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Valve Amp - who’s still using them?


SamPlaysBass

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17 minutes ago, maidens97 said:

It does have wheels yeah, tilt back and move but it’s bit awkward to lift and get around corners and doorways. my rehearsal room had 2 flights of stairs and many door ways so that’ll be interesting 😭

Stairs and transport are the 2 biggest things that put me off 810s

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I’ve had  a number of SS and hybrid amps with fans, the only one I found to be excessively loud was an orange terror bass I had , that was very noisey. I had a SS trace head that used a heat sink and fins . That worked fine and no real noise, weighed a bit though. At the moment I’ve Ashdown Spyder that has 2 fans, you can hear them but they’re not intrusive at all,

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18 hours ago, knicknack said:

I thought I might throw my rig from a few nights ago into the ring, if only to remind us all that, despite the doom 'n' gloomers, rock and roll isn't quite dead yet!

 

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17 hours ago, maidens97 said:

Got the CTM300 from @la bam today. Won’t have a chance to try it out until later tonight but can’t wait to!

0BCDBECE-BF1A-4744-A2BA-CE59CB26FB3C.jpeg

Looking absolutely fantastic, guys. Big up the big valves and bigger cabs! 👏🏼 

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27 minutes ago, Quilly said:

Did a bit of research on the Ashdown CTM (thinking of replacing power valves) apparently you have to use the JJ KT88s 🤷‍♂️ . Just as well they’re the cheapest 

Yeh, Dave Green the amps designer at Ashdown specifically told me only use the valves supplied.

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Got the chance to play the CTM300/810 last night, only at fairly quiet volume.

The sound is absolutely incredible, exactly what I’ve been looking for in an amp. So much versatility in one amp it’s amazing. Tried some dirty tones by maxing the gain and tickling the master and even at bedroom volume it sounded thunderous.

really can’t wait to use it in a band setting and live setting. Cheers to @la bam for the brilliant service and delivery, pleasure to deal with!

if anyone has any general valve amp tips/tricks or advice on looking after them let me know as it’s my first proper valve setup so I’m not fully confident in them.

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13 minutes ago, maidens97 said:

Got the chance to play the CTM300/810 last night, only at fairly quiet volume.

The sound is absolutely incredible, exactly what I’ve been looking for in an amp. So much versatility in one amp it’s amazing. Tried some dirty tones by maxing the gain and tickling the master and even at bedroom volume it sounded thunderous.

really can’t wait to use it in a band setting and live setting. Cheers to @la bam for the brilliant service and delivery, pleasure to deal with!

if anyone has any general valve amp tips/tricks or advice on looking after them let me know as it’s my first proper valve setup so I’m not fully confident in them.

Brilliant! Glad you are enjoying it!

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24 minutes ago, maidens97 said:

Got the chance to play the CTM300/810 last night, only at fairly quiet volume.

The sound is absolutely incredible, exactly what I’ve been looking for in an amp. So much versatility in one amp it’s amazing. Tried some dirty tones by maxing the gain and tickling the master and even at bedroom volume it sounded thunderous.

really can’t wait to use it in a band setting and live setting. Cheers to @la bam for the brilliant service and delivery, pleasure to deal with!

if anyone has any general valve amp tips/tricks or advice on looking after them let me know as it’s my first proper valve setup so I’m not fully confident in them.

Only use the JJ valves (see above) . Don’t bias them in the red of the dial, when setting up your amp plug in the speaker cable first, then the power cable so you accidentally switch on the amp with no load . Turn on amp power, tune bass, Set up pedals etc, then turn on standby in that order. After gig /rehearsal turn off amp first, then put away bass pedals etc . Move the head at the very end (I.e everything in reverse). That’s what I do anyway 🤷‍♂️. They’re very reliable If you treat them right . They don’t blow up like some class d amps I had !

Edited by Quilly
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27 minutes ago, maidens97 said:

Got the chance to play the CTM300/810 last night, only at fairly quiet volume.

The sound is absolutely incredible, exactly what I’ve been looking for in an amp. So much versatility in one amp it’s amazing. Tried some dirty tones by maxing the gain and tickling the master and even at bedroom volume it sounded thunderous.

really can’t wait to use it in a band setting and live setting. Cheers to @la bam for the brilliant service and delivery, pleasure to deal with!

if anyone has any general valve amp tips/tricks or advice on looking after them let me know as it’s my first proper valve setup so I’m not fully confident in them.

I've owned a few big valve amps in my time and I think a good starting point is to run the eq flat (may be at 12 o'clock, may be not) the volume on full and use the gain control to taste. You can fiddle with the eq to your liking later but I've always used this as a springboard for big, full and clean valve tone. 

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21 minutes ago, Jonse said:

I've owned a few big valve amps in my time and I think a good starting point is to run the eq flat (may be at 12 o'clock, may be not) the volume on full and use the gain control to taste. You can fiddle with the eq to your liking later but I've always used this as a springboard for big, full and clean valve tone. 

Yep I found that I had to crank the master all the way to get a clean loud tone . The passive eq on the CTM series also needs a bit of getting used to . I normally have the mid turned up high and the bass /treb at 12 o clock . I don’t use the mellow switch that much . I just think it scoops the sound too much . I have the bass and treb set high alright 

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45 minutes ago, Quilly said:

Yep I found that I had to crank the master all the way to get a clean loud tone . The passive eq on the CTM series also needs a bit of getting used to . I normally have the mid turned up high and the bass /treb at 12 o clock . I don’t use the mellow switch that much . I just think it scoops the sound too much . I have the bass and treb set high alright 

Yeah think I read they have 'bassman style' tone stacks where you can only cut certain frequencies. Might be wrong though. 

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