Double Bass Bassics A 900 Poweramp

[flatback]

Hey I don't even have this power amp yet but i thought I'd open the thread anyway based on Malcolm's great personal response to my query and the simple straight forward styling and good price offered by Bassics.
It is a class D amp (but I don't know what is inside) with just the bassics: input, gain (lighted) LED meter and Speakon connectors on the back. It has a cool tilt up feature to get around pesky cabinet handles and is just the right size to velcro a Grace Felix on top of. I was looking for this exact box.
Malcolm has been great (even setting up a PayPal account to accept my payment) and I am looking forward to having it replace my 2 channel (stolen) Focus. The Focus was the right size too (a totally stellar amp) but using a different preamp meant I was taking what seemed like hundreds of knobs to a gig. I think the A900/Felix sandwich will be a killer combo.
here is the link.

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[flatback]

Malcolm is sending the amp tomorrow, quick attention and great to interact with. I am hoping to get a Bassics preamp sometime soon to review, I think the combo seems very attractive for double bass. The idea of using the eq points as a boost (boosting mids for upright bass soloing for example) sounds like an interesting way to go about it...

 

[LaFaro01]

...I think the A900/Felix sandwich will be a killer combo....

That sounds not too bad.. I'm highly interested in your experiences with this combo... I'm completely sold on my Felix, but that the question, "how to go on" isn't answered yet..

 

[flatback]

OK so Man first things first: I paid Malcolm Toft on Friday for this amp via PayPal. He is in London. I am playing it this morning, Monday. I am totally floored by Malcolm getting me this amp so fast. Totally brilliant. I plugged it in and you know we are talking about a power amp here so in the best of circumstances it has NO sound of it's own; transparency. And to that end it is killing. I always thought that the Felix into any poweramp or FX loop (bypassing the built in preamp) would yield the same general results, but I am happily updating that. The Felix thru this power amp (and thru the MAS cabinet) are a totally stellar, clear, HiFi, endless headroom, pleasure. I am sure that I will run this amp at a fraction of it's abilities to crank out effortless volume.
It fits the Felix perfectly, the front riser to get around the cabinet handle is excellent, the Lighted knob is let when on and blinks until it is powered down. Nice. The LED level control works great (although I will prolly never get loud enough to see it lit up, and the styling is simple and elegant. I am totally stoked.
I have been playing the Felix thru powered PA speakers the past few weeks since my amp was stolen and although I really have been digging that sound, it pales compared to the Felix/A900/MAS combo. Way warmer, clearer, faster (I don'
t even know what I mean by that) but is seems like the poweramp speaks immediately.
I'll take it out on some gigs and see how it works out, but I am stoked so far, and man Malcolm is forever in my good thoughts for the speed of delivery, WOW.
Highly recommended here.

 

[Ric Vice]

Glad you like it, seems to me that all power amplifiers are not created equal. As an example, my M700 (Jule Monique) sounded great with the MAS 4x5.
Happily, I found a powered MAS 4x5.5. So in my case I just plug in the Grace Felix and I'm good to go. I realize how fortunate I am to have found one.

 

[flatback]

Gain staging is so important with the Grace/A900. Still figuring it out but it seems like the sweet spot is to have the pickup gain backed off of saturation a bit then the grace amp volume up pretty far and then the A900 fairly low...but I could be wrong, I've heard you are supposed to run the power amp up high....

 

[LaFaro01]

OK so Man first things first: I paid Malcolm Toft on Friday for this amp via PayPal. He is in London. I am playing it this morning, Monday. I am totally floored by Malcolm getting me this amp so fast. Totally brilliant. I plugged it in and you know we are talking about a power amp here so in the best of circumstances it has NO sound of it's own; transparency. And to that end it is killing. I always thought that the Felix into any poweramp or FX loop (bypassing the built in preamp) would yield the same general results, but I am happily updating that. The Felix thru this power amp (and thru the MAS cabinet) are a totally stellar, clear, HiFi, endless headroom, pleasure. I am sure that I will run this amp at a fraction of it's abilities to crank out effortless volume.
It fits the Felix perfectly, the front riser to get around the cabinet handle is excellent, the Lighted knob is let when on and blinks until it is powered down. Nice. The LED level control works great (although I will prolly never get loud enough to see it lit up, and the styling is simple and elegant. I am totally stoked.
I have been playing the Felix thru powered PA speakers the past few weeks since my amp was stolen and although I really have been digging that sound, it pales compared to the Felix/A900/MAS combo. Way warmer, clearer, faster (I don'
t even know what I mean by that) but is seems like the poweramp speaks immediately.
I'll take it out on some gigs and see how it works out, but I am stoked so far, and man Malcolm is forever in my good thoughts for the speed of delivery, WOW.
Highly recommended here.
View attachment 3448493

That seems to be a real interesting alternative to combine the Felix. Using the A900 would be a possibility to use the Felix with my Hevos Speaker. I was thinking about a change to a active speaker like Mackie or QSC, but this seems to be a real good deal...

 

[Ric Vice]

Gain staging is so important with the Grace/A900. Still figuring it out but it seems like the sweet spot is to have the pickup gain backed off of saturation a bit then the grace amp volume up pretty far and then the A900 fairly low...but I could be wrong, I've heard you are supposed to run the power amp up high....

Sounds about right to me. I've always been told that with new power amplifiers you don't want to run them wide open.

 

[Ric Vice]

That seems to be a real interesting alternative to combine the Felix. Using the A900 would be a possibility to use the Felix with my Hevos Speaker. I was thinking about a change to a active speaker like Mackie or QSC, but this seems to be a real good deal...

Mackies and QSC's are good deals, but they don't have the same finesse as a MAS, Audokinesis, etc. I used one with the Grace for over 3 years, before I went the the MAS 1/8. It made a big tonal difference. Just my take.

 

[Roger Davis]

I got rid of my Felix. Nice piece of kit but gave the bass a ‘flat’ sound, particularly on the bottom. I use a Magellan - and a Puma would do as well - but the game changer is the FDeck HPF that maintains the edge to the signal. Not very well explained perhaps but I’m trying to describe the attack that I get that was lacking in the Felix.
Trying a Broughton on a gig tonight.

 

[Ric Vice]

Not my experience, but I understand why the Grace Felix might have the EQ pallet that works with my bass and cabinets (powered MAS 4x5.5 & MAS 1/8) and not yours. The Magellan has a lovely voicing.
I tried all three FDeck’s with my Walter Woods Electroacoustic and MI-400-8 and it was not a good match with those amps. The tone guality was altered, so I sold mine.

 

[LaFaro01]

The tone guality was altered, so I sold mine.

it might be, that "the altered tone quality" is, what Roger is looking for
but how is a saying in German: "You can't argue about taste", said the monkey and bit in the curd soap

 

[Roger Davis]

Fair nuff, Ric. I’ll see how the Broughton compares to the FDeck tonight and post a crit. At the very least it will provide a good backup to the FDeck which isn’t easily available in UK, but I hope it’ll do a bit more than that.

 

[flatback]

well the Felix/A900 sandwich sounds different on the gig thru the MAS46 then the felix into the focus...More focused sound (no pun) detailed. Also I could turn the power amp way down, like 9 o'clock and get into the mix underneath with clarity but no need to have the volume up to hear myself. It was really cool. I found myself adjusting the red lit knob n the poweramp for volume rather then what I thought I would be doing which is leaving the poweramp set and adjusting volume from the Felix. But I barely had to turn it at all, this poweramp has a lot of headroom.

I hear you rick with that powered MAS46 ...looks great, my only reason for having separates with a 46 is that it is already pretty heavy to carry even from the cart to the stage. Adding amp weight (Im sure it isnt that much built in) would not be great to me.

 

[Ric Vice]

Sound's like you have a winner and should you have any on the gig issues (hopefully never) then you can just swap things out. I agree that the MAS 4x6 is heavy, I tried one at a TB er's house and since he also had a 4x5 I got to compare them, right before I bought my first MAS 4x5. It's a lot larger and heavier than the 4x5.
You would not want to add any weight to that cabinet. Fortunately, I got my hands on a powered MAS 4x5.5. It has the same footprint as the MAS 4x5 with larger drivers. It's got a bigger low end, but still responds quickly. I sold my MAS 4x5 because I didn't need it anymore

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Gain staging is so important with the Grace/A900. Still figuring it out but it seems like the sweet spot is to have the pickup gain backed off of saturation a bit then the grace amp volume up pretty far and then the A900 fairly low...but I could be wrong, I've heard you are supposed to run the power amp up high....

All amps are unique like people in this regard - basically made of the same stuff and yet still remarkably unique enough to require understanding who they are in order to interact with them. In my experience with the three basic stages of gain structure when using a preamp (input level, preamp gain, power amp gain), the input gain determines the "heat" of the signal, the preamp gain determines the "weight" of the signal, and the power amp regulates the volume of the signal.

The input level, or what I call the "heat" above, has to do with the immediacy or edge of the pickup signal. A pickup signal that is too "hot" is a sound we can all call up in our imaginations; it's like a person that is standing uncomfortably too close and you get the feeling of too much presence and too much detail for the volume level involved. Too much string noise, too "in your face", as if using a compressor with the sensitivity and ratio set too high. This level was the hardest for me to understand in the learning curve.

The preamp level, or "weight", controls the heft and presence of the signal once you get the first stage right. Depending on the playing situation, you may want a heavier or lighter feel to this. With a loud drummer, I usually want more heft, with no drummer or a quiet drummer, less; whatever it takes to blend.

The power amp is just plain volume, but you also have to know your power amp to know where it sounds best. Most have a sweet range, and once you recognize where that is you're usually fine until you go past it. For me, the first two stages are the real balancing act. When I reviewed the Felix, it sounded great but set flat always sounded edgier/hotter than I normally prefer with too much detail on the high frequencies of the pickup signal than I am comfortable with. With a different pickup and amp, it might have been different, though!

 

[flatback]

Hey Chris thanks so much for the explanation of the gain staging. This amp sounds different then the Focus which was a 12 year old class D...I am sure they are different now and that all poweramps sound different. The Felix has an input clip LED which they recommend having hot enough to occasionally blink red (it goes green first with signal) But I like it backed way off from that ....Now that I am using just the pickup....for the moment I have given up on complicating my SC, I am more interested in a single channel preamp. I would love to try the Bassics preamp, I am ultimately interested in the Monique (I love the tube presence) I was using the Demeter Tube Direct into the Focus (before it was stolen) and liked that a lot.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

So you are reducing the "heat" of the input signal. I like to do that as well - it makes the signal a little more natural. The PJB input stage also has a clip light, and I like to back off from where it clips occasionally and try to set at just before. When it clips every now and then I don't hear any distortion but the overall signal sounds too hot to me.

I am hoping to review the Noble preamp in the coming weeks for DB and see how I like that. I like the simplicity and form factor, and the rest remains to be seen!

 

[flatback]

yeah I see the Noble and I like the form factor....I wish they made one without all those power connectors on the side, I dont have a giant pedal board (I dont have any pedal board) and so I tend not to want to buy functions I will never use. THe Monique seems like you are buying the ultimate tube preamp. I tried one once and loved it but things have changed in my life since then (new bass new pickup etc)

 

[flatback]

played a nice gig with Paul Mccandless the other night. Used the Felix/A900 brick and it sounded fantastic. The A900 has serious headroom, was whisper quiet, and had a kind of charge to the way it pushed the MAS speaker that felt so quick and good. Total keeper. Thanks Malcolm.