Matte_black

Second deal with alembic1989... smooth transaction (again).

I won't edit my post. Just letting you guys know that I saved this page and reported the topic to the moderators. Sorry to be so rude but I can't leave this guy damage my reputation reporting "his part of the story" telling half of the truth. If anybody wants a proof of what I wrote, no problem. You can also check the feedbacks given for the last two instruments I've sold... both bought by the same guy! And, just to be 100% transparent, the bass bought from Mr. Stacker DID NOT have Purpleheart wings. He doesn't even remember the specs. It was a fretless bass, set-in with Padouk Neck, Wengé unlined fingerboard, solid Okoumé body. I even made the body Ruby red for free to make him happy! Well... live and learn! No good action remains unpunished.

Sorry guys, just found this topic. What mr. Stacker is hiding is that, after I shipped the bass, he said "I had SEVERAL items lost in transit, maybe stolen". He should have said that before I shipped. That was the ONLY case one of my instruments got lost and the guy was extremely bitter thru the mail. I was certainly willing to work something with him to fix everything but he wasn't. He wanted his money back right away and he got it... really don't know HOW he can weep now. You're not going to take the risk again? Funny! I, in the first place, would never choose to sell a bass to a guy who first FORGETS to tell me that somebody keeps stealing packages sent to him and then doesn't even give me a chance to fix everything. Just to keep things clear, I've shipped WORLDWIDE, to Australia/Japan/Hong Kong and never had problems. The bass left Italy but never reached you 'cause somebody in the UK got it. And now you even try to let others think the fault was mine? I could sue you, mate. The bass that got lost costed 100hours of work, money for hardware and more than €50 to ship. I did everything you wanted, I EVEN COLORED THE BODY FOR FREE to make you happy... try to deny that! And now you have the stomach to talk about me like that? I don't know if I should be sorry, angry or amazed. I could call probably about 10 different BC members that bought a bass, a pickup or an amp from me and could testify how the transaction went. And dozens of customers worldwide.

Definitely a gentleman, the transaction was smooth... fast payment and good communication!

I've tried that combo with the onboard speaker and with the external cab... well, the difference using two woofers is huge, much bigger than I thought. So yes, I'd certainly buy the woofer and would make a cab for it with some marine-grade plywood (12mm). I would be light and you could spray it with black paint so it looks ok under the combo.

You can also buy the woofer alone (€109) and build a wooden cabinet with the same volume. €140 and a few hours of work and you're set.

Bought an amp from him... unfortunately things didn't go well. I'm still waiting for his reply about it as he basically disappeared 10 days ago but I see he's active here... I arranged my own carrier for a pick up at his door. When I got the amp, it was heavily damaged due to a really poor package. It didn't turn on and burnt the fuses. Only 1-2 layers of bubblewrap for a 22kg amp? Yeah. And this isn't enough: when I had it checked by a qualified tech he said one of the power amps in the head had two of the mosfet CUT. Not damaged... CUT. So one of the 2 power stages was damaged before shipping. He agreed to pay for the repair but then stopped replying... so I had the amp repaired (€300) at my expense and after several weeks I'm dealing with the insurance... but with that "package" I don't know how it will end. Nice story, uh? I can provide evidence of this, have the tech's receipt and mails/private messages that prove everything (in case moderators want to check).

I think it's a great product but the case is awful. The tolex is cheap, the glue of the tolex is weak etc. - I think I'm gonna make a real wood case for the little beast. It's worth it! Anyway, with my personal bass the head is clean 'til 3:00... from 3 to 5 (last 1/4 of the rotation) it's distorsionland but I guess it's due to the power stage, not the preamp. Shame it's 30w, if it was 50w it would have been giggable with a wider selection of cabs. With 30w you have to use a 4x10" or 2x12" to be on the safe side.

Mine is made in PRC, in fact

"Matching" isn't what I was thinking of but at least having two of the same type

[quote name='dan670844' timestamp='1350460786' post='1839045'] you could change v1 the 1st preamp tube on the left to a lower gain ecc83/ 57xx etc it will lower the gain through the preamp but I found it tends to darken your sound, it wont sound muddy as the lb has the girth to carry it off. if that your thing try it, it rather like turning both volumes down on a jazz, you get an aston family mann type tone. i would check that you have got a balanced '82 in V3. I have tried loads of el84 in mine real mullards, sovteks, mullard reissue, genelex reissues, even russian mil nos. the jj's work the best with these amps, they perform the same as the russian mil nos, but are cheaper, they have far more power and clean punch than any others. thats not to say that the others arent good, the mullard reissues are nice they give a midrangy growl perfect for rock. But thats the whole point of this amp, changing the tubes changes the tone and character, have fun, i have a shoe box of full of tubes for this amp! its a real journey [/quote] Should I replace ONE of the twin 12AX7s? I always thought I needed to swap the one closer to the output but since I've found 2 AX and 1 AU I thought the twins should have been left "matched".

I've found that switching the bass shift on I can almost tame the distorsion. Now I can use the amp without breakup 'til 3:00. But the last part of the pot is always grindy. The unit has Ruby tubes everywhere... strange, I thought I was going to find JJs. Anyway, I've put an old 12AU7 in the place of the Ruby and looks like the distorsion went down a little bit. Or it's a placebo effect.

Yes but I thought there was an ECC83 on the left and two ECC82 on right.

Ok, I removed the hood from the little sucker... and found a few strange things. The two preamp tubes at the left side are two 12AX7 while the last one (right side) is a 12AU7. The power tubes are Ruby tubes, just like all the preamp tubes. And I'm sure they're original, the amp has never been dismounted before... I can see it.

All my basses are passive but for example a 4 strings with AlNiCo5 magnets humbucker is OK with the "low" input as it's got a lower output while the 5er (Ceramic humbucker) must be used in the High input or it will sound fuzzy. So I guess I only have to replace only the first tube on the left side (closer to the input)? I'll leave the power section as is for now... would be nice to swap the EL84s with Genelex but as long as they work I won't touch them.