Mikey R Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 Hey all, sorry if this has been covered before but Im new to this thermionic way of life and wanted some opinions. Ive got me an Ashdown Little Bastard, going through a Barefaced Compact. I love the tone in my living room, but Im a bit worried it might not be loud enough to hang with the three piece rock band. Ive not tried it yet as we always use the backline at the rehersal studio but thought I would share my thinking on here in case anyone else has had similar experience. If I do need to upgrade, Im thinking I'll need to go up to between 90 to 120 watts, so thats around an extra 6dB, give or take. From what I can tell, alot of the bigger amps out there use with KT88 or 6550 output values, which some say are interchangable provided the anode voltage is below 600v (!). These amps have four valves at around 150 to 200 watts, six valves gives around 300 and up, so thats possibly overkill for what Im after. In the vintage market, are there any bass type amps that have EL34s or 6L6s? And importantly, how does the choice of valve type effect the tone, and can they be interchanged on that model? Im playing a P type bass, lots of clank in the mids but a tight bottom end, not too sparkly (bright switched off, no tweeter). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umph Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 you'd be best going for el34's from your description Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 If you like the sound of the LB, get a cab that is loud enough with it, probably two cabs. Valve type and number isn't the determining factor for wattage, that depends on what they are doing in the amp, circuit style and suchlike. Ditto with the tone, putting the wrong valves in an amp gives the tone of an amp with the wrong valves in it, which you may like, but the tone isn't tied to the valves, same valves in an amp with a different circuit will sound more different. You can put 6550 in a KT88 amp but putting KT88 into a 6550 amp can be a bad idea as KT88 draw more current, however a lot of KT88 are actually 6550 in a KT88 shaped bottle. Tons of vintage amps suitable for bass with EL34. What cab do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3below Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 Plenty of amps out there with EL34 or 6L6. If you want a modern monster get a Marshall VBA 400, also get body buidling lessons as well. Bargains are still out there, my Sound City was only £175 including a 2x12 cab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBass Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 Ive been doing pub gigs with my LB30 and BF Compact with no problem. In fact the LB is getting more outings than my ABM at the moment. At some stage I'm sure I will need to try the DI and put a little bass into the PA, and Im looking forward to experimenting with that. Cheers Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBass Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 sorry forgot to mention thats in a five piece rock/pop covers band. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey R Posted October 14, 2012 Author Share Posted October 14, 2012 (edited) Cheers for the posts guys, I spent the morning scanning through schematics and for the most part all the major bass amps follow the original bassman layout, fixed bias with negative feedback into the phase splitter, difference is in the filtering in the feedback loop and the values of the components to suit valve, HT voltage and output transformer. Im guessing the output transformer has a bigger part to play than the valve types. The combinations are mind blowing - the solution is probably to just try out a few amps and see what I like. [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1350219792' post='1835869'] Tons of vintage amps suitable for bass with EL34. What cab do you have? [/quote] Oli - you know what cab Im using as you sold it me last week! [quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1350223337' post='1835925'] Ive been doing pub gigs with my LB30 and BF Compact with no problem. In fact the LB is getting more outings than my ABM at the moment. At some stage I'm sure I will need to try the DI and put a little bass into the PA, and Im looking forward to experimenting with that. [/quote] Cheers Geoff, thats good to know. I should probably try to control the GAS till Ive at least tried the little beasie. Edited October 14, 2012 by Mikey R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBass Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 Yes I'd give it a go first and see how you get on. I remember when I first used it in anger I was concerned I wouldn't be able to fill the venue with bass, and had an XLR cable ready just in case I needed to put some through the PA. At half-time I chatted to the landlord who is a respected musician locally, and he said it founded more than fine. I'd recommend having an XLR to hand if you can, just in case you do need to put some bass through the PA if it's an option. I don't know what sort of size venues you play, so probably best to be prepared - just in case. I'm actually looking forward to experimenting with a bit of DI into our PA, as the DI on the LB30 is taken from it's own winding on the output transformer, so gets the full valve loveliness and tone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 Well, that specific cab sounds pretty damn nice with a Sound City B50, kept up without housemate drumming, but that's girl drumming. An SC120 should get into face melting and not cost much more (because 50w amps ahve a bigger market due to guitar people). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Apple Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 [quote name='Mikey R' timestamp='1350235269' post='1836109'] Oli - you know what cab Im using as you sold it me last week! [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davehux Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 I have an LB30 and play in a 5 piece rock covers band in small/medium pubs. It gets put through a pair of Ashdown MAG Deep 410 and 115 cabs and I have no problem at all in making my point known I did a lot of valve tweaking, following some good advice on here, in order to get the volume up without it distorting. I'm currently running 2 x Mullard ECC81's in the preamp, a Mullard ECC82 in the power stage and 4 x Sovtek EL84's in the output. The bass is in the High input socket and I can get the volume control to 2 o'clock before it starts breaking up. Even when our guitard is in full-on mode, I never need to take the volume past 12 o'clock. It has 30 of the biggest, loudest, lovliest watts I have ever heard. My Hartke 3500 stays in the car as the backup amp these days (or unless the landlord wants me to knock out the windows!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamPodmore Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Try it, and if it's not loud enough, try adding another compact,. Liam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longtimefred Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 firstly mate i would gig your Ashdown before blowing your mind with valve configurations etc etc. Also, if you love the tone of it when cranked, (makes a big difference than at home) and if its just shy of loud enough, i would look at a cab setup that works more efficiently to project your sound. personally i think messing around with valve configs and changes kinds takes away the original perception of what the amp is designed to sound like. Just my opionion like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davehux Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 I agree - try it out with your band. The 'problem' with the LB30 is that with the standard valves from Ashdown - 2 x ECC83's and an 82 (or another 83 as was in mine), it goes into overdrive and distorts far too soon on the volume control, so you can't get it loud enough for a live band without it sounding like a chainsaw. The 81's calm things down so that you can crank up the volume and keep it sounding clean for much longer. You still get that lovely valve amp warmth, but it's now a gigging amp rather than a bedroom one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longtimefred Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 remember, they didnt call it the little bastard for nothing . The little polite at high volumes doesnt really sell it lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan670844 Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 I have gigged my LB a lot I use the LB212 it came with. Plenty loud for onstage monitoring and using the transformer derived di it gets the great tone foh. But I have gigged without di but I have used the Cl610 (ashdown) that came with my CTM300 it was supprising loud but really an experiment as it hardly practical! the CL610 is a huge heavy cab for very big venues. if you want to gig that LB you need a big sensitive cab have a look at the 69er from bare faced. But really the lb is designed to give a lovely valve tone in a small footprint, a valve engine if you will, with a di so you can poke it FOH and through on stage monitoring. If you cant do that, think of upgrading your pa with good FOH and On stage monitoring. The bigger ashdowns the CTM 100 and CTM300 can easily be made to sound the same, but are serious beans. you can upgrade your pa for a lot less, or even get yourself a bergantino powered cab you can run that from the di in conjunction with your normal speaker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey R Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 Cheers guys, drummer is away for two weeks so wont get the try the LB with full band for a bit. Will let you know when I get the chance to try it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.