Converting my Mace VT into a bass head.

[moose23]

Can you experts chime in on this for me. I bought a Mace VT which I love the sound of but would like to be able to run bass through it, thinking a 160 6l6 head would be rather nice for bass. At the moment bass just farts out unless I'm playing above the 12th fret on the D or G strings. I'm presuming this is the fault (not really a fault I know) of the speakers as I've tried both my Tech21 VTBass and Oxford into the the power amp in. So I'm thinking of building the amp part into it's own box and sealing the space left on the front of the cab so I have a nice 2x12 guitar cab. I already own a bass cab or two so that end is sorted.

So basically am I right in my thinking here re the speakers and is there anything else I need to take into consideration for this to work?

[Hemisaurus]

Yes to the speakers, you may find after you move it you want to tweak the preamp a little either let more bass through, or maybe be not quite so high gain, but first hook it up to a proper bass cab and see how it sounds.

[dunwichamps]

Can you experts chime in on this for me. I bought a Mace VT which I love the sound of but would like to be able to run bass through it, thinking a 160 6l6 head would be rather nice for bass. At the moment bass just farts out unless I'm playing above the 12th fret on the D or G strings. I'm presuming this is the fault (not really a fault I know) of the speakers as I've tried both my Tech21 VTBass and Oxford into the the power amp in. So I'm thinking of building the amp part into it's own box and sealing the space left on the front of the cab so I have a nice 2x12 guitar cab. I already own a bass cab or two so that end is sorted.

So basically am I right in my thinking here re the speakers and is there anything else I need to take into consideration for this to work?

tube subbing in the preamp will give you more range, maybe some changing in the coupling caps

[Hemisaurus]

Isn't the Mace a solid state preamp?

[moose23]

Yeah it's a solid state transistor pre, it's also pretty low gain. Best comparison I can think of is a Twin with a tad more dirt available. And yeah I defo need to plug it into a bass cab before I do anything, just wanted to hear some opinions from here while I'm bouncing ideas around in my head.

here's the manual:

http://www.peavey.com/assets/literature/manuals/80347000.pdf

Another question, in the manual it gives a rating for an 8 ohm load yet elsewhere it says not to run the amp into an 8 ohm load. I presume I should just stick to running into 4 or 2 ohm loads but I have two 8 ohm cabs and generally run just the one at most gigs around here.

Here's the pre and power schematics too:

http://www.6v6power.ru/inf/Amplifier/Peavey/Peavey%20Mace-Deuce%20(VT%20Series)%20Preamp.jpg

http://www.6v6power.ru/inf/Amplifier/Peavey/Peavey%20Mace-Deuce%20%28VT%20Series%29%20Power%20Amp.jpg

[Hemisaurus]

Yeah I think it's mostly DC coupled with a couple of caps around the tone circuit you may or may not want to bump up. I think with that many op-amp circuits, it must be clipping a little somewhere which may or may not sound good.

Or you may just want to use your VT into the poweramp in.

Why not say it's like a MusicMan?

Dunwich, on the bright side, at least it has a LTPI, even is it's SS

I'm guessing it's an open backed combo?

Open back speakers are almost always going to sound like ass on bass. Low frequencies, being omnidirectional, bend round the back of the cabinet and cancel out the bass response.

[Hemisaurus]

ignore this post

The whole thread, or just that post

[moose23]

ignore this post

The whole thread, or just that post

Just the post. I wrote something nonsensical and couldn't see where to delete the post so stuck ignore in there instead. Please don't ignore the whole thread.

Yeah using the Oxford or VT is defo a high up option and no doubt easier than modding the preamp. I'm more inclined towards the Oxford these days and will probably sell the VTBAss soon

It is an open back cab too.

I would say it's like a Musicman but I've never heard a Musicman in person.

[Hemisaurus]

Early MusicMans were solid state preamp into a 12AX7 tube driver/phase inverter into power tubes

Later MusicMans were solid state preamp, and solid state tube driver / phase inverter into power tubes, similar to the Mace.

People have been known to add a tube preamp to MusicMans and make it an all tube amp.

[VOLVO)))]

Needs a bass cab.

That head is great for bass, as is...

[Hemisaurus]

Oops sorry missed the impedance question. I hate it when they have a Main and an Aux speaker out. As it looks on the schematic, the Main output is your 8 ohm jack, but if you plug another cab into Aux, it's paralleled to the Aux jack at 4 ohms so:

For 1 8 ohm cab plug into the Main jack
For 1 4 ohm cab plug into the Aux jack
For 2 8 ohm cabs plug one into Main and one into Aux

The Mace manual does mention 2 ohms, the Mace VT manual does not, it says full 160W into 4 ohm, and I assume full 160W also into 8 ohm (using Main Out), as the transformer is tapped, so you should get full power either way.

[moose23]

I see, cheers for info. I thought it was something like that alright.

If I were a guitarists first bass second I'd possibly consider the tube pre but as is I don't think I need to. Have bass cabs already just need to sort out the ohms properly and build a box for the amp.

[Hemisaurus]

So what am I chopped liver? I don't know a D-Chord from a D Clamp