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Big Monster Valve Amps - what’s the king of them all?


Sean

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1 hour ago, basshead56 said:

I love my VBA400!!! more power than I have sticks to shake at it .

I’ve always fancied one. Amazing bang for buck secondhand. My Laney Tube 400 has the same 8xKT88 layout but very different front end.

How versatile is the VBA? 

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On 12/23/2017 at 00:44, Sean said:

That’s absolute bonkers!

What’s the set up? Master/slave?

The top box holds the amp section and one set of transformers (outputs, I think), the other one holds the other (power) transformers. The builder posted a full schematic on DIYAudio.com, and also participated in a thread I posted on Talkbass. He did a "cute" little mono 500 watter before this one as well.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The 'inspiration' for the Reeves and Mywatt amplifiers - Hiwatt - claimed 400w from 6 valves as did Trace Elliot with the V6. There may be some number juggling but can't imagine there's much in it under real world conditions..

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10 minutes ago, VTypeV4 said:

The 'inspiration' for the Reeves and Mywatt amplifiers - Hiwatt - claimed 400w from 6 valves as did Trace Elliot with the V6. There may be some number juggling but can't imagine there's much in it under real world conditions..

My 4xKT88 MJW is 253w clean and 544w fully clipped. If you multiply that by 1.5 for 6xKT88 (not strictly accurate or scientific but a guide nonetheless) you get 375+ clean and 800+ fully clipped. It would be interesting to know what the big 8xKT88 amps are on the scope. If anyone wants to come and measure my Laney, please let me know. :crigon_04:

unnamed.jpg

Edited by Sean
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3 minutes ago, Sean said:

My 4xKT88 MJW is 253w clean and 544w fully clipped. If you multiply that by 1.5 for 6xKT88 (not strictly accurate or scientific but a guide nonetheless) you get 375+ clean and 800+ fully clipped. It would be interesting to know what the big 8xKT88 amps are on the scope. If anyone wants to come and measure my Laney, please let me know. :crigon_04:

unnamed.jpg

Is that a BB2024X?

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On 23/12/2017 at 06:56, basshead56 said:

I love my VBA400!!! more power than I have sticks to shake at it

I`ve wanted one of these for ages, used to have the VBC412 cab which was amazingly good. But then I played with a band last year who had one, and it took two guys to lift it on top of the stack (cab on top of flightcase). At that point my desire waned.

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On 23/12/2017 at 08:47, Sean said:

How versatile is the VBA? 

Bruce Foxton, from The Jam used one for a long time, so they`re not just rock sounding amps. He got a really nice focused/bite with his, linked to the VBC cabs. Prob why I`ve wanted one for so long, was so impressed with the sound from his Precision/VBA set-up.

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On 12/23/2017 at 21:47, Sean said:

I’ve always fancied one. Amazing bang for buck secondhand. My Laney Tube 400 has the same 8xKT88 layout but very different front end.

How versatile is the VBA? 

They are very powerful and 'big' sounding. And yes, second-hand they can be got for very good money. It's a shame they were a tad obscure back in the day as I reckon they have to be one of the best bass amps ever made, at least in terms of sheer power.

But in terms of dialing in different tones, they aren't the greatest. They sound like a big old valve amp. Different to an SVT sound but still very useable. Just depends on what you're after. But if colouring is what you need, just chuck a good pre like a VT Deluxe in front of it (i quite often do that)

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3 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Bruce Foxton, from The Jam used one for a long time, so they`re not just rock sounding amps. He got a really nice focused/bite with his, linked to the VBC cabs. Prob why I`ve wanted one for so long, was so impressed with the sound from his Precision/VBA set-up.

I use mine with two VBC412s and its usually an old precision i put through it. Some lovely old school tones indeed.

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12 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I`ve wanted one of these for ages, used to have the VBC412 cab which was amazingly good. But then I played with a band last year who had one, and it took two guys to lift it on top of the stack (cab on top of flightcase). At that point my desire waned.

Yup, i'm not exactly an Olympic weight-lifting champ either, so getting them in and out of the truck has its moments! worse when all three parts are in their road cases haha.

Still though, feel like a champ when loading in at a big outdoor gig/festival haha 

Edited by basshead56
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27 minutes ago, basshead56 said:

I use mine with two VBC412s and its usually an old precision i put through it. Some lovely old school tones indeed.

I just had to double check that, you gig with two 412s and a 400w head? Where on earth do you get to do that?!?! 

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1 minute ago, scalpy said:

I just had to double check that, you gig with two 412s and a 400w head? Where on earth do you get to do that?!?! 

To be fair, the big rig only comes out about 2 or 3 times a year at best these days, (mostly using one of the SVT rigs for anything decent, the PF rig for smaller stuff.)  usually open air stuff, festivals and things like that.

Last one was in a circus big top which was cool.

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22 hours ago, Sean said:

My 4xKT88 MJW is 253w clean and 544w fully clipped. If you multiply that by 1.5 for 6xKT88 (not strictly accurate or scientific but a guide nonetheless) you get 375+ clean and 800+ fully clipped. It would be interesting to know what the big 8xKT88 amps are on the scope. If anyone wants to come and measure my Laney, please let me know. :crigon_04:

unnamed.jpg

I'd love to put it on the scope to check that as those numbers seem a bit over the top without running the valves really hot or running original gec valves.

 

I've got a 400watter I made but It was to heavy and impractical

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1 hour ago, aitkenaudio said:

I'd love to put it on the scope to check that as those numbers seem a bit over the top without running the valves really hot or running original gec valves.

 

I've got a 400watter I made but It was to heavy and impractical

What approx figures would you expect? The valves are JJs.

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1 minute ago, aitkenaudio said:

With the JJ's around 160 - 200watt depending on voltage and output transformers,

Thanks

1 minute ago, aitkenaudio said:

The reissue gold lions will hit around 220watts.

really! I've got a set unopened that are there as spares... Hmmm :biggrin:

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