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Double Bass AI vs AER/ Rig question

Jake Morris

Jake Morris

Jun 10, 2009
690
7
North Jersey
www.facebook.com
#1
I am currently running an Acoustic Image Ten2 (2 channel) for my upright rig. Also use an fdeck sometimes. My upright is a 1942 3/4 Russian hybrid. For strings I have oliv g and d, and anima a and e.

Only use the amp for jazz. I like how transparent the tone of the amp is, but there's some mid range frequency I can't tame, that I'm not digging. Don't know if it's the head or cab.

Been looking at other amps and cabs and came across the Aer combos and cabs, as well as the fearless f110. I want to try my acoustic image head with an aer cab or fearless cab. Looking for any other advice as where to look and what to try.
 
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#3
AER only has one combo that was designed for double bass, the basscube 2. I haven't seen anyone yet that uses it. Probably because it's just way too expensive.
I read a lot of good things about the fearless cabs but unfortunately they are very rare over here (even with a UK authorized builder) and I haven't had the opportunity to try one yet.
The MAS cabs are great. I use an Acoustic Image Clarus S4+ into a MAS45 cab (for rehearsals) and the sound is great IMHO.
For live gigs I could probably use it to, but I always take my 2 Bergantino's ER112's. I hope to add a MAS110 to my MAS45 later maybe. Or maybe I'll just use a fearless 2x12 for the bigger gigs and keep the MAS45 for rehearsals and small gigs :-)
 
#4
Just tried the aer amp one. What an amp. Could get so many diffrrent, useable tones out of it. I tried my acoustic image head through my bergantino hd112, and still had this nasally sound in the mids. Could not get rid of it. Thinking of selling the acoustic image ten2 for the aer amp one. That would leave me with the berg hd112 and aguilar th500 for electric. Could sell the berg for a different cab like the fearless.

Edit: This is what I tried:

Invalid Link Removed
 
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#5
I don't know what pickup you are using, but I found that using a piezo pickup with a transparent amp/speaker rig requires some outboard eq to tame the nasal sound. A parametric eq really allows you to zero in on the frequencies you want to cut without destroying the tone you like.
 
#11
Just an update. Been messing around with my AI and I got a pretty good sound changing a few things. First was kicking the legs out of cab, helped the mids. Also dialed the mids all the way down. I also threw my HPF/phase box into the signal, and it sounds a whole lot better. Still can't get rid of this mid frequency that doesnt work with my bass well. I'm going to try my AI head with a different cab.
 

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#12
What PU do you use?
I tried the AI Coda & use an Underwood PU, have Evah Pirazzi Weichs & also
had the mid sound I couldn't dial out ( not my amp, tweaked for almost 2 hrs)
Had experimented with & without the legs - soft volume.
Have a chance to buy the amp, but not sure what to do.
 
#14
I own an AI Coda plus a Ten2 extension and I know what you mean about the mids. I run the mid EQ fully CCW unless I'm not getting enough note definition. It's very, very seldom that I can run the mid band flat. That said, it's hands down the best sounding amp for DB that I have owned so far and the size/weight is icing on the cake.

Not sure what AER has available today, but I tried a bass combo they made about 15 years ago that sounded good but not good enough to justify the price ;)

That's true of every amp I have ever used for DB except one, an early 90s WW MI200 where the two channels had differently voiced EQs. Both channels of the current Electroacoustic are voiced the same and I have to mid cut. It's always somewhere around 800 hZ with my basses/pickups. I've tried graphics, parametrics, preamps...you name it...there's always too much 800 hZ.

BTW, that AER I tried was the same...mid EQ run flat was nasal.

You really need to find an AER and try it side by side with your Ten2 to know for sure.
 
#16
Jake Morris said:
But putting that issue aside, the overall tone and vibe of the aer is what I've been looking for.
Click to expand...

Interesting, we have a local AER dealer here in St. Louis, he's been very positive about the AER Amp One, so I think I'll visit him over the holidays, with my bass, and give the amp
a trial. There not cheap, that's for certain. Before McMurray Music closed in St. Louis, I had the opportunity to play through the original AER Bass Cube. Now that was quite an amp.
it had three independent channels, so you could actually use your DB, with a piezo and a microphone blended, and still have a separate channel for EB. They were very expensive @ $4000.00 list
and weighed 48 lbs. The amp one is so much more portable.

Ric
 
#18
brianrost said:
That's true of every amp I have ever used for DB except one, an early 90s WW MI200 where the two channels had differently voiced EQs. Both channels of the current Electroacoustic are voiced the same and I have to mid cut. It's always somewhere around 800 hZ with my basses/pickups. I've tried graphics, parametrics, preamps...you name it...there's always too much 800 hZ.
Click to expand...

One of the beauties of Walter's older MI series amplifiers with the Dual voicing are their "plug and play" EQ for Doubling Oddly, Walter voiced the top channel for Electric Bass and the Lower Channel for Double Bass. I still own a MI-400-8 and it's certainly a great amp. Walter understood that low midrange frequencies give the Double Bass warmth, while Upper Midrange gives Electric Bass it's character. The Electroacoustic has two frequency controls labeled Vari and Balance, that essentially do the same thing on each channel, but it's not quite the same as the voicing of two channels on the MI series amps. Although there are many newer SMPS amps out there, I've never come across one that sounds like the Woods. Just my take, I've always felt that the Genz Benz Shuttle amps had some of the character that a Walter Woods has. Just my take.

Ric
 
#19
I Link Removed, and I have since then purchased an amp one (from Hugh McDonald). Those two sound very similar to each other, and I, too, am amazed by the tone and volume out of these little boxes. They work well for either electric or double bass, IME/IMHO.

That being said, I'm also an AI fan. Their Flex system takes AI to a new level, as well.

YMMV, of course.
 
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