Little Valve Amp

[MoonBassAlpha]

That looks yummy!

[Bridgehouse]

Interesting. I've just been in contact with a UK "boutique" amp maker to discuss a small wattage bass amp a la b15..

We talked about a DI transformer and various other options, but looks like it's a possibility and I'm on his waiting list now. 

Will keep you posted and no doubt there will be a thread if it comes off.. 

[dannybuoy]

I'd avoid the CTM15. Yes it has a gain control which the 30 doesn't have, but the trouble is it's useless - it seems to be a treble boost rather than a volume boost! You can turn it up a smidge but anything higher just results in a really bright sound, and the EQ knobs don't do enough to counteract it. It does sound good with the gain low and master up high, but that's louder than most would be able to get away with playing at home.

I'd recommend a VT Bass pedal or VT500 amp, or some kind of modeller if you want that tube grind at low volume levels or in headphones.

[PawelG]

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-bass-amplifiers/wem-bass-amp/1277663970

[Bigwan]

4 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

I'd avoid the CTM15. Yes it has a gain control which the 30 doesn't have, but the trouble is it's useless - it seems to be a treble boost rather than a volume boost! You can turn it up a smidge but anything higher just results in a really bright sound, and the EQ knobs don't do enough to counteract it. It does sound good with the gain low and master up high, but that's louder than most would be able to get away with playing at home.

And, as discussed previously on these pages, the CTM15 is not "ALL VALVE". The preamp is solid state (see pic). Opamps and trannies in there. Ashdown and Hayden use the same PCB for CTM15 bass and MoFo 15 guitar amps. The unoccupied V3 socket in the pic is for the "magic eye" valve on the MoFo 15.

Didn't stop me buying one for messing around the house with though!

!

Edited November 30, 2017 by Bigwan

[Pow_22]

I still think its really quite naughty of ashdown to list the CTM15 as all valve, puts me off buying one to be honest.  I don't like companies who lie

[Bigwan]

8 minutes ago, Pow_22 said:

I still think its really quite naughty of ashdown to list the CTM15 as all valve, puts me off buying one to be honest.  I don't like companies who lie

It is naughty

[BassBunny]

There's a Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 5 head F/S for £145 on a Facebook selling site. https://www.facebook.com/groups/UKBassgear/ 

[Bigwan]

That little H&K looks nice but not sure, without having played one, how good it would be for bass (more thinking the gain structure than anything)...

I know that the little Epiphone Valve Jr/Harley Benton HB5 amps are supposed to be quite usable with a bass cab...

[DiMarco]

Dazed, when using any warm sounding valve amp your overdrive pedals will sound warm and tubey as well. Been there, still doing it.

For a hint of powervalve saturation at sensible soundlevels I use a pedal named "dirty little secret" which is emulating a cranked Marshall Superbass 100. This seems to work best with passive basses but its sound through the hexavalve or bass prodigy amp is sweet and oldskool Chris Squire like, Lemmy if you dial in more dirt. All without having to be overly loud.

Second way for me to sound saturated is playing through the Tech21 vt500, which comes pretty close but sadly no cigar. I guess real valves are the only way, and emulated saturation through those real valves is the closest you can get without neigbours losing their minds.

That said, my valve amps are 250w and 300w (I bought Dissa's Hexavalve) and both bring that lively warm but still tight tone also at lower soundlevels. Valve tone is not just about saturation ya know...

So in your case I'd go for an amp that simply sounds tubey and not so much focus on saturated tone abilities.

 

 

 

 

 

[dpcookson]

On 14/11/2017 at 08:58, Dazed said:

I've been thinking for a while about getting a valve amp. It's only for home use so nothing large in volume or size. 

I'd love a B15 and been tempted a few times but in reality I think it would be too loud for my needs. 

From what I've read the volume needs to be getting up there to get that edge of break up tone I think I'm after. 

Then there's the Ashdowns, after some research I'm looking at the CTM30/LB30 or the CTM15. 

Is there much difference tonally? I see the CTM15 is a solid state pre whereas the the 30 is all valve. Does the 30 need to be cranked up to get gritty? Does that make it too loud for reasonable use at home?

The smaller 15 has a gain control would that help with keeping the volume down? 

Opinions and suggestions welcome 

Also any suggestions for a suitable diminutive cab?

I have a PJB DoubleFour, which is perfect for my needs otherwise, but I'm not sure there's a way to bypass the amp and just use it as a cab. Is there a way to do that? 

Thanks

I have the Little Bastard and the CTM15 and I would say they sound different.  The LB has two main characters of tone depending on how you set the bass shift switch which goes between a deep smooth tone and a more aggressive middy tone.  It does get gritty when you turn it up but it does start getting loud at that point. 

The CTM15 has a nice clean tone with some decent low end with the gain knob all the way off but when you turn the gain knob up the low end drops out in favour of overdrive.  It is sort of similar in character to using an overdrive pedal without a clean blend to keep that bottom end in. 

Both amps do get dirty, but for home use with a gritty tone I'd say go for the CTM 15 out of the two.  I use a Barefaced one10 with them at home which is a great combination.

[Salt on your Bass?]

I have a ctm 15 for home practice. I like it. Above description seems pretty bang on and I find there's enough use able range of tone in there for my rather neanderthalolic approach to bass. 

Vt bass would also probably work well though tbh.... Not quite the same though ime /IMHO 

Good luck with the hunt

[disssa]

Another little AllValve Amp: Klemt Echolette BS40

Sounds like a litte Fender Bassman...

[Tweedledum]

4 hours ago, disssa said:

Another little AllValve Amp: Klemt Echolette BS40

Sounds like a litte Fender Bassman...

The BS40 sounds AT LEAST as good as a Bassman 50.

If you need/want a valve amp just for practice at home, honestly I think any small (i.e. 5 to 20 watts) guitar amp will do. There's plenty of them on the market.

[Tweedledum]

Personally, I find the Peavey Classic 20 quite interesting (I really like tweed):

 

[bassmayhem]

On 2017-11-29 at 18:20, disssa said:

I use a Reussenzehn Studio Bass Amplifier as a full tube practise amp: Klick

It is with 15 Watt loud enough for home practise and for "little" gigs.

I've looked at the web page, but my Deutsch ain't that good. Also, the sound clips really s*ck. He should have used better bass players do the demos. I tried to find info about the different versions, like if the deLuxe could have tube DI, but found no info at all. Nice little birdcage, though...

[disssa]

"Reussenzehn" is a little manufacturer of Valve-Amps. The founder Thomas Reussenzehn is well known for his handmade amps, but also for his eccentric way with customers.

Three different versions exist:

Studio Bass Amplifier

That is the one as seen on my review. It is a simple but good sounding 15 watt all-valve amp. It is the "basic-amp"

 

Bass Studio Amp De Luxe

That amp is based on the Studio Bass Amplifier, but with two mixable inputs. Both inputs have a switchable "Contour-Preset"

 

Studio Amp & Tube DI

25 Watt single ended ClassA Amp. It works with a KT120 with two switchable anode voltages. So you can get two different sounds. You can also switch to a EL34, 6550, 6L6 or KT88 without any bias-correction.

 

All three amps can used without a speaker-load.

[Sean]

@Dazed 

I suggest a chat to Martin at http://www.mjwamps.com/

He can give you exactly what you want with driving the power section really hard at volumes you can’t hear in the next room.

Not only will he build a bass-specific small amp, he can also fit PowerScaling to any amp you buy off the shelf. Top bloke, very approachable and does he ever know his stuff...