EBS drome review

Ale · #1 03-12-2007, 11:37 AM

Hi guys ,
just thought i wold drop some lines about my new EBS drome 12' combo , theres very little information and reviews about this amp on the forum so i think some of you guys might find it interesting.

Picked up the amp this friday , got a pretty decent price at my local shop. Took it directly to a clinic gig at a music university here in town. DAMN ! this thing is light ! , its quite large compared to the GK , but it has a great handle and very balanced while lifting it.
The gig was at a very strange venue , very old concert hall , with acoustisc similar to a church . Starts the combo up ( 3/4 German 1890's , Realist/Bp100 , DTAR solistice , no PA )
First of all , DAMN! this monster is looouuud ! This was a very large venue , but i only had the volume up to 20 % , and at that point both my and the other musicians ears said no . Played at this volume all set , loud drummer.
Ok , about the sound then , this is always very hard to describe off course , and it is very subjective , but i will try.
This amp is incredibly flat , it really sounds like my bass , very clean , hifi and natural. I did not use the character or the bright filter , and EQ all flat , this was very natural. Boosted the bass and mids and got a great growly full sounding tone , still very balanced and natural. Boosted the treble and got some very nice " acoutic" tones . It is indeed very HIFI , wich is the impression ive got every time ive used EBS amps , but i really like it.
Ok , saturday gig . Typical jazz club , a good PA with a nice monitor system to . Had the amp in ear height , using the same setup as friday-gig. Same loud drummer + piano + Guitar + T.sax. What a sweet tone , did not any tweeking with the EQ to get along with the room , it did great with any EQ setting. First set i used the DI of the DROME , though second set i changed to the DTAR. The DROME DI was almost a little to clean sounding , a little sterile.
Anyway , it did great on both gigs , very loud , did not fart out at all , extremely full and beautiful sounding.
Here in sweden , this amp costs less than the GK MB's (about 1200 $ )and its is not even comperable . This is a totally different league . I was afraid it would sound a little boxy because of the sice. But boy i was wrong. Sure , it does have a tweeter and a port.
Ive been using a lot of large rigs lately , but i really think ive found my working horse amp.
I strongly recommend this amp to you guys , go try it out. It really puts out some beautiful tones.
Im taking it on a two week tour tomorrow with my quartet , i will keep you guys informed how the DROME behaves.

Sorry if this was hard to read LOL , just thought i share my thaughts.

/ Ale

bassist14 · #2 03-12-2007, 11:48 AM

thank you, ale.
i was always interested in this amp, but never played/heard one with db.
looking forward to your tour-report.
greetings from germany
bassist14

ps: the gk´s are really expensive in sweden, i paid 888,-€ for mine (e-model), but the drome costs 1200 here...

edit: can you explain me the differene between "Drome" and "Drome Classic"?

Arnold · #3 03-12-2007, 11:57 AM

I've had one since 02 and it's been a great workhorse for me. It's been on the road and out as a rental. It is loud, light, sounds incredible and has really great output options. The DI sounds great, and you can plug in a CD player and use the monitor volume to play with it. There is also a bass erase feature on the CD/Audio output. I can't say enough great things about this amp. For electric bass it is awesome also. They're available in Germany at Live Lights music in Munich, that's where I first heard one.
Peace.
ASG

Ale · #4 03-12-2007, 12:02 PM

Hi !
Yeah well i compared to the GK mostly because of the size , but they are extremely different. EBS is very hi end.
I think the main differences between the classic and the normal version is ,
The Classics are built in China
they are built with plywood , different knobs , drivers , and different hardware and electronics. The classics does not have all the functions that the normal version has ( filters , phantom , and a lot of other stuff) , the classic is a tad heavier to.
So pretty much everything is different

I forgot to mention , ive you guys want to check out specs go to the EBS website , i think it is www.bass.se

Cheers!

bassist14 · #5 03-12-2007, 12:08 PM

hi ale,
thanks for your quick reply. (you must have used the "quick reply" button ;-)

bassist14 · #6 03-12-2007, 12:19 PM

i googled a little bit and found this pic of a drome with wheels and a handle. these are the inventions i like

Ale · #7 03-12-2007, 02:28 PM

Yeah thats really great.
To bad that the 12' version does not have thoose wheels.
But you really dont need it , the 12' weights 10 kilos less than the 15.

Ale · #8 04-28-2007, 12:39 PM

I promised that i would get back to you when the tour had ended and i gigged more with the amp. Since i got it ive had it to aprox. 20 gigs , some slab gigs to.
And i dont really have much more to say , its a fantastic little amp.
It have done exactly what ive told it to do in any situation , it is extremely versatile. I used it in some very hard venues with almost impossible acoustics , but the EQ section is amazing so i never had any problems with getting the same nice tone every night. Ive actually found out that i like the tone better without my preamps (D-tar , Fishman B , Realist/Bp100) and i also started using the internal DI direct , and its really flat and great for thoose larger venues with hi end PA's. Ive gotten a lot of comments on how nice my bass sound was , and ive also heard other bassists playing with the amp and it sounds great a few meters away to. The problem with the GK and many other amps is that they often sound like crap close up , on the stage , but really nice s few meters away , and that is very problematic for me since my amp is my monitor and i always play with Pa anyway. But the Drome sounds amazing on the stage and when placed behind you , i get a very nice and fullrange monitor sound. What i miss is a external speaker out , for the louder slab gigs. But hey , its a 16 kilo small monster combo , i dont need more really.

Well thats all , just thought i would comment since i have more experience with the amp now. This is a true keeper !
Im thinking of picking up one of the active EBS speakers for the louder slab gigs this summer , we'l see.
Peace
/Ale

bassist14 · #9 04-29-2007, 01:46 PM

thank you, ale

Jon Edmund · #10 04-21-2009, 03:17 AM

Lucky me...

I was looking for an amp for my upright, so I went down to a store in the center of Oslo. The shop was moving so they had an auction(don´t mind the spelling). I got the EBS Drome (Never been used) for 295$...
It works very well with my upright, and my Music Man...

bassist14 · #11 04-21-2009, 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Edmund

Lucky me...

I was looking for an amp for my upright, so I went down to a store in the center of Oslo. The shop was moving so they had an auction(don´t mind the spelling). I got the EBS Drome (Never been used) for 295$...
It works very well with my upright, and my Music Man...

295$ - wow! they cost about 1000€ here...

Jon Edmund · #12 04-21-2009, 03:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassist14

295$ - wow! they cost about 1000€ here...

The original price was 2200$!!! (, but you can get it cheaper...)

lancegroove · #13 08-22-2009, 08:34 PM

Hi, was just looking around for EBS reviews etc. Have been thinking about what amp I should buy. I have had an EBS Drome 12" for 6 years and it is now being repaired becasue it is going snap crackle pop for the first 30 seconds and a few here and there after that but still works other than that. Another occasion the push switches were a bit dodgey and when I asked EBS where I could get these switches they just asked my address and sent me some free, cool service ehh. The line in jacks at the back I used quite frequently and they are not working properly any more which I will get fixed at the same time. Given the fact I use this amp every day for bass and guitar It would be pretty wrong to say they break easily and given the humid conditions here at the moment its a wonder every thing has not broken down.

Well I got around trying some other amps and to be honest nothing this size even compares to my Drome even when its not %100 working. In fact twice the size does not compare. Its a simple combo with a good compessor, low, high and parametric style mid with a notch. I usually run it pretty flat because it just sounds good usually. I found the character switch is really nice and adds a bit of distortion to an other wise clean sound so it can be nice especially with a clean sounding bass like my Zon Sonus 5 string. The B string is clear and I have no problems with notes that sound like squashed grapes.

I am actually thinking after having played a few amps that I would even upgrade to an HD350 head and NEO 12"box if I had the money, but since I don't have the money I will be happy to get my Drome back. Personaly I think if you start with a clean solid sound you can muddy it up etc but if its dirty and poor quality to start with it will never sound better. They are not cheap but still for the quality, sound, and volume these 150W amps can do clealy, they are excellent value.