Aguilar announcement

[RGerhart]

Curious to know why they took away one of the speaker outputs for the 700 models. My old AG700 had two, which was great on the occasion that I was running older cabs that only had one input (no thru input). It doesn't come up that often, but having two outs is handy.

 

[Pocket Dave]

Kinda all boils down to whether you want more scooped, modern, higher-fi (AG) or vintage-drive honk (TH).

I lean in the more in the TH direction (TH-500 is my #1 gigging amp). It covers a wide variety of vintage tones from Dusty Hill to Jaco & '70s Berlin, and still scoops nicely when needed.

Admittedly, I'm not usually much of a clean-bass guy. I'll tolerate Hartke, Mesa's clean tones even more so. Still, I truly enjoy the clean sound of my friend's AG700 when playing it in a live mix. It's got the super-fast transient of my more gainy TH500 and it's as dynamically responsive.

 

[Pocket Dave]

Curious to know why they took away one of the speaker outputs for the 700 models. My old AG700 had two, which was great on the occasion that I was running older cabs that only had one input (no thru input). It doesn't come up that often, but having two outs is handy.

Yeah, I wondered about that too. Seems they needed the back-panel real estate for the IR selector buttons and USB port.

I've got a Speakon Y-cable adaptor laying around somewhere for a single output Ampeg PF-500 I used on a couple festival stages with two cabs. It worked fine; I just hated the idea of having to carry an extra anything up on stage.

 

[Thumpinshelton]

Was really hoping for something more to be honest! I have been using Aguilar gear for many years now. I love my AG700 which gets most of the live action when I do use an amp/cab. The EQ section is not changed at all. You get a new look and the second DI which has IR options. I would have rather seen them add the IR options to updated TH and AG preamp pedals. Which I use more than my actual amps these days with most stages and gigs I play being direct and with IEM's. Hopefully they will update the preamp pedals with this tech soon and then I will definitely jump on that for the cab sims.

 

[Pocket Dave]

Was really hoping for something more to be honest! I have been using Aguilar gear for many years now. I love my AG700 which gets most of the live action when I do use an amp/cab. The EQ section is not changed at all. You get a new look and the second DI which has IR options. I would have rather seen them add the IR options to updated TH and AG preamp pedals. Which I use more than my actual amps these days with most stages and gigs I play being direct and with IEM's. Hopefully they will update the preamp pedals with this tech soon and then I will definitely jump on that for the cab sims.

I get that. Meanwhile, does the AG allow playing without a speaker load? The TH does. For us TH500/700 guys who have a mix of BYO backline and direct gigs, the new offerings look pretty cool.

 

[jasonbraatz]

Never mind reissuing the original DB 680/728 pair…the first Aguilar product. I got to play one at a music festival and it was incredible. And incredibly heavy!

View attachment 5453418

I owned this setup with a GS412 for a couple years in the mid 00's. It was definitely great, but not ultimately not worth the weight vs a DB750.

I was hoping for the GS series. I've always wanted to play an AG 500 through a GS 412.

And this was what I ended up with after the DB750. (The old dual-channel one!) One of my favorite rigs of all time. Even without neo speakers the old GS412 was really manageable for how big it was.

 

[MCF]

Nice updates. Those heads were a little behind the others in terms of features and were due for a refresh. I'm sure these will be popular.

Maybe. And it sounds fine from the promo video.

But for the same price, you can buy a Mesa D800+ that is 2 Ohm compatible, has a variable HPF, a five year warranty, Mesa quality, and Mesa customer service. Sadly, I think the brand has run its course and is relying mostly on name recognition in a very competitive market.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Maybe. And it sounds fine from the promo video.

But for the same price, you can buy a Mesa D800+ that is 2 Ohm compatible, has a variable HPF, a five year warranty, Mesa quality, and Mesa customer service. Sadly, I think the brand has run its course and is relying mostly on name recognition in a very competitive market.

No doubt the Mesa is a much better value for me !

 

[MCF]

My guitar player works for Aguilar and said he was very busy sending these overseas for the past few weeks. Can't tell you more..

That is a smart move. Mesa had a hard time keeping up with demand since the pandemic, and had to halt deliveries to Europe until recently. So AG ought to get a nice sales bump with the new products. Especially in Great Britain, where they have been a popular brand. I wish them success.

 

[Pocket Dave]

No doubt the Mesa is a much better value.

Some doubt.

Aside from Mesa's 5-year vs Korg/Aguilar's 3-year warranty, both the 2nd gen AG700 and D800+ are priced the same.

Mesa's extra 2-years is nice, but it wouldn't override my personal tonal preferences with both Mesa and Aguilar having its own baked in sound.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Some doubt.

Aside from Mesa's 5-year vs Korg/Aguilar's 3-year warranty, both the 2nd gen AG700 and D800+ are priced the same.

Mesa's extra 2-years is nice, but it wouldn't override my personal tonal preferences with both Mesa and Aguilar having its own baked in sound.

I should have written "better value for me" !

Tone is very personal and there is no wrong preference for sure.

I quite like the Tone Hammer from Aguilar although I don’t feel the need to buy one on the short term.

OTOH, the Aguilar DB 751 hybrid/tube amp is a tone monster I dream of almost every night……….. no matter the price point.

 

[Thumpinshelton]

I get that. Meanwhile, does the AG allow playing without a speaker load? The TH does. For us TH500/700 guys who have a mix of BYO backline and direct gigs, the new offerings look pretty cool.

The AG does allow this and I have used it as a DI/pre before prior to them releasing the AG preamp/DI both in the studio and live without a speaker connected. I also carry either a TH or my AG head when back line is supplied and have used my head many times over the backline.

 

[MCF]

I should have written "better value for me" !

Tone is very personal and there is no wrong preference for sure.

I quite like the Tone Hammer from Aguilar although I don’t feel the need to buy one on the short term.

OTOH, the Aguilar DB 751 hybrid/tube amp is a tone monster I dream of almost every night……….. no matter the price point.

Totally agree. And I was about to write something very similar.

I will probably pick up a used TH if there is a sell-off from owners wanting the new ones that gets the prices down to no brainer territory. That’s because I enjoy “chasing tone” as a hobby of sorts. I have a few distinct tones I mostly use depending on the music. SVT into a Berg NV 610, M6 Carbine into a Subway 410, and a TT800 (primarily the Boogie channel), also through the Subway 410. Basses are 99% Thunderbirds with assorted humbuckers.

There is no best. Only lots of different goodness.

 

[Barticus]

I’m hanging my pre-Korg TH500 & 700, the new ones are nice but no need, for me, to upgrade. If there were a new TH350, that might have been a consideration, but they saved me some money by not keeping it in the lineup.

 

[bertthebassist]

On the AG700, It looks like they added indicator lights for the bright & deep switches, the ability to do 3 8-ohm cabs, USB-C, a headphone jack and aux in with the ability to mix between the two of them.
They also moved the send/return to the back of the unit, added a 2nd DI (so now there is one in the front and back), made the knobs a little bigger, and kept them in a straight line. Did I miss anything?
I think I like it.

 

[MCF]

I’m hanging my pre-Korg TH500 & 700, the new ones are nice but no need, for me, to upgrade. If there were a new TH350, that might have been a consideration, but they saved me some money by not keeping it in the lineup.

Which is curious. The Mesa D350 and the Genzler 350 seem to be very popular. Particularly with doublers. The 500 space seems a bit irrelevant in today’s real world.

 

[MCF]

On the AG700, It looks like they added indicator lights for the bright & deep switches, the ability to do 3 8-ohm cabs, USB-C, a headphone jack and aux in with the ability to mix between the two of them.
They also moved the send/return to the back of the unit, added a 2nd DI (so now there is one in the front and back), made the knobs a little bigger, and kept them in a straight line. Did I miss anything?
I think I like it.

I missed the ability to mix between headphone jack and aux in. I need to figure out what that’s about. I’ve watched some more videos and do like the tone I’m hearing from both.

 

[Barticus]

I missed the ability to mix between headphone jack and aux in. I need to figure out what that’s about. I’ve watched some more videos and do like the tone I’m hearing from both.

That’s actually pretty useful if you use the aux port to run music through and play along with it because you can get a pretty good balance that way. I switched over to Bluetooth streaming years ago and don’t use my amp for practice. I’ve got a completely different workflow so although that’s a cool feature, it’s just not useful to me.

 

[MingusBass]

Maybe. And it sounds fine from the promo video.

But for the same price, you can buy a Mesa D800+ that is 2 Ohm compatible, has a variable HPF, a five year warranty, Mesa quality, and Mesa customer service. Sadly, I think the brand has run its course and is relying mostly on name recognition in a very competitive market.

I’m just not a big fan of the sound of the Mesa heads. Obviously there are many people who love them.

 

[B-string]

I’m just not a big fan of the sound of the Mesa heads. Obviously there are many people who love them.

This is true. If everybody loved the same thing we would all only be playing amps called Dinglesnerts.