Aguilar AG vs Tone Hammer

[chris_b]

Was there a reason the AG 700 became your #1 amp over the tone hammer outside of the 700 watts vs. 500? Any pros/cons you can give me on the AG 700? Has it ever failed you on a gig? Cut out? Thanks! Bill

The difference in watts is not an issue. Both amps are loud enough for any band I play with, even the really loud ones.

I was playing my Jazz bass a lot when I bought the AG700 and this amp magnified the great Sadowsky tone throughout the whole range. The AG700 just makes all my basses sound bigger and better. People say the TH500 is vintage and the AG700 is modern (which is true), but IMO the AG700 can do both.

These amps have been faultless and I've not heard of anyone else having reliability issues.

 

[hennessybass]

Any pros/cons you can give me on the AG 700? Has it ever failed you on a gig? Cut out? Thanks! Bill

I’ve never had a single issue with any aguilar product.
And, I’ve always had great CS - mostly asking questions and such.

I think the only con on the AG amp is if you are looking for a different tone.

 

[Al Kraft]

I’ve never had a single issue with any aguilar product.
And, I’ve always had great CS - mostly asking questions and such.

I think the only con on the AG amp is if you are looking for a different tone.

My experience exactly. While I own a TH500 (and TH DI and TLC pedals) I've played the AG700 and it is a fine amp. For me the AG700 had more of a GK/Mesa rock kind of vibe to it and I was already well covered with GK and Mesa products for that voicing.

 

[drewphishesp]

So I just wanted to chime in here. I think the two amps are more similar than they are different in the end. The differences are super subtle with my p bass eqd to both sounding how I prefer. I don't think the ag is sterile at all. It's warm and def capable of vintagey tones

 

[RattlinRosie]

You can have both. Get the AG and run the Tone Hammer preamp into the effects return when you want that sound.

I don't know how much of the tone difference between the two owes to the preamp voicing versus the power amp section, but I assume most would be.

Could you help me understand this a bit? I have the THv2 pedal and the AG500 head. Is there anything inherently wrong with running the TH in front of the AG (preamp into a preamp?)

My use case would be when gigging, it’s nice to have the tonehammer on my board and “bring my tone with me” where I’m usually plugging into a house back line or even a PA - no amp/cab required. But when I do bring my amp/cab I essentially use the TH pedal like an overdrive since the pedal can be bypassed with the “engage” button.

What would be the best configuration? I don’t feel like the two preamps are fighting each other.

 

[SLO Surfer]

What would be the best configuration?

Whatever sounds best to you. Some like to run a pedal preamp into their amplifiers send return, and some run it straight to the instrument input. I’ve tried both and typically prefer running a preamp pedal into the amps input, with the amp eq set flat unless I need to tweak a teeny bit. Nothing wrong with either.

 

[Altitude]

Could you help me understand this a bit? I have the THv2 pedal and the AG500 head. Is there anything inherently wrong with running the TH in front of the AG (preamp into a preamp?)

My use case would be when gigging, it’s nice to have the tonehammer on my board and “bring my tone with me” where I’m usually plugging into a house back line or even a PA - no amp/cab required. But when I do bring my amp/cab I essentially use the TH pedal like an overdrive since the pedal can be bypassed with the “engage” button.

What would be the best configuration? I don’t feel like the two preamps are fighting each other.

No issue at all to do that, as long as the resulting sound appeals to you. In effect you’re getting two preamps in sequence, each doing their thing to your signal.

If you run the TH into the effects return, you’re effectively cutting the AG500 preamp out of the chain, so the TH is the only EQ and gain device. Your post-TH signal would go into the amp right before the power amp section and after the preamp section.

You might be able to rig a way to use the AG500 preamp or the TH preamp with an A/B switch or something; I haven’t tried that.

 

[J_Bass]

Hello,

I am looking to buy one of these, but I am not sure which one.

Well, I think I know, but I just want to be sure.

I bought an Ampeg RB 115 this week. I am coming from a Quilter BB800 with a Phil Jones C4 Piranha.

I like the clean sound of my older rig, but I want something with more body and more low end. I use a Precision with TI Flats.

So, I plug the Ampeg in and I really don’t like the sound. I switch to the BB/PJB and I like it more. A little too clean and thin, but better than the Ampeg, which to me sounds muffled and too low and like it had a blanket on it. Also the tone was not pleasant to my ears. I packed it and returned it 2 days later.

Also, I play double bass, and sometimes I need to use my rig to give the sound directly from the stage to the croud. The Jazz group I am in sometimes plays without mics or FOH and I use my amp to hear and be heard.


So, I thought I wanted the TH500, but after reading all this and after watching a youtube video with Ian Martin Allison, I think my choice has to be the AG500.


And what cab? I am leaning to a 210, but which one? The SL210 to compensate the AG, or the matching DB210?

Here is the YouTube video:



Help me, TB!

 

[nonohmic]

Sweetest bass sound I ever heard was a USA Lakland through an AG700

 

[SJan3]

Hello,

I am looking to buy one of these, but I am not sure which one.

Well, I think I know, but I just want to be sure.

I bought an Ampeg RB 115 this week. I am coming from a Quilter BB800 with a Phil Jones C4 Piranha.

I like the clean sound of my older rig, but I want something with more body and more low end. I use a Precision with TI Flats.

So, I plug the Ampeg in and I really don’t like the sound. I switch to the BB/PJB and I like it more. A little too clean and thin, but better than the Ampeg, which to me sounds muffled and too low and like it had a blanket on it. Also the tone was not pleasant to my ears. I packed it and returned it 2 days later.

Also, I play double bass, and sometimes I need to use my rig to give the sound directly from the stage to the croud. The Jazz group I am in sometimes plays without mics or FOH and I use my amp to hear and be heard.


So, I thought I wanted the TH500, but after reading all this and after watching a youtube video with Ian Martin Allison, I think my choice has to be the AG500.


And what cab? I am leaning to a 210, but which one? The SL210 to compensate the AG, or the matching DB210?

Here is the YouTube video:



Help me, TB!

Maybe two SL110s. You can get two of them on Sale for appx $1250 which is appx the same price as one SL210 or DB210. You'll lose a tweeter but have the flexibility of bringing only one SL110 to your jazz gig w/ double bass. They're labeled SL110 but they actually have DB series speakers inside. Worth a look..

 

[pepj]

Interesting.
The AG was on my radar but tbf, was probably not a real pursuit because I moved on from the TH amp very quickly so didn't want to repeat that 'mistake'

For a different animal I went Eich...which I'm liking.
If my current batch of amps doesn't really work anymore, I might rethink the AG if a decent price.

 

[hennessybass]

@J_Bass - I think both Aguilar amps are very nice. Can you demo them anywhere?
IMO the BB800 is a very nice amp too. I played a TH500 for a long time, then switched to the BB for a while. I had the AG for a very short while.

I think the AG is probably more similar to the BB, and the TH is more different from both of those. The TH can do very nice clean tones - just turn the master all the way up, and use gain for volume.

DB cabs are nice. I'd go for a DB112 + AG if I was getting an Aguilar rig. Actually, a 2x112 rig

What ever you get, tell us what you think.

 

[SJan3]

FWIW, I had a BB800. The AG700 is much closer to the Bass Block than the Tonehammer, albeit with a much more flexible 4 band EQ and Low and High boost buttons. The AG700 is everything I had wished from the BB800. I'm not dissing the BB at all. It was a great, powerful amp. Just not the flexibility of the AG700.
I'd guess the BB803 addresses those issues.