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Double Bass AI: Corus versus Contra

Steve Freides

Steve Freides

Former Mannes College Theory Faculty
Supporting Member
Dec 11, 2007
2,576
1,508
Ridgewood, NJ
#1
Anyone using Acoustic Image's Corus, which says it has a more forward sound and seems to be targeted more towards guitar and keyboards, as an amp for their upright bass? I'm going to replace my older, used Contra at some point, and I also use it for keyboards - I don't love the sound of the Contra for keyboards some of the time, but I'd also hate to give up the sound of the Contra for upright bass.

At the last gig I played, we had my keyboard _and_ an upright bass running through my Contra - small room, no problems in terms of the amp's capacity.

Thanks in advance.

-S-
 
#2
Hello Steve ..... Guess no one else has an opinion here so I'll try :D . First off .... I never tried a Corus so take what I say with a grain of salt. I have a Coda Series III 2-channel and I have used it as a small PA system along with a 4 ohm Wizzy 12 M-Line external speaker for small gigs and good rooms. The Series III stuff has major improvements over the old Series I and II stuff.

I love the sound of my basses through the Coda. I run my Full Circle or Rev II bass pick-ups (depending on which bass I be playing) directly into one channel and then we use the other channel with phantom power for a central condensor mike for acoustic fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and vocals. It works quite well and we all agree that the "highs" of the other instruments sound good even though the Coda is advertised as a bass amp.

The Coda has a fairly-wide freq response and plenty of oommpff .... 500 watts when using 4 ohm speakers. According to this info on Bob Gollihur's website .... [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] .... the Corus freq response starts at 60 while the Coda starts a little lower at 40. I don't find that to be significant since I usually run my high-pass filter at 60 to 100 anyhow to cut out the low-end double bass mud.

I don't really know how the different woofer design and cross-over circuit in the Corus would affect the sound of the double bass compared to the Coda but I just can't imagine that your bass would sound awful ;) . You might e-mail AI and see what they have to say.

The AI gear is great stuff and if I had to do it all over again today .... I would probably get the new AI "2-Ten" discussed in this TB thread ... http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=532866 :) . That being said .... Gollihur is closing out on the "older" Series III Coda and Corus amps and deals can be had. They are great amps that will last a long time and you can always add an external speaker cab of your choice (preferably 4 ohm) to boost the racket you play when you need some output. Good Luck.

P.S. I believe Bob Gollihur has a 14-day "test drive" program .... You could maybe try both the Corus and the Coda and see which one races your motor. Talk to Bob .... He's a Good Dude and really knows AI gear.
 

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