Amp for Turner/Rob Allen Piezo euipped basses

Did Jim give you any indication as to what power he recommended with his cabs?

In any event I would say if you like the sound and the light weight of the Clarus, why not go with a Focus or the AI slave amp. This will give you 600w at 4Ohms.

I love my clarus which I also use with piezo's, and would probably not change it except for a Focus. My Clarus has two inputs, one built for mag pickups and the other for passive/piezo's, so I just have to be careful to make sure I use the right one.

Hope this helps and please keep us informed on what you decide.

Regards

Matthew

ps Beautiful bass you have.

 

+1 on the Focus. Sounds great with my Rob Allen. Also had good luck a while back with a Clarus and a 4ohm Acme B1... very warm and organic sounding. I didn't like the Acme's at all for 'regular' EB, but they sounded GREAT with the more organic Rob Allen.

 

I've been using a series 2 Focus I and a Series 1 Clarus 1 side by side for the past few weeks, three to four times a week. Both into Epifani T-112 8 Ohm cabs. They sound very similar but it comes down to this: The Focus drives an 8 Ohm cab the way the Clarus drives a 4 Ohm cab. My experience with the Clarus is that it sounds very different into lower impedances. It sounds more open, and has more headroom. It is a beast into 2 Ohm or 2.66 Ohm combo loads! The Focus has that sound into the 8 Ohm cab.

I played a Turner Ren 4 through the Clarus and an 8 Ohm Flite cab as my main rig for about a year and a half and the only thing it lacked was headroom. It sounded fantastic. Now I play a Turner Electroline w/ piezo and have the Focus/Epifani rig and I can only imagine how the Ren would sound through it. The higher fidelity of the Bergie is a plus, and having an amp with more power and headroom will make a huge difference.

 

I've played my Rob Allen 3 ways, all which have been fantastic:

1. Demeter VTBP-201s -> Stewart World 2.1 -> Acme Low B2
2. Gallien-Krueger MB150E
3. Eden WT-330 -> Bergantino HT-112

I have also plugged into a DI into a board.

 

I could hear very little difference between the high and low impedence inputs on the Series I and II AI amps with the RoB Allen, and the new Series III amps are all 'regular' impedence like Eden's, etc.

That being said, the piezo's in the Rob Allen (and I assume the Ric Turner) put out just a HUGE amount of low end... so the settings on the amp will be very different from a regular EB. However, cut some of the bass, crank up the mids, cut the treble a little and it just sounds wonderful.

 

Another thing to keep in mind, these basses have preamps which are buffering the piezo and actually have lower output impedance than a magnetic pickup. The piezo's output impedance is high, but that is seen by the preamp and not the amplifier.

 

As fretlessrock said, the Rob Allen is buffered so the preamp is actually seeing a "hotter signal" than your standard passive bass.

 

It also puts out much more signal that any active bass I've ever played. It's the only bass I've ever owned where I actually use the 'active' input in heads that have that option!

 

Indeed, it is hot. Hotter than my Lull M5V and hotter than my Warwick Thumb.

And yes, the EQ for amplifying a Rob Allen or similar is much different than that of a Fender Jazz.

Off-topic - am I the only one that smiles and giggles each time I play the first note of a sitting with my Rob Allen?

 

It really is a cool sounding bass.... nothing else like it out there (except I guess the Turner models)... very warm, etc. I wish I was a better (i.e., more in-tune) fretless player... I never really take it out of the house, but it is fun to play. It sounds great acoustically for practicing.

 

I couldn't agree more. I am hesistant to play it live because I hate starring at my left hand when I play live (and my intonation isn't what it should be when I don't stare).

However, I have recorded about 6 tracks with it and it lays on a track like nothing else I have owned.

 

I know this is a basic question but what sort of scale length do the RA's and Turners have, and how many fret positions would you get on the fingerboard. Are the spaces between finger positions the same as on a 34"bass or are they closer together. I am curious as to how easy is it to swap from one of these to a 34" fretless.

Thanks

Matthew

 

For the Rob Allen, the 4 strings are standard 34" scale and the 5 strings are 35" scale... you can get lined or unlined. Rob also makes a 'Mouse' model that has a 30" scale and only comes in fretless from what I understand.

 

Aguilar Combo ?

 

KJung
Wow thanks for the very quick reply.

I am so impressed with these types of basses they are just so organic in their sound. I have actually only seen one in the flesh, but the workmanship was top notch and the feel and tone to die for. It was quite some time ago so I couldn't remember all the details hence the question.

Thanks

Matthew

 

The amp I prefer for a Turner Ren or similar bass is Avalon U5 DI (tone filter off) --> Stewart World 1.2 power amp --> EA VL-110.

 

They come up for sale used somewhat regularly on the Bass Northwest Website, along with the Turners. They have both the Allens and the Turners new also.

 

I'm sorry to hijack the thread for a moment but have any of you tried the Rob Allen or Rick Turner with roundwound nickel strings?

richnota, when's the last time you spoke to Jim Bergantino about this?