There's all sorts of dirt available at your fingertips with the B Amp? Yes, without the overdrive and distortion, it's a clean machine and I don't think Alex's cabs break up much. It also depends on your bass as well with some being more inherently cleaner than others.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Bergantino B/Amp at NAMM
- Thread starter Munjibunga
- Start date
There's all sorts of dirt available at your fingertips with the B Amp? Yes, without the overdrive and distortion, it's a clean machine and I don't think Alex's cabs break up much. It also depends on your bass as well with some being more inherently cleaner than others.
I tried them, not really a fan of any of them. I guess i'm not looking for dirt more like something to unsterilize the sound.
What bass? The B Amp is pretty clear and transparent. It does a remarkable job of projecting the actual tone of your bass.
Do you normally prefer a colored tone (Ampeg, GK, etc)?
I would never call the B Amp sterile. Far from it, IME.
sire V7
I've been using a Berg HT210 and euphonic audio, it was a clean rig this one is cleaner.
I have a Forte/HDN rig am run several analog pedals through the effects loop, including sometimes a Sadowsky preamp pedal, but mostly a little BB bass pre for a little grit, and it all sounds great.
Have you seen @husky123 's videos where he demos the drive and distortion effects? I don't use those sounds much, so, don't remember exactly where they are; but, probably somewhere back in this thread.
It might help for you to post 1 or 2 YouTube examples of the sound you are trying to get. I likewise find the B|Amp accurate, but, not sterile.
I've said it a few times and have gotten blasted for it but I believe it...if you're not into the sound/tone of the B Amp, you don't really like the way your bass sounds in its most pure and natural state.
(Donning flame suit now)
(Donning flame suit now)
I was already coming to that conclusion or maybe i'm just not crazy about what a jazz bass actually sounds like. I had an aguilar rig and my sire sounded pretty damn good through it.
I use the OD's and blend from update 31 to get the tube like break up. I've actually been enjoying how easy it is to dirty it up a little
The Aggie amps are pretty heavily voiced to make the bass sound thicker. I find that to be not useful in slotting into a mix; but, lots of players like that. So, YMMV
FWIW, I remember auditioning a DB750. Took about 10 minutes before it went back in the box. But, as I said, a lot of cats like them.
I'm thinking maybe I'm in that camp too. Is anyone out there actually cutting the low mids on either the B|Amp or Forte? I know that's heresy based on virtually everything players post here about tone. I play mainly (well, pretty much exclusively) Jazz basses, and I just find that with the band I'm in, with two Les Pauls/Marshalls and a ton of low mid information in the mix, I just get lost in the mud with my eq set flat. Don't get me wrong, I love having a clean palate/blank slate to start with, without any baked-in tone character. But I find myself pulling out some of the low mids with a wide cut at 350hz, and then boosting the high mids and highs, currently 1k, 2k and 4k, and sometimes also boosting some lows depending on the room/stage. So yeah, I'm basically setting the eq to sound more like some amps sound flat. Not exactly like a "smiley face" or "contour" where the dip is usually in the 500-800hz range. More of a crooked smiley face! That seems to provide a spot to allow the guitars to sit in the low midrange area, and gets my bass tone below and above them with a nice aggressive rock tone to be able to fit into the mix. Thoughts?
Whatever works I say. I can't remember exactly what my eq settings are but they're definitely different when using my jazz from when using a P bass
The older I get the more I dislike the loud stage environment. But, to deal with it I use a medium wide cut @ 250, boost @ 800 and sometimes 2k, along with setting the high pass up to 50.
Mark
I'm glad there's at least one other person out there who would even mention cutting low mids - it's like they're sacred or something! LOL
Yeah I hate the crazy loud stage volume too. With our guitarists and their god forsaken Les Pauls with way too much bass/low mids in their tone, it's more about finding a place to fit in the mix than it is about volume. Honestly the best tonal fit in my band is a Stingray (because of the inherent wide mid scoop), but I just love the look, feel and sound of Fender J's. So I'm stuck with the bassplayer's mortal sin - turning down the low mid knob!
My 2 x HDN210 rig helps a lot with that though, as they seem to be more naturally in line with that tone than the two HDN212s I was previously using.
Howdy... just bought a used B Amp here on TB. Getting oriented, etc. Its serial number is in the mid-400s. What serial number are the newest ones up to? Curious how old this one is.
Last edited:
I bought mine from a music store about 18 months ago and it's #218. Sounds like yours is quite new.
I'm new to the B Amp: Mr. Bergantino just emailed me firmware version 4.4. I'm sure you all know that release already. Just thought I'd mention it.
When Jim originally designed the B|Amp, his intention was to create an amp that takes whatever you put into it and reproduces it as accurately as possible, only louder. The early amps had no compressor, no overdrive, no distortion, no Q control. His thinking was that people who wanted effects already have the pedals they like.
He follows TB closely, and there were a lot of posts by people wishing the amp had certain features. Because of the great versatility of the digital control built into the amp, it was possible to create the features that came later. Jim knew at the time that not everyone would love whatever flavor of distortion he created, and there were dozens of iterations tested by several people before the current versions were finalized. But when it comes to effects, everyone has a preference so no one's feelings are going to be hurt if you use the ones you like. That's why the amp has an effects loop.
The amp is not "sterile" by any stretch of the imagination. It's just not voiced. So if you don't like the sound you're getting, it's more likely that you don't like the sound of your bass, because that's what you're hearing - not some flavored tone that your amp designer thinks you should like.
Just for the record, there are plenty of other fine amps out there and I own amps by Mesa, Eden and GK and like them. But of the 20 or so amps I've owned, the Bergantino is the most accurate. I bought it for that reason, and the effects are just frosting for me - and I don't eat that much frosting.
