The HandBox Amplification thread

[Woodinblack]

The Ashdown CTM100 was good at home levels with things wound down. Obviously better flat out.

[dmccombe7]

Sorry guys but i'm just not convinced the amp is ok.

No matter what i set the amp at i'm not getting that same overdriven valve sound you hear on the official HB vid from 4yrs ago. The guy in the VID had his master at around 11 o'clock and gain full up and was getting a similar overdriven sound as you were getting on your sound clip @Clarky .

I've tried the amp at full volume and bringing the gain up but it is far too loud in the house. I can only get to 50% on master and bringing the gain up the amp doesnt distort it just goes into that farting noise once i get above the crunch mark or i hit the drive button. If i hit the drive button all it does it increase the volume slightly but no distortion no matter where the gain is set. ? 

So i'm not convinced all is ok with this amp. Leszek suggested i was playing too hard so i replicated the settings from the official vid clip from 4yrs ago and used my P bass same as in the clip and i get that farting sound. I just dont get that normal smooth overdriven sound from this amp at all.

I've just messaged Leszek again about what i've been trying.

I'm going over the various vid reviews to see what settings have been used.

Dave

[Reggaebass]

32 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

i'm just not convinced the amp is ok

Just a suggestion Dave, can you chat with him on FaceTime, that way he can see exactly what the amp is doing on different settings and advise from that 

[dmccombe7]

I've sent Leszek a few vid clips of what i'm hearing. He has a plan but i need to wait to see if its workable.

To be fair he has offered a replacement or a full refund. You cant get much fairer than that.

Leszek has been very helpful and understanding about it. I cant fault him with how he is dealing with the issue.

Dave

[jb90]

Hi all! Leszek asked me to write here his request for all present and future owners of Handbox gear.

When you turn on the amplifier for the first time and you have problems or have any questions about your existing gear, please write directly to Leszek. Preferably via facebook. Leszek is always available to help and tries to answer every message as quickly as possible. However, when he sees that you write about problems, that are most often related to lack of skills or knowledge than real factory defects on the forum first, he's a bit "annoyed" because people reading the Handbox thread may think that his products are nothing more than faulty and poor quality. And, as most of you know, Leszek will never allow himself to sell defective equipment to customers and he cares about his reputation a lot. So before you write about your issues on the forum, write directly to Leszek first  so users reading this thread won't read mostly about technical problems, but rather discussion about the sound, pros and cons of his amps and your opinions and suggestions  Thank you for your understanding. 

[dmccombe7]

I wrote on the forum to see if anyone could offer advice on what it might be. If it was a simple fix and to see if anyone else has experienced similar and how they dealt with it.

My apologies if it upsets Leszek, that wasn't really my intention.

I'll refrain from posting further.

Dave

[Steve Browning]

7 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I wrote on the forum to see if anyone could offer advice on what it might be. If it was a simple fix and to see if anyone else has experienced similar and how they dealt with it.

My apologies if it upsets Leszek, that wasn't really my intention.

I'll refrain from posting further.

Dave

 

But hold on here. You're the customer. You have paid out and are unhappy. It's good that you are getting the service you expect but I see no issue at all with seeking the input of other users, with more experience of the amp.

 

I can't imagine there is any reputational damage at this stage.

[jb90]

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

 

But hold on here. You're the customer. You have paid out and are unhappy. It's good that you are getting the service you expect but I see no issue at all with seeking the input of other users, with more experience of the amp.

 

I can't imagine there is any reputational damage at this stage.

And that's what I'm talking about. You must know the whole case to comment about it. And posts like this wouldn't appear if you just write support first. If support fail then feel free to write everything about it wherever you want. But, imo, it's easier to ask support first, because it can be a really easy problem to solve, than write tons of posts about your disappointment. That's the thing. And I hope that make sense. 

On a more personal note... You have probably 2 options. You setup your amp wrong. There's something wrong with tubes because sounds comes from amp so it's work (at least to some extent). I think that both are easy to solve. And if not Leszek always give you 2 options: refund or exchange for a new one. That's how he approach to all the clients. You are not alone with your issue. 

And again, it's not about "no talk about gear issues" but "ask me first and when all fails and you will be dissapointed about my help or approach then feel free to write about it". 

Edited August 31, 2022 by jb90

[Steve Browning]

Personally, I think it's been explained that all is being sought is the experience of other users. You might want, also, to consider the journey that Dave has been on, to arrive at Handbox's door. 

 

It appears that Leszek is being very helpful, and that's good customer service. Certainly better than suggesting a customer lacks skill and/or knowledge.

[jb90]

3 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

Personally, I think it's been explained that all is being sought is the experience of other users. You might want, also, to consider the journey that Dave has been on, to arrive at Handbox's door. 

 

It appears that Leszek is being very helpful, and that's good customer service. Certainly better than suggesting a customer lacks skill and/or knowledge.

He wrote about "lack of knowledge" because many bass players boost gain and left volume on very low levels. You can't get sound with tube amp set like that and you always get "farting" instead a good overdrive. With tube amp your gain is your volume knob and volume knob is your "overdrive level" if that make sense.  

[dmccombe7]

26 minutes ago, jb90 said:

He wrote about "lack of knowledge" because many bass players boost gain and left volume on very low levels. You can't get sound with tube amp set like that and you always get "farting" instead a good overdrive. With tube amp your gain is your volume knob and volume knob is your "overdrive level" if that make sense.  

You are now adding an opinion to the issue and i would suggest its best to just stop now as i have done. 

 

[Woodinblack]

I don't think it looks bad on him - an amp has been sent from poland to the UK, there are plenty of things that can go wrong in that process. Seemed a reasonable question. And then we see that he is responding well to the issue, I would only read that as a plus on the company.

 

26 minutes ago, jb90 said:

You can't get sound with tube amp set like that and you always get "farting" instead a good overdrive.

 

You really can. Maybe not with this amp, but you certainly can with 'a valve amp'.

If it is not the correct way to use this amp, maybe future builds should get rid of the master volume?

[Woody1957]

8 hours ago, jb90 said:

I don't wanna sound harsh or rude but... If you have big amp don't be surprise that it doesn't sound good when you just set your volume and especially gain on very low levels. Those amps must be cranked up to show what they can. "Neighbour friendly" volumes are good for small amps like some 50w combo, cause... you must cranked them up anyway to hear any sound from the speaker lol but not with stage animals like R400 and especially WB100.

My R400 stage animal sounds sublime at low volume too! What an amp!... bought it off here and it instantly made my other two amps redundant. I use it constantly now...no mid control..no worries, just turn the bass and treble down a nats!

[Jack]

14 hours ago, jb90 said:

Hi all! Leszek asked me to write here his request for all present and future owners of Handbox gear.

When you turn on the amplifier for the first time and you have problems or have any questions about your existing gear, please write directly to Leszek. Preferably via facebook. Leszek is always available to help and tries to answer every message as quickly as possible. However, when he sees that you write about problems, that are most often related to lack of skills or knowledge than real factory defects on the forum first, he's a bit "annoyed" because people reading the Handbox thread may think that his products are nothing more than faulty and poor quality. And, as most of you know, Leszek will never allow himself to sell defective equipment to customers and he cares about his reputation a lot. So before you write about your issues on the forum, write directly to Leszek first  so users reading this thread won't read mostly about technical problems, but rather discussion about the sound, pros and cons of his amps and your opinions and suggestions  Thank you for your understanding. 

I think this is badly judged on yours/Leszek's part. Nobody was being unfair or saying anything nasty at all and to be honest, even if they were, it's a free internet. 

 

I get the intent behind this, I do. But it's not cool. 

[pbasspecial]

Might be an idea for Leszek to post some new online tutorial videos on how to get the best out of his new amps. I am sure that would be useful to new users and reduce any technical misunderstandings. Just an idea. Win/win

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, pbasspecial said:

Might be an idea for Leszek to post some new online tutorial videos on how to get the best out of his new amps. I am sure that would be useful to new users and reduce any technical misunderstandings. Just an idea. Win/win

There is a demo from 4 yrs ago using the original WB-100. 

[pbasspecial]

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

There is a demo from 4 yrs ago using the original WB-100. 

Yes I remember them. I was thinking for the newer model and how to get the best out of it, hints and tips, etc

[Woody1957]

22 hours ago, jb90 said:

He wrote about "lack of knowledge" because many bass players boost gain and left volume on very low levels. You can't get sound with tube amp set like that and you always get "farting" instead a good overdrive. With tube amp your gain is your volume knob and volume knob is your "overdrive level" if that make sense.  

My R400 sounds great at really low practice/front room volume and achieves a lovely valve overdriven sound at any level. Perhaps the amp in question has been roughly throw about in transit from Poland...it wouldn't surprise me in the least. When l played with all valve amps in the 70's ( showing my age now) l always seem to have fairly frequent problems with them caused by people throwing them about in our Tranny! (Am l allowed to say that word these days haha)...

There are other people who have ordered this amp who are on this forum...let's have their thoughts. Will be interested to find out.

[agedhorse]

On 31/08/2022 at 11:25, jb90 said:

He wrote about "lack of knowledge" because many bass players boost gain and left volume on very low levels. You can't get sound with tube amp set like that and you always get "farting" instead a good overdrive. With tube amp your gain is your volume knob and volume knob is your "overdrive level" if that make sense.  

This is simply not true in general. Tube amps do not have a problem with low master volume control settings unless that is an inherent part of a specific design, in which case suggests that a master volume control should not be included if it’s not intended to be used as such.

[agedhorse]

I posted this over on TalkBass in response to jb90’s comments, but I think it’s applicable here as well:

 

My feeling is that one benefit of a public forum is an open discussion of both the benefits AND drawbacks of a piece of equipment, as well as potential challenges in learning how to operate a new piece of gear. 

Everyone benefits from these kinds of discussions provided they remain civil and respectful. What is not cool is when the discussions evolve into accusations based on incorrect information leading to false accusatory conclusions.

Life is not all “glitter and unicorns”, there are going to be issues with any new gear. To avoid such discussions really do the community a disservice in the bigger picture IMO

[BigRedX]

As someone who also plays the guitar and has owned several all-valve guitar amps I would expect to use the gain control to set the amount of "drive" and the volume control for the output volume. For an amp that didn't follow this method I would hope that it would be mentioned, along with the best way to use it, in the accompanying manual.

 

I appreciate that with an all-valve amp some of the characteristics of the sound are produced by the output valves working hard as well as the pre-amp valves, but I would also expect for an amp with both gain and volume controls to be able to get a decent sound out of it at home practice levels.

[Jaybeevee]

On 31/08/2022 at 21:52, Woody1957 said:

My R400 stage animal sounds sublime at low volume too!

 

17 hours ago, Woody1957 said:

My R400 sounds great at really low practice/front room volume and achieves a lovely valve overdriven sound at any level.

It's comments like this that make me gaze off wistfully into the distance.. I've been on a 4 week waiting list since April for an R400.... getting close now though 

[scrumpymike]

Just a few hopefully relevant comments based on my experience.

 

First of all, my R400 sounds good however the controls are set.

 

Second, the manual for my Mesa TT-800 with 3-valve pre also states that you set the master at 1 o'clock, tweak the gain switches (it's got 2 channels) to suit, then crank the master up if necessary.

 

Last but not least, if it's possible to get truly awful sounds from Leszek's new amp (which is pretty unusual with modern amps), he should include some sort of user instructions that explain what to do and what NOT to do. This is meant as constructive criticism btw 🙂

[zitherman]

Ive followed this thread with interest from the start.This led me to buying a pair of handbox cabs and my journey starts on page 14.As far as my understanding of consumer law goes if the goods are damaged in transit then it the responsibility of the retailer/manufacturer to either replace or reimburse the customer to the full value of the goods.Unfortunately this did not happen in my case so if the amp in question has been damaged in transit then i hope you have better luck than me.Caveat Emptor

[Woodinblack]

For the clarification of any doubt here, couldn't @Clarky, who I belive has one of those amps, replicate the settings that @dmccombe7 used and see if his sounds in the same ballpark?

I could get my ashdown to make that completely overloaded noise, and I could get it to make the smooth noise, but there was no setting where it could do both.