Best amp head (500W to 1000W) you've ever owned? (Or should definitely avoid!)

[M@23]

Glockenklang Blue Sky for me.
I've really liked quite a few of the class D heads I've had. But this one is a cut above IMO. Where the others all had a shortfall somewhere along the line, the Glockenklang doesn't really compromise.

[Kiwi]

Mesa Boogie 400+ without question and I've had some nice amps in the past like a Trace v8.

Glorious, authentic, powerful, sweet sound through 12" cones using a single pickup bass. A back breaking bastard to load in and out though, which is why I sold it. If I were touring with roadies though...

[gusbass]

Aguilar AG500 SC whit and Acme Low B-2 for me.Power, punch and portability

[naxos10]

Ashdown Retroglide 800 as it's the only one I have had thats over 300w.

[basshead56]

Non-valve - probably the best I've owned have been the Ampeg SVT 4PRO (ridiculous amount of power ran mono-bridged)
Mesa Mpulse 600 - that was a beauty but far more bells and whistles than I ever needed.

I tried a tech 21 1969 in a shop once and loved it but it was crazy expensive.
I liked the couple of Genz Benz units I tried too (cant remember which ones they were, definitely Shuttles though)

Not so flash: The two Orange Bass terrors I tried - neither seemed to have any real definition to them. Might have been sown to preamp valves or whatever but I wasn't a fan.

[mcnach]

I'm surprised not to see much love for the MarkBass LM2/3... it's not flashy, it hasn't got lots of cool functions, and it may not be the best amp out there but it just refuses to sound bad. I think it's a great working amp, and very nicely priced.

The Mesa D800 isn't half bad either...

[Deedee]

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1497094040' post='3315804']


I'm with you on that one. Not my thing at all. FOr me it was the amp I've owned which I was most disappointed with, after all the hype I'd read.

My absolute 100% amp recommendation has to be the Trace Elliot SMX series. The 250 will see off any modern class D 500 Watter volume-wise and has a tone and sheer impact that I have not found elsewhere. The 250's are reasonably portable too - an easy one hand lift. (although it all gets a bit silly with the 350 and up, which are well over 20kg)

I keep trying other stuff but always come back to owning an SMX. Amazing amps.
[/quote]

100% snap. Could have said that myself, word for word 😁

[karlfer]

Orange Bass Terror, despite all the heads I've tried.
Joint second Streamliner and Markbass TTE.

[Count Bassy]

Using an LM3 at the moment, but the best amp? Marshall DBS7400. Weighs a ton, but superb tone. Valve/solid state blend that actually does something. 400W at two ohm, but with a peak of 4000w.

[Left Foot]

I haven't owned a 500w.
My Laney B1 is 1000+ depending on howand what you connect this upto It is a nice bit of kit that's cheap if you can find one, valve and fret stage.

[Left Foot]

I haven't owned a 500w.
My Laney B1 is 1000+ depending on howand what you connect this upto 2channels of 750 or 1500 bridged. It is a nice bit of kit that's cheap if you can find one, valve and fret stage.

Edited June 13, 2017 by Left Foot

[mcnach]

The Mesa D800+ should be in the list here.

[bassjim]

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1497031590' post='3315483']
Oooh go on - good to hear both sides of the picture and I'm sure your fellow BCs won't mind you sharing your experiences (even if it is of their fav amp of all time ) - it's certainly helpful to get views on what didn't work (and why).
[/quote]

Ok then.
Bare in mind that I'm a bit of a dunce with EQs so for it to float my boat it has to be has to be plug and play first and tweaking does something useful. I'm sure bar maybe a couple of my non favs are more down to the user than the equipment....

Quick background on the Trace Elliot saga. Having just landed probably the worst record deal known to man, in my early 20s, with no real experience or Basschat to ask for help and guidance, I found myself with some advance money that need spending.
On bigger gear cause thats what you do isn't it? Whats the next step? Thats right call Trace Elliot explain you have this money and can you have a players discount? Yes you can is the answer and what you need is the flagship model plus at least the new 4 x 10 to add to your 1 x 15 even though you are still playing small clubs and not Wembley stadium.

So a TE AH 600 that replaced the old faithful TE AH 200 (now sold as in my 20 something years old wisdom thats now an amp for amateurs) turned my usually good sound into a mushy wreck. Any settings that worked on the AH 200 12 band graphic didn't on this . The inbuilt compressor made it worse. Turn it up more than 2 on the dial and although its rearranging the insides of anyone 10 feet away you cant hear a thing whilst standing up against it in a small club and next to the really loud drummer . I never got used to constantly being asked to turn it down so it had to go. Maybe today with more experience to call on it could be ok but at the time its was black and white. AH200 = good AH600 = bad.
Constant fiddling required with no meaningful result. But to be fair it may have worked better on the stages it was designed for.
How do you fix this? Send back the AH600 to Trace Elliot and swap it for the TE valve head thingy. Now at 300 watts? and only three knobs. Sound = terrible. Farty and distorted. Soldier on until an advert appears from the new Ashdown Engineering.
Get an early ABM Ashdown head and get the small TE cabs. Much improvment but miss that old AH200 sound. Still naive enough to accept sales man talk about old gear = bad Latest gear = much better.

Ashdown sets fire to its self at a rehearsal after 4-5 years of trouble free tweaking to get the sound I want but cant get.

Its simple really, so far I have the wrong gear for what I'm trying to achive. I just dont know this yet.

Ashdown lower range MAGs = In my hands : ok if you just want to use the E string only and play Oasis covers type of amp.

More tweaking and thin sounding sad times for me were when using MarkBass LM2 and the TC electronic RH450. Just fiddle fiddle fiddle and not impressed. Again this is probably down to the user not the gear.

[ForestPoetry]

What are people's opinions on Eden? I bought a WTX-264 not long ago, got a nice deal on it seeing as they've been discontinued. It's 260w @ 4ohm. My first bass head that I've owned myself, I tried it through a Markbass 2x10 and it had plenty of volume to it. Nice transparent amp that doesn't "colour" the tone much, just represents the sound of your bass very well (was playing a Spector Legend through it). Very clean and modern sounding. EQ and contour knobs don't need much tweaking to make a pretty noticeable difference!

Rigs I've played through that I loved: an SVT-3 Pro through a cab that I can't remember, and there was this one show where a guy was using a Portaflex head and an SVT head through (I believe) a 4x10 and a 1x12. He was playing a Fodera through it. It made my £300 Ibanez sound like a million dollars.

[Lozz196]

I`ve only used Eden amps as provided rigs on a couple of gigs, so no real answer to that, but.....

Your post mentions the love of three seperate Ampeg amps. Seems to me your ears already know what you`re after, trusty old Ampeg warmth.

[FinnDave]

I've been happy with Ashdown amps for the last 10-12 years (I think it's that long, anyway). Been gigging with an ABM 500 evo II for a few years, sometimes with a Touring 330 combo (now for sale) and have recently bought an ABM 600 evo IV, which does sound very good. I also have Rootmaster 800 head as a back up, and which I will be using as main amp for some gigs if it sounds good at gigging levels, not had a chance to try it yet, though I might use it for a set tonight.

[Danuman]

I have the (um, I guess) more powerful WTX 500, which I picked up for 235 or so pounds. At its core it sounds very nice - to my surprise it even garnered rave reviews on several occasions - but I find it lacks a certain visceral quality and it runs flat out of steam far too quickly for 500 watts. Great package for traveling, though.

Then I bumped into an old WT550, and this one ticks all the old-school boxes for me. Warm, punchy power. The parametric EQ is brilliant, but I generally don't have any need for it.

I still keep the WTX around for backup, but at some point I'm probably going for a Little Mark III or some other little class D powerhouse.

Edited June 17, 2017 by Danuman

[SamPlaysBass]

Best 500-1000 watt bass head I've owned is the TecAmp (or Eich) Puma 900. It sounds full and balanced, with no weak spots through the range. Recently used it at a jam night with other musicians using the back line and the tone from every bass and player was impressive - one of the best I've ever heard in that venue/pub (my local doubles as a cracking venue).

Best 500-1000 watt SOUNDING head is my Trace Elliot GP12 SMX 300. Its louder than the TecAmp. And most other things on this planet.

[Kevin Dean]

Ashdown ABM 1000 & Ashdown LABS600 by a mile you can always deafen your guitarists if you hate them back up is amazing .

[Kevin Dean]

Ashdown ABM 1000 & Ashdown LABS600 by a mile you can always deafen your guitarists if you hate them back up is amazing .

[Dan Dare]

Must add my new toy (Aguilar AG700) to the list. It combines warmth, wallop and clean tone extremely well. Would be interesting to compare with my old TE AH350, which was my favourite. Think I may prefer the Agg, but obviously I'm relying on memory of how the TE sounded. It's certainly easier to carry about than the old flight-cased beast.

[Al Krow]

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1498235807' post='3323365']
Must add my new toy (Aguilar AG700) to the list. It combines warmth, wallop and clean tone extremely well. Would be interesting to compare with my old TE AH350, which was my favourite. Think I may prefer the Agg, but obviously I'm relying on memory of how the TE sounded. It's certainly easier to carry about than the old flight-cased beast.
[/quote]

I read your NAD post with considerable interest. I appreciate that a lot of this will boil down to personal taste but if I understood correctly, your order of preference was:

AG700 > [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Glockenlang Steamhammer > Genzler Magellan > [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Mesa 800D[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]And given how well liked the Magellan is by a number of BCers (including on this thread), that's definitely a recommendation to give both the AG700 and the Glock a try out also. [/font][/color]

[Dan Dare]

[quote name='Al Krow' timestamp='1498248339' post='3323454']


I read your NAD post with considerable interest. I appreciate that a lot of this will boil down to personal taste but if I understood correctly, your order of preference was:

AG700 > [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Glockenlang Steamhammer > Genzler Magellan > [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Mesa 800D[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]And given how well liked the Magellan is by a number of BCers (including on this thread), that's definitely a recommendation to give both the AG700 and the Glock a try out also. [/font][/color]
[/quote]


You're right. That was my order of preference, although bear in mind that was with my cabs (PJB C4s).

[spencer.b]

Mesa m pulse 600 , big warm wide tone with my favourite eq , usable compressor and great DI

I didn't get on with the streamliner or TH500

[mcnach]

at risk of sounding too much like I'm just enjoying my new toy... I'll say it:

MESA Subway D800+

Four gigs on in a variety of settings, indoor, outdoor, DI'd, mic'd, without support...

This thing is fantastic. It works fantastically well with a pair of BF Two10 cabs... you feel it, it hits you, even when it's not set too loud... I love this amp, I love this combination.

This weekend over three gigs I made a trombone player fall in love with my rig (at one point I thought he was going to hump it ), I had two sound guys wanting to know what I was using and they drooled over it because it sounded so good, I had random audience members telling me how nice the sound was, and one guy I met in the street afterwards remembered me and my Stingray and that he loved the sound...

I was already pretty happy with the way it sounded, but if I had any doubts that it was just my imagination, the doubts are all removed now.