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Aguilar Tone Hammer

#343
Just got my Tone Hammer yesterday. The package came right on the gig spot so the very first time I actually used it was right on the gig! I friggin loved it!
For the little time I had to set everything up and test it just a bit, I'm more than pleased with the result. I cut through the mix brilliantly with a punchy fat warm tone. Or with a bad ass overdrive when I felt like ripping things up! It was the best gig and sound I ever had (except payment wise unfortunately).
Tone Hammer was plugged directly into my Kustom Bass III amp head, and until I get a new amp (power amp probably), I'm more than pleased with the results. Now I have to try out the possibilities of this badass preamp to get the sound I like the most. Still gotta learn how to use it properly.
 
#345
MOSCOWBASS said:
Does anyone know how much gain the Tonehammer can add in dB's? I have an iamp micro with low level output from the preamp, I'm trying to work out how much more input gain to the amp front end the Tonehammer would give.
Thanks
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That's going to depend on the input volume. It's a 18V pedal, so you should be able to get close to that, which is more than you should ever need.

I'm running at line level out the XLR on the Tone Hammer and clipping the FOH mixer at 22dBu (17dBV), and that's with the volume between 12 and 3 o'clock for most of my settings.

Hope that helps.
 
#346
tombowlus said:
Not yet, but I do look forward to doing just that. :D
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Originally Posted by MikeyB
Has anyone been fortunate enough to demo a TH through a Berg IP rig?

Has anyone ?

It seems to me that pre outs on combo amps are at what ever level the manufacturer sets them to suit the power amp section and in no way adheres to the proper Line Out level that dedicated preamps are at, if there is such a thing/level ?

So back to the original question, Is the Tone Hammer's line out as hot as a dedicated pre amp or should we be looking at mains only powered pre's for the Ip's ?
 
#347
mentalpatient said:
Originally Posted by MikeyB
Has anyone been fortunate enough to demo a TH through a Berg IP rig?

Has anyone ?

It seems to me that pre outs on combo amps are at what ever level the manufacturer sets them to suit the power amp section and in no way adheres to the proper Line Out level that dedicated preamps are at, if there is such a thing/level ?
So back to the original question, Is the Tone Hammer's line out as hot as a dedicated pre amp or should we be looking at mains only powered pre's for the Ip's ?
Click to expand...
Hey man, the Tone Hammer pedal sounds great with a Berg IP rig - I've been on a bit of a hunt lately looking at a number of preamp / DI's with sweepable mids (see this thread for more details) and the TH has come up trumps.

Re output levels, there's more than enough juice for the Berg IP's - the Berg (IP112ER) specs quote needing 0.7V RMS for full power; the TH will deliver up to 4.0V RMS according to this post referencing Marco Passarelli at Aguilar. Gain is quoted at 32dB.

I've only been using the TH through the Berg for a couple of weeks, but it's really opened up my sound compared to what I was using previously - lots of headroom, musical sounding EQ, and lets the tone of the bass sing through. TH + Berg IP = sweet rig imho.
 
#350
mentalpatient said:
Thanks Bassman71 that's great news as I have an IP112ER on the way. Without a mains powered pre the TH will make a compact rig. IP112ER in one hand and bass bag in the other with a TH stuffed into the pocket. Can't wait to get the 'Where's all that sound coming from' comments.
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Yeah man - sweet rig, and ultra portable! Be mindful that with the voicing of IP you may need to pull the bass back a bit on the TH - plenty of punch there already - will depend on the gig. Assume you're buying the IP in Australia? If so, give my regards to George - top bloke to deal with! Cheers, Matt
 
#351
hi guys, i noticed that the description of the op 3 says "The treble control delivers up to 16dB of boost/cut at 6.5Hz and captures the dynamic of a "Passive Tone Control" when rolled off." i was wondering if this is actually true, and if it is, does it also apply to the tone hammer? (id consider that a huge positive if it did)
 
#353
...resurrecting this zombie just in case this mod is valuable to anyone else!


scotch said:
Just got a used Tone Hammer from the tb classifieds (thanks, jhfishn!). Love it! I know the OBP-3 preamp very well & have used a bunch of Aggie' amps that I love, so I knew the tone would be cool. The only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger on one of these years ago was the lack of an unaffected (parallel) 1/4" output.

I don't want a di to color my signal to the amp, just the pa. So, a parallel, unity gain output before any eq or gain adjustments was a must! Unfortunately, Aguilar didn't incorporate that into the Tone Hammer design. Well, I did it myself!

Pretty easy mod - the hardest part was removing the chassis screws! Had to drill those out! After that, pretty simple to link a 1/4" switchcraft jack & install it in the chassis.

guts removed & jack leads soldered & heatshrinked to input jack pc lugs:
20120907_085104.jpg


jack installed after chassis drilled out, not a lot of space in there!
20120907_091621.jpg


finished exterior:
20120907_092536.jpg


I would have liked to locate the extra jack on the top panel with the others, but there just wasn't enough room. This low-profile metal jack should be fine though!

Very happy with this DI!
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#355
I bought my TH from one of the forum members a little bit ago and I just love it!!...I'm selling some David Eden gear to get an all Aguilar rig together. I love Eden but I had to tweak a lot of knobs to get the right sound and with the Aguilar Tone Hammer was so easy to find that sweet spot.
 

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#358
Maybe so. The power supply is indicative of the ability of a pedal sized pre to drive a power amp. The TH has an 18v draw from the wall. Most (all?) 9v pedals won't cut the mustard if the power amp has a high input sensitivity. If your power amp is sensitive its much more likely most pedals will get you by. The other night I used just a 7 band eq with a Carvin HD1500 and a 215 and it was loud enough for a rehearsal level volume but that was with everything maxed and that particular amp has a 1.0 Vrms so it worked. My QSC has 1.5 so I wanted to make sure I got a pedal that could drive it properly.

BTW, Louise, there is a guy in Burnaby selling a TH for $200... if you are interested I can give you the contact details.
 

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