wateroftyne

Lush.

Hey gang! Here's a rare bird... I've been on the lookout for another backup head as I've got a fair bit coming up... some of you might have heard me mention previously(!) that I'm not a fan of Class D's, but I am a fan of the Hand Box R-400. By fortunate stoke of serendipity, a Maruszczyk Bass Tank popped up on the pages of BC for a very reasonable price. As it's a Hand Box Fortec 400 in disguise, I pushed the buy button. The power section of these heads are similar to the R-400, i,e, 400w solid-state but without the tube front end. They're dual channel, so very hand for doublers (which I'm not). The EQ section is a bit more tweakable than the R-400 - TBH this is largely lost on my as I usually run everything flat, but it's there for when I need it. And on top of that, I reckon it looks pretty darn funky. It sounds great in the house - as ever, the proof is in the pudding, but I've got lots of rehearsals and gigs coming up to put it to the test. I'll report back.

Another +1 for Transferwise.

I remember shelling out the cost of a small used car to buy a brand new M-Pulse 600 back in the day, 'cos there weren't any on the used market. I must have lost the best part of 800 quid as soon as I took it out of the shop.

Mesa were always silly money, even when the exchange rate was reasonable.

Just bought an amp off Kev - super-smooth transaction, all good. Cheers, Kev!

You're very welcome!

Would you buy one blind on those grounds..?

The Handbox is available. Drop Leszek a line at [email protected] 🙂

Clarity? Punch? Chocolate-y richness? Authority? Class A/B? May I humbly suggest... N'other thread here:

I've also just read the damping explanation in the manual. and I can see that they've pitched it as a way to get that 'furry' WA tone. Interestingly, they say: 'With higher damping, the amp will feel a little tighter and more controlled on the bottom end, and to some players it may feel more “immediate”.' ...which is a characteristic I feel the WA has in spades, up until it starts to break up - more so than the Class D's I've tried, which I why I preferred it (and latterly the R-400).

I do.. '71 and '73.

I agree, but this only really works if you're gigging in one or two bands with a fixed set-up. My gigging life is pretty mixed, so I have to be prepared for whatever the band / gig throws at me. Given that, an amp and a cab (albeit lightweight, even if it's not a class-D setup) works best for me, both logistically and tonally.

So I've heard - this is encouraging. Mind, I've also heard some people say 'it's not quite there yet', so I might wait until the next generation. Until then, I'll carry on down the Handbox / WA path, where - to echo Eude's comments above - there's an authority to these amps which doesn't rely on volume. Hey, I typed that without using the word 'heft'! 😄

The jury's still out for me, but I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise. (I'm referring to the consumer units you get in bass amps - not the pro-audio stuff.)

Yeah. 'But it sounded great in my bedroom...'

It's kind of hard to listen properly though a laptop monitor. Until then, all we can do is crack on about it. ...if that's OK with you.

I would have agreed in the past, but the latest tube heads didn't seem to go down too well, either tonally or from a reliability PoV. I'm open to being convinced, but I can't see this head replicating the WA's magic.

If anyone is reading this ‘cos they’re yearning for a Walkabout with more headroom, check out the Handbox R-400.

Class D? I remain sceptical.

It stops the sound of clumpy soles from drowning out the band.

I can never evaluate amplification in rehearsal rooms. They're not great environments for it.