Double Bass Good cab for doubling using Clarus II?

Pending the results of my trial run today, I think I may be buying a Clarus II instead of a Woods (more watts for the $$). I am really leaning towards the Euphonic Wizzy 112, which I have heard, for its efficiency, the fact that it is ported, and its lightness.

However, I noticed that you can get those Ampeg Portabass 112 cabs pretty cheap now - I would basically save $200 on the cabinet that way. Has anyone used one of these with a Clarus? They are rated at 4ohms, but the sensitvity is 93db, much lower than the Wizzy. It seems to me that the portabass is just a lower quality, but still good cabinet. My main goal is to be loud enough for electric bass in a rock setting (small club), but transparent enough for a decent DB sound. Any opinions? I don't know where there's a portabass cab I could try out, and I can't seem to find any reviews of this exact combination.

On option I suppose is to just buy the ampeg cab and ebay it if I don't like it....

Your experience with the portabass sounds like my premonition of mine. The Wizzy is really light too though you know (except in the pocketbook).

Adrian/Phil - thanks for the replies. I am reasonably sure the Clarus will have enough headroom - I tried a Contra yesterday and at about 40% it was plenty loud with both electric bass and double bass, it was just lacking something in the bottom end with the electric due to the Coda cabinet. The reason I am going this route instead of something like the EA iAmp500 is that a) I want two completely independent channels like the Woods or the Clarus and b) I want something super light. From everything people like Phil has said, the only question really is whether I will need two cabs or one and which cabs they should be. I think the efficiency of the Wizzy is its primary drawing point for me - maybe the threshold where I will need two cabs will go up. I am feeling pretty good about the Clarus since it will go down to 2 ohms. I can't imagine pumping two efficient 12" speakers at 2ohms and needing any more. But I could be wrong!

I ordered the Clarus II and the Wizzy 112 cab just now from Bob G. I am very excited. Assuming I like it, its ebay time for a random assortment of stuff pretty soon here! How exciting...

I'm hoping my experience with the Wizzy is as nice as your reports of the Berg... I expect to be similarily impressed since the EA is a nice high quality and efficient cab.

Wow is all I can say. I received my Clarus II and EA Wizzy 112 from Mr. Gollihur yesterday and used them last night at rehearsal. Wow.

Going from the Carvin RC210 combo, even though I had replaced the drivers in it, there is NO comparison.

The WIzzy is so tight and focused, but with nice deep rich lows. The Clarus is so even. I ended up tweaking the EQ and then putting it back to flat as I realized it was only missing what I hadn't boosted ;-). It runs cool and quiet. This thing is amazing, and the carrying case is nice and plush too.

My Musicman Stingray sounds unbelievable through this set up dry - no pedals of any sort. Very warm and present, and extremely articulate - you can hear every small shift in dynamics.

My double bass sounds excellent too, nice and even, without the muddy boominess I had come to accept with the Carvin. All in all I am immensely pleased, although I am having trouble getting the effect loop to work properly (better read the manual, heh). I have ordered a Aphex Acoustic Exciter for the DB just to lively things up a little bit (more due to the bass than the amp!) and a optical compressor for the electric bass (the drummer complained about the excessive dynamics, although I think part of it was me enjoying my new freedom).

All in all, well worth the $$. There is PLENTY of headroom - I have the master at about 5, the electric channel at about 4, and the upright channel at about 5.5. Its plenty loud enough like this to play a small club. In fact when I first turned it on, I couldn't get the stingray QUIET enough (but I figured it out). I dreamt about it last night, that's how good it was. I hope my wife doesn't mind.

One question for you Clarus heads out there, I wasn't really thinking about the fact that it has two effects loops, which means I can only place my pedal tuner on one bass or the other. Does anyone have any magical way to avoid the plug/unplug nightmare of this other than getting another tuner or "tuning by ear" (in a rock envorinment, this is pretty impossible to do)? Or should I just plunk the $40 down on another tuner?

Chris Pizz Herald,

thanks for the tuner comments, BUT

1. I don't play with a piano in my main gig. Its guitar, bass, and drums. I can tune to the guitar at the before the gig, but during a rock gig, its pretty unprofessional for the guitar and the bassist to be whacking a note between tunes to try to get in tune.

2. I play arco to tune. I seem to get a much more even reading that way, although this is obviously subject to the same things you describe. In the situation I play in, I need to be able to check my tuning during intros where I don't play, and thus there is tons of noise going around me and I just can't tune by ear in that sitch.

Chris, I think what happens is I get to a gig and tune the bass without having the luxury of letting the bass adapt to the new environment. Then as the bass gets acclimated, it can either fall uniformly slightly sharp or flat. Or if I get really excited on a tune, I might pull it flat on a string. But in general, my bass stays really in tune, more so than my slab. I'm using Heliocores hybrid mediums on my Glaesel at the moment...

It's just nice (to me) to be able to check it real quick halfway through a set.

I think you'd be good. I was worried about headroom, but now I am just amazed. This rig is about the size and weight of my old GK MB150, but about 5 times more headroom. Sounds better too.