aguilar gear + DB

[Alex Spradling]

Anyone tried one of the aguilar cabs or heads with a DB? I know avishai cohen plays their gear and he gets a nice sound.

[Barcza]

Unfortunatelly I didn't try, and I'm olso very inquiring for this brand. Here in the forum most of the people favor AI an EA amps for upright, but John Patitucci, Avishai Cohen and few other great bassist use the AG-500 head with Aguilar cabs. The customer service told me, the Ag-500 has 1 Mohms input, it could works for piezzo. I e-mailed with Denson Angulo who endorsing this products, he says: "it's clean and clear and i can shape the tone so that it sounds just like my bass. that's the most important thing...it sounds like my bass...just loud." Off course an endorser must commend, and I know Patitucci olso use WW amp sometimes, but I saw him with many times with the black Aguilar head on the new videos. Maybe some jazz players have preconceived idea with Aguilar becouse many really "hard rock" players use it, but both Flea and Charlie Haden go with GK amps.

[thesneakyjesus]

I played the AG 500 in a store with my electric bass and it was incerible. No joke, other than the thunderfunk it's one of my favorite amps I've ever heard. I have the Aguilar GS 410 and it's my favorite 410 I've ever played. I've love to check it out with my upright. Just pretty big though. I ended up picking up a LMII

[fingers]

My experience with Aguilar stuff is fairly limited but I don't think it is well suited (at least the stuff I tried) to small stages. I used a GS112NT with and AI amp at a bigger club gig. I got lotsa compliments from the house about my sound but the band (myself included) was having a hard time hearing definition on stage.

I thought "How can John Patitucci and Eddie Gomez be wrong?" so I demo'd a few other things in the store (DB112, DB750, AG500) and while the tone was good when I got 15' in front the I couldn't hear any definition when I was right next to it.

The problem is the best sound was right in front of the amp which is the worst spot to be if you play DB.

[Barcza]

Originally Posted by fingers

so I demo'd a few other things in the store (DB112, DB750, AG500) and while the tone was good when I got 15' in front the I couldn't hear any definition when I was right next to it.

Sorry, I dont understand. The sound was not good when you listen close to the amp?

[fingers]

The sound was not clear and defined enough close to the amp. I was having a hard time hearing well enough to gauge intonation and the band was having a hard time with the clarity of the notes. It was loud enough but lacking definition up close. Several friends in the audience said my tone out the the room was clear, full, HUGE, etc.

I used a an EA Wizzy 12 M-Line with the same amp head and it was like night and day. You could hear me really well everywhere. The EA is side ported. That cab has a very surround sound thing as opposed the the Aguilar which was very directional. My understanding is that the length of bass waves make it so that the sound doesn't really develop until several feet in front of the cab. The Aguilar stuff seems really have this 'problem'. Well suited to big stages but little jazz clubs... not so much.

[Johnny Atomic]

I had a GS210 and it sounded great, but was way too heavy for no bigger than it was.

[Barcza]

Originally Posted by fingers

The sound was not clear and defined enough close to the amp. I was having a hard time hearing well enough to gauge intonation and the band was having a hard time with the clarity of the notes. It was loud enough but lacking definition up close. Several friends in the audience said my tone out the the room was clear, full, HUGE, etc.

I see what you mean, maybe the Aguilar has mid scooped sound, it could be awful with some pickups, but could be nice with other, and it depends on personal taste. Many good players like to cut plenty the mid to avoid the piezzo's tipycal artificial mid frecvencies. I always try to find the balance, definition without nasal piezzo sound.

[Reuben]

I have played through large Aguilar rigs in NY rehearsal studios (often with Epifani cabs) and I am always very impressed with the sound and the features but I would never consider buying one for myself. Too pricey, too heavy.

[RONQUITO]

I don´t play DB, but there´s a new Aguilar cab that might suit the needs of the Double Bass player, i think it was co-designed with Jack Casady (he plays mostly hollowbody basses). They say it´s voicing was designed to reproduce subtleties and nuances, or something like that, i´m no Aguilar spokesman but i´m a huge fan of both Aguilar gear and Double Bass. It features two 8" speakers and a 5" small speaker that handles Mid-Freq, and handles 300 watts.

Cheers.

[Barcza]

Yes it's the DB 285 JC cabinet, it looks like an ideal cab for upright. Many upright players like 8' drivers for URB, I never tryed. It seems not so portable (50 lbs.), but most likely
sounds very nice.
(The mid driver is 6,5')