Been on amp hunt yesterday to improve my setup for gigs too big for my PJB Briefcase and too small for a large PA. I meant to go for Eden. Had played a couple of those and liked them, but things turned out differently.
My issues were:
- 300-500w range
- warmth AND punch AND transparency
- excellent low B, especially at low volume
- as small and lightweight as sound quality and power would permit
Fortunately, I live in an urban area with many large music stores competing like crazy. At one of those I compared Eden WT550/410 cab with Orange Terro Bass/Ampeg 410; they didn't have those fancy Orange cabinets with 2x12" in a row. I tried all stuff with my G&L L2500 fretless.
Eden: warmth excellent, transparency so&so (chords and low B muddy), punch not bad.
Orange: very characteristic sound, a sniff of hoarseness, 'smokey', maybe from the tube in the hybrid amp. Nice! transparency good, punch good.
But it exceeded my original budget, so I returned home and communicated with Mrs. K. I showed her some pics of those cute Orange cabinets. That made her go with me to another store where they had the original cabs in three different colors. For reference, I asked them to set up Markbass LmIII and Eden WT550 on the other two cabs.
Eden: see above, a little beefier on the Orange cab
Orange: see above, maybe a little less transparent on the original cab compared to the Ampeg at the first store
Markbass: warm, punchy, VERY tranparent.
The guy said: now why don't you compare the LMIII on Orange and Markbass cabs? Very sensible advice. A Markbass 4x10 would have implied public, hence hazardous negotiations with Mrs. K., so I started on a single NY 121 12" cab that easily outdid the Orange both on warmth and transparency. Then my wife pointed at a CMD121H combo. The all-in-one principle and women... So I tried it. The highs were a little better on head/cab (piezo vs. compression tweeter).
I only had one more issue to go: low B. It was good, but not excellent. The rich overtone bouquet from the G&L, emphasised by the tweeter, was pushing aside the original low b. Even more at low volume and playing with a soft touch.
Right under the CMD121H was the 151P Jeff Berlin Combo. Read about on the Markbass site, especially the ominous phrase: "Jeff doesn't like tweeters."
Basically, I am inclined to stay away from large speakers. IMO, they tend to make things rather swampy. Not this one. it was clear and clean all over. Chords and harmonics were both crisp and tender. And there, finally, I found my low b. Even at background car radio level it presented itself with majestic authority.
Quote from Mrs. K. "So
thát's what it needed..."
