Ea I Amp Model Amplifiers - Anyone Know The History ?

[essexbasscat]

Hi all

Can anyone help with some info about Euphonic Audio white faced i amps ?

I came across one today that sounded quite nice, a clean, but warm sounding amp. The owner said the white faced model was around in the late 80's - early 90's and was superceded by the black faced i amp.

I did a BC search, but didn't turn up much detail.

Does anyone know any background about the i amp series ?

Thanks for reading and any replies folks

T

[pete.young]

Sounds like an iAmp 600, the predecessor to the iAmp 800. Damn good amps - I have a 350 from about the same vintage.

Someone on here had one, I think it might have been Tayste or Higgie.

[BassBod]

You can email EA - they are pretty responsive. Or ask Overwater, as they were the importer/distributor up until recently.

I think the earliest (white face) amps were made by Ashdown...which may be a good or bad thing.

[guyl]

I had a white faced iAmp 600. Bought from Overwater around 1999. I'm pretty certain they were reasonably new at the time - certainly not around in the 80's or early 90's.

It was extremely clean. I never found it warm or punchy with electric bass, but paired with EA cabs the double bass sound was awesome.

It was uber-funtional - mute switch, input monitor, front mounted DI with level control, built in tuner, excellent and useable EQ. It was clearly designed with some common sense and practical musical situations in mind.

It never felt as loud as its 600watt rating. I suppose thats something to do with it being so clean. Also, the EA cabs that I tended to use it with were quite power hungry. I did consider the black 800 when it came out for its higher output. (It was also lighter being class D) Never took the plunge though.

The only downside was reliability. Not obvious things breaking, but those gremlin faults where the amp would just die on a gig for no clear reason. Gary at EA in America was brilliant. Fab customer service. Everything was circuit board mounted, and he just sent replacement boards.

In the end, it let me down on one gig too many. Dave Lunt is our local amp repairer (and a fellow bassist). He loved it (when it worked) so I just left it with him. Don't know if he had the patience to bring it back to life or whether he binned it!

[essexbasscat]

Thanks everyone, all comments appreciated

I had a chat with the owner of the white faced EA while collecting a bass the other day. He believed the white faced EA was one of the early model i amps and the construction was more typical of a class B amp, in contrast to the later class D black faced model.

The buillt - in tuner did seem to work really well, a handy addition to an amp methinks. Also, the EQ section was adjustable for amplitude and frequency for low, low mid, high mid and high, which allowed for some flexible tone shaping.

Seemed a shame your one wasn't reliable Guyl, the chap I met the other day commented how his had been trouble free from the beginning. He also mentioned that the early models had been imported in parts from the USA and assembled by Ashdown in the UK (confirms your thoughts Bassbod).

If there's one of those early white faced models out there, I'd could be interested when the time is right. As time goes by, I'm coming to realise that the ultra - modern high clarity sounds offered by the modern amps are not quite my thing. Some of the amps from 10 - 15 years ago were extremely good quality and make the sounds I'm really after.

THanks again all.

T