Hello all,
Some of you may be familiar with the Monoprice Stage Right 1x12 15w tube combo. I’ve had one for a few years now, and it’s a great little guitar amp. I picked up another one locally for $100, and I’m going to mod it to be more bass geared. I know it will never be a great bass amp, and that’s not the point. It’s just a fun project with (hopefully) cool results. It comes stock with a Celestion 70/80, a speaker that doesn’t garner much love, and a partial open back. My first thoughts are 1. Swap the speaker 2. Close the back, but playing my p bass through it today it didn’t sound that awful. It has me thinking maybe my money would be better spent first taking it to the local amp tech to get the output transformer upgraded and the capacitors changed, and the bass roll off (that these allegedly have) removed. As I understand it there’s no drop in replacement for the transformer, so what am I looking for in a better one other than it being larger? Also, I’ve heard a few people say that bass frequencies ruin reverb tanks, is that true? I kinda like the option of putting some reverb on the bass, but if it’s going to cause problems I’d rather have the tech bypass it while they’re in there. Maybe put a bright/dark switch in it’s place?*I’m not an amp whizz, so this is secondhand understanding, and hopefully the amp tech will know what I’m talking about when I explain my objectives*. I like how efficient the speaker is, and it is an 80w speaker being driven by 15w, but with it’s stated low end of 80Hz, will it be damaged by the low E’s frequencies? Eventually I’d like to build a larger pine cab for this combo, and have been considering this speaker as an eventual replacement "Goldwood GW-1238/PA 12" PA / Musical Instrument Speaker" from www.parts-express.com!, would that speaker actually do any better than the 70/80 at producing bass frequencies? Lastly, and the easiest to do, I’m considering swapping the V1 12AX7 with either a 5751 or 12AT7 to get more clean headroom. I’d lose some volume, but once it breaks up too much any volume I would get from the 12ax7 is useless. The lower gain tube will let me turn up the gain higher than I could otherwise...but which one is better suited for the purpose? Anyway, thanks for any input on the matter!
TLDR: When making a guitar combo into a bass combo, what electronics upgrade makes the biggest differences?
Some of you may be familiar with the Monoprice Stage Right 1x12 15w tube combo. I’ve had one for a few years now, and it’s a great little guitar amp. I picked up another one locally for $100, and I’m going to mod it to be more bass geared. I know it will never be a great bass amp, and that’s not the point. It’s just a fun project with (hopefully) cool results. It comes stock with a Celestion 70/80, a speaker that doesn’t garner much love, and a partial open back. My first thoughts are 1. Swap the speaker 2. Close the back, but playing my p bass through it today it didn’t sound that awful. It has me thinking maybe my money would be better spent first taking it to the local amp tech to get the output transformer upgraded and the capacitors changed, and the bass roll off (that these allegedly have) removed. As I understand it there’s no drop in replacement for the transformer, so what am I looking for in a better one other than it being larger? Also, I’ve heard a few people say that bass frequencies ruin reverb tanks, is that true? I kinda like the option of putting some reverb on the bass, but if it’s going to cause problems I’d rather have the tech bypass it while they’re in there. Maybe put a bright/dark switch in it’s place?*I’m not an amp whizz, so this is secondhand understanding, and hopefully the amp tech will know what I’m talking about when I explain my objectives*. I like how efficient the speaker is, and it is an 80w speaker being driven by 15w, but with it’s stated low end of 80Hz, will it be damaged by the low E’s frequencies? Eventually I’d like to build a larger pine cab for this combo, and have been considering this speaker as an eventual replacement "Goldwood GW-1238/PA 12" PA / Musical Instrument Speaker" from www.parts-express.com!, would that speaker actually do any better than the 70/80 at producing bass frequencies? Lastly, and the easiest to do, I’m considering swapping the V1 12AX7 with either a 5751 or 12AT7 to get more clean headroom. I’d lose some volume, but once it breaks up too much any volume I would get from the 12ax7 is useless. The lower gain tube will let me turn up the gain higher than I could otherwise...but which one is better suited for the purpose? Anyway, thanks for any input on the matter!
TLDR: When making a guitar combo into a bass combo, what electronics upgrade makes the biggest differences?