Peavy Megabass Head. 2x 200WRMS Biamp or Full Range. ( owned since 1991 )
Top Box 2X Carvin PS10 200W + Booogie Celestion Bullet
Bottom Box EVM15 400W
Cabinets CAD designed by a Mate, Built by Me.
This thing can make almost any Bass sound good......
(Squier P Bass Soon to be overhauled.....)
Last edited by Hobastard; 26-01-2017 at 04:31 PM.
For years, a Holden 100w combo...
....immensely heavy but epic sounding! Haven't used it for years as I now use a couple of little amps which suffice.
Homemade footswitch... :-)
Bass amp is an ELFA 100w combo bought in Dunedin, NZ for pennies years ago and is still a great little amplifier
Last edited by corsair; 26-01-2017 at 05:19 AM.
"If it's Blues music in a bar and it helps people swallow their drink of choice, or it's a dance song and people get up off their chairs and shuffle their feet, or it's a Jazz tune and the Chardonnay tastes so much better... then it's all good."
- Marcel
Originally Posted by corsair
For years, a Holden 100w combo...
....immensely heavy but epic sounding! Haven't used it for years as I now use a couple of little amps which suffice.
Homemade footswitch... :-)
Bass amp is an ELFA 100w combo bought in Dunedin, NZ for pennies years ago and is still a great little amplifier
Is that Holden amp a Solid-State or a Valve amp?, it looks really cool.
It is cool, but as heavy as the moon!! It's an all tube amp with 2x 6550s and 4x ECC83s....
"If it's Blues music in a bar and it helps people swallow their drink of choice, or it's a dance song and people get up off their chairs and shuffle their feet, or it's a Jazz tune and the Chardonnay tastes so much better... then it's all good."
- Marcel
6550s?!, they are pretty heavy duty power valves, my Marshall MA100C uses four EL34s and three ECC83 valves, it's a bit like a heavily modded Plexi, some American Marshalls use 6550 power valves, I think that it's mostly to increase the reliability of the amp, I'm pretty sure that Jimi Hendrix used 6550s in his Plexi amps during his American tours.
They're good valves, I agree, and interchangeable with KT 88s - I've tried both and prefer the 6550s in this application. I've tried Marshall, Peavey, Orange, Fender, Vase, Jansen and once upon a time owned a beautiful little Dynacord Imperator but always came back to the Holden for gigging, even with weight issue!! I have to say, though, that a small modelling SS amp with a few good stompers would be all I'd need these days to gig with, and even then I'd prefer to go straight to tbe board!!
"If it's Blues music in a bar and it helps people swallow their drink of choice, or it's a dance song and people get up off their chairs and shuffle their feet, or it's a Jazz tune and the Chardonnay tastes so much better... then it's all good."
- Marcel
Back when I was gigging I ran my H||H 100w head through a Holden quad box that was a direct copy of a Marshall slope front box, from memory Holden was a kiwi amp but I guess Corsair can confirm or correct that for us ( maybe the purchased in Dunedin does just that )For years, a Holden 100w combo...
That Holden amp looks visually to be based, visually at least, on Peavey amps of the '70s and '80s.
My third amp was a Peavey Artist VT. Solid state preamp, 120W valve power amp (4 x 6L6) and a 200W Black Widow speaker. Weight an absolute ton. Those aluminium stripes down the side are very distinctive of Peavey amps of that era.
I had exchanged my second amp for it, as my second amp (which I wish I still had) was a very nice sounding and very loud Fender 30 2x10" combo, which I bought new in 1982, but very shortly after started making funny noises so I took it back and swapped it for the used Peavey. (I knew nothing about valve amps and the fact that it just needed a new valve).
Not too sure where Ron Holden took his styling cues from, but the circuitry - so I'm told!! - is a strange amalgam of predominantly early Marshall and Holdens own tweaks. He started in New Brighton, Christchurch NZ and got quite big; a major musical chain store in NZ kept the amps in stock, they were exported to Australia as completed chassis to be mounted into cabs in Sydney.
Mine is an early 80s example loaded with glorious old Etone speakers and bought from a keyboard player who was retiring for pennies in about 1986; it now resides with a mate in Toowoomba who has a predilection for old Aus/NZ tube amps....
@daveking; yep; I had the Holden quad box loaded with Etones - they came as a set when I bought 'em - until I realised that I needed the extra weight to cart about like I needed an extra arsehole and got rid!
No-one commenting on the ELFA bass amp? Made in Australia and a ripper of an amp - quite light for a bass amp with an 18" driver - and has a lovely deep rumble happening. I know next to nothing about it; anyone in here have any insights to share?? :-)
Last edited by corsair; 27-01-2017 at 07:43 AM.
"If it's Blues music in a bar and it helps people swallow their drink of choice, or it's a dance song and people get up off their chairs and shuffle their feet, or it's a Jazz tune and the Chardonnay tastes so much better... then it's all good."
- Marcel
Just as an adendum to the whole amp thing.. here's a shot from about 2006 in Christchurch.... note the Holden in the bottom r/h corner!
... somewhere in Otago, 1998... trusty old Holden behind me!
Possibly early 200s, possibly Wellington.. I dunno, but there's that Holden!! See the guitar in all of these shots, too - Vantage VA900...
Woolshed gig, North Canterbury 2006... Holden just visible behind Penny's leg..
Ahhh... trip down memory lane!
"If it's Blues music in a bar and it helps people swallow their drink of choice, or it's a dance song and people get up off their chairs and shuffle their feet, or it's a Jazz tune and the Chardonnay tastes so much better... then it's all good."
- Marcel
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