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50-200w Valve Bass Head


shine182

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Interested in recommendations for reasonably priced secondhand valve bass heads. Previously owned the Ampeg and Soundcity 100/120 offerings and enjoyed them greatly, but looking to try something new. Thinking Selmer, Trace Twin, Fender Bassman, Ashdown CTM, Hiwatt, Marshall perhaps etc. I generally play pick, simple root note stuff through fender or musicman type basses. Like just a touch of drive to thicken things up, certainly not looking for loads of overdrive however. Reliability and modern features a bonus. Somthing to be heard in an indie band. Any views from those that have? Thanks 

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Had a Selmer Treble n Bass 50, a few years ago, sounded great but broke up at (relatively) low volume. Better for guitar for sure.

Now gone to Ampeg 300W monster.

Always fancied the Marshall 400 VBA

Handbox seem to tick a lot of boxes, but they 'aint cheap.

For modern, The Laney Nexus Tube could be a real bargain second hand.

Edited by skidder652003
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15 hours ago, skidder652003 said:

Had a Selmer Treble n Bass 50, a few years ago, sounded great but broke up at (relatively) low volume. Better for guitar for sure.

Now gone to Ampeg 300W monster.

Always fancied the Marshall 400 VBA

Handbox seem to tick a lot of boxes, but they 'aint cheap.

For modern, The Laney Nexus Tube could be a real bargain second hand.

Interesting to hear your thoughts on the Selmer. Prices seem ok but you've confirmed my fear regarding usable volume! Thanks for commenting! 

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14 hours ago, Bigwan said:

I have a quite lovely Burman Powerpak 100 with separate mixer that has yet to see any serious action... I wait with baited breath... 

Did Burman ever do a dedicated bass amp head? I might be getting confused but didn't Burman share similarities with old Laney amps? Once recorded through a Laney VA50 amp into a sealed 15 and was hands down best bass sound I've ever got! 

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26 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I have one I would sell but there is no way I am posting it, so I hadn't bothered putting an ad up!

How do you find it? I'm imagining alot of middle clack and more preamp overdrive than you could use at volume? 

Edited by shine182
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14 minutes ago, shine182 said:

How do you find it? I'm imagining alot of middle clack and more preamp overdrive than you could use at volume? 

Not my experience at all. I'd say for rock/indie you won't go far wrong. It depends on your cabs, of course, but I felt the sound was beautifully fat and thick, and at volume whilst it would tip over the edge it was controllable. Perhaps depends how loud your band is too but I was playing with a very hard hitting drummer with my CTM100 and it was lovely and creamy and thick.

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39 minutes ago, shine182 said:

Any views on the above? Particularly interested in hearing about a superbass if you played one? 

I've got a Mywatt 200 and it's awesome. I use it with the bright and normal inputs bridged and it's like full fat butter after years of margarine. That's the only one I can vouch for and I'd highly recommend it if you can find one. I nearly sold mine a while back but just want to hear it in action again now.

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2 hours ago, shine182 said:

How do you find it? I'm imagining alot of middle clack and more preamp overdrive than you could use at volume? 

Depends, you have a high and low input. on the high input you can barely get the preamp to overdrive at all. In the low input you can, but in normal use it just basically makes the sound thicker.

Obviously it is just 100 watts, so you can get the power amp to overdrive pretty easily.

I love the sound, I just don't like the weight and TBH, I have got an ABM600 now which makes a lovely sound with a bit more volume.

 

Edited by Woodinblack
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10 minutes ago, BassmanPaul said:

A 50W amp was not enough to play a gig with in 1968 let alone nowadays unless all you want is distortion.

Depends on the band, and anyway bass speakers/cabs these days are far more efficient than was the case 50 years ago. I've gigged 50w quite happily. 

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