Al Krow

Well that's the second time you've mentioned this bad boy on this thread, so it's clearly no laughing matter. These have been out for a couple of years now, did you get one in the end or does your dUg pedal deliver the essence of this in pedal form for you?

Haha excellent! That tends to be my timescale for getting to grips with everything apart from my basses, amp and cab (i.e. the stuff I'm actually gigging with) too! The B3N still remains the single best value all round bass pedal bar none IMO! Are you using your pedal board in a band mix?

Thank gawd for that... "How exactly do you define 'the best'? What criteria and metrics are being used?" I'd define it simply as follows (in relation to this particular thread): if you were offered the choice of any D class amp to pair with your favourite cabs as a gift, because it could deliver a consistently great sound across a range of highly regarded cabs and basses, what would you go for? Of course it's going to be subjective, but as @chris_b says with, IMHO, great wisdom: "enough positive owners reviews will be enough for me to buy one. My experience with it will be what makes me keep it." Bravo, Chris.

Good man. What are you pairing it with in terms of bass and cab? How would you describe the tone?

The weights of these three are closer than I'd been expecting: BBNE2 10.1 lbs, BB735A 9.7 lbs, BB1025 9.9 lbs

That is one handsome bass! Black and gold were made for each other.

Agreed these threads are not for everyone. If they don't work for you then that's cool. Personally, I still enjoy getting the thoughts and views of my fellow BC'ers on this comparative stuff and appreciate the views expressed are not necessarily 'gospel' truth; at the end of the day we're all agreed there's no substitute for our own ears in terms of arriving at our likes / dislikes when it comes to bass gear and sound. So when it comes to threads as you rightly say, albeit in a different context: "One mans' treasure and all that." I do think these are potentially two great amps, though.

@mcnach, that's an iconic track! But do you think the top end of that bass line has been rolled off? Doesn't sound like it to me. Yup agreed 9kHz to 10kHz should be fine, but we typically seem to be offered 5kHz or 16 kHz+. PS also with you in favouring a small speaker or horn over a tweeter - tweeter hiss can be annoying for sure! So what cab did you finally settle on?

Apologies for the dumb question, but what does "MA" stand for? I'm guessing it's not Master of Arts?

In other words a "Trav Tav". Sorted.

Travelodge?

Btw is a full Trav complement of Yammy basses (ie 4) a 'Travesty'?

@MoJo the BB425 is a ridiculously good bass for the money. Not surprised you've fallen in love with it. It's the first bass I had seller's regret over and I ended up replacing it. My current BB425 was, and is, actually the first black sheep in the Krow household, but is currently out on loan to a fellow BCer, so I couldn't include it in yesterday's family shot! 😎

Also bought a Yamaha bass from Lloyd. Fair price, well packaged and very open and honest in his communications and sales pitch. Happy to recommend him to my fellow BCers. Cheers Lloyd!

I love the EQ centre points on the Forte HP - it seems to get them pretty much spot on! Bass: @65hz, Lo-Mid: @250hz, Hi-Mid: @ 1khz, Treble: @ 3.5khz The Mesa improves on the mid EQ by providing para EQ for these and the treble is centred @ 4kHz, but Mesa have gone for the Bass EQ centre at 40Hz which might seem too low, until you spot that the low mids can be centred as low as at 80 Hz using the para EQ and that Mesa offers a 5 band rather than a 4 band EQ which the Berg has. I'd say that was one to the Mesa on 'basic EQ' options. Both offer a really useful HPF but the Berg goes one further and has a LPF as well and bright switches at 2kHz and 7kHz Berg then further slams it home by offering 600W at 8 ohms vs 400 W at 8 ohms on the Mesa, plus on board dirt and compression whereas the Mesa offers its proprietary power amp damping (not quite sure what that does, but it sounds fancy!) So based on the above it seems to me that the Berg has its nose in front on feature set (so @bassfan - you called that right). However tone, tone, tone...the Mesa has a valve preamp. Will the Berg just come across as more hi-fi or will its ability to add dirt knock it out the park?

Out of interest which RCF cab model are you using? We've got the 310As so I'm hoping we'll be able to do something similar to your excellent set up.

Speaking of cool dark...the black sheep of the Krow Yammy family has arrived I had originally thought I might also get the BB735A refinished in white (and even got a couple of quotes for getting it done). But I'm much less sure about doing that now!

@lee650 and I are proud to announce the arrival of our BB twins (by adoption date) and Lee's rapid ascension to half-Trav (and potential simultaneous renunciation of anything made by Fender) and my much more lethargic middle-aged-spread journey to full-Trav status. It should, however, be known that full Trav is still considered a tad usurper. Advanced grade = hookystringbass or (hush now) even a hypercarrot as the ultimate destination for a true BB believer. Normal service may now resume.

Middle aged spread can signify a whole load of medical ills. It's definitely not a laughing matter.

Hmmm...are you sure?! I think they're pretty evenly matched overall!

The cab thread got me thinking, if someone was looking for a world class lightweight D-class amp to pair with the best 112 cabs out there, is there really anything currently better out there in the market than these two?! Which would you go for? Or is there something else that really does give these two a run for their money and is < 8 lbs?

Ah maybe I'm getting confused. The headstock is certainly different (IMO much uglier) on the 'Basic' models. When did they start being produced with the current headstock?

I really loved the old shape, maybe precisely because it was the classic Fender design. I've not really been able to gel with the idea of the new shape, particularly the head which I find yuk. But each to their own, eh?

Are you sure you're not taking the whole issue of getting a fair price on your WD-800 a touch too far? 😄