• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Acoustic Image let down

chicagodoubler

chicagodoubler

Aug 7, 2007
1,379
88
Chicago, that toddling town
Disclosures
Endorsing Artist: Lakland, Genz Benz
#1
My Polytone lived at a steakhouse I played for 2+ years til the gig got "postponed" recently... at which time I move the poly to my main steady, where I usually carry the AI. For more than a year it seemed like the acoustics of the room were at fault for the funky tone I was getting.

One night with the Polytone and WOW! That's what a bass is supposed to sound like. Compliments from the singer, which is a rarity. Don't get me wrong- the AI is awesome with a mic, and perfect for ebass duties on a small stage. Just digging the poly more with the realist on my basses.

Anybody else on the fence about their funky little R2-D2 amp?
 
#2
I tested R2D2 and a GK MB150s before I plunked down the cash and the GK won hands down. The AI always sounded its size when even turned up a little. Then it just sounded boomy. I have an AI Clarus with a EA Wizzy M-Line and it kills. I was underimpressed with the little combo though.
 
#4
Which AI are you guys talking about? The original one that looks like a Shop-Vac? I had one of those and it doesn't sound anything like the new ones. I run a Focus into an AI cabinet which, for all intents and purposes, is a combo amp and it sounds great. I totally get off on the downfiring speaker and I'm able to get about twice the mic volume before feedback off it as compared to using the Focus with a Wizzy 10.

I have and have used a bunch of GK stuff. I have two of the original 200mb amps that I bought in 1985 or 6 and had 2 of the first generation 150 or 250 M something (I forget the model number-it was the upgraded version of the 200). I loved the 200mbs. The upgrade not so much. The speakers in the 200s went bad and I eventually took the speakers out of the upgrades and put them in the 200s and got rid of the upgrades. I also have an 800 RB in the closet which was my main electric amp for years. I always thought it sounded a little thin for upright. For my uses, the AI combination that I use is so much better than the GK amps I have that the GKs stay in the closet. It might not be a very fair comparison though as I'm comparing amps from the 1980's and early '90s to brand new AI stuff though.

mark
 
#6
That was probably the AI series I. It was nice for adding a little presence to what should be a no-amp gig. I'm pretty sure that that was how it was marketed as well. It was never intended for higher volume uses. I used to lift the front end up with an old effect pedal to get a little more direct sound out of it which decreased the mud and allowed for slightly higher volume use. A lifter for the speaker was incorporated into the series II cabinets. My main amp in those days was a Polytone Minibrute IV (which is still my main electric amp).

For what it was, The AI series I Contra was good but it wasn't all things to all people. The newer stuff is much more versatile and much higher fidelity. There was a HUGE leap in quality of both the amplifiers and the cabinets from series I to series II and there was another, although not quite as huge, leap from series II to series III. I don't have my Series I amp anymore but I still have 4 AI series II cabinets, 2 series II Contras (one first generation and one second generation), 2 series II Focus amps, 2 series III cabinets and 1 series III Focus. I want to get another series III Focus for a backup as I can't live without mine anymore. The series III is THAT much better than the series II. I should probably sell my series II stuff but I'm not that motivated.

It would be a big mistake to judge AI gear by the series I combo.

mark
 
#8
calivox said:
It would be a big mistake to judge AI gear by the series I combo.

mark
Click to expand...

Maybe so, but in my limited experience with these, I much preferred the series I combo to the later ones. It had a much more "dynamic" and bigger sound. Seemed to have more presence and clarity. The later combos sound boxy and dull to me and I haven't heard a performance with one that really projected into the room.
 
#9
I've also heard more complaints from leaders about those things. I rarely hear leaders even notice the bass sound but I have had two different leaders comment negatively about those. Both said they were tubby sounding and it was difficult to hear pitch. A bass player subbed for me a few weeks back and used one of those and the drummer said he much preferred my GK.

I think the thing with those is that they got so sold as the holy grail in small room DB amplification that people who bought them thought they sounded great when to everyone else they were just ok. The buddy I borrowed the one I tried from (and btw he has since sold) was so giddy when he bought his and I just thought it was ok.

I have yet to hear an AI combo worth the price.
 
#10
That's interesting. I've never had any problem with mine. It projects great. It doesn't sound tubby at all. And the fidelity of the cabinet is noticeably better than the Wizzy 10 when A-B'd. It still sounds decently acoustic even at really loud volumes. It sounds great at low volume. The downfiring woofer gives some nice thump that you can shape with the HPF. And in response to the earlier comment, I find the newer ones to be hands down better than the Series I. The Series I amp is one of the few things I've sold over the years that I have absolutely no regrets about selling.

I have to say that the ONE thing in my setup that I'm totally sold on is the AI Focus with AI cabinet. Strings, pickups, microphones are always changing but the AI is as permanent as my bass.

Maybe this is one of those things like strings and pickups and basses and players where it depends on all of the variables. What works for one doesn't for another.

mark
 
#11
calivox said:
What works for one doesn't for another.
Click to expand...

Amen.

Definitely could have bought my house a few years sooner if it weren't for all the freakin' strings, pickups, mics, preamps, and amps.

And what bites my ass is that even stuff that sounds great one night blows the next depending on the room, the temp, the humidity, the scenery in the front row, the phase of the moon, and whether I'm having a good hair day.

Oh well, I'll just try to play notes that sound cool.
 
#12
fingers said:
And what bites my ass is that even stuff that sounds great one night blows the next depending on the room, the temp, the humidity, the scenery in the front row, the phase of the moon, and whether I'm having a good hair day.

Oh well, I'll just try to play notes that sound cool.
Click to expand...

Oh man, do I hear that. The worst is everything sounding perfect one night in one room and then like dog poopy in another the next night. The letdown is palpable.

I've been doing this long enough that I don't even fight it anymore. If I can't dial something decent in within a tune or two, I just forget about it and try my best to focus past it. It's frustrating though.

Whatever set up you use, there will be rooms that will be unfriendly to it. And with changing humidity (and bad hair days), it's a wonder we bother at all.

Actually, I do know why. It's for those glorious days when everything comes together and everything you play sounds like sunshine in the morning. It's a drug more powerful (and better for you) than heroin.

mark
 
#13
singers said:
And what bites my ass is that even stuff that sounds great one night blows the next depending on the room, the temp, the humidity, the scenery in the front row, the phase of the moon, and whether I'm having a good hair day.
Click to expand...

I have an easy cure for one of those variables. Lemme know if yer interested. Takes about 1 minute to fix, and is liberating as hell. Come to think of it, it kinda affects some of the other variables as well so as to make them less distracting....
 
#15
Chris Fitzgerald said:
I have an easy cure for one of those variables. Lemme know if yer interested. Takes about 1 minute to fix, and is liberating as hell. Come to think of it, it kinda affects some of the other variables as well so as to make them less distracting....
Click to expand...
What's this teasing thing...you taking lessons from Troyka now?
 
#16
fingers said:
Amen.

Definitely could have bought my house a few years sooner if it weren't for all the freakin' strings, pickups, mics, preamps, and amps.

And what bites my ass is that even stuff that sounds great one night blows the next depending on the room, the temp, the humidity, the scenery in the front row, the phase of the moon, and whether I'm having a good hair day.

Oh well, I'll just try to play notes that sound cool.
Click to expand...
My three gigs last week were just like that. A swampy mess for the first one I couldn't dial out of. The next night had a low power problem so everything I did sounded like a twinkie. Saturday night I played like an Athenian, everything sounded perfect.

Still didn't get me laid.

Go figure.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back