Aguilar Tone Hammer Pedal and Littlemark head

[Youngspanion]

Has anyone experienced the Aguilar Tone Hammer Pedal and the Littlemark 2/3 head. I'm hesitant and spending the money on a new head like the Tone Hammer 500 when I have a perfectly good head in the LM2 that I own. I'm just really looking for an alternative to the already well known tone of the Markbass.

[::::BASSIST::::]

I really like the TH pedal. Slight upper mid roll off and slight bump in the low-mids. The sweepable mids and excellent Di also contribute to its greatness. Its a well made, very useful piece of gear.

That said I ran a VT bass with my LMII and really dug that too.

[Youngspanion]

Are you still liking the markbass head Bassist?

[::::BASSIST::::]

I did like that amp ALOT but felt it didn't quite drive my fEARful 15/6 very well. Doesnt quite have the guts needed at 8 ohms IMO so I had to let her go. I currently use either the TH + a QSC poweramp or my gkmb800.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Youngspanion

Has anyone experienced the Aguilar Tone Hammer Pedal and the Littlemark 2/3 head. I'm hesitant and spending the money on a new head like the Tone Hammer 500 when I have a perfectly good head in the LM2 that I own. I'm just really looking for an alternative to the already well known tone of the Markbass.

Per the posts above, the LMII/III is a great platform for a pedal. Nice warm, clean, relatively neutral full range tone. Perfect for putting a footswitchable pedal in front of for a different, more aggressive vibe when you need it.

[Youngspanion]

Originally Posted by KJung

Per the posts above, the LMII/III is a great platform for a pedal. Nice warm, clean, relatively neutral full range tone. Perfect for putting a footswitchable pedal in front of for a different, more aggressive vibe when you need it.

Thank you Ken...

This gas really is persistent. I thought the Rumble 350 was gonna solve it but it hasn't gone away...

I just hope I don't have to start buying new heads to feed this curiosity.

[jasper383]

Originally Posted by KJung

Per the posts above, the LMII/III is a great platform for a pedal. Nice warm, clean, relatively neutral full range tone. Perfect for putting a footswitchable pedal in front of for a different, more aggressive vibe when you need it.

+1

I have had better luck with pedals in front of my LMII than any other head.

[::::BASSIST::::]

Yup. For the record I have had bad luck with the VT infront of the mb500/mb800.

[big evil robot]

Tone hammers are great, I greatly prefer it to the Sansamp I had previously.

[::::BASSIST::::]

Agreed. Great bass tone that is easy to dial in. I like the Tech 21 stuff too, but its quite coloured and players may find the more neutral TH to be more appealing

[ErnieD]

Am I wrong here or do the TH amps/pedals all pretty much add alot of grindy-saturated-tubey tone. At least that's the impression I get from most of the vids I've sampled. Maybe this is a feature it has and most just post vids of that tone.

I was looking to buy the TH pedal (or even a TH 500) to try into a LMII or other of my amp heads cause I'm looking for a cleaner, more modern tone than my Streamliner 900. From the vids I saw I backed off and ordered a new GB 9.2 I found on good deal on.

I'm trying that head into my NeoX 212T, 2xRS-210's and gonna roll out the UL 410 soon to see how it does with that cab. Using mostly a P5, Jazz 5 at this time.

So far, I still prefer the tone of my 900 over the 9.2 but its only been tried here at home. Will take both heads to my next gig. And still I don't find the 9.2 drastically different of the 900 or as "modern" as I expected. Was also considering the GK MB800. Anyone suggest a 800-900 mini-micro head that'll offer more modern-hifi tone than what I'm considering? Thanks.

[::::BASSIST::::]

I prefer a clean, warm 'tube without grind' tone as well and the TH definitely gets me there. I just leave the AGS off. The mb800 may indeed be what you are looking for. Its rated accurately, as tested by Bass Gear Magazine, and the tone is very nice. Its also very small and light, which I love. Its not super versatile, but with the addition of an eq pedal its quite formidable.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by ErnieD

Am I wrong here or do the TH amps/pedals all pretty much add alot of grindy-saturated-tubey tone. At least that's the impression I get from most of the vids I've sampled. Maybe this is a feature it has and most just post vids of that tone.

I was looking to buy the TH pedal (or even a TH 500) to try into a LMII or other of my amp heads cause I'm looking for a cleaner, more modern tone than my Streamliner 900. From the vids I saw I backed off and ordered a new GB 9.2 I found on good deal on.

I'm trying that head into my NeoX 212T, 2xRS-210's and gonna roll out the UL 410 soon to see how it does with that cab. Using mostly a P5, Jazz 5 at this time.

So far, I still prefer the tone of my 900 over the 9.2 but its only been tried here at home. Will take both heads to my next gig. And still I don't find the 9.2 drastically different of the 900 or as "modern" as I expected. Was also considering the GK MB800. Anyone suggest a 800-900 mini-micro head that'll offer more modern-hifi tone than what I'm considering? Thanks.

The TH500 is definitely big and grunty for sure. Won't be 'cleaner' than the Streamliner, which can be totally clean and pristine. The TH500 ( or the addition of a TH pedal) will be MUCH more mid punchy and mid complex.... very, well, 'chewy'.

I am not an 'all out distortion' fan, but with my P, I like the 'grunt' that the TH500 gives me, and ended up liking the more mid mids and upper mid grind voicing than my Streamliner with most cabs. Dig the Streamliner too, but with the P in a mix, just ended loving the grunt of the TH500. Very different from the LMII/III and has more absolute balls down low at high volumes. However, if you are looking for 'warm and clean', not much out there that sounds better than the LMIII!

Here is a quick clip of my TH350 (same exact tone as the TH500 until you get to really loud levels) and my P Bass, that gives you an idea of what I mean by 'punchy and grunty' without 'all out distortion'. If you have a decent set of phones, the recording quality is good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo66B...yer_detailpage

[KJung]

Originally Posted by ::::BASSIST::::

I prefer a clean, warm 'tube without grind' tone as well and the TH definitely gets me there. I just leave the AGS off. The mb800 may indeed be what you are looking for. Its rated accurately, as tested by Bass Gear Magazine, and the tone is very nice. Its also very small and light, which I love. Its not super versatile, but with the addition of an eq pedal its quite formidable.

One of the advantages of the TH500 over the TH pedal is the variable drive. The on/off drive control of the pedal is kind of a 'distortion' effect. The variable drive control on the TH500/350 is much more of a tone control, reducing deep lows and upper treble as you turn it up to 'old school up' a rig (a little bit like the Markbass VLE), and then finally adding some gain and a bit of an upper mid boost to change the nature of the overdrive you get when turning up the gain. Cool circuit!

[ErnieD]

have checked out the vid ken, sounds very good. Not my exact tone-goal but I can see where it'd def work in band mix. And I did use a very similar tone for many years there with my funk/disco/soul bands.

Guess I'm was kina looking for a head that'll work with my UL410 cab before I decide to move it on or not. Don't want a single amp that will only work with this cab so its just a general area I'm shooting at here. I'm thinking the 9.2 might cut thru better in a certain club that I gig 1-2 times a month than the 900. But prolly with the 212T or 2xRS210's that I've used there before.

So that's also a reason to try a different head. But I've used the 900 in so many other venues/outdoors,etc that have been just great, so pretty sure it'll stay in my stable for a good while.

I do have the LMII and F1 that have always worked well with my UL410 and I can live with that. But kinda wanted something that'll offer this 8 ohm cab at least 500+ watts. Though I've done outdoor gigs with the UL+either the LMII or F1 and its been plenty. May just be time to move the UL410 out but I do get a call from a dicso/funk band for sit in gigs that the UL410/MB heads just work so well in.

ALSO, I've just went from Chromes to D'Ad Nylon Tapes on the P5 and man I love those strings. They aint prolly never coming off. And from what I've read here about them, they may never have to, life-wise.

And I've got Sadowsky flats on the JoBo 5er which I know both type strings I'm using may be counter-intuitive to the modern style I'm after. But last couple years gigged so much in a few bands that my fingers were trashed with SS rounds on a couple other basses from doing 3 nite in a row gigs, etc. So I'd go to the P5 or Jazz 5 by 2nd-3rd nite to get some relief. And I just love the feel, tone and control I get with esp the Tapes.

I do have a like new set of either D'Ad XL170's nickels or set of DR-Nickels that I may put back on the Jazz 5 for that more modern/clean tone that I believe I will get with the 9.2 head. So as usual, I should experiment with the heads/strings/cabs/basses I now use to prolly get where I want to be tone-wise.

Its not a real biggee, the new band loved my tone when I brought out my P5, STM-900, NeoX 212T last week to rehearsal. And said they hated their last bass audition guy who brought some huge, old 215 cab that blew up the small-ish practice room with his volume/lows.

Though both guitarist' were awed that "your using 12"s for bass?" So yeah well, they're old school....I'll bring em around. Onward and Upward Y'all.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by ErnieD

have checked out the vid ken, sounds very good. Not my exact tone-goal but I can see where it'd def work in band mix. And I did use a very similar tone for many years there with my funk/disco/soul bands.

Guess I'm was kina looking for a head that'll work with my UL410 cab before I decide to move it on or not. Don't want a single amp that will only work with this cab so its just a general area I'm shooting at here. I'm thinking the 9.2 might cut thru better in a certain club that I gig 1-2 times a month than the 900. But prolly with the 212T or 2xRS210's that I've used there before.

So that's also a reason to try a different head. But I've used the 900 in so many other venues/outdoors,etc that have been just great, so pretty sure it'll stay in my stable for a good while.

I do have the LMII and F1 that have always worked well with my UL410 and I can live with that. But kinda wanted something that'll offer this 8 ohm cab at least 500+ watts. Though I've done outdoor gigs with the UL+either the LMII or F1 and its been plenty. May just be time to move the UL410 out but I do get a call from a dicso/funk band for sit in gigs that the UL410/MB heads just work so well in.

ALSO, I've just went from Chromes to D'Ad Nylon Tapes on the P5 and man I love those strings. They aint prolly never coming off. And from what I've read here about them, they may never have to, life-wise.

And I've got Sadowsky flats on the JoBo 5er which I know both type strings I'm using may be counter-intuitive to the modern style I'm after. But last couple years gigged so much in a few bands that my fingers were trashed with SS rounds on a couple other basses from doing 3 nite in a row gigs, etc. So I'd go to the P5 or Jazz 5 by 2nd-3rd nite to get some relief. And I just love the feel, tone and control I get with esp the Tapes.

I do have a like new set of either D'Ad XL170's nickels or set of DR-Nickels that I may put back on the Jazz 5 for that more modern/clean tone that I believe I will get with the 9.2 head. So as usual, I should experiment with the heads/strings/cabs/basses I now use to prolly get where I want to be tone-wise.

Its not a real biggee, the new band loved my tone when I brought out my P5, STM-900, NeoX 212T last week to rehearsal. And said they hated their last bass audition guy who brought some huge, old 215 cab that blew up the small-ish practice room with his volume/lows.

Though both guitarist' were awed that "your using 12"s for bass?" So yeah well, they're old school....I'll bring em around. Onward and Upward Y'all.

Shuttle Max 9.2 would be glorious with that cab. That cab needs IMO some serious control of the low end combined with some serious low mid bumping power. The Max 9.2 will give you both, and pumps nicely into both 8ohms and 4ohms.

If you are looking for a micro, the Puma900 would also be magnificent. The bass and low mid controls are PERFECT for that cab.

I would not recommend the TH500 with that particular cab (I gigged a 401UL for years).

IMO and IME.

K

[ErnieD]

Ken, I did correspond with you on the UL410+F1/LMII a couple times last year or so. And to be clear, I just bought the GB Shuttle 9.2 head; not the 9.2 Shuttle Max head if there is a difference. Well I know there is a difference just did not know if you knew I was speaking of the 9.2 (non-Max) head in my last post here.

Sorry, I know I'm getting way off topic here of the TH this thread is about. But my query did start off concerning the TH pedal/amps and they're tones for my cabs.

And from what all I've read here, I do think the Puma amp line would be ideal with my UL410 cab. I also considered the Epifani amps. Never heard either one firsthand but yeah, I think that's the tone I'm trying to achieve with the UL cab.

And owning the STM-900; I don't think I'd ever need another head that does the tube tone with this amp in my arsenal. The next rig I've used in the past to get that clean/mod tone with my UL410 is my BBE (non-max) pre/Crown Coredrive XLS1500. I bridge it @ 8 ohms for aprox 1100 watts into the single UL410 and it kicks my rear with any bass I've used. Loved it.

I keep them in a 3 sp SKB case so its' not super bulky/heavy to move about. May just dig that rig out again and give her a go. With all the cr@pload of gear I have; I should find what I'm searching for.

Hey maybe a new bass is needed....Nah, better not. Wifey's watching me close these days. And I just slipped the 9.2 by her last week. Here she comes, gotta go now. Thanks again y'all.

[bigswifty1]

Question for tone hammer pedal users:

Are you running the pedal before the amp or into the amp effects return?

I would like to bypass the preamp on my mb500 (never 100% happy with it) and wondering whether the following would be feasible:

Bass => Aguilar Tube DI => Aguilar TH Pedal => mb500 fx return

Mike

[KJung]

Originally Posted by bigswifty1

Question for tone hammer pedal users:

Are you running the pedal before the amp or into the amp effects return?

I would like to bypass the preamp on my mb500 (never 100% happy with it) and wondering whether the following would be feasible:

Bass => Aguilar Tube DI => Aguilar TH Pedal => mb500 fx return

Mike

If you bypass the preamp, then use the effects return. If you use the preamp, then put the unit between amp and bass.

[Youngspanion]

Originally Posted by KJung

If you bypass the preamp, then use the effects return. If you use the preamp, then put the unit between amp and bass.

I'd imagine that bypassing the pre on the LM2/3 would get you closer to the true Aguilar Tone Hammer voice then using it with the Markbass pre.

Is that correct Ken?