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High quality bass combo without noisy cooling


Erwin67
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Hi everybody,

New on this topic, I’m from Belgium.

Does somebody can help me? I would like to find a good bass combo, mostly to play at home, with a 12” speaker, power doesn’t matter as all good combo’s  are anyway to powerfull to play at home. 
BUT, I would like to have a combo without a noisy fan on the back. I read that the Gallien Krueger Legacy combo has a fan that only will run when the amp becomes hot. Does someone has experience with this? 
 

greetings,

Erwin

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Haven’t tried the Legacy, but from my experience of other GK stuff it should be quiet. Both my MB200 and MB800 heads were/ are good in this respect.

Have you considered the Fender Rumble 100 combo? Sounds amazing, weighs 22 lbs and never heard the fan in mine at all ( assuming it has one of course 😆 ). Perfect home / practice / small gig combo IMHO.

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I know that it is a good amp and more made for home use than a lot of other amps, due to to only hundred watt. ( also the price is nice😀)  the problem is that I don’t like the sound.🙁

I like a lot the EBS sound or GK sound. Thx for your reply!!

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Welcome Erwin !

I'm from Belgium too, la Gaume. I also hate these f*cking noisy fans and that are always too noisy whatever people say. Some even pretend that the 3 fans of a Hartke LH series are quiet when that make the sound of a jet at take off...

So back on tracks, here are some best candidates, but they are not that much as I've tried almost everything available with one 12 inches speaker (my favourite combo type) :

AER BassCube (favour the very first generation with the huge radiator that have no fan, but don't forget their later iteration that has a really dead quiet small fan which will only start when very hot).

EBS Drome 12 (the Swedish ones, not the Chinese horrors).

Gallien Kruger MB 150 S or E (there was also an MB 200 back in the day).

GR Bass Cube (the fan can be disabled).

That's all...

I also use an original EBS Taurus 240, but it's a combo equipped with 2 x 10 inches speakers (with integrated chorus and octaver).

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The Fusion S 1x12 combo indeed has cooling that only comes on when needed. My experience with this reactive kind of cooling though with most bass amps is that the fans starting/stopping is actually more annoying then a fan spinning at the same speed constantly. This made me stop using my Trace Elliot Elf and use bigger amps with cooling that just flows constantly.

 

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I use an EBS NeoDrome 12-150 at home. It's a bit overkill really, but I love it. And it feels right at home in rehearsal spaces and at small gigs too. It doesn't have a cooling fan at all. At 14 kg it isn't particularly light due to the heavy plywood housing, but it's tough as nails and sounds great. At €450 used (but in brand new condition) mine wasn't exactly expensive either. You can sometimes find the regular Drome 12 (without neodynium speaker) for even less, and there's the Drome Classic too that's even more affordable because it's made in China. That one doesn't have a tweeter though, which is normally a major part of EBS's clean fullrange sound! 

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Wow guys, a lot of stuff to check. Thx a lot!  And apparently I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the annoying cooling. During the day it is still ok, but once you start playing later in the evening, and the fan start to make more noise than the bass sound you’re producing it @&%€#.  I’ll check out the stuff here and will certainly come back later to give feedback 😀

Edited by Erwin67
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I’ve used an EBS Microbass II pre-amp for years. Usually plug into the effects return of any amp for my killer tone. Currently into an Orange Crush 50 for home and Fender Rumble 100 for rehearsals… don’t think either have a fan. You also need to check the amp has an effects return. I also have the option to plug straight into the Orange for a different sound.

There was a EBS Microbass III for sale on here at a great price… it has an aux in and headphones out for totally silent practising. The EBS II (mine) doesn’t have an aux in.

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1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

Welcome Erwin !

I'm from Belgium too, la Gaume. I also hate these f*cking noisy fans and that are always too noisy whatever people say. Some even pretend that the 3 fans of a Hartke LH series are quiet when that make the sound of a jet at take off...

So back on tracks, here are some best candidates, but they are not that much as I've tried almost everything available with one 12 inches speaker (my favourite combo type) :

AER BassCube (favour the very first generation with the huge radiator that have no fan, but don't forget their later iteration that has a really dead quiet small fan which will only start when very hot).

EBS Drome 12 (the Swedish ones, not the Chinese horrors).

Gallien Kruger MB 150 S or E (there was also an MB 200 back in the day).

GR Bass Cube (the fan can be disabled).

That's all...

I also use an original EBS Taurus 240, but it's a combo equipped with 2 x 10 inches speakers (with integrated chorus and octaver).

Ha, la Gaume, the region with the best weather of Belgium. 😀 Here the west side of Brussels. The GK MB150 one of my favorites too. And indeed no cooling. Nice to discover that! Thx

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27 minutes ago, Trueno said:

I’ve used an EBS Microbass II pre-amp for years. Usually plug into the effects return of any amp for my killer tone. Currently into an Orange Crush 50 for home and Fender Rumble 100 for rehearsals… don’t think either have a fan. You also need to check the amp has an effects return. I also have the option to plug straight into the Orange for a different sound.

There was a EBS Microbass III for sale on here at a great price… it has an aux in and headphones out for totally silent practising. The EBS II (mine) doesn’t have an aux in.

That could be a nice solution too! Thx 👍

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12 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

PJB or AER

Hi Dan,  do you have experience with PJB?  PJB Bg 400 seems to be a nice amp, nice sounding and very good build quality as well. But I’m afraid he will not have the beautiful low ends. The deep oomph like we say🤣 But apparently they have! 

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1 hour ago, Erwin67 said:

Hi Dan,  do you have experience with PJB?  PJB Bg 400 seems to be a nice amp, nice sounding and very good build quality as well. But I’m afraid he will not have the beautiful low ends. The deep oomph like we say🤣 But apparently they have! 

Hello. I use PJB cabs (C4s and 4Bs), which I like a lot. I had a Flightcase combo, which sounded lovely within its limited power output. The 400/Suitcase is considerably more powerful and more of the same. If you like a clean sound then I can confirm it has "beautiful low ends". If you want that "oomph" (which is often a little artificial to my ears), you may find it lacking. You really need to try one and judge for yourself.

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50 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

Hello. I use PJB cabs (C4s and 4Bs), which I like a lot. I had a Flightcase combo, which sounded lovely within its limited power output. The 400/Suitcase is considerably more powerful and more of the same. If you like a clean sound then I can confirm it has "beautiful low ends". If you want that "oomph" (which is often a little artificial to my ears), you may find it lacking. You really need to try one and judge for yourself.

Thx for the info. I like a clean sound, for sure, I’m a hifi freak, and yes, that oomph is artificial, but sometimes ooh soo nice🤣.  I’ll try to find a shop here which has one in stock. Thx! 

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:crigon_04:

I’m a bit of a Phil Jones fanboy, I have a Flightcase coupled with the PB300 powered cab, plenty loud, plenty of bottom end (I even cut it a bit). Very clean, some might say unforgiving, but takes FX really well if you want to emulate another type of amp. I’ve also owned a Bass Cub and Bass Buddy. I’ve been well pleased with all my PJB products. The Super Flightcase might be just the ticket if you want more power in one box.

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I owned a PJB Suitcase for a while - people couldn't believe how bassy it was considering that it's a compact unit with 5" speakers. I'd suggest you give one a try before discounting them. The 4x7 cabs are excellent too - lightweight and powerful - you could do much worse.

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