AG 700 vs TH 500 vs Mesa d800

[rodl2005]

Curious- can you describe the feel you are referring to? Sometimes the "tube feel" is very unresponsive and spongey to me. With that said, I played through a Tone Hammer rig at a club that had it as their backline in brooklyn. The sound was insanely good. Maybe it was the amp, maybe it was the room, you know? But it felt good that day.

Well, thru my cabs at least, Fender Bassman Pro Neo 115s (usually just one), it seems to have that slight compression and solidity that is similar to my all tube heads thru same cab.
The Bergantino HG410 is good too, different, but very nice.

I've always been able to get a good tone, volume etc, outta the Fender 115 with the TH500.
To me it's a great pairing.
Don't know about using both my Bassman 115s with it, at 4 ohms, coz I've only done it a couple times and it was ages ago

 

[lomo]

If you want clean and thick I'd prefer the D800 to the TH. I have never played an AG. Also, just in case you haven't already done so, be sure to have tried your TH with the drive control off, because it can do the clean thing just fine IME.

 

[musicman556]

If you want clean and thick I'd prefer the D800 to the TH. I have never played an AG. Also, just in case you haven't already done so, be sure to have tried your TH with the drive control off, because it can do the clean thing just fine IME.

Yes, drive off. But also, try setting the gain at zero/full counter-clockwise, if you haven't done that yet.

That gain knob is not like any other gain; even at full ccw, you can get some real volume out of the amp. I think that's part of what confuses a lot of folks in trying to get the sounds they want with a Tone Hammer.

 

[JUMBO 70]

Yes, drive off. But also, try setting the gain at zero/full counter-clockwise, if you haven't done that yet.

That gain knob is not like any other gain; even at full ccw, you can get some real volume out of the amp. I think that's part of what confuses a lot of folks in trying to get the sounds they want with a Tone Hammer.

Do you have a clear idea of what the fan knob is doing on the TH? I cannot for the life of me find anything online that simply describes what changes as you turn it clockwise. I understand it has something to do with the mids, and I know for sure that it increases the intensity of the drive

 

[musicman556]

This is from the TH 500 manual:
The Drive control changes the gain structure and EQ interactively with the GAIN control position. By modifying the circuit structure, Drive gives a “vintage voiced” EQ and gain structure that adapts to how you set the GAIN control. The lower the GAIN control setting, the “flatter” the EQ applied. The higher you set the GAIN control, the more saturated the gain structure becomes, and the more the bass is tightened and the treble smoothed.

The Drive circuitry surrounds the midrange controls, enabling you to get a huge variety of tonal characteristics by simply adjusting the GAIN, MID LEVEL and MID FREQ controls.

 

[Lemur Bassman]

I'm sure this has been discussed to death on this forum (including a couple threads I've been a part of) but still I'd like to ask some opinions on the AG 700 vs TH 500. What are the major tonal differences?

Currently running the TH 500 through a DB 212 cab and I'm just not getting what I like out of the head. I'd like a little warmer, cleaner sound (I think my definition of warm is a little different than others) with less upper mids baked-in , and fuller low-end. I have a gk mb 250, which is pretty decent, but want a little more clean power and something kinda in between the TH and the GK.

The other choice I've looked at is the mesa d800.

Prefer made-in-the-USAish stuff if at all possible.

I'm late to this thread, but I am wondering if you made a decision? If so, what did you decide upon and why? I am torn between the Aguilar AG700 and the Mesa Boogie Subway 800+.