The Mighty Little Stubby
The Ashdown CTM (Classic Tube Magnifier) series of bass amplifiers has long been favored by a squadron of top-flight bassists — as well as quite a few players here at Sweetwater. With the CTM 30 Little Stubby, Ashdown drives tube bass amplification to the next level in a tidy package of tubular lusciousness. The CTM 30 has one instrument input with a Sensitivity switch to optimize impedance for passive or active basses. The Drive control dials in a gain range that takes you from pristine cleans to rich harmonic distortion. Three-band passive EQ, in concert with Feedback control that changes the slope of the low frequencies in the bass section, lets you sculpt your tone to perfection. The front-panel VU meter gives you a visual display of amp output as you are playing — perfect for ensuring clean headroom or intentionally pushing the amp for more aggressive tones. An FX loop and DI complete the Little Stubby’s feature set.
Related Videos: CTM 30 Little Stubby 30-watt All Tube Bass Head
Front-panel FX loop
The Ashdown CTM 30 Little Stubby includes a tube-driven and recovered FX loop situated between the pre and power amp, with the send and return handily located on the front panel. The signal level is ideal for driving a wide range of effects pedals, the send level being dependent on the level of preamp gain you have dialed in.
Tube-driven, transformer-derived DI
Don’t worry, your tone won’t suffer if you plug your Ashdown CTM 30 directly into the sound system or recording interface. The CTM 30’s tube-driven DI output has an isolated ground, so you get maximum sonic purity from this convenient direct connection. As it is transformer-derived from the main output, the DI has all the adjustments you’ve made with the tone controls, effects pedals in the loop, and marginal influence from the speaker cabinet in use. The DI is completely isolated and, as such, may be used as a line-out.
8- and 4-ohm speaker outputs
Two rear-panel speaker output jacks — 8 ohms and 4 ohms — are provided on the Ashdown CTM 30 Little Stubby (only one can be used at a given time), the jack being chosen to match the impedance of the cabinet combination in use. Note that the amplifier must always have a connected load — which may be either a speaker or a load box for silent recording.
Ashdown CTM 30 Little Stubby 30-watt All Tube Bass Head Features:
- Output power: 30 watts continuous average into 4 or 8 ohms
- Independent gain and volume controls
- Tube-driven effects loop
- Transformer-derived DI
- Hand-wound transformers
- ECC81, ECC82, and 2 ECC83 preamp tubes
- 4 JJ EL-84 output tubes
- Individual self-biasing
- High/low Sensitivity switch for active or passive basses
- Passive 3-band EQ
- Feedback control
- Zero negative feedback
- Roadworthy steel chassis
