Eden WT-550 Replacement Suggestions

[Danuman]

Hi all,

This turned out a bit longer than I intended, so TL;DR:

What might be a worthy replacement for my beloved, but currently knackered Eden WT-550? Max... say, £650/€750-ish?

Earlier this year, my trusty Traveler started to show early signs of a few drifting components. Intending to be safe rather than sorry, I decided to have it serviced by a reputable amp builder here in Holland.

Unfortunately, it never sounded right to my ears since. I’ve taken the amp back to the shop a few times and I believe they honestly did the best they could - but the magic is gone. I believe they may have “improved” some of the voltages in the preamp (from a technical perspective), but that’s a bit of conjecture on my part.

So what would my fellow BC’ers suggest as a good replacement for the WT-550? The obvious solution is holding out for another one, but unfortunately they are quite rare round these parts, and I’ve seen some ludicrous asking prices.

I picked up an Aguilar TH500 recently, but I preferred my previous backup, so I quickly sold it on. Effectively my go-to is now my Genz Benz Shuttle 6.2, which has the clarity and the punch, but lacks the chocolate-y richness and the authority of the Eden... I’m interested in the Genzler Magellan 800, but I think I’d prefer class A/B and it’s just a bit too expensive.

So what do you think? Any suggestions much appreciated!

Thanks for reading!

Edited December 2, 2018 by Danuman

[chris_b]

If you like the GB I'd definitely check out the Genzler MG800 that's in the classifieds right now.

[wateroftyne]

Clarity? Punch? Chocolate-y richness? Authority? Class A/B? 

May I humbly suggest...

N'other thread here:

 

[2elliot]

Check out the Orange 4Stroke

 It's a very flexible amp that sounds great and is remarkably cheap at the moment. 

[Danuman]

Cheers guys. Those look very good indeed, although it seems availability might be an issue... (the Handbox doesn’t seem to be available at all?)

The Orange seems rather tempting for the money, but I feel slightly apprehensive about the lack of a gain knob.

And I know it’s really shallow, but I’m getting slightly nauseous picturing it on top of the red baffles of my cabs. 😝

 

[wateroftyne]

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

[chris_b]

There's another WT500 in the classifieds.

[danbowskill]

55 minutes ago, Danuman said:

Cheers guys. Those look very good indeed, although it seems availability might be an issue... (the Handbox doesn’t seem to be available at all?)

The Orange seems rather tempting for the money, but I feel slightly apprehensive about the lack of a gain knob.

And I know it’s really shallow, but I’m getting slightly nauseous picturing it on top of the red baffles of my cabs. 😝

 

They should have labeld the "compression" knob Gain on that orange amp imo....... because to me that's exactly what is sounds like it does. It certainly doesn't need a gain knob

Edited December 3, 2018 by danbowskill

[Danuman]

2 minutes ago, danbowskill said:

They should have labeld the "compression" knob Gain on that orange amp imo....... because to me that's exactly what is sounds like it does. It certainly doesn't need a gain knob

Interesting, that’s quite similar to the WT-550.

[Danuman]

54 minutes ago, chris_b said:

There's another WT500 in the classifieds.

Cheers! I noticed it, but it’s a bit far away, unfortunately. 😅

[Lozz196]

Ashdown RM-500-EVO would fit the bill, and you’d have plenty of change leftover too.

[Jack]

There's a common design lineage and family resemblence between SWR, Eden, Acoustic (although, not the new ones), Demeter and Thunderfunk. Now they don't all sound the same by a long shot but if you like the Eden you may find one of the others is also to your taste.

 

Facts end, opinions begin.

 

The Thunderfunk is the best amp I've ever used. I will own another one day.... Please buy the 750 in the classifieds now and save me from it.

[Danuman]

Oof. If that were to pop up near enough, I’d jump right on it.

Heehee, I should probably clarify; that’s a smidge above my station. It’s so easy to get carried away. 

Edited December 3, 2018 by Danuman

[Sonic_Groove]

To cover for My Eden WT405 (in the same position as You) & WT1205 (which is just too big and heavy to use really) I use an Eden WTDI in front of various amps (Ashdown. EBS, Trace Elliot Elf) to get the Eden magic. I wanted to try the new Eden Module pre-amp but they don't seem to be actually available.

Yes second hand WT are available but still old & we have that already!

 

Brendan

 

[Japhet]

I've not tried one but I like the sound of the EBS Reidmar.

[Jack]

23 hours ago, Danuman said:

Oof. If that were to pop up near enough, I’d jump right on it.

Heehee, I should probably clarify; that’s a smidge above my station. It’s so easy to get carried away. 

Bass gear is like women, out of your league is where you WANT to be.

 

Is your name a Ringworld reference?

[Danuman]

On 04/12/2018 at 23:20, Jack said:

Bass gear is like women, out of your league is where you WANT to be.

 

Is your name a Ringworld reference?

No - I suppose it could have been a Discworld reference - unfortunately it’s a bit of a weird one that no one will ever get that I decided on in a moment of whimsy, and one I’ve since come to regret slightly, haha... I’m interested in why you might think that, though.

In the meantime I’m thinking about getting a compressor to help out a bit with the Genz Benz. Does that make sense?

[Jack]

15 hours ago, Danuman said:

No - I suppose it could have been a Discworld reference - unfortunately it’s a bit of a weird one that no one will ever get that I decided on in a moment of whimsy, and one I’ve since come to regret slightly, haha... I’m interested in why you might think that, though.

In the meantime I’m thinking about getting a compressor to help out a bit with the Genz Benz. Does that make sense?

There's a primate in Ringworld that becomes a protector. Long story. Anyways, he's a small monkey and he's called Hanuman. Between your name, your monkey avatar and the assumption that you were called Dan it seemed to fit.

[Dan Dare]

Aguilar AG700 is cleaner and more powerful than the TH500. I'm biased because that's what I chose (over the Magellan and several other well-liked heads that are mentioned here), but worth a try/listen, I'd suggest. If you want that classic Eden sound, another Eden is the obvious choice. A Reidmar might be a good lightweight alternative. There's no alternative to auditioning a few, really.

[Danuman]

3 hours ago, Jack said:

There's a primate in Ringworld that becomes a protector. Long story. Anyways, he's a small monkey and he's called Hanuman. Between your name, your monkey avatar and the assumption that you were called Dan it seemed to fit.

Funny - that's not far off, except I hadn't heard of Ringworld before, haha. It's in reference to me likening myself to a talking monkey and my dad calling me Daneman (similar to danny boy, I suppose).

2 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

Aguilar AG700 is cleaner and more powerful than the TH500. I'm biased because that's what I chose (over the Magellan and several other well-liked heads that are mentioned here), but worth a try/listen, I'd suggest. If you want that classic Eden sound, another Eden is the obvious choice. A Reidmar might be a good lightweight alternative. There's no alternative to auditioning a few, really.

Unfortunately, I recently found out the old music shops around Amsterdam are not doing at all well, (must suppress urge to rant about ice cream shops, waffle and pancake houses and criminally priced cheeses) and I now refuse to go to Bax. Horrible place. As a result there isn't a great deal of quality bass gear around to try out.

The AG700 is not a bad shout, but my experience with the TH500 has severely cooled my interest in Aguilar. Not that it was a bad amp, mind. It just wasn't for me.

Edited December 9, 2018 by Danuman

[bumnote]

You could consider an eden metro combo. Theres a was one on here for not much money, and one on Ebay> To my ears its pretty much the same sound wise. Heavy little so and so with two cast frame eden 10s in it.

You could either use the combo as is or make a plywood sleeve and take the amp out of the combo

 

[Danuman]

Well, I suppose it was inevitable. After briefly owning a Glockenklang Soul II - which sounded marvellous, but didn’t work for me at all - I got my hands on this little setup.

The good thing is I now remember why I liked it so much in the first place; through my fancy-schmancy 112 VDK’s it just sounds so brilliantly tactile. I love it. 

I have been really rather spoilt with those cabs I’m afraid, so I think the Eden cabs are probably going to go. They look mighty impressive though. Here’s hoping this amp was built to last!