At the end, I finally decided to buy the “definitive” amplification rig. Here my requirements:Alla fine mi sono deciso ad acquistare il sistema di amplificazione “definitivo”. Requisiti:
• Most & Best singing Fretless sound of all (alike GARY WILLIS – Aguilar DB750)
• Grindy and offensive saturated Rock sound (alike BILLY SHEEHAN - Ampeg)
• A rig suited to face venues in little PUBs, medium sized stages and big stages, and finally open space stages too, used as bass monitor.
• A rig featuring “ALARP” weight & size (As Low As Reasonably Practicable)
After many hours spent in local music shops trying different brands of amplifiers, and many combinations (head & cabinet), it happened to me to visit ATS (Advanced Telecommunication Systems) site
www.atsitaly.com, and took a contact. It didn’t take a long time to decide, and opted for a Head & a Cabinet.
I really found more than I was searching for: I had a chance to have built a custom head, with high brightness blue LEDs much alike the WW Golf control panel I love so much, and the Headphone line-out that allows me to study at night hearing my sound. And I met an extraordinary person, Mr. Enrico Santagati, the inventor of BP500 head and BS2X10CH-T23 cabinet which I bought, and as well the person who physically built and customized mine (he builds them all personally indeed).
But let’s go in order… I tried AMPEG SVT-4 PRO Head, the one with tube preamplifier and solid state power amp, but didn’t get impressed by its versatility. Don’t get me wrong, it had great roaring rock sound but with an indelible character. Too “characterized”, and perhaps I would say lacking of Hi-Fi sound capability, which for me was an important factor. I tried the Italian Mark Bass, a model featuring tube preamp and solid-state power amp. I liked it more. But in my opinion it was not enough outstanding to justify the changing from my beloved glory SWR SM 400 S head. I tried in the end the GLOKENKLANG head & cabinet, the SOUL model with 2x12” cabinet. Beautiful, HI-FI sounding, really, detailed, precise. But it didn’t give my fretless bass that “spirit”, that thickness I was dreaming of all the times I heard Gary Willis or Alain Caron. I needed a sound much more similar to human voice, more present, more “close” and intimate. Well… a good amplifier, but I was not screaming: MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!... (TO ME & MY EARS, AT LEAST…) Long story short: 2 brands match, i.e. Italian ATS, and VANDERKLEY from Holland.
I am Italian, and perhaps it is because I am a little bit Patriot, or probably for Enrico Santagati managed to explain me really EVERYTHING about his line of products like BP500 head and BS2X10CH-T23 cabinet, which are complex and difficult to explain in words, and really because I often choose with “heart”, I decided at once that I would have bought ATS.
The Head & Cabinet combo seems to be built for my bass, which is a 6 strings 36 frets fretless bass (much alike Manring Hyperbass). It is incredibly responsive along the whole extension of the bass, and gives sparkling harmonics. The sound comes out always silky elegant, and velvet soft. The sound is woody, full, never compressed, at any volume. I can get JACO PASTORIUS sound, and doublebass walking sound too. I can get a SLAP Alain Caron sound too (even though SLAP on a fretless bass is not Heaven…). I can’t explain enough how the “Meoww”, tipical of fretless bass, gets out of the fretboard naturally and always and how rich and articulated is the sound: the high frequencies of the strings “frying” on the fretboard, the depth of the low fundamentals, the consistency of sustain, the dynamic of the vibratos. Every nuance is clearly understandable to the ears and yet interwoven as a whole. A sound like that is al I was looking for, and not a common result. I am enthusiast…
The sound can be saturated untill the crunch sound tipical of BILLY SHEEHAN, and so the versatility of the head is really surprising. In 2 words: my bass never sounded better. I got out recently from a music store in Milan, after trying here and there some more amplification (afer receiving my ATS), and I was very disappointed. My ATS is words better.
What can I say… to get a higher result, I shoud buy a FODERA… AS SOON AS I WIN SOME BINGO!!!!! The cabinet, a 2x10” entirely MADE IN ITALY, is rated 800W in 4 ohms. It has the same power (brutal) of a 4x10, but less weight and less bulky. No components made in CHINA. Solders are all point to point, hand made, You know what I mean. And the valves, in the pre amplifier stage, are ALL NOS Hi-Fi grade.
The down side is that after having ATS, my impulse in buying new stuff completely vanished, and visits to musical stores became de pressing!!!
Imagine: it’s like listening to classical music from VOICE OF THEATRE cabinets and EMT LP Player: You just HAVE to throw MP3 and Home Theatre **** out of the window!!!!
Any of You had a chance to try ATS? Any experience? Please share!!!
