AER amp one

[Roxy]

Thanks to everyone who replied re my post on which combo to buy . I went for the AER in the end. I realise I need to experiment until I find the right sound for me , but any quick tips please to shorten the wait! I’ve used it for a couple of rehearsals (trio) and one gig ( 4 piece) - both no drummer and jazz standards. Whilst the guitarist says it sounds great, I’m only hearing lovely deep bass but no zing on g and d strings above 5th fret.  
Of course, I’m only a couple of feet away from it , so the old chestnut of what you hear doesn’t mean the audience hears the same. I’m using a Sire 4 string. Cheers! 

[Waddycall]

Is it on the floor? If so try putting it on a chair or table,or tilting it back with something so you can hear it better.

[Roxy]

5 minutes ago, Waddycall said:

Is it on the floor? If so try putting it on a chair or table,or tilting it back with something so you can hear it better.

Hi , thank you. Yes, on the floor , and good point about tilting, I’ll definitely do that ( just not tried that yet as it’s heavy for its size of course and it’s feels a bit silly sticking a bit of crappy wood under to tilt - it looks lovely without ! )  I previously had a Hartke wedge and before that a Mark wedge, so your tip will be a good help. Cheers! 

[medpb]

Ive had one for about 8 years. Its probably the best amp for bass that's ever been made. A ridiculously good little amp !!!!! You'll love it.

Its also a killer channel strip/pre-amp for recording. Its amazing !

[Phil Starr]

Ortega Floor Amp Stand, Black at Gear4music

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by Phil Starr

[funkle]

I really liked mine but sold it eventually as it had no tweeter, and I missed the zing/high end. I have seen people on Talkbass mod theirs with a tweeter to get the high end back.

[Roxy]

Hello everyone, hope you’re all healthy . A few months and a few small gigs on from my post, and loving the amp, as are the other musicians! However, I still miss a bit of zing, so any recommendations please on adding an extension tweeter ?

[Tubster]

Why not a dual concentric speaker in lieu of the stock? Might be worth a shot.

I’d look to Italy for inspiration  - RCF, 18 sound, B&C etc. someone must have an intriguing solution.

[Downunderwonder]

50 minutes ago, Tubster said:

Why not a dual concentric speaker in lieu of the stock? Might be worth a shot.

I’d look to Italy for inspiration  - RCF, 18 sound, B&C etc. someone must have an intriguing solution.

No. You're obviously not familiar with the skullduggery that is the bass the comes out of an AER. No way you're keeping that with an alternative driver.

[Tubster]

You could be right but Tannoy managed such bass levels for many years using dual concentrics. My AER THREE is indeed a bass marvel featuring, I think, 2x 8” Spica or Faital  drivers. Don’t know which 10” the ONE uses, anyone in the know?

[Phil Starr]

On 20/11/2022 at 19:15, Roxy said:

Hello everyone, hope you’re all healthy . A few months and a few small gigs on from my post, and loving the amp, as are the other musicians! However, I still miss a bit of zing, so any recommendations please on adding an extension tweeter ?

Never say never but the chances of you installing a tweeter that works well is fairly low and changing the driver will change the rest of the sound of the combo and worse is more likely than better. you also have a valuable bit of kit that is going to be easy to sell and will be devalued quite a lot if you start to do surgery on it.

 

To install a tweeter you'll need to design a crossover to manage rolling off the high frequencies as the tweeter takes over and to make sure only the top end goes to the tweeter. You'll also have to match the output of the tweeter  to that of the bass driver or one will dominate the sound. Get any of this wrong and you'll introduce all sorts of issues where both the tweeter and woofer are sharing the sound. A generic off the shelf crossover will 'work' in the sense of making a sound but won't be matched to your speakers and will introduce problems with your midrange around the crossover frequency along with the extra zing. If you are handy with a soldering iron, have lots of patience and are willing to fiddle around you might get something you like better but it might be better and cheaper to sell the AMP 1 and try something else.

 

Have you fully explored using eq or fx to get a bit of extra zing? Surgery should only ever be a last resort

 

 

[BassmanPaul]

12 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Surgery should only ever be a last resort

 

 

Absolutely!!

 

You could try a so called 'Tweeter Box'. A small box containing a mid range and or tweeter plus suitable crossover. This would operate in parallel with the woofer(s) in the AER.

 

You could try a couple of Piezo tweeters to see if they help. they don't need much of a crossover and are cheap.

Edited November 27, 2022 by BassmanPaul