What's the best class D bass amp head you've used?

[4000]

2 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

 

Our old producer showed me the best way to use the BDDI, get the exact sound you want from your amp, put all controls on the BBDI except for Blend at midday, switch it on, then turn the Blend up til you get where you want. It tightens up the sound, reduces mids in virtually the exact area where they can congest a bit, and enables cutting through without being harsh. Quite a revelation really as I`d never got exactly what I wanted from one when I had one, but on our first recording with him he said no, put this in the chain, have a listen to the results, if you don`t like it we can take it out. I kept it there, sounded great. 

I tried that when I had one. It just didn’t work for me whatever I did. VT Bass all the way. 

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, 4000 said:

I tried that when I had one. It just didn’t work for me whatever I did. VT Bass all the way. 

Oh yeah, not for everyone, but it has a good rep. Horses for courses. 

[thebassist]

I’ve not tried one but damn this is almost micro size like the Trace Elliott Elf, has an aux in, DI out and a speakon connection.

https://www.grbass.com/amps/mini-one/

[Aliwobble]

Ibanez Prometheus 500 - lovely sound, but died after only 18 months. Still got the cab that it came with.

 

GK mb500 - This is the one I keep going back to.

 

Laney Nexus - lots of features, but somehow just doesn’t do it for me like the GK.

 

I’ve just acquired an Elf and a GB shuttle 3.0 second hand. I might have to do a shoot out.

[Chienmortbb]

Sorry, too heavy for me

[stewblack]

On 24/04/2020 at 18:32, Lozz196 said:

 

Our old producer showed me the best way to use the BDDI, get the exact sound you want from your amp, put all controls on the BBDI except for Blend at midday, switch it on, then turn the Blend up til you get where you want. It tightens up the sound, reduces mids in virtually the exact area where they can congest a bit, and enables cutting through without being harsh. 

Thanks for this. I haven't quite gelled with mine, going to try this the moment I can get off this bed. 

[stewblack]

People wondering why some of us no longer own the heads we have since come to think of as the best we've had. 

You kiss a lot of frogs and some of them turn into princes. After a while you can forget the frogs and look back to see which prince was the most handsome. 

You don't just keep the first decent looking prince and stop kissing the frogs. 

I can and might get another Orange Terror one day. Just like my favourite cab is my BF Midget but I went without one for the best part of a year before getting another. 

If I was a millionaire I might keep all the amps and basses and cabs and effects. If I lacked curiosity or imagination I might have just stuck with the first decent amp I owned and assumed I'd found the best. 

But ifs and buts, as the poet wrote, butter no parsnips 

[dave_bass5]

22 minutes ago, stewblack said:

People wondering why some of us no longer own the heads we have since come to think of as the best we've had.  

Its the BC way 😂

[Jabbawocki]

GK MB800 Fusion all the way

[Marty Forrer]

I've had Elf, TC 250 and 550, Rumble 500, MiniMax, GK MB200, 500 and 800, but my Genzler Magellan 350 is THE ONE! Every venue I've ever played with it I have the eq set flat and only ever tweak the contour control. I have an Acoustic Image 650w for my double bass, and this is also the one. These two amps I will never sell. I keep the Elf in my gear bag as a backup but have never used it, in fact it has never been switched on.

[Doddy]

I really like the Ashdown class D amps. I had one of the first MiBass 550's that I loved, which unfortunately died when it fell off a speaker stack on to a concrete floor. I also had a PiBass 240 which I used in some pretty big venues.I mostly use this for smaller gigs and with the upright now. My main amp for the last few years has been a Retroglide 800, which sounds great for everything. That's my favourite amp that I've owned.

[javi_bassist]

2 hours ago, Doddy said:

I really like the Ashdown class D amps. I had one of the first MiBass 550's that I loved, which unfortunately died when it fell off a speaker stack on to a concrete floor. I also had a PiBass 240 which I used in some pretty big venues.I mostly use this for smaller gigs and with the upright now. My main amp for the last few years has been a Retroglide 800, which sounds great for everything. That's my favourite amp that I've owned.

I had the Pibass and I loved it. However, it did a "pop" when switched on that I didn't like. So I sold it. 

I am curious about the Retroglide and I'd love to try one.

[4&5 String]

There are many really good class D heads. I have and still use the GK 800 Fusion and the weight and easy to transport is fantastic. But there is still something about my eden WT550 and alembic F2B/Crest CA 6 still are very dear to me. 

[Quilly]

On 04/03/2020 at 15:10, Pow_22 said:

Orange bass terror Mk1.  ONLY class D ive tried that I actually got on with

I really liked the one I had..It was as loud as fook. I had some reliability issues with it though and I found the fan a little on the noisy side at low volumes. Cool amp tho.  

Edited November 3, 2020 by Quilly

[Quilly]

On 03/10/2020 at 21:49, stewblack said:

People wondering why some of us no longer own the heads we have since come to think of as the best we've had. 

You kiss a lot of frogs and some of them turn into princes. After a while you can forget the frogs and look back to see which prince was the most handsome. 

You don't just keep the first decent looking prince and stop kissing the frogs. 

I can and might get another Orange Terror one day. Just like my favourite cab is my BF Midget but I went without one for the best part of a year before getting another. 

If I was a millionaire I might keep all the amps and basses and cabs and effects. If I lacked curiosity or imagination I might have just stuck with the first decent amp I owned and assumed I'd found the best. 

But ifs and buts, as the poet wrote, butter no parsnips 

I had an Orange TB and I really liked it but one if the best amps i ever had and wished I had never sold it was a 300W Trace Elliot 7215SMC. I sold it for small money and I played it at loads of gigs. It never ever let me down, the only down side was the weight of the thing.  

[stewblack]

49 minutes ago, Quilly said:

I had an Orange TB and I really liked it but one if the best amps i ever had and wished I had never sold it was a 300W Trace Elliot 7215SMC. I sold it for small money and I played it at loads of gigs. It never ever let me down, the only down side was the weight of the thing.  

I hear you! I parted with my Trace set up. Huge Bi-amp behemoth and smaller workhorse. 

I replaced with what I consider the best Trace I have ever used a GP12SMX, and the tiniest, an Elf. 

The Elf astonishes me at rehearsal, but I have yet to gig with it. 

[tauzero]

Tecamp Puma 900. Bought second-hand a few years ago, still my favourite.

[Quilly]

7 hours ago, stewblack said:

I hear you! I parted with my Trace set up. Huge Bi-amp behemoth and smaller workhorse. 

I replaced with what I consider the best Trace I have ever used a GP12SMX, and the tiniest, an Elf. 

The Elf astonishes me at rehearsal, but I have yet to gig with it. 

I suppose strictly speaking that Trace I had wasn’t class D but an AB . 

[grenadillabama]

I liked my Ashdown Superfly but the power was lacking. I kept it though. Now my Ashdown RM500 seems plenty powerful enough. I still want the new RM800 .

[Quilly]

I've had 2 class D heads die on me, an Orange TB500 and a TC250BH...but I'm not the only one it seems.

Is there a weakness with class D heads or something. ?    

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, grenadillabama said:

I liked my Ashdown Superfly but the power was lacking. I kept it though. Now my Ashdown RM500 seems plenty powerful enough. I still want the new RM800 .

I know where you’re coming from, I soooo want the RM800 but when I look at where I have the volume control on the RM500 (about 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock max) I hit the point of realisation, I have absolutely no need for a more powerful amp. Still want one tho!

[Kiwi]

I haven't tried many Class D amps,  just the old Peavey Databass combo and Peavey DPU1400 rack power amp.  But I bought one of the first GB Shuttle 6 heads to come into the UK and gigged with it solidly for two years before adding a second and leaving the UK. Given I don't have access to an amp tech,  the thing I likemost after the sound is the fact that the power amp module is by B&O and available on EBay for about 100 quid if I need a replacement... which I did for the second amp. 

[acidbass]

I don't like Class D heads, but the best one I've used (i.e. the one I have been the least disappointed with) was the Bugera Veyron Tube.  Rated at something silly like 2000w, but realistically sounded about the same volume as a (very disappointing) Aguilar TH500 which I also later sold.

[Chienmortbb]

1 hour ago, acidbass said:

I don't like Class D heads, but the best one I've used (i.e. the one I have been the least disappointed with) was the Bugera Veyron Tube.  Rated at something silly like 2000w, but realistically sounded about the same volume as a (very disappointing) Aguilar TH500 which I also later sold.

The Bugera is really about 700W and the difference between 700W and 500W is very little acoustically.

[tauzero]

9 hours ago, grenadillabama said:

I liked my Ashdown Superfly but the power was lacking. I kept it though. Now my Ashdown RM500 seems plenty powerful enough. I still want the new RM800 .

I had a Superfly, later replaced it with the Superduperfly (2x500W instead of 2x250W). Got a bit warm and there was a faint twitter always present (not audible to the audience). The EQ was great, graphic or parametric (using the editor) and switchable with MIDI. I did suggest to Ashdown that they package the EQ up and flog that as a pedal (it worked for Source Audio) but they politely thanked me and didn't.