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Bergantino Forte

Actually, a voiced amp is more like a wizard telling you that you can't land on an aircraft carrier during a blood moon.

Well, truly you plug in and either like what you hear or you don't. At present time, it's the GK MBF800 for me!
I'm selling mine. It hasn't gone out of the house in a long time.
 
I dunno. ...the B-Amp DOES take a little time to come to grips with ALL is features. .but as many have said, it DOES simply act like a regular 4 band eq amp if you use it like that. And it sounds great like that. I keep the manual in the amp's bag. ...just in case I come across something that I can't grasp quickly. Haven't had to use it yet.
I have the basic set up as damn near flat. ...preset 1 with some drive and a good amount of comp. .. and preset 2 with a dang good amount of distortion and a touch of comp.
And ..... I'm mainly using my Fender Bassman Pro Neo 115 cabs. ...it sounds wonderful thru em too.
It's pretty intuitive really. ..one you use it a bit.
The Forte sounds like it'll be great too.... but I'm B-Amped... so. ..nup! :woot:;)
 
I'd be happy with B|Amp firmware Ver 1.0. I use the compressor but seldom use any of the effects. As far as the profiles, what other amp offers profiles? The B|Amp and forte can stand on their own with or without profiles. I've played many different amps through Bergantino cabs and they sound the best they can sound, same for the Berg amps.
Well, I do like the profiles a lot, but certainly have tried several other amps through the Berg cabs with great harmony. Had a little 350 watt amp hooked to a HDN 112 the other day and a customer remarked about how great the little combo sounded. And also with the HDN210. And I tried a certain small 800 watt amp that is noted for a "clean tube amp approximation" with the 212NT and it was really nice. And a couple of different dual channel 800 and 900 watt amps with about every Bergantino cab configuration possible - all were jam up nice. But still, there is a certain harmonic neatness - that I like - using the Bamp with the profile settings with each Berg cab.
 
I logged on specifically to like this post. Amen


I have a confession. Although I do like your profile settings, I have never even desired or felt the need to touch any of the effects or eq for my own playing, even though I did learn about them for my customers. But for me, straight out of the box, the CLEAN and flat EQ is what I like. I could take one out of the box and go to a gig and not touch a thing; the Bamp does not have to be complicated. The more in depth is there for those who want it.

I do admit I may miss the profile settings with the Forte; is there a chance of suggested EQ settings for each of your cabs, perhaps in the Forte manual? I know on some days my ear is dang-near perfect and I could start with just about anything and quickly arrive at an optimized sound. But on days with high humidity or low barometric pressure, for me, that kinda gets blown and it IS nice to have a starting point. If a person is only using one brand and set of cabs, this shouldn't be an issue, as it should be easily adjusted for, but for those that enjoy several different Berg cabs the solution may be to stick with the Bamp.

Hi Michael,

Regarding your's and other's thoughts and suggestions about providing tone control settings for the forte' to "mimmick" profile settings for various cabinets, there's a few considerations about the profile filters in the B|AMP that are not often talked about or understood. The obvious is that with the forte', the tone controls have fixed center frequencies and q's whereas in the B|AMP, the profile filters are specifically programmed for a particular speakers needs and have specific q's and frequencies for that particular speaker.

The other important aspect of the profile filters is they are after the DI circuit in the DSP altogether, and can never effect the signal going to the FOH, regardless of whether or not pre or post eq is selected for the DI. This is VERY important. You don't want your profile eq's, which are dedicated to "flattening" out the response of your speaker system on stage, effecting the front of house signal going into an already balanced system. This is why many sound engineers engage the highpass filter on the Bass channel to try and negate the effects of players using their tone controls for speaker eq's, for which they are completely useless for anyway, especially the shelving type filters. So with the profile system, your tone controls can be used for what they were intended for, creative elements to adjust your tone, not eq your speaker. Sending a post eq signal to the DI should now actually be desirable given that you're sending your desired tone to the FOH, not your speaker eq.

To this point, I can't tell you how many players comment on how much their sound guy loves the DI from the amp. Chris Maresh, who just got back from touring with Eric Johnson using the B|AMP and NV610T, said it's the first time ever his stage system sounded exactly like his FOH sound, and the sound engineer only used the volume control on his channel in the house and never touched a single tone control or engaged the HPF! This was actually confirmed to me personally when I had the opportunity to meet Eric's sound engineer when their recent tour came thru my area. In fact, according to Chris, the only thing Eric said to him the entire tour regarding his tone was, "Turn up"!
 
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Hi Michael,

Regarding your's and other's thoughts and suggestions about providing tone control settings for the forte' to "mimmick" profile settings for various cabinets, there's a few considerations about the profile filters in the B|AMP that are not often talked about or understood. The obvious is that with the forte', the tone controls have fixed center frequencies and q's whereas in the B|AMP, the profile filters are specifically programmed for a particular speakers needs and have specific q's and frequencies for that particular speaker.

The other important aspect of the profile filters is they are after the DI circuit in the DSP altogether, and can never effect the signal going to the FOH, regardless of whether or not pre or post eq is selected for the DI. This is VERY important. You don't want your profile eq's, which are dedicated to "flattening" out the response of your speaker system on stage, effecting the front of house signal going into an already balanced system. This is why many sound engineers engage the highpass filter on the Bass channel to try and negate the effects of players using their tone controls for speaker eq's, for which they are completely useless for anyway, especially the shelving type filters. So with the profile system, your tone controls can be used for what they were intended for, creative elements to adjust your tone, not eq your speaker. Sending a post eq signal to the DI should now actually be desirable given that you're sending your desired tone to the FOH, not your speaker eq.

To this point, I can't tell you how many players comment on how much their sound guy loves the DI from the amp. Chris Maresh, who just got back from touring with Eric Johnson using the B|AMP and NV610T, said it's the first time ever his stage system sounded exactly like his FOH sound, and the sound engineer only used the volume control on his channel in the house and never touched a single tone control or engaged the HPF! This was actually confirmed to me personally when I had the opportunity to meet Eric's sound engineer when their recent tour came thru my area. In fact, according to Chris, the only thing Eric said to him the entire tour regarding his tone was, "Turn up"!
Thanks for the info. I figured it was a bit more complex. I don't have a response curve for each of your speakers, so I wondered if it was possible for some suggested EQ settings for the Forte. Probably not that important as each room we all play in is gonna change things anyway, and we each are going to adjust to what we like. But I still do really love the profile settings in the Bamp, and it is one of the things about the Bamp that does set it apart. And I don't have to touch the EQ knobs at all for "my" sound - really cool.

I ran pro sound for years and I can attest that the DI of the BAmp is nice and clean.
 
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Thanks for the info. I figured it was a bit more complex. I don't have a response curve for each of your speakers, so I wondered if it was possible for some suggested EQ settings for the Forte. Probably not that important as each room we all play in is gonna change things anyway, and we each are going to adjust to what we like. But I still do really love the profile settings in the Bamp, and it is one of the things about the Bamp that does set it apart. And I don't have to touch the EQ knobs at all for "my" sound - really cool.

I ran pro sound for years and I can attest that the DI of the BAmp is nice and clean.

That's great to hear Michael. One thing I haven't mentioned is that because the forte' shares the same circuit architecture as the B|AMP, including the DSP, there's a generic profile programmed into the forte' which I believe will give most, if not all players, a great starting point on which to build their tone, regardless of whose speaker they are using. This profile is obviously not as specific as the B|AMP profiles, but will give a very nice "out-of-the-box" experience nevertheless. And this generic profile is after the DI for reasons mentioned above. I think you and your customers will be very pleased once you plug in and hear your very first note! ;-}
 
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Great points and great to hear from you about this Jim. Appreciated.
But, again, I'll just simply state that the B-Amp does sound superb into my one or two Fender Bassman Pro Neo 115 cabs. I tried using the NV115 profile bit found I liked it better with no profile added- admittedly, I didn't try any OTHER profiles. ..which may or may not have made a positive difference.
But it sounds so good as it is. .. as I said previously
With no preset I'm pretty much flat eq....maybe 1.5 added on the bass eq at most. ..and this is terrific.
Preset 1 has a heap of distortion and a touch of comp.
Preset 2 has a touch of OD and a heap of comp for an almost keyboard-ey bass sound.
To buy the dongle and footswitch is next for me.
If I'm thinking correctly....this'll gimme another preset to play with (always handy) PLUS let me switch on the fly.
Good times. .... as Chic so eloquently put it.
 
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Jim, i see what looks like a front panel LED to indicate 2 or 4/8 ohm setting, but no select switch. So the Forte senses it automatically from the cab(s) plugged in? Or is that the switch?
To toggle between 4 and 2 ohm operation just push and hold the mute button for 2 seconds.
 

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