Sugden Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 (edited) Ok well after a couple of discusions with people mainly alan I thought I might see what was out there and peoples views. Also seeing Oxbloods lovely setup got me thinking too. Im thinking about getting an all valve power amp and using a basic pre amp strip and leaving things pretty flat. I mainly use the pre-amp on my basses to do most of the fiddling and changes due to the variety I can get from the ACG's. Only all power amps I know about are the eden wt1550 and the Aguilar tube power amps so anyone know any others? Cheers Sug Edited September 9, 2007 by Sugden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 This came up quite recently. Use the search facility and you never know, you might find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugden Posted September 9, 2007 Author Share Posted September 9, 2007 (edited) I love the smart alik answer I'll have you know I always use the search facility and the topic which brought it up got changed straight away to tube pre amps and was talking about tube guitar power amps . If theres a different one it didnt come up with a search of "valve power amps" Only the aguilar power amp was mentioned so I made this one which was abit more specific. Looking for alternatives not tube pre's maybe some tube PA power amps etc. Edited September 9, 2007 by Sugden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 I cant find it either. Marshall used to do a stereo valve power amp but it was aimed at guitarists and was 50w per side. The Aguilar is not made any more but I think Mesa do one - I think Kiwi or Ped had one. Other than that look out for old marshal or hiwatt slave amps as they were called at the time - rare as rocking horse sh*t mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joegarcia Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 Try the Mesa Strategy, think theres one on Loot.com at the moment. It's a beast, think Crazykiwi has one for his hifi. 500 tube watts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugden Posted September 9, 2007 Author Share Posted September 9, 2007 Cheers guys Iv gone off searching for all manner of old school things. Hard to find though well at least purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Yes I have a Mesa and they are not made any more either and they don't come up for sale very often. There was on one Ebay a couple of weeks ago where the auction was ended early, and that was the first I'd seen in well over a year. If you don't mind the mono route, there are also 70's Burman PowerPak PA power amps but they put out a maximum of 140W and they weigh more than the Strategy 400. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha-Dave Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 I've been looking into this too for a similar reason: I have a huge amount of tonal control from the ACG pre, combined with a DHA pedal (valve tone and compressor on its way) they give me all the tonal variation I'll ever need, and as the DHA is effectively a full preamp, then it can drive a power amp happily. I've been looking round at old valve stuff, there was a Marshall 100 watts a side stereo 9200 that went for a steal at about £300 IIRC on ebay recently. However it weighed 35 kg (same as a mesa 400+)! Looking at the valve side of things, there are many designs, of particular note seems to be class A (single ended) and push-pull amps. The SE ones are really inefficient and can only use 1 valve, so typically are only used for guitars (eg: Vox AC30) and only have up to 30 watts power, so aren't great for basin a band unless you're only against an acoustic guitar or use other reinforcement. The Push-Pull ones use pairs of valves (2, 4, 6 or even 8!) and can go up to hundreds of watts: great for bass. Now that seems pretty clear cut that push-pull are best, however, due to how they're wired, there is some phase cancellation as the valves push and pull the signal (I'm no expert here), which affects the entire signal range, even the bass. Therefore SEs are considered 'better' or 'sweeter sounding' than the PPs. I've been talking to Dave Hall about building me a bass-specific SE power amp to go with is bits I already have. He's bringing a guitar head he has that is based on the same design to BassDay, so I can see if this will work in principal, which you’d be welcome to try too if you’re going. If it does I'll use it like a small combo to go through a PA at gigs and for recording at home. Otherwise as the DHA pedal I have outputs in stereo, then I'll hook my Hartke 3500 up to a separate cab for a full-range rig! (maybe into a titan 39). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 The Eden WT1550 is not actually a valve power amp. It's a power amp with a preamp valve in the input stage, then it's just a normal SS power amp. That didn't stop me GASing for one and almost buying one from Andertons. I think they still have it on sale, heavily discounted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 This topic will be of interest: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5557"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5557[/url] Dave Hall says he makes power amps on occasion, worth asking him to see what's available and if he could knock one up for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugden Posted September 11, 2007 Author Share Posted September 11, 2007 Cheers thanks alot for the help guys looks like big and old or something inbetween via DHA will be the way I go or just stick with my walkabout. I'll see you at bassday dave see where you have got to in your searches. You never do anything by halves do you. Thanks alot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joegarcia Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 [quote name='Sugden' post='59053' date='Sep 12 2007, 12:01 AM']You never do anything by halves do you.[/quote] No, not halves, [i]valves[/i]. Aha ha ha haahahahaha! Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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