'EBS Sound'

[action_panzer]

I've always used Ampeg amps (apart from my first 'proper' amp...a monster Carlsbro 15" combo!), so am familiar with 'the Ampeg sound', and I think their marketing dept did well in coming up with 'the round sound' thing, as it describes Ampeg's signature tone well.

Looking to buy a lightweight rig, I've stumbled across the EBS Reidmar head and classic 12" cabs, and people seem to love them, saying they nail the 'EBS' sound. I have to hold my hands up and say I've not come across EBS before, so what IS their sound? Youtube videos rarely do any amps justice...

Liking the look of the ebs stuff, and the price point and weight, so any experience appreciated!

[Highfox]

I had a pair of Classic 12" cabs.. pretty good (budget cabs) for the money, but ultimately they didn't have the punch and move the amount of air I wanted when playing with the band.
I'd be looking at their pro-line stuff if I was going cabs again from them.

Heard good things about the Reidmar, but never tried one myself.

[thodrik]

Very flexible amps. I have the Fafner and it can anything from heavy rock/metal through pop to funk. Generally the amps and cabs don't have a massive amount of bottom end/subs compared to an Ampeg/Mesa, but thet generally cut through a mix fairly well. They are capable of obtaining a lot of glassy high end but I usually dial that back.

[NJE]

There is a really long thread on here about the Reidmar, it is a phenomenal head. There is a great amount of control in the EQ section and the power and volume is frightening. It completely destroyed my MarkBass LM2 and sounded brighter and cleaner and just had more presence. Sound is a really hard thing to describe but I found it incredibly clean sounding.

I have a EBS classic 112 for practice, It handles my Roscoe Beck V no problems but i wouldn't want to use it on its own for anything more than that. Saying that I am in a 9 piece soul band with a loud drummer and 3 loud brass players so it does well. I would say two cabs bare minimum for gigging but if it was me I would get on ebay and the cabs for sale section and get a EBS Neo cab to go with the Reidmar and have a one cab lightweight solution running the head at its full power at 4ohms.

I used a Neo 4x10 with the Reidmar and it was incredible, really punchy, loud and defined. I played in some big rooms to several hundred people with it.

[basselk]

I am new in this Forum. Recently i switched from swr Sm 900 to a EBS Fafner 2 and constructed a special rack. see Video. I hope you enjoy it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZhbqUziwhI&list=UUHi1hLGMcL5Eyizf22JGjcw

[EBS_freak]

I would say that the cabs have a more signature sound than the heads personally. I would never say they have huge bottom end due to their inbuilt HPF. Means you can get loud with audible frequencies with regard to the power sapping sub bass. If you want that, put your rig through a PA with some high-powered 18" subs. I like them because they are fairly flat response across the board - some people say too sterile... but I like having that blank canvas to work from.

The cabs I would say are again, not tuned for mega bass extension but for usable audible frequencies with a hyped top end. Some people don't like the hyped top end - but you can always tame the top end. With a lot of cabs, you can't add the top end.

With the character switch in, it gives you the typical scooped sound. An EBS cab with an EBS cab in that mode, probably gives you the sound that people associate with EBS - the instant RnB, Marcus Miller sound. Having said that, the EBS is far from a one trick pony - in fact, their marketing moved away from the RnB and funk side, to the rock and metal side. They are good all round amps... but like everything, try them and let your ears decide!