tayste_2000

It does when you play bass in The Mars Volta

Ok guys here's the deal with the B500. Firstly there is nothing in common with it and the Ashdown Mibass, it uses a totally custom power section that even cranked and run for an hour at full wack only gets luke warm and thats luke warm if you are actually touching internal metal componants, the casing is still cold . The amp will feature 1 input with a pad switch, drive, bass, mid, treble and volume controls. It will have 2 speakon's out on the back along with an xlr, xlr level and an fx loop. This will also be there the power switch will be and the fan though the fan is super quiet because the amp is run so efficiently it barely needs to be cooled. It will have a pre and post switch on the DI as well I should be getting the 2nd prototype/1st new model prototype/first one off the production line. I've already played it and as an all valve guy I can say it's very impressive solid state amp, doesn't quite have the full on girth and depth as a GT200 but then again, nothing else does. But it does sound like a Matamp, I could easily gig with one and be happy. Tone controls work well and give a wide range of sounds, it's nice and loud at 500w but there is a 1000w version coming as well. It's "2u" high and about half a "u" wide, I've instructed Jeff to get some optional rack ears made up in case anyone wants to put it in a bigger rig. It is slightly bigger than the current offering of micro amps from Aguilar, Ashdown, Markbass etc but it is hand made in the UK, a similar if not lower price point than those amps and tonally a really great sounding amp. The amp is designed with a limiter in it as well so that no matter what you do you will not be able overdrive/put the power amp into a square wave, now to ensure that the most power is achievable they will be able to tune the preamps output to the bass you use so that you are getting the maximum power out of the amp without being able to overdrive it. This is great for people that have really quiet vintage basses and find that 500w is a bit too quiet because they aren't able to drive that power section properly. Obviously this works the other way around where if you have something stupidly hot (FYI I was able to just get it to overdrive with the drive cranked, plugged into the passive input with my Overwater so it's got headroom to spare ) Currently they are waiting on the metal work for the cases to be finished, then I get to do a bit of the 'ole product testing, gig it a bit and feedback. If there are no issues it will go into production fully. Hope this helps

The Tayste switch bypasses the front presence, bass and treble controls and switches it to a default trim pot setting inside the amp that I set at the factory. So basically my own preset in the amp, this means I always have the same tone, I can lend the amp out to people and they can mess with the controls but not affect my tone. It's worked really well, best amp I've ever owned

X-Blender, one of the best pedal ever made.

[quote name='billyapple' timestamp='1326138705' post='1492869'] Awesome rig, Ste. What's the history with the Bass 200, how come Matamp did not develop this? [/quote] It's an odd one, I call it the controversy amp and think it is marked as one of if not the main reasons relationships broke down with what is now Electric Amp. Now there is pretty much only one page on the net about this amp and unfortunately it's owned by the guy who runs Matamp USA so it's not very favourable. I can tell you a lot of what is written is rubbish but to avoid any arguments lets just talk about the specs and why it wasn't made for more than 12 units. Ok firstly this is a Dave Green designed and built amp, it uses some very clever features that you just wouldn't bother with these days. Built in the mid to late 90s I believe. It's designed to use KT100s but since these aren't made anymore and are expensive and hard to find its currently stocked with 4 KT88s, the idea being that a KT100 puts out about 60w (I believe, I'm not the most technical) so when they built this amp, it was a lot harder to get parts for tube amps, they weren't popular in the music industry so there weren't loads of uk made parts available suitable for Matamps old designs, so they basically made a OD120/GT120 power section that used KT100s instead of 4 el34s. They put 2 of these in the amp creating a stereo tube amp 120w (clean) per side probably 170w cranked. They then used another set of transformers, god knows how, to recombine these 2 sections into a mono power section running 240w (again clean) that can run at 2,4 and 8 ohms. The next thing is it features a 2 channel preamp and it is a true 2 channel they are completely separate and use 2 tubes each, now this is odd as the website and the only other one I've seen that is owned by another BCer have 3 preamp tubes a side, so I don't know if this is an earlier or later model, it has holes drilled for the other tube sockets but there is nothing in them or any signs anything was ever fitted. The great thing about this amp is the mid control and the design of this preamp is very similar to what is going in the new GT200 with mid control. Tonally its different to the GT200 but still got that Matamp sound, I love the drive controls on it with the 2 channel layout and switching between them. Which is the other odd thing is said BCer who has one of these, his requires and AB box to switch channels while mine is foot switch only, no matter which input you plug in, but this is something I think I can get changed down the line so it works with either an AB box or a foot switch. Now reasons it wasn't made other than it weights a frickin ton due to the 4 transformers, basically Matamp were ale to secure transformers that would work within the requirements of the GT200, which is lighter, sounds better (IMHO) easier to produce, smaller, requires less parts inc tubes overall. This amp also runs very very hot, it's probably not the best design but it's got all the functionality of my old Mesa 400+ which was my favourite amp till I got the Gt200. I think that covers a lot and I apologise if anything doesn't read well, I've written this on my iPad whilst watching storage wars

[quote name='Ben Jamin' timestamp='1326136116' post='1492791'] Nice Matamps Just out of interest - when I went up there was a stack of a 1x18 and a 4x10, where the signal had been split so the lower frequencies went to the 1x18, and the higher to the 4x10 - that's not yours is it? Darn that thing sounded amazing. [/quote] Nah, that 18 is the prototype, made by Jeff so he can try and sell me one Mine should sound better than the one upstairs, at least in my opinion. My 4x10 being the first he made in this line is slightly different to the standard model sold now, more aggressive, more bass so should be interesting with the 18. I tend to be the first to test a lot of new models, it can be a lot of fun, but also expensive

Yeah man, I can go get my 1x18 at the same time

Still got the 1x18 to come

It wasn't green, it was Brown Leather, looked horrible

No the Bass 200 was in a brown leather case