NAD: Gr Bass AT800 Cube Combo

[tauzero]

Unfortunately I missed the courier on Friday, as otherwise I'd have gigged this on Saturday. A quick check out shows it's rather loud in the house. Some experimenting is called for as there are a wide range of tone control options (never a good idea with me). There's also facilities to use the array of 24 LEDs as a VU meter (4 modes) or a tuner. Initial impression of the sound is very clean, with plenty of depth. There's a Deep and a Bright switch for that smiley face sound, and the Antoniotsai (which has Barts and a Delano Sonar preamp, set flat) sounded great on that with the amp tone controls somewhere round flat.

 

And a few hours later, the Big Baby 2 was gone - a good cab and very lightweight, but not as lightweight as the GR. One minor point - the GR has the amp tucked in the back, balancing the speaker at the front, so the handle is in the middle for correct balance. The BB2 obviously has a speaker on the front panel but nothing to balance that on the rear, so the handle is asymmetric, closer to the front of the cab than the back. I didn't measure the distance from the front for each, but I suspect the GR's handle is a tiny bit further away from the front than the BB2's.

[machinehead]

I’d love to hear this combo. It should be amazing.

Enjoy it. As a long time BB2 user, I’m very interested.

Frank.

[Greg Edwards69]

Following. I mentioned this in your BB2 for sale post, but I’m very, very interested is this combo, or maybe it’s less powerful 500w sibling. 
 

You mention it’s very clean sounding and deep. Would you say it’s transparent? Perhaps as transparent as the BB2 it’s replaced. I’m after a much lighter alternative to my headrush frfr-112. As I understand it, the BB2 is highly regarded as an frfr option for basses. If the GR AT combos perform similarly as transparent it will be on my shopping list. 
 

even my wife thinks I need to replace the headrush for something lighter, so the price doesn’t seem quite so painful!

[tauzero]

I think it's transparent, but I'm not sure how good my ears are. I didn't A/B it with the BB2 but my impression is that it is a little cleaner sounding. I chose the 800 over the 500 because, although at the moment my requirements mean I don't need the extra power, I have the option of putting an extension cab on should things change in the future.

[tauzero]

Played a gig with this on Saturday. Pub gig, three-piece, guitar/vox, keys, bass. Used an Ikea laptop shelf to tilt the amp back (being a combo, I don't have to worry about Ann Boleyn syndrome). Clear sound, would have overwhelmed the PA if I'd turned it up to more than 2 on the output. Must have another play at home as I think the input is more sensitive than the Tecamp Puma that it replaces, and it might have been just moving into clipping. Mrs Zero approved, which is the key point.