RH750 vs Aguilar Tone Hammer

sehnsucht77 · #1 01-29-2012, 09:32 PM

RH750 vs Aguilar Tone Hammer: im in the market for a compact bass head with a DI for recording and a good amount of power for smaller gigs. In terms of flexibility, which one would y'all recommend?

vin*tone · #2 01-29-2012, 09:39 PM

Gee. Depends what your definition of flexibility is IMO. The TC has a great feature set, flexible EQ points etc.. but is very 'voiced'. If you're after a really clean and wide tone you won't really be able to just dial it in.... that's my experience with the 450 anyway. The 750 adds a bit of top end with the tweeter tone but I believe the low end is rolled off the same.

Either of those heads will easily handle a smaller gig volume wise.

Jeff Scott · #3 01-29-2012, 09:45 PM

It depends; do you want something that you can tweak all day, or an amp that sounds great with little fuss? If the former, go with the RH750. If you want great tone and spend your time playing and recording, instead of turning knobs and pushing buttons, get the Tone Hammer 500.

sehnsucht77 · #4 01-29-2012, 10:35 PM

thanks for the replies. i don't mind the tweaking but in my gear, i tend to go for stuff that aren't one trick ponies since i tend to not buy much equipment and stick to what works and what works well. i've tried some aguilar stuff and the 500 looks like its build like a tank, what about the 750? i've read some reports about shoddy knobs but how is the chassis overall?

i really like the preset option in the 750 and i am leaning more to the TC because of that.

vin*tone · #5 01-29-2012, 11:39 PM

The presets are really handy on the TC - particularly if you have the footswitch. I'd have to disagree with Jeff on the knob twiddling - you can get a great plug n play tone through the TC .... if you like vintage.

The knobs are touch and go. Some people have no issues, mine however - does. I'm currently waiting on replacement knobs and hope they are better.

The rest of the amp with its aluminium chassis is very solid.

sehnsucht77 · #6 01-30-2012, 04:25 PM

@vin-tone: yep -i do like vintage and play vintage basses almost exclusively. i played an SVT for years before I just decided hauling it everywhere was nuts. the presets for the TC is really the clincher for me. thanks for the input. sounds like TC is a great unit save for the knob issue and if that is the only thing that bothers some folks, i think i will take the plunge with the bass head.

arai · #7 01-30-2012, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vin*tone

The presets are really handy on the TC - particularly if you have the footswitch. I'd have to disagree with Jeff on the knob twiddling - you can get a great plug n play tone through the TC .... if you like vintage.

The knobs are touch and go. Some people have no issues, mine however - does. I'm currently waiting on replacement knobs and hope they are better.

The rest of the amp with its aluminium chassis is very solid.

The pre sets are awesome. I am in two bands with very different bass sounds. One band is clean and fat tone the other is more mid rock tone the goes between a bit of grind to a whole heap. I can change between these different tones by pushing a button, I hardly ever need to do any knob twiddling now.

Also I think the chassis is steel not aluminium

Sumtingwong · #8 01-30-2012, 07:02 PM

The 750 is a slick little amp- Even with all the great debate over the power output, you can dial in just about anything you need.

I just sent mine back, but it's only because I need stupid output watts from time to time. For 90 percent of my gigs it would be the perfect head, but it's the ten percent where you don't have the volume that made me decide to send it back.

The presets, tuner and the footswitch make for a cool, flexible head that does have more headroom than the 238 watt power section implies. The compression is good, the flexibility to shelve or dial out mud and boom on one end, dial out the clank on the top and still have tweeter control on the extreme top end is really nice. You can get it to grind a little, or push a lot of clean bottom end.

I did have a few niggling issues- I had a preset "stick" and refuse to disengage on stage, (I missed the "mute" button and wasn't using the footswitch") and powering it down didn't help- I had to dial it in on the fly over two songs to get a useful tone again.

I ordered an SVT-4 which arrived this morning- Late. (It was supposed to have been here Friday morning...) The 1600 watts is hard to argue against- Sooo, I heave it out of the box, plug it in-No power light, the EQ section didn't work at all and it was putting out an incredibly feeble amount of volume in bridge mode. By feeble, I mean- State-of-the-fart tone and volume.
A big, expensive, bleeping anchor.

If the replacement doesn't A) Arrive on time, and B) in good working order, and C) Most important- Prove to be reliable, Ampeg and GC is going to wish they'd never heard of me. If Jimmy is the Ampeg Jesus, I'm going to be the Ampeg Ant-christ.

Now- With all that being said- I LIKED the 750. YMMV. For most gigging players, it's a great little head. I am equally willing to give the SVT a chance over the course of a few shows to see what it can really do. If I had that kind of money, I'd keep both.

bassfootballguy · #9 01-30-2012, 08:30 PM

I own the Aguilar TH500, and I challenge the conventional take that it isn't versatile or "tweakable". Between the drive control and sweepable midrange I have uncovered a plethora of usable bass tones.
I think people mistake an easy interface and great plug-n-play sound for a "lack" of something and I say that just isn't so.
I am sure the RH750 is great, but the Aguilar is simply magnificent and oh so portable. Best wishes and God bless on your quest.

fraublugher · #10 01-30-2012, 08:50 PM

I have an RH 450 and love it , haven't tried the tonehammer but you should try before you buy if you can.
good luck

sehnsucht77 · #11 01-30-2012, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassfootballguy

I own the Aguilar TH500, and I challenge the conventional take that it isn't versatile or "tweakable". Between the drive control and sweepable midrange I have uncovered a plethora of usable bass tones.
I think people mistake an easy interface and great plug-n-play sound for a "lack" of something and I say that just isn't so.
I am sure the RH750 is great, but the Aguilar is simply magnificent and oh so portable. Best wishes and God bless on your quest.

Jimmy, how is the DI tone on the Aguilar? People post lots of DI clips with the 750 or the 450 but not much of the Tone Hammer 500. I will be using the amp head as a DI too at home so if it has a killer DI, that would be great. I am quite the pedal geek and am familiar with Aguilar's stuff so getting pedals to work with the TH (if I get it) isn't going to be a big deal to get what I need. The presets just make it really appealing to me but the potential of it sticking is an annoying glitch -something a non digital amp wont have a problem with.

Zoa · #12 01-30-2012, 08:57 PM

For me personally, I'd go with the Aguilar. Twice as much power, excellent plug-and-play sound, and a sweepable mid. the DI is quite excellent as well, if that concerns you.

arai · #13 01-31-2012, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoa

For me personally, I'd go with the Aguilar. Twice as much power, excellent plug-and-play sound, and a sweepable mid. the DI is quite excellent as well, if that concerns you.

You do know each frequency is sweepable on the 750 , That's 4 sweepable mids if you want.
And it has excellent plug in and play tone the d.i. is quiet as a mouse I get a lot of compliments from sound techs.
And hardly anyone has complained about lack of power from the 750.
The built in tuner and pre sets are just a bonus then

sehnsucht77 · #14 02-01-2012, 02:44 AM

awesome feedback from y'all. i appreciate it very much. all the comments have been very informative.