Aguilar AG500 vs. Eden WT-550 vs. Thunderfunk TFB-550

I have not played the aggie. But I own the Eden and auditioned it against the Thunderfunk before purchase. If the price was the same or within 100$ I would have gone with the T-funk. They are both REAL close, the Eden sounds a little warmer, but the the T-funk sounded punchier. From what I could tell Dave is an excellent guy to work with, I emailed him a couple of times. His responses were quick and professional.

The Eden service dept. is no slouch either. And David Nordchow is first class too. My biggest problem with the T-Funk was the additional 35$ for rack ears, 75$ for "the switch" and 200$ for a rack bag (I already had an Eden bag) kicks the price up too 1360$. The Eden is available for between 925-975 if you hunt, so the price difference is almost 400$. They are both great amps, I sold an Aggie db750 to downsize to the eden and I don't feel like I'm missing anything except stadium headroom! The key with the Eden is play it flat, they have great EQ's but you don't need to use much. From what I could tell the key with the thunderfunk was the "Timbre" control. Hope this helps.

 

SOONER
Sorry had to do that....

Haven't used all 3 of those, but I have been using the thunderfunk for the past couple months. Requires no tweaking to get a great tone. If you do decide to delve into tweaking, the enhance and timbre knobs let you do so with virtually no effort, but if you want to tweak more, the parametric EQ coupled with bass/treble shelving will let you get geeky with it. I've been very pleased with my TFB-550.

 

The AG500 is simply pure plug and play. You plug it in, leave it flat, and get funky aguilar tone straight outta the box. I really couldn't find any cons, except maybe that the mids dont get as extreme as other amps can at the far ends of the pot.

 

I just got me eden 550 about a month ago, and I love it. I've used it for rock and jazz, and it's great for all of it. It's got a nice hifi sound with low gain, and then gets more tube warmth as you turn the gain up. And it cuts really well. Haven't played the others, but just switched from an aggie db659, and the eden seems to cut through much better, and covers the whole frequency band evenly.

 

i've owned, used, tried, all three...

- WT550 has a great woolly thick sound. most likely good for the rock.

- AG500 has nice punchie warm tone, and the overdrive channel is quite handy to kick in, when you wanna kick out the jams.

- TFB550 has the BEST knob known to man, clearly labeled as "Timbre". all amps and people should have this knob. awesome punchie tone.

FYI, the WT550 and the TFB550 share a design history/pedigree, and from my findings, do share a similarly voiced EQ section, as evidenced in literally tweaking the controls to eerily similar settings. but i did find the WT a tad more dramatic.

you want simple, the TFB550's "timbre" knob is all you need. really, and this coming from a fully parametric freak.

 

supposedly to give you a more gritty tubey feel. some say its pretty subtle until you start using the EQ section. whether or not you need it, its just nice to have.

 

Yeah, for $75 it's better to have it but "The Switch" (when engaged) give you a more transparent sound. The warm tubey sound is the standard TF sound (with "The Switch" off ...that is "up").
However there's a big (and pretty informative) thread on "AG500 vs TF550" as well as a "WT500 vs TF550" one.

 

Can't agree more! That little knob has some magic in it!

 

ahhh,

i stand corrected.

 

Hey Joker--how would you compare the EA iAmp800 (which you know and love) to these three amps (particularly the TF) in volume and tone? I have the EA and a WT-400, but I'm really curious about the TF.

 

+1

 

well,

my experiences were solely the work of that dastardly dave wilson who unfortunately let me borrow his TFB for a few gigs over the thxgiving break.

didnt have a chance to compare, but suffice to say, because i wasnt quite familiar w/ the TFB's EQ section, it took some getting used to.

w/ my iAMP-800, i can dial in my Acme pretty easily. i guess that's cause the iAMP line goes along w/ its normally more neutral line of cabs. while, the TFB at times felt like it didnt quite have enough of a dramatic EQ to handle the Acme, which made me think maybe the TFB was voiced w/ normally voiced bass cabs.

course, this was all before i turned the timbre knob, then suddenly, i UNLOCKED it! going counter clock, i got that fatter sound i was looking for. going opposite, the sound thinned out, which i reckon would be good for taming boomy rooms. and the EQ section worked together nicely w/ the timbre knob, tho the upper end wasnt quite as easy to manage, and made the EQ feel almost useless with the more drastic turns of the timbre knob. still, i could have left the EQ alone, and just use the timbre knob while fiddling w/ my bass' onboard EQ.

Kjung is always raving about his TFB head w/ his epifani cabs, so i might give that a go as soon as my own darn order finally gets in. please Dave, please!!!!

but dont worry folks, once i do get it, i'll be doing a mega comparison ala tombowlus stylie...

 

+1 The TF/Epi combo is great. Much punchier and warmer IMO than the iAmp800 through the Epi cabs (I'm sure there are cabs that just sing with the iAmp though), and with even more EQ flexibility.... four bands of semi-parametric EQ, true shelving bass and treble controls, overall enhance and timbre controls.... and on top of all of that, a switch that changes the whole character of the preamp so you can start from a completely different place.

Also, as you probably notice with your 310 vs. Acme, there's no need to use extreme EQ to get a nice sound out of the Epi's (I know a number of TBer's who love their Acme's and run them relatively flat... however, whenever I hear someone radically EQing a cab to get 'their sound', I always suggest that might be a sign to try a different cab that has more of 'your sound' built in... whenever you start radically EQing, ugly things start to happen with amp headroom and uneven tone out in the room)

anyway.... so even with all that massive EQ power of the TF... I typically set the switch, roll the timbre back just a little bit... put the enhance knob on just a touch and blast!

 

I know it's a little down scale but you should audition the GK 1001 RB II along with those. You might be very suprised at how much amp there is there for relateively low dough. I'm not a big fan of GK cabinets. Not my sound at all. The amp is relatively uncolored so it pairs well with lot's of other cabs though. Bag Ends in my case.

 

Nice!

 

+1

I was looking at the TF-550 and WT-550 a while back. I was able to try out a TF-420, WT-550, and a 1001RBII. I really liked them all, but it was such a hard decision. They all sounded so good. I really wanted the TF for the "coolness" factor, no one around here plays one. I liked the WT-550 because it goes down to 2 ohms and it has a small footprint. But when I found out that I could get the GK-1001RBII for $600 at the local GC, it was a no brainer.

I've never played the Aggie, but the TF and WT are both kick a$$ amps. They both sound awesome, and people here love them. Good luck.

 

Just to clarify.... TFB550 switch.
Up = off or regular non-hifii
Down = on or hifi
I've read conflicting statements on this, and didn't see it in the manual... maybe I should look again...

TIA