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Amp Head
- Thread starter dannyc12
- Start date
Sounds like either of those amps would be fine with your 600w cabs. I also like to leave some extra space between my amp amp's stated ouput and cab's rated power handling just as a margin of safety. Of course, listening for breakup and "farting out" is still always important, too.
There are tons of great amps in the 500w range. Everyone will throw their opinions at you (I have my own as well, *cough cough* GK, Mesa, Aguilar *cough cough*) but man there's so much good stuff out there you almost can't go wrong. Have you tried both of those out already to see if you like their sound? That's the most important thing, imho. Specs mean zilch if you don't like the way it sounds, and it's almost impossible to figure out how it sounds based on specs, haha!
Good luck!
There are tons of great amps in the 500w range. Everyone will throw their opinions at you (I have my own as well, *cough cough* GK, Mesa, Aguilar *cough cough*) but man there's so much good stuff out there you almost can't go wrong. Have you tried both of those out already to see if you like their sound? That's the most important thing, imho. Specs mean zilch if you don't like the way it sounds, and it's almost impossible to figure out how it sounds based on specs, haha!
Good luck!
Thank you for the feedback. Interestingly the Aguilar came up in my market research!
With the 450 classic head I'm using x2 Ashdown cabs, RM210 & RM115 both 300W. I'm in two cover bands playing indie, rock covers, mainly playing pubs (London, UK! Hence the pubs!) and weddings. Have x5 fenders
Oh man, sweet! Yea so I take sometimes you like a bit of breakup?
Man, I think you just gotta keep it local and go Orange, then! haha! I won't lie that part of the reasoning behind my GK, Mesa, and Aguilar love is that they are made in-country for me. Fantastic gear by "local" blokes! Does Orange still actually have production in the UK or is it all overseas now?
Great city, London. I visited for a few days in 2019 and we actually had fabulous weather! Probably the bluest skies I had ever seen in my life over Parliament, that day. Can't wait to go back again! Rock on from across the pond, Brother!
Man, I think you just gotta keep it local and go Orange, then! haha! I won't lie that part of the reasoning behind my GK, Mesa, and Aguilar love is that they are made in-country for me. Fantastic gear by "local" blokes! Does Orange still actually have production in the UK or is it all overseas now?
Great city, London. I visited for a few days in 2019 and we actually had fabulous weather! Probably the bluest skies I had ever seen in my life over Parliament, that day. Can't wait to go back again! Rock on from across the pond, Brother!
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- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,021
- 1
- 31,743
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Can you go into more detail about why you’re looking at a replacement? Are you looking for a different tone? Different response? Weight? Reliability?
(Gorgeous photos, @musicman556 !)
Different tone with more control/options, sharper crisper sound. Also, I think the TC sounds and feels a bit more dated. I was looking originally at changing my whole rig for a combi but the vast majority on the site said not to!
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,021
- 1
- 31,743
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
To me, "sharper crisper sound" means either GK or Genzler. I'm sure there are others (probably MarkBass), but the Aguilar is not one I would put in that category. Neither is my TC, though it's a BH250, perhaps different than your TC....
You have to get out there and play them, or see somebody use one. IMO, most of the popular brands here are popular for reason. It’s hard to go wrong with any of them. I would be more concerned about the type of features are important to you, the type of tone you are looking, matching your gear to the new head, all those things we can’t answer for you. Just don’t rush through this process.
Have fun!
I found the TC heads to be far to sterile sounding for my taste. Although I use tube amps both the Orange and Markbass sound great.
When I practice with my band at our guitar dude's house, he lets me use a MarkBass 2x10 combo that's there. While that works okay for practice and saves me from carting in my own 2x10 and a head, I'm really not excited about it (or combos in general). I just brought a newly acquired Tobias Killer B to practice for the first time and I had some trouble with keeping my sound from running too bright and clanky with that amp, even with the highs on both the amp and the bass trimmed down a bit.
I gig through a pair of vertically stacked 2x10 cabs and we play a buffet of rock and dance covers. I've had a GK MB 500 for a couple of years and I also picked up a used Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 as a backup a couple months ago. I can say that I'm completely confident with using either one of these heads for a gig and the GK has truly impressed. It's a little package that gives me borderline enormous sound.
I also get more of what I'd consider to be sharp and crisp sound with the GK. The Shuttle can make more of a warm and wooly tone depending on how much gain I dial up for the single-tube preamp. I haven't tried to get too much of a similar sharp and crisp personality with the Shuttle yet, but it does clean up with the gain backed down and the preamp volume up. It also has a simple yet potent eq section which includes a variable mid control that covers a very wide frequency range.
There are probably at least a dozen ways to get into the neighborhood of sound that you want. Hopefully this gives you some useful perspective. Good luck with your quest (and sorry that I can't compare my heads to your TC 450).
GK, Aguilar AG700 would get you there. Another that virtually no one on here hypes at all is the Acoustic Image Clarus. Great amps with really intuitive EQ, made in the USA.
Yo Danny go with Mark Bass you can't go wrong. The overall tone and power of those amps are ridiculous....i use a combo 210 with another 210 cab for rehearsal and smaller clubs and DAMN ITS SWINGIN MY FRIEND...i play my surine and my Q5 through it and the Tone is off the chain
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I think you’d really dig the Mesa Subway line. Super versatile and can dial in anything from taking someone’s head off, deep sub boom and everything in between. Might I recommend the D-800. Any of the heads available would work well. Maybe even the new D-350 would work at considerable less wattage.
Fun Fact. On the D-800, D-800+, WD800 and TT800, they have this nifty trick that allows you to run at lower wattage. Flip the ohm switch on the back to 2 ohms puts out a respectable 300 watts @ 8ohms and 600 watts @ 4ohms.
Fun Fact. On the D-800, D-800+, WD800 and TT800, they have this nifty trick that allows you to run at lower wattage. Flip the ohm switch on the back to 2 ohms puts out a respectable 300 watts @ 8ohms and 600 watts @ 4ohms.
The GK Legacy 500 would work well for you. You can dial the treble back to 9 o'clock and tame it or have plenty on tap and then there are three voicing switches in addition to the 4 band EQ. It gives you great attack with tight deep bass and nice mids. It does not do warm and wooly like a tone hammer but can if you run a preamp pedal like the Tonehammer Pedal into it which is what I do when I want that sound.
I've been playing mine weekly for about 2 years with no issues and no problems being heard through a 2x112 setup with a full band playing rock and jazz. Good luck!
I've been playing mine weekly for about 2 years with no issues and no problems being heard through a 2x112 setup with a full band playing rock and jazz. Good luck!
I have an EVO 500 one of the first silver plated ones to come out to be exact me and Stewart zender got the first two...still to this day one of my best sounding amp head..
Check this out im using my EVO and playing my Modulus Q5...put on your headphones or big speakers..Enjoy my friend
Check this out im using my EVO and playing my Modulus Q5...put on your headphones or big speakers..Enjoy my friend
