Darkglass Microtubes Head

[Kev]

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1479114903' post='3173941']
Yeah, it's becoming a little out of hand at £900.
[/quote]

But when you look at the cost of the new Mesa, which doesn't have something with the same prestige as the Microtubes engine in it, can you blame them?

[fretmeister]

Exchange rates I bet.

I doubt very much DG have raised their price so soon after release.

[Kev]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1479162706' post='3174499']
Exchange rates I bet.

I doubt very much DG have raised their price so soon after release.
[/quote]

Well I actually thought initially that the £769 preorder price was pre-brexit referendum and didn't take into account the falling currency (this supports why Andertons was cheaper than anyone else, despite being comparatively pricy for Darkglass gear) but I can't really see why it took them so long to sort the price out.

[DBerriff]

I am glad I bought one when I did.

I am abusing mine by using it clean for swing band work. With a G&L JB-2 and BF One 10 it cruised through rehearsals last night and sounded "right" with the tone section flat. The tone shaping suits me as being quick and simple to set and check. On balance I prefer the switchable mid controls to semi-parametric.

After 2 hours it wasn't even slightly warm. That should mean a long component life.

[bjelkeman]

[color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]I finally got to practice with the M900 properly. As others have pointed out, it is a loud amp. And sounds good it does. It is punchy, powerful and can deliver on the rock/metal front with no compromise. The clean tone is great, with an honest representation of your bass guitar's sound.[/font][/color]

[color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]But it is when your dial in a bit of grit or throathyness with the VMT or B3K, that it really shines. (I don't do flat out bass distortion, like you see in a lot of demos. I like that part of the BXK sound, but it isn't for this band.) At practice I didn't use my B7K as I normally do in front of my goto-amp, a Mesa Carbine M9, but just used the M900 plus the inbuilt B3K. The preamp tone controls are really good, and I just boosted a bit of bass and dialled down the treble (I had new strings on) and it was perfect. I think in fact it is a bit brighter than my B7K+M9, as I normally have to pull up both the mids a bit.[/font][/color]

[color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Compared to my normal setup it is also less noisy. The B7K into my M9 with mids dialled up can be a bit on the noisy side. Not so the M900.[/font][/color]

[color=#141414][font=verdana, geneva, lucida,]Very happy about the amp.[/font][/color]

[Kev]

After many hours of very happy rehearsal, I'll be gigging it for the first time with a couple of BF cabs next weekend. I reckon it's going to perform wonderfully!

[Cuzzie]

For all you DG guys out there think i found a good solution for a case at a pretty good price. I have Fusions double gig bag and it is a tank. Last years models are going cheap whether its the DJ workstation of the Laptop workstation you may like.

https://www.fusion-bags.com/collections/dj

I may have accidentally got an M900 so i'll report when the bag comes in as well

[winterfire666]

ive spent some time with mine now playing in 2 bands although just rehearsals, i havent gigged it yet
setup 1 - melodic metal band with barefaced super 12t (2nd gen i think) xylem yggdrasil bass, standard tuning (twin reversed seymour duncan p pickups and ghost piezo bridge)
setup 2 - thrash band with marshall dbs 7410, ibanez sr300eb tuned down 3 steps to c# (standard powerspan pickups)
first things this is a LOUD amp with more heft than any other class d amp i have tried, with the barefaced the sound is super tight and balanced, with the marshall its a lot warmer in the bottom with a great tight mids but not with quite the definition of the barefaced both sound great.
i barely have the volume turned up at all and the bass cuts through like a knife, even against 2 100w engl full stacks easily.
effects wise im using just a touch of compression from a zoom ms60b
the eq is versaitile and easy to use and its great that you can drive the clean channel hard if you want to for a little bite before you switch in the microtubes channels, perfect for beefing up the sound under dual guitar harmonies when the rhythm drops out.
overall i can adjust my sound on the fly very easily, the mid frequency switches are great for this making problem sounding rooms easy to deal with.
the microtubes channel is amazing you can go from just a hot signal type sound to full on insanity without compromising the definition of the bottom end, ive only scratched the surface with this little gem so far but it ticks all the boxes for me.
i should add that this is just as good for other styles, tapping, slap and i can get the best primus style tones with my xylem, rehearsing has become more fun again i cant wait to gig it.

[Cuzzie]

Great to hear that, i have a super twin as well and stumbled across an awesome deal for the M900 which was a B-Stock so bit the bullet. Should be here next week.
Just have to sneak it past the mrs.......

Pedal wise i have a few but i will be interested to see whether it replaces the need for my b7k and VMT or just adds ot it

[Kev]

Gigged the M900 at the weekend. Outstanding, PA support through the DI so I didn't push it hard for volume, but the on stage sound was spot on, and the DI sounded excellent FOH from what I have heard from comments and rough crowd recordings. It's an incredible bit of kit.

Oh, and to give an idea of how loud it is, the amp with Barefaced stack was around 9 o clock on stage, against a Blackstar HT valve amp and a cranked AxeFX/Matrix setup through 4x12s.

Edited December 6, 2016 by Kev

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1479145874' post='3174320']
But when you look at the cost of the new Mesa, which doesn't have something with the same prestige as the Microtubes engine in it, can you blame them?
[/quote]
It has the prestige of the Mesa badge on it though.

[visog]

Anderton chaps having a play-through... Sounds great... like a decent modern amp with their distortion circuits thrown in... which makes sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evM7uXSI2Po&t=545s

[Kev]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1481047750' post='3189327']
It has the prestige of the Mesa badge on it though.
[/quote]
More fool anyone for paying for that

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1481053085' post='3189375']

More fool anyone for paying for that
[/quote]
Sometimes a badge has a lot of influence. You'd be a liar if you told me you'd rather have a car with a Noble badge in your garage than a Ferrari badge.

[fretmeister]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1481104635' post='3189668']

Sometimes a badge has a lot of influence. You'd be a liar if you told me you'd rather have a car with a Noble badge in your garage than a Ferrari badge.
[/quote]

I'd have the Noble.

No way would I want people thinking I was a footballer.

[bartelby]

I'd much rather have Noble than a Ferrari, unless it was a Ferrari 250 GTO of course.

[EBS_freak]

Gosh, a lot of love for a car with a Mondeo engine.

[bartelby]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1481132465' post='3189945']
Gosh, a lot of love for a car with a Mondeo engine.
[/quote]

Bit behind the times aren't you?

[color=#000000][font=pontano-sans, sans-serif][size=3]"Engine : Yamaha Judd V8 4439cc twin turbo"[/size][/font][/color]

and to me it looks much better than the equivilent priced Ferrari...

[Kev]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1481104635' post='3189668']
Sometimes a badge has a lot of influence. You'd be a liar if you told me you'd rather have a car with a Noble badge in your garage than a Ferrari badge.
[/quote]

Depends on how I acquired the Ferrari. If I had a choice of being gifted either, then of course I would take the Ferrari. However, if I was buying, I would buy whichever is best suited to me at my budget! I would personally never buy something because of a badge if something else performed better or better relative to its price, but thats just me!

Disclaimer as this has gone OT; I have never tried the Mesa and I could well love it, my comment was only relative to the fact that Andertons increased their price on the DG but its still significantly less than the Mesa equivalent, so not overly expensive for this type of amp with this kind of spec.

[Mr Fudge]

Very interested in one of these. I play in a covers band and like a bit of growl. I play a "to die for '73 P" through 2x12AE Bergs. I'm fed up with my TC Electronic RH450. It doesn't go anywhere? What wattage would I get with the Bergs? Although, I realise it's all relative.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1481133032' post='3189951']


Bit behind the times aren't you?

[color=#000000][font=pontano-sans, sans-serif][size=3]"Engine : Yamaha Judd V8 4439cc twin turbo"[/size][/font][/color]

and to me it looks much better than the equivilent priced Ferrari...


[/quote]

What's that then? A boat engine?

[Jazzjames]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1481224835' post='3190817']
What's that then? A boat engine?
[/quote]

I believe it's an engine from a Volvo XC90 SUV. Because that's what you want in your super car. I'm sure the Noble is great. I'm sure the Darkglass D900 is great, having seen that Anderton's video, I'm not bothered about owning either.

[Lw.]

Just listened to that Andertons video; weirdly I thought the clean sound on the amp sounded really good but the over-drive stuff sounded woeful - reminded me of those Line6 Spider guitar amps from the early 00's. Strange because I was expecting the clean to be the weak point as Darkglass are more known for their distortion/over-driven sound in pedals.

Maybe it was just the settings that guy (not the one playing the bass - I think he's normally a guitarist) was using. I'd still give one a go if I'm in a shop but maybe less likely to rush down & hear one.

[Cuzzie]

I agree of sorts with you, especially The clean sound, but what you had was the guy playing a lick and they were twiddling 1 knob full on and full off in succession and then back to neutral or somewhere else.
The beauty is actually spending time with the amp as at every point amongst mids highs etc. They interblend with each other and then of course the gain knob will react with each frequency. It really is much more subtle (although powerful) than the review can say.
The key is that the clean sound is awesome, which is actually the most important sound, if this is good then you can be assured the dirt will follow as it is great in their pedals.
You have to remember also that EBS are quite coloured cabs, they put them together as they are Scandinavian-ish companies which is not the right reason!
If I were you I would rush and try but have the time to sit with your bass and your idea of a sound

[fretmeister]

Andertons have NEVER made a good bass video.

It's like they don't know how.