BassAdder60 Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 (edited) Having recently purchased the Ampeg V4B I’m really liking the valve tone for my band rock stuff and appreciate how great they sound. Trouble is once you get a taste of all tube amps it’s hard to enjoy other non tube amps. My current dilemma is the V4B and SVT212AV cab is for small gigs The Ashdown ABM600 rig for medium to large gigs My Orange LBT is purely backup but I have plans to sell it. Is it the SVT CL tempting me away from the Ashdown ABM600 or is that just crazy as although 300w is great OMG it’s 80lbs in weight !! I love the V4B so maybe PA support is the answer for larger gigs ? Naturally I have limits to what cabs I can load into the car so no plans to add more cabs Edited June 17, 2022 by BassAdder27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 Wow 80 pounds sounded expensive until i spoke to my fiend Boris, Apparently we used pounds for weight too, up until 50 years ago. However and now being serious (something my fiend Boris struggles with) 36.4Kg is 10 Kg over the guidelines for safe manual lifting. In my old industry that was called transportable rather than portable. On a serious note, would you not get the same or similar tone with a decent pre-amp, Say a Sansamp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 1 minute ago, Chienmortbb said: Wow 80 pounds sounded expensive until i spoke to my fiend Boris, Apparently we used pounds for weight too, up until 50 years ago. However and now being serious (something my fiend Boris struggles with) 36.4Kg is 10 Kg over the guidelines for safe manual lifting. In my old industry that was called transportable rather than portable. On a serious note, would you not get the same or similar tone with a decent pre-amp, Say a Sansamp? I’ve tried and there really is no substitute for a tube / valve amp at full tilt !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skychaserhigh Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 PA support is your best option here..the V4B will work in gigs larger than you think. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 I have to be honest when my Sound City 120 was stolen, only my back was pleased. However since I swapped to bass I never really felt the need for a thermionic valve loaded amplifier. Good luck with your quandry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 19 minutes ago, BassAdder27 said: Is it the SVT CL tempting me away from the Ashdown ABM600 or is that just crazy as although 300w is great OMG it’s 80lbs in weight !! I played through one in a studio I was recording at. I tried to pick it up from on top of the 410 cab it was on...... I couldn't. I therefore assumed it was screwed to the top of the 410..... it wasn't. They are VERY heavy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 The V4B/SVT212 is fine in big gigs with PA support. The bassist in a punk band I know quite well, Razors, has this set up and she never struggles for volume. She’s a traditionalist, has to play Fender Precision & Ampeg. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 37 minutes ago, Lozz196 said: The V4B/SVT212 is fine in big gigs with PA support. The bassist in a punk band I know quite well, Razors, has this set up and she never struggles for volume. She’s a traditionalist, has to play Fender Precision & Ampeg. That’s handy to know 👍 Maybe that’s the more sensible route Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassmanPaul Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 For me I left full tube amps behind in the early eighties. Even the 150W beast I built was insufficient to give me the clean bass at volume that I desired. I swapped from the beast to 200W per channel stereo power amp, again home grown, and finally I was happy. My current rig is a 2KW capable stereo Class D power amp driven by a tube pre-amp I designed for that purpose. That said I do love the tone my Sixties Ampeg B15NF gives me. :)😍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bam Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 Ahhh..... the familiar class d, class a/b, valve amp circle.... I cant get out of it either. Mark my words you'll get a SVT, then a month later be back on class d, then a/b.....then back round again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 This is true, I’ve been round in circles a few times but the past few years I’ve got quite an obsession with fan noise, unless the amp has no fan or is very quiet I’ll be sticking with tubes/valves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 21 hours ago, Chienmortbb said: On a serious note, would you not get the same or similar tone with a decent pre-amp, Say a Sansamp? 21 hours ago, BassAdder27 said: I’ve tried and there really is no substitute for a tube / valve amp at full tilt !! Have to agree on this. I've tried (repeatedly) to get various Sansamp units to produce a genuine all-valve sound/tone without the baggage that comes with real tubes and I've never got anywhere close. Makes very little difference whether you use the pedal or the rackmount - what you get is the Sansamp sound and that's not the same as an all-tube amp. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pea Turgh Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 Am I barking up the wrong tree or would a really sensitive cab (like one of the bigger Barefaced jobbies) get the most out of the valve beastie for bigger gigs? Think my tech uses a Selmer head with a big twin or similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pea Turgh Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 Look at me trying to look like I know what I’m talking about…. Ampeg cab sensitivity 99dB / max output 127dB BF twin sensitivity 100dB / max output 133dB Might be talking through my derrière then 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 1 hour ago, Happy Jack said: Have to agree on this. I've tried (repeatedly) to get various Sansamp units to produce a genuine all-valve sound/tone without the baggage that comes with real tubes and I've never got anywhere close. Makes very little difference whether you use the pedal or the rackmount - what you get is the Sansamp sound and that's not the same as an all-tube amp. Yep, the nearest I got was how our producer advised, get an amp that sounds tubey-ish (in my case an Aguilar Tonehammer at the time) set your sound as usual then add in the Sansamp with everything at midday. Quite a few people asked me if our recording was done on an SVT. But other than that I think the same, it’s more the Sansamp sound than anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernaut Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 I just bought a Sansamp VTDI. Valve tones for £200 and much more easy on your back... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 11 hours ago, Reggaebass said: This is true, I’ve been round in circles a few times but the past few years I’ve got quite an obsession with fan noise, unless the amp has no fan or is very quiet I’ll be sticking with tubes/valves My big tube amp has a fan. No way to hear it when it's on stage doing its thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 4 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said: My big tube amp has a fan. No way to hear it when it's on stage doing its thing. On stage it wouldn’t bother me, but for home or studio it’s no fan at all for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 I’ve been on a quest recently to find a small-footprint ~100W valve amp. Along the lines of Handbox, there’s also Rheingold and PureTone (both in the super boutique several£k price range) or HotAmps which come in a bit lower. In the end though, the last two gigs I did with my Class D Glockenklang reminded me quite how special that thing is. I can make it sound gnarly with the (very nicely voiced) built-in drive or make it super clean and crisp, plus of course anything and everything in between. It will go louder and stay cleaner far longer than a valve amp when I need it, or can break up and give me all the warmth. In the onstage mix I think I’d be very hard pushed to tell the difference, though I’d love to be proven wrong on that just to cause my bank balance some serious trouble (the PureTone Offset XL is whispering sweet nothings at me…) So, I guess my point is there are solutions out there. Another consideration would be a valve preamp pedal - EBS Valve Drive, Ashdown OriginAL, Markbass Vintage etc. in the grand scheme of things they aren’t the same of course but as @BassmanPaul attests you can get close. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassAdder60 Posted June 28, 2022 Share Posted June 28, 2022 Tough decision but I’ve decided to put my recently purchased Ampeg V4B up for sale on here. They really are great amps but I wasn’t using my ABM600 and it seemed a wasted purchase that wouldn’t get much use. So it’s back for sale on here and I must say it was bloody lovely using a valve amp again ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 On 18/06/2022 at 10:55, Reggaebass said: This is true, I’ve been round in circles a few times but the past few years I’ve got quite an obsession with fan noise, unless the amp has no fan or is very quiet I’ll be sticking with tubes/valves Don't buy the Mesa Prodigy type stuff then. I had a 4:88 and it had the noisiest fan of any amp I've ever used. (Even more than the ABM). It was actually embarrassing that a valve amp had been built that way. For an extra few pennies a silent fan could have been used. Such a shame. Was a great sounding amp, but it had to go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 4 minutes ago, fretmeister said: Don't buy the Mesa Prodigy type stuff then That’s good to know, thanks, it’s probably just me but I find the noise pretty distracting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 1 minute ago, Reggaebass said: That’s good to know, thanks, it’s probably just me but I find the noise pretty distracting Nah - me too. It's why I don't own an ABM even though I love the tone from them. It's also why I'm actually considering the Evo5 at it's stupid price if the fans are actually really quiet / silent at low volumes. My RM800 is as near as silent as any fan amp I've ever had - that gets used in the house and at gigs. My Mark Bass is a bit louder, but no louder than a PC but I tend to use that at gigs rather than at home because if I'm just sitting and playing then I really don't want any fan noise at all. In almost all cases there could be better temp control systems, or better venting in the amp so if an amp needs fans then they can run far slower for the same cooling. It really is poor design at this point, and it's a real shame. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted June 29, 2022 Share Posted June 29, 2022 2 minutes ago, fretmeister said: It's why I don't own an ABM even though I love the tone from them Yeah, same as me, my RM500 is barely noticeable and Dave green offered to fit a manual switch on the fan if it bothered me , but it’s fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yan_Huriey Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Chiropractors have shares in valve amps. 🙃 I do like the sound of a good tube amp, however they can poke it in the wrong-un. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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