer. Trades considered (for something less powerful with cash my way ideally).

Lightly used, everything is in good working order. Supplied with the footswitch and power lead. Some cosmetic scratches and the like, as you'd expect from a used amp, but the only things I can think of to point out would be the box is a bit tatty from being stored, and the Drive knob on the gain section is a bit easier to turn than the others.

Here's a link with everything you need to know about the amp, if you download the manual it also has a block chain diagram.

https://www.darkglass.com/creation/microtubes-900v2/

Here's my terrible photos:

Oh nice! Now I want a reverend...

Only time I experience anything like that is if I have an idea and my gear is somewhere else, so I can't do anything about it. Like an itch I can't scratch.

Just discovered this stuff, it's great!

Basically latin flavoured 60s psychedelic rock from Brazil. Quite similar to Zamrock I think.

Some great basslines. Can see how this stuff has influenced some modern psych bands I like too.

Any bands/records/playlists I shouldn't miss? Is there new stuff being made in this vein? 

Always looking for new (weird) stuff to listen to am I!

Looks amazing, always liked the reverend designs. Like, classic and vintage styled, but still very distinct, and not just another p/j copy or whatever.

How heavy is it? For some reason, they look substantial. Never actually tried one, but in my head they're heavy. Lol.

Pedals for sale! Getchor pedals ere!

I'll point out some highlights imo: The black haze is a lovely bass overdrive/distortion with three settings depending how dark you like it - no problems with low end retention here.

The TS-MINI is a cut above standard mini pedals, sturdy, made in Japan, high quality, I think the circuit is a TS808.

The Rusty Fuzz is a silicon fuzz face I believe, sounds great on bass.

The Caline Pure Sky is a Timmy clone - also sounds mint on bass.

The behringer clones are a Boss CS-3, a Boss DM-2, and an EHX small stone, and all are said to be faithful recreations thereof.

The rest speaks for itself.

Prices as follows:

Caline Pure Sky: £15
Ampeg Classic Preamp: £55
Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini: £35
EHX Nano 360 Looper: £40
TC Rusty Fuzz: £30
Behringer CS400 Compressor: £15
Behringer VP-1 Phaser: £30
Behringer VD400 Delay: £15
Artec SE-PEQ Parametric EQ: £25
EBS Black Haze Overdrive: £75
1 Spot Pro CS 6 Power Supply: £80

All prices are inclusive of (UK only) shipping. Pedals are all lightly used but in good working order, may have velcro on the bottom, and are not guaranteed to arrive with original boxes, or power supply (for those that originally came with them). The 1-Spot will come with a suitable tea kettle lead.

Offers gladly accepted.

Happy shopping.

On 16/01/2024 at 15:05, Doctor J said:

Tony Choy (Atheist, Cynic, Pestilence)

Doug Keyser (Watchtower)

Roger Patterson (Atheist)

Bernard Edwards (Chic)

Ron Broder (Coroner)

Bill Gould (FNM)

Troy Gregory (Prong, Flotsam & Jetsam)

Doug & Muzz (Living Colour)

Cliff Williams (AC/DC)

 

Glad someone said Billy Gould. Great bassist. 

Can't say I've played the Gretsch but I had the U5 for a while, and it was great. Probably like, third best bass I've ever owned. It's with a close friend now, so I know where it is.

One thing I'll say about em, they don't really sound like a short scale imo, if you're into that wooden thumpy thing a lot of em do.

I think if I live to be 85, I hope I'll still be trying to get a band together. 🙃 

13 hours ago, NAS Bass said:

Graham Maby

Paul McCartney

Bruce Thomas

Norman Watt Roy

Mark Bedford

Billy Cox

JJ Burnel

Lemmy

Joe Osborn

Dee Dee Ramone

John Paul Jones

Jim Lea

Dennis Dunaway

Sting

Dusty Hill

Carol Kaye

Randy Jo Hobbs

Ronnie Lane

Nick Lowe

 

I can honestly say that I enjoy listening to and feel inspired by all of these players, not just the bands that they have been in.

Bruce Thomas's playing and tone on This Year's Model is amazing, and I feel like he's kinda underrated 

Just to offset the sausage fest somewhat, I'll just mention some of my favourite bass players who are also women. 🙃

Annie Holland - Elastica

Laura Kennedy - Bush Tetras

Ayse Hassan - Savages

Kim Deal - Pixies

Tina Weymouth - Talking Heads

Jenny Lee Lindberg - Warpaint

Josephine Wiggs - Breeders

Hi all, this is no big deal or anything, but I just wanted to state for the record, and for the avoidance of confusion, since joining the forum, a lot of things have changed for me (lol), I'm trans, and I now go by May in person, and my pronouns are she/her.

Thanks for all the feedback! 🙂

May.

Flawless transaction with dub junkie, excellent seller. Good coms, fast shipping, well packaged, can't ask for more. 🙂

Pm sent

6 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

My Trace rig was ridiculous; GP12 SMX pre, stereo and mono power amps, three cabinets.  For bass it was somewhat overblown (and great fun), but for guitar it just didn't have any throw whatsoever.

 

Oddly, bass into a guitar amp (fed into bass-centric cabinets) sounds fine, if not a little in the thin side tonally.  Perhaps it's a one way street tonally.

Maybe it's just a preference thing? I'm a "there are no wrong answers" kind of girl. Or maybe it's more that there are no right ones lol. 🙃

My best acquisition this year was definitely a set of cobalt flats for my precision. Totally changed the sound (in an excellent way), and playing experience.

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

Of the belief that a geetar through a bass rig is ok for low volume practice at home (with some kind of processing in front of the amp), but in a live context it just doesn't work.  Believe me, I have tried.  Several times.  Doesn't really matter if someone goes, 'Well, <insert name here> did it.'

 

Not limited to my current backline (Darkglass AO900, a pair of DG 1x12s, Barefaced Big One, plus a Fender Pugilist dirt pedal), I could put any combination of this up against my old 75w Line 6 Spider IV and the Line 6 will beat it 24/7.  I do recall many years ago, plugging my old Gibson 335 into a huge Trace Elilot rig I was running with the expectation that this would leave my fellow band members lying on the floor with blood coming out of their ears, but the sad reality was that it just sounded ponky and didn't even cut through the mix even at quite low volumes.

 

Someone with a more technical nuance will probably be able to answer as to why, but my feeling is bass cabinet design doesn't help in the slightest and the circuitry sweet-spot in bass amps design is for lower frequencies.  Remember too that until quite recently there was an expectation for bass amps to run a lot cleaner than their guitar-based brethren.  

 

I'll give my rig a try at practice and report back.

I'm not disagreeing with you, you may be right, but if so I kinda wanna understand why, cuz in theory it should all work fine, it's all the same stuff, there are plenty of good sounding solid state guitar amps, and any issues with frequencies should be solvable with eq. 10" speakers can't be the problem either, cuz there are some legendary guitar amps that use a 4x10. 

Maybe it's partly a taste thing, like direct, abrasive guitar tones are my fave, one of my favourite sounds is a Sunn Beta Lead (King Buzzo) and it's basically exactly the same as the Sunn Beta Bass imo, both just high gain solid state amps. For lower gain stuff, Wilko Johnson on his HH100 springs to mind.

4 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Try the shape button, it makes a huge difference to the mids.

Is it an ABM600? The older ABM500 and other earlier models are quite different. 

Not sure now that you mention it, I'll have a look next time I'm there.

Also will check the shape switch position and make sure the subharmonics thingy isn't turned up next time I'm playing through it.

On 13/12/2023 at 19:38, SteveXFR said:

Best by miles is my Ashdown ABM600 head. An enormous upgrade from my old Orange Terror. I'm still working out settings but already sounding great. 

The Ibanez SRMS805 is very good but the pickups and preamp are a bit weak. It plays great though and was a bargain, like new for half the price of a new one.

 

I play through one of these at a loose jam I go to regularly, it's like the house amp, and I just can't get a decent sound out of the thing. It's just always muddy and scoopy and disappears in the mix. Is there some kind of knack to it I'm missing? I always try pushing the mids, but they don't sound pleasing at all.

I have a guitar amp, just a lil 15 watt all tube affair, but I've been messing about with just playing through what I've already got set up bass wise, and honestly it sounds sick.

I even keep all the settings the same on me pedals and everything. I play in D Standard (bass and guitar). For doom/stoner/sludge sounds this would probably be a good setup for a guitarist.

It's maybe a bit harsh for some people's tastes, but I dig abrasive guitar sounds, and if you roll off the tone you can still get some vintagey sounds.

Anyway, I'm enjoying having one rig to rule them all, was wondering if anyone else did similar?

Pic for attention 

Everything I need right there, including the dry shampoo lol

On 22/12/2023 at 17:36, Reggaebass said:

Yeah I suppose you’d have to because a refinish would ruin it 

I'd actually prefer a tastefully refinished bass to an absolutely knackered one. For vintage, or vintage looking basses I prefer a kind of NOS look.

I needed a very compact board which would fit in my backpack with my class D head, cuz I normally have to lug gear everywhere on public transport. Thought about a chopping board, but in the end I went with a small tea tray! 😅

On 10/12/2023 at 11:12, glassmoon said:

Hello all, 

 

Question... Does DemonFX have a version of the DarkGlass Vintage Microtubes? That's really the sound I hear in my head when I think of drive, mostly after watching an old Steve Lawson YT clip where he's showing off his pedals (LINK) <around 02:20 he talks about the VMT>.

Anyway... That's what I'm after. Any thoughts?
Kind regards
Julian aka Glassmoon

They don't at the moment. I actually emailed them to ask if they had any plans to make one. They said they'd consider it.

9 hours ago, BassAdder60 said:

Venture series ? 

Yeah I wanna know how the Venture series compares to these.

I haven't got one any more, but have owned the PF-500 and the PF-800. I liked the preamp in them so much, I keep one in pedal form (the classic analogue bass preamp is, I'm pretty sure, just the preamp out of a PF-350) on my board.

The PF-350/500/800 were a great sounding line of amps imo, although I agree they weren't especially loud (my darkglass 900 is waaay louder). Except the fan, that was really fkin loud lol.