mcnach Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 Last night I played a gig at a new venue in town, where the backline is provided. For bass they had a Bass Terror 500 head into a 410 (don't know the model). It sounded pretty good! Pretty pretty pretty good! I wish I had had the chance to properly try it, its range, etc... but it's now on my radar. However when looking for reviews etc, I got the feeling there is (or was?) a reliability issue with them. Or some of them. It looks like there's a lot of love for these amps. It didn't give me the impression that it was shy on volume, although clean volume might be another matter (I do like a bit of dirt, and I mean a bit, just a hair)... Has anybody had the chance to compare the 500 to the 1000? Are they similar tonally? And volume-wise, is there much between them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave74200 Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 500 are way loud enough. They are also going really cheaply at the moment. You won't need the 1000 watt model unless you're planning on playing 500 seat rooms with no PA support! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0175westwood29 Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 i used my old 1000 thru an obc 410, crazy loud never above 2! not the most useful eq but does have a little amount of change in it, but its strength is in the hard rock grind. awesome amp headroom for days! andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 The 500 with a change of valves to make the breakup happen later is plenty. I found when I had one that gain on about 2 was just about on the breakup stage. From there volume to suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 [quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1442602711' post='2868216'] Last night I played a gig at a new venue in town, where the backline is provided. For bass they had a Bass Terror 500 head into a 410 (don't know the model). It sounded pretty good! Pretty pretty pretty good! I wish I had had the chance to properly try it, its range, etc... but it's now on my radar. However when looking for reviews etc, I got the feeling there is (or was?) a reliability issue with them. Or some of them. It looks like there's a lot of love for these amps. It didn't give me the impression that it was shy on volume, although clean volume might be another matter (I do like a bit of dirt, and I mean a bit, just a hair)... Has anybody had the chance to compare the 500 to the 1000? Are they similar tonally? And volume-wise, is there much between them? [/quote] I've owned 2 of the 500 variety and can't imagine anybody needing more volume! Tonally it is a one trick pony with little variation available from the eq, but it's such a good trick I had no problem using it on both heavy metal and wedding gigs. I never bothered with the valve change, just ran the gain around 9 o'clock all the time for a bit of hair on the note. If I were gigging at the minute I'd have another in a heartbeat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmachine2112 Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 hiho,the 500 is plenty loud but a 1000 with cabs to suit would be good.Only as loud as the loud knob All the early issues are resolved ,hot DI,early break up,caps etc. As to the limited EQ ,what you get is the Orange voice of the world sound with tweekability Not the answer you were after.I would reckon it,s the same but more bowl moving if you crank it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odysseus Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 I got a Terror 500 as back up. It ain't scared - plenty of trouser-flapping power right there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 Thank you for all the answers! Yes, I noticed that the EQ controls seemed subtle, but it sounded good, really good, so I cannot imagine wanting anything other than subtle changes to it. For instance I ended up bringing the bass control down a fair bit, because it was a rather boomy stage, so cutting lows there helped... but the character of the sound was just right. Hmmm. I'm of the "better have too much power and not need it, than getting short", but it does sound like a 500 might do just fine... Tempting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raslee Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 I've recently bought another, currently my go to amp. Will be gigging it this evening actually. Loving the warm sounds for soul, funk & Motown. The OTB 500w is the loudest 500 I've come across so would stick with that. The only time I would probably prefer more Watts is when I am running a lot of low bass frequencies- i.e. Dub, reggae etc...apart from that 500w on an OTB is more than enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmachine2112 Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 HI again ,flat on bass is 9 0clock or 3,middle fat is 12 0clock,5,treble 3 oclock or 7 ish. That,s why you cut the bass back you were using your ears ,always the best way I don,t bother where the knobs are .I just twiddle them till I find the best sound I can get on the night but overall I love the terror sound and there is a lot of it. By the way it,s paired with a SP212 cab and boy can that little box pump up the -was going to say volume but the number crunchers tell you they are inefficient blah blah but gig one- it works with the head.and cuts through no problem with trouser flapping and bowel moving thunder. The difference between the 500 and the 1000 to try and answer your question is TB 500 and 1 SP212 cab can handle anything and the TB1000 with 2xSP212 cabs could shatter gall stones. I don,t care about SPL,v-max etc I,ve got ears and bowels that does me-over and out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzneck Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 (edited) TB 500 and Barefaced Retro two10 with a Limelight P bass - perfection in my book for most gigs. For a super sized gig when PA is required I go via a Sansamp VT Bass DI into the PA (split signal into TB500 / BF for stage use) and ask the sound man, very nicely, not to mess with my settings. Relatively cheap, very light weight rig that fits into the boot of my car and can be loaded in and out in one journey. What more can a 66 year old git ask for? Edited September 20, 2015 by Jazzneck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted September 20, 2015 Author Share Posted September 20, 2015 [quote name='bassmachine2112' timestamp='1442736092' post='2869015'] HI again ,flat on bass is 9 0clock or 3,middle fat is 12 0clock,5,treble 3 oclock or 7 ish. That,s why you cut the bass back you were using your ears ,always the best way I don,t bother where the knobs are .I just twiddle them till I find the best sound I can get on the night but overall I love the terror sound and there is a lot of it. By the way it,s paired with a SP212 cab and boy can that little box pump up the -was going to say volume but the number crunchers tell you they are inefficient blah blah but gig one- it works with the head.and cuts through no problem with trouser flapping and bowel moving thunder. The difference between the 500 and the 1000 to try and answer your question is TB 500 and 1 SP212 cab can handle anything and the TB1000 with 2xSP212 cabs could shatter gall stones. I don,t care about SPL,v-max etc I,ve got ears and bowels that does me-over and out [/quote] Aha! Then I pretty much set the bass flat! That now makes a lot of sense! Yeah, we tend to asume flat is 12 o'clock, but it's rarely really the case unless clearly indicated. thanks for the comparison between the 500 and 1000. I take it tonally there are no significant differences, then! I suspect a 500 will be arriving in a not too distant future... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameltoe Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 I've used a TB500 for years, great amps with loads of heft to the sound and as convincing a 'valve' tone as anything I've used previously. I did change the valves to a set of lower-gain Philips ECC81's as this focused the sound more- complaints about the preamp being 'wooly' with the cheap Chinese ECC83's are justified IMO and are easily solved with some classier valves. I did get frustated by the limited EQ section whenever we played a difficult room, but invested in a DHA DI EQ which solves both the hot DI issue (mine is an early model) and the EQ issue in one go. £35 off this very forum. You won't need a 1000. You'll be going FOH before you'll ever reach the limit of the 500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 [quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1442948077' post='2870898'] I've used a TB500 for years, great amps with loads of heft to the sound and as convincing a 'valve' tone as anything I've used previously. I did change the valves to a set of lower-gain Philips ECC81's as this focused the sound more- complaints about the preamp being 'wooly' with the cheap Chinese ECC83's are justified IMO and are easily solved with some classier valves. I did get frustated by the limited EQ section whenever we played a difficult room, but invested in a DHA DI EQ which solves both the hot DI issue (mine is an early model) and the EQ issue in one go. £35 off this very forum. You won't need a 1000. You'll be going FOH before you'll ever reach the limit of the 500. [/quote] Thank you, that's very useful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.