EA iAmp Pro info please

[IronMaiden]

I'm interested in a new light head to go with my Acme B-2 since I find that my SWR headlite just has too much upper mid grind in my opinion.

I've searched youtube for videos and here for reviews and and only found a few things out about it. That it is one of the flattest amps out there, has a great EQ section, works great with upright, has a lot of power, isn't noisy, and can get some massive lows. So far this sounds perfect for me but since there isn't anywhere nearby that can try this thing out I want as much info as possible before I sell some gear to finance the buy.

Anyone have experience with these? Sound clips, videos, and/or reviews would be really helpful.

All opinions and views are welcome and much appreciated.

[Low Class]

I tried my iAmp 800 with the B2 and did not like it at all. I also tried the iAmp Pro(not with the Acme) and prefer the 800. The 800 sounded more robust to me.

[IronMaiden]

What was the sound like with iAmp 800 through the B2?

[Low Class]

Originally Posted by IronMaiden

What was the sound like with iAmp 800 through the B2?

Awful!! I have since switched to EA CXL112's. From my experience with EA gear, if you're going to use their heads you're better off also using their cabs.

[Ukiah Bass]

I use an iAMP Pro with LDS 15/6 and 12/6 cabs. Both sound wonderful with that amp, which I understand has a "wider" low than other amps. Never played it with Acme, but as those amps also reputedly do well at projecting lows, it's hard to understand how they could sound bad. Perhaps beauty is in the eyes of the beholder?

[KJung]

Originally Posted by IronMaiden

What was the sound like with iAmp 800 through the B2?

I too had bad luck with the iAmp800 and my Acme's (B210). The Acme's benefit from an amp with a tighter low end, or a hi pass filter applied down low. The iAmp with the Acme was way too much of a good thing... and that super deep bass extension of the iAmp (I'm assuming the Pro has a similar voicing as the 800) just really stressed the Acme drivers to my ear... boom and bloom. You would think you could control the low end with the shiftable shelving point on the bass control, but it just didn't seem to work like a hi pass filter does on the Acme's.

With your SWR, with that semiparametric mid control, dialing out some upper mids at 800hz or so should smooth that amp out.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Ukiah Bass

I use an iAMP Pro with LDS 15/6 and 12/6 cabs. Both sound wonderful with that amp, which I understand has a "wider" low than other amps. Never played it with Acme, but as those amps also reputedly do well at projecting lows, it's hard to understand how they could sound bad. Perhaps beauty is in the eyes of the beholder?

FYI, the drivers in your 15/6 and 12/6 are MUCH more robust than the Acme drivers, and are also tuned much higher (I believe closer to 45 or 48hz versus the 31 hz of the Acme. That makes them a PERFECT match for a head like the EA iAmp Pro or the TecAmp Puma (i.e., heads with a very deep bass extension voiced into their inherent tone).

[babebambi]

Originally Posted by KJung

FYI, the drivers in your 15/6 and 12/6 are MUCH more robust than the Acme drivers, and are also tuned much higher (I believe closer to 45 or 48hz versus the 31 hz of the Acme. That makes them a PERFECT match for a head like the EA iAmp Pro or the TecAmp Puma (i.e., heads with a very deep bass extension voiced into their inherent tone).

please pardon my half-baked understanding of cab tuning ...

wouldn't the deep voicing (let alone the "deep" switch) of the iAmp Pro causes the woofers in the higher tuned cabs to unload earlier/easier?

[KJung]

Originally Posted by babebambi

please pardon my half-baked understanding of cab tuning ...

wouldn't the deep voicing (let alone the "deep" switch) of the iAmp Pro causes the woofers in the higher tuned cabs to unload earlier/easier?

That's over my head, and also I have no idea as to the actual frequency range of the iAmp... just telling you what my ears heard. It's about tuning, but also about the mechanical design of the speaker. Put too much low end into those Acme's and all kind of trouble can happen (it has been described to me as a poor ratio of xmax to xmech, which with my layman's understanding of all of this, makes pretty good sense given what I hear with those cabs). Many who play Acme's use a hi pass filter. I don't know of any other bass cabs that seem to need one.

I believe the 'deep switch' of the EA's boosts around 50hz if I remember correctly (edit: checked... this is correct, 1/2 octave, centered at 50hz.)


Both Alex Claber and Greenboy have a lot of experience with the Acme's and also the 3012LF and 3015LF loaded cabs like Ukiah's, and could comment on what the deal is in more correct technical terms. I guess the simplest way to put it is that the iAmpPro/800 sounds like a PA amp with no hi pass filtering, while most other amps sound closer to a PA amp with hi pass filtering (which is how most use PA amps with the Acme's!).

[IronMaiden]

Thanks for all the information guys! I've tried taking out ~800Hz on my SWR but as it's hard to tell where I am on that semi-parametric EQ I'm kind of shooting in the dark. I can kind of dial it out but I find that the aural enhancer works better to round out the lows with that. There is just some kind of sound I can't dial out of that thing so I'm looking for something else.

I plan on getting the Thumpinator sometime as well. Do you think this would solve the "too much low extension for the drivers" problem?

[Munjibunga]

I just tried an EA iAMP Pro at Bass San Diego this week. I played a Sadowsky and a Lull through it into a Bergantino AE212. It took me a while to get it dialed in, but the tone was good. I probably needed another 20 minutes to totally dial it in, but with the frequency controls on every band, there's a lot of possibilities. One thing I noticed is that the bass boost doesn't come off all boomy ... it just deepens up the bass without turning it to mud. I like that. The other two contour switches gave it more of an old-school vibe, if you like that sort of thing. Of course I wasted the first five minutes of trying to find "my tone" because I didn't have the EQ button engaged.

I ended up not buying it for two reasons:1. it's bigger than what I want, and 2. it arrived at the store just before I got there (George opened it up for me) but once I played through it, it was a floor model. I want a new amp.

(Actually I like buying floor models ... if they're going to have early problems, it'll usually be in the store.)

[greenboy]

Originally Posted by KJung

FYI, the drivers in your 15/6 and 12/6 are MUCH more robust than the Acme drivers, and are also tuned much higher (I believe closer to 45 or 48hz versus the 31 hz of the Acme.

Hmmm, when trying to figure out the Acme tuning years ago, I think maybe 39 Hz or thereabouts might have been my guess. 31 Hz is listed as a -6dB down point in their specs, but that doesn't really mean much about box tuning. Only the relationships between driver T-S, box size, and tuning all together actually reveal the bigger picture.

Which brings up an interesting point {to nerdy guys that hate industry practices anyway ; } ...I used to see a fair amount of product lit referring to its cabs being tuned to 30 hz. It was pretty funny, because there clearly was not enough porting depth, nor would that have been especially optimized to any typical drivers fitted to the cab size in question. It was just marketing nonsense, and more often than not, off by about an octave (or more!).

[Ukiah Bass]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

One thing I noticed is that the bass boost doesn't come off all boomy ... it just deepens up the bass without turning it to mud. I like that.

I too like the deep switch at low volume - sounds quite "tubey" to my ears and puts "feel" into the tone. But it's important to dial back bass as volume increases w/the deep switch. Can't use it at all at mid-to-high volume as the switch causes muddiness/boom.

But as you note, there is enormous flexibility in dialing tone with the amp. It's a tone monster -- AND a volume monster. At 600 watts / 8 ohms or 1200 watts / 4 ohms and only nine pounds. Wow.

Interestingly, with my acoustic bass I leave everything flat.

[greenboy]

Originally Posted by Ukiah Bass

But as you note, there is enormous flexibility in dialing tone with the amp. It's a tone monster -- AND a volume monster. At 600 watts / 8 ohms or 1200 watts / 4 ohms and only nine pounds. Wow.

hey Ukiah,

So you'd say this head is a good progression from [names of what you were using before]?

Interestingly, with my acoustic bass I leave everything flat.

Not surprising at all.

[etoncrow]

There is also more discussion on the EA Pro at this thread:
EA Euphonic Audio Club (NEW WEBSITE)

[Ukiah Bass]

Originally Posted by greenboy

hey Ukiah,

So you'd say this head is a good progression from [names of what you were using before]?

Har har har! The answer is yes. Peavy -> Carvin -> Eden -> Genz Benz -> EA.

[greenboy]

Originally Posted by Ukiah Bass

Har har har! The answer is yes. Peavy -> Carvin -> Eden -> Genz Benz -> EA.

Coolness ; }

Maybe you could post in the fEarful thread the reasons why you believe the progression has been, well, progressive. Some insight. I'd like to see EA get a little love if they've got some Right Stuff going here.

[IronMaiden]

It looks like I know what I'm getting my self next month. Thanks guys, I'll post a review in here when I put it through it's paces.

[Ukiah Bass]

Here are recordings from coffee shop type gigs using the iAMP Pro. Both used an LDS 12/6 cab, and were recorded through an Audio Technica AT-825 stereo mic into a Marantaz solid state recorder.

Acoustic - Tacoma Thunderchief acoustic bass guitar, acoustic guitar, acoustic mandolin. iAMP settings flat.

Electric - Fender Aerodyne Jazz bass (P pickup only), acoustic guitar. iAMP bass boost on, bass flat, lower mids boosted a bit, upper mids cut slightly, high flat.

[IronMaiden]

Thanks for the clips. That's a very nice tone you get out of all that on both basses. Can't wait to hear what something similar will sound like in person.

EDIT: I think I remember reading somewhere that this amp can safely do 2ohms with the same amount of wants through 4ohms? Is this correct? It would be nice because if keep it I could just buy another 4ohm B2 for louder gigs instead of buying 2 8omhs.