BassManGraham

That is utter sacrilege. These hectics should be taken straight to the village ducking stool! The Aria SB is such an iconic design! Just proves there's no accounting for taste or complete lack thereof

I have a Gen 2 Super Twelve (2 x12 with tweeter), forerunner to the Gen 3 Super Twin. Bought on this forum, and used in many gigs since from clubs to theatres and festivals. Delighted with it never let me down, plenty of power and punch. Has been great with a variety of heads. I tried out the SuperTwin in the Barefaced workshop great sound and I would have bought it had the Super Twelve not appeared on here at a great price.

Not sure it's a GB74? I think the 74s had two switches an active switch and a coil tap switch for the MM pick-up. I have a GB94 with a spalted top, but otherwise the controls are similar. Definitely a G series though.

Thanks, but I am based in Ireland. Thomann have offered to pay return postage and send me a new replacement. Can't say fairer than that. I have used real electronics for a fault on an out of warranty Markbass cab crossover, they were excellent..

TC Support have apologised and confirmed that due to a manufacturing error the active/passive switch is the wrong way round on the first batch of amps. This fault has now been rectified for future production. They are looking into remedial action for their first production batch. TBH I was sure that is what it was. It is a bit irritating but not a major issue. But being a bit OCD so am pondering wnether or not I should return it to Thomann. I have giggled the amp now and it is a nice punchy sound with a very hot and clean DI out.

Hi Dave, yes loved it so much had to have another, sadly your Epic is still in UK until I can get ferry over in the New Year!

I love them both, but if I had to choose the Epic would be a no brainer. I have been complimented on it's sound at every gig by sound engineers, using a variety of rigs . It is very distinctive and really cuts through the mix. The band love it and it sounds great even on iPhone vid clips etc.

2018 is / has been another very gaseous year for me. My 2019 resolution is reduce my emissions. Best amp considering performance, cost and exceeding expectations was QUILTER BASS BLOCK 800. But the MESA SUBWAY 800 plus is lovely but cost twice as much so edged into second place. Best bass: A limited edition Alembic Epic, have also acquired an Aria SBR-60, and a KAWAI FIIB both pristine. I love 80s Alemibesque Japanese basses. Worst basses either Epiphone Toby Deluxe, which is great value fun bass for dodgy gigs, so I am keeping it, but not is same league as other purchases. Or Marcus Miller P7 which I traded for a Chowny, but didn't like it and immediately p/x'd it for a Marcus Miller M7.The P7 was a good bass but just not as good as other Sires I have tried or owned. The M7 is lovely..

I have done just that. I will share their response as and when they get back to me.

My BQ500 arrived this morning after waiting several weeks. I will gig it later this week, but early signs are promising. For the price this really is a great value little head. It has a clean and punchy sound which I really like. The 4 band EQ has a good tonal range. It doesn't do gritty overdrive, so if that's what you want a pedal would be needed. I am not a fan of compression and prefer sound with little or no THRUST! The active and passive switch appears to be reversed which seems counter intuitive, but not a problem. I can wind the gain up to 2 o'clock on passive setting before clip light flashes and that is with an Alembic with quite a hot active ouput. The DI out seems nice and clean and doesn't colour the sound of my bass. I have just tried it thru a pair of Eden EX112s, this makes a superb, punchy, portable small footprint rig for under £600! OK this is no MESA or QUILTER etc, but for the money it's a no brainer. and so far I am quite impressed and prefer the sound of this amp to previous TC Electronic heads I've tried.

Agreed Sires are amazing value for money I have had a V7 and a P7 both great value for under £500. Personally I would not bother trying to upgrade these as they are pretty much optimum as they come and I suspect the routing cavity may differ from a Fender for which the J Retro was designed. A real quality but cheap alternative to upgrade would be an SX Jazz. Most players think my upgraded SX sounds and plays like an American Fender. I have just fitted a tortoise shell pickguard and Badass bridge. The original pickups are great. I would try the East J Retro before anything else. You probably won't need different pickups, the East Retro will work wonders even for Squier or Mex Jazz pickups HOWEVER I do love John EAST J Retro Preamps and have fitted them to four Fender Jazzes. 2 Mexicans, an American Standard and even an American Active Deluxe. They're easy to fit and require no mods to body at all, I kept original circuits so they can be returned to original in a few minutes. I did not hesitate fitting them to a US Fender, they sound like a Fender on steroids! I much prefer the East Active circuit to the stock Fender one. The Deluxe Jazz has the battery compartment which saves having to mount the PP3 battery under the J Retro chrome control plate. That said the batteries last for ages and there is the passive option. So in conclusion it won't hurt trying one in your American Fender, but an SX Jazz which should cost you less than a new East J Retro, might be worth a punt! BEWARE you may prefer an SX or Mexican Fender with a J Retro to your American Standard! Good Luck

The GK MB amps are very loud. An MB500 certainly seems to hold its own against other more powerful rated heads. They seem to have a lot more gain than most of their contemporaries which means too much treble and high mid EQ can produce audible hissing! Not noticeable when playing, but mildly irritatingly at idle or quiet passages in studio. The D800+ has wonderful tone and plenty of volume for my needs, but on balance probably not as loud as a GK MB800, or the Markbass Little Marcus 800 either. No front of house engineer ever likes me playing anywhere near that loud on stage anyway!

Make sure you check out the DI out specifically unless you intend using a separate DI box. Fender Rumbles are good value a second hand Markbass combo is worth considering. I've had a CMD 121P and a CMD 102P both excellent with great DI outs. I have had two T.C Electronic combos despite being fine little combos the DI out was noisy and unusable on both. No ground lift and considerable mains hum. If weight is not an issue you could do a lot worse than one of the bigger Hartke combos. The tiltback facility is very useful too. Good Hunting.

Haha yep that's exactly when I bought mine! Checked their site the next week, it was out of stock with another £250 on the price! Bargains like that exacerbate my G.A.S. Sound engineer at a regular gig was very complimentary on my 800+ first outing, and he usually doesn't enthuse about much at all!

Well that sounds very promising indeed as the HA3500 is quite loud and punchy for a 350W amp. Only ever used one a couple of times when it was provided backline but fairly impressive, only avoided getting one due to the weight of the things. It may be that the BQ500 can surpass my fairly moderate expectations!

I have been generally underwhelmed by all T.C Electronic heads and combos I havd tried. OK tone print is clever and fun, but power wise they do not come close to GK, Markbass, etc. I have a BH250-208 which is a tidy good value little practice combo, but even with an extension cab cannot compete with our drummer! But, I see Thomann are currently selling the BQ500 for €205 / £175 (free delivery) which to be fair is less than a decent preamp, DI or FX pedal! At this price GAS and curiosity get the better of me, so I am setting THRUST to stun, and getting prepared to be underwhelmed all over again. I will report further when it arrives in several weeks time!

Running an amplifier into too low an impedance is definitely not advisable, the amp could run hot and you could blow the output stage of of your power amp.