Bergantino Forte

[husky123]

And tomorrow is now today and i have it...

Not much i can add to what has been said above, by more experienced and knowledgeable folks than me. Sound/EQ is exactly right for me, build quality is outstanding and the classy appearance makes me feel uptown. I can also personally attest to Jim B's outstanding customer service/support; in addition to promptly answering emails he spent an hour on the phone with me, diagnosing and resolving a cabinet rattle.

So, great cabinets for any conceivable venue, great amplifiers from basic to rocket scientist, and great customer support. What's not to love??

No doubt about Jim and his service to his customers. He sweats the details like no one I’ve ever met. Congrats on the amp. As a B|Amp owner, I know the feeling. All Berg products just oooooze quality, precision and are tone heaven.

 

[SCT1422]

I doubt about Jim and his service to his customers. He sweats the details like no one I’ve ever met. Congrats on the amp. As a B|Amp owner, I know the feeling. All Berg products justoooooze quality, precision and are tone heaven.

Husky is spot on ...... Jim is always working on every spec, detail and overall product !!

 

[husky123]

Husky is spot on ...... Jim is always working on every spec, detail and overall product !!

Should have been “No doubt” instead of I doubt but thanks for getting the context.

 

[uwrossl]

Monster player and all around good guy Steubig stopped by to give a listen. We did some A/B/C (as easy as 1-2-3). A few thoughts:

The Forte/H1203 combo is pretty much magic. Didn't really need to touch the eq, just changing the switches on the back of the cabinet (one is a mid boost, the other a high-end roll-off) there are a bunch of great sounds. In particular my Deep 4 just kills with this head. To the extent that I may end up selling my Fodera 4-string fretless as I can cop that vibe with the Rob Allen (i.e. not sounding like an upright).

We both agreed that the Mesa is a hair compressed, either in the preamp section or power amp section. The upside of that is that it can hide some sloppy technique, and tends to feel a bit more like a tube amp with a nice solid note impact. In contrast the Forte is quite "fast" and you get a lot more finger and string noise. If you're going for a very articulate sound, the Forte will give you that a bit more than the Mesa. If you're going for a good rock or R&B sound, the Mesa will get you there quicker imho.

Different flavors of great. Mesa is hard to beat on price/performance and flexibility with the D800+. Forte hits like a bit more defined hammer, which for some gigs I prefer. Just depends on the band situation. My current thinking is that I'll likely sell the D800+ and keep my D800, then swap between the D800 and the Forte depending on the gig.

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Man...These are the two heads I'm strongly considering and your comparison made it harder!!!! LOL. Going to start making the rounds to play them. Leaning toward Forte as I did like how articulate and quick the attack was on on it. Seemed like it'd really slice through a mix. But you made the D800+ sound really appealing too. I haven't played it yet. Did you notice much of a difference as far as headroom/power between the two.

 

[nostatic]

Forte getting another workout - bass, bass, and drums trio. Steubig on 12-string fretted and fretless. No FOH, ran DI from the Forte and Steubig's Puma into the H6N

For those who are adventurous - a 15 min romp somewhat around Norwegian Wood

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[tombowlus]

Looks like we have the green light for a B|Amp review, and Jim sent us a Forte to throw into the mix. He suggested that I try it with some non-Bergantino cabs, so I put this rig together for the gig last Saturday:

Gotta tell ya, it was pretty darned fantastic!

 

[Bassi5t]

Tombowlus, Jim suggested that when running 2.67 ohms (I assume you’re three cabs are all 8 ohms), at moderate volumes, to keep it in 4/8 ohms... not 2 ohms. He says this way you’ll get more power out of the head. But he also said that if you’re running it loud you’ll want to take it down to the 2 ohm setting. I know it’s not much of a difference in perceived volume but I thought it was interesting.

 

[jibass]

At lower volume duo gigs with an acoustic guitarist I have been using my forte' with a little Genzler BA10-2 cab. Sounds great, no surprise there!

 

[Jerry Ziarko]

Looks like we have the green light for a B|Amp review, and Jim sent us a Forte to throw into the mix. He suggested that I try it with some non-Bergantino cabs, so I put this rig together for the gig last Saturday:

Can't wait to read that one. When will it be out?

 

[SCT1422]

Can't wait to read that one. When will it be out?

Hey Jerry... The Forte's are shipping.. Let me know when you're around Buffalo on a gig or visit, you check mine out..

 

[Jerry Ziarko]

Hey Jerry... The Forte's are shipping.. Let me know when you're around Buffalo on a gig or visit, you check mine out..

Thanks Steve, I was referring to the review. Still want to hear yours!

 

[FlatwoundFunk]

Extremely happy new Forte owner here with a question for the Forte owners.....
Does your amp get a little warm on the left hand side when sitting unplayed for awhile?
Also, have any of you ever run your amp to get it hot enough for the fan to kick in? If so, how hard and long were you pushing it? I know the fan turns on automatically when set for 2ohms operation but I'm just curious of my threshold with this beauty.

Thanks in advanced

 

[Jim Bergantino]

Extremely happy new Forte owner here with a question for the Forte owners.....
Does your amp get a little warm on the left hand side when sitting unplayed for awhile?
Also, have any of you ever run your amp to get it hot enough for the fan to kick in? If so, how hard and long were you pushing it? I know the fan turns on automatically when set for 2ohms operation but I'm just curious of my threshold with this beauty.

Thanks in advanced

Not a forte' "owner", but I may be able to shed some light for you! ;-} It's normal to get a little warm at idle and you may or may not get the fan to turn on under normal playing conditions. I played around with the temp the fan kicks in at and with the initial turn-on temp I set it to, it would turn on after an extended period without even playing thru it. I felt this could pose an issue for the studio and low volume church gigs where fan noise could be an issue. This is ultimately why on the B|AMP I added a "quiet" setting in the fan menu, to choose between keeping the case temperature on the cooler side vs. having the fan turn on in more quiet gig settings. So I set it just below this point such that it wouldn't turn on unless it actually needed to. Don't worry if it doesn't, it just hasn't reached the programmed temperature to do so. And one more bit of information regarding case temperature. I elected to make the chassis out of steel rather than aluminum. Aluminum does offer better heat sinking qualities, but its light weight makes the amp too light, IMO, causing potential issues with the amp vibrating off the cab. Not really a trade off, as the amp is operating well within its safe operating area, and we're monitoring the temperature by the millisecond. It's just that the steel will be warmer to the touch than aluminum due to the reasons stated above.

Also glad to hear you're enjoying your new amp!

Jim

 

[husky123]

While I don’t own the Forte, I do own his big brother the B|Amp and it has the same power section/fan/heat sink. I’ve gigged the amp all summer and had a number of sweltering outdoor shows and the amp never breaks a sweat. Trust it big time.

 

[jibass]

I've had a few gigs with my forte'/HDN210 and lots of solo practice and yes the amp gets a little warm on top (it didn't seem to register on me that one side might have been warmer than the other). I have yet to hear the fan come on unless i switch it to 2ohm operation, though i don't need to do this with my cab.

I must admit to being an ex-B|Amp user; the forte' turned out to be a better match for my simple brain. My B|Amp went to a buddy who could not afford new, and i replaced with the forte'.

I mention this because last summer i played several outdoor gigs in 105+ degree weather. I had set my B|Amp fan to "Quiet" for practice at home and forgot to change it back to "Normal" for these gigs. The amp ran like the champ it is and never blipped during those 4 hour always-on gigs. If the fan came on i never heard it because we were at gig volumes (and outdoors). And it continued to run like a champ when i got home, for practices and a couple other gigs.

I was worried however that maybe i had toasted something that would eventually cause probs so i talked with Jim B. He reassured me that even though i had the fan on the quiet setting, it would still come on when it reached a certain temp threshhold, ie the amp would self-regulate and not get hot enough to cause damage.

My long-winded point is: Bergantino products can take a lickin and keep on tickin.

 

[FlatwoundFunk]

Not a forte' "owner", but I may be able to shed some light for you! ;-} It's normal to get a little warm at idle and you may or may not get the fan to turn on under normal playing conditions. I played around with the temp the fan kicks in at and with the initial turn-on temp I set it to, it would turn on after an extended period without even playing thru it. I felt this could pose an issue for the studio and low volume church gigs where fan noise could be an issue. So I set it just below this point such that it wouldn't turn on unless it actually needed to. Don't worry if it doesn't, it just hasn't reached the programmed temperature to do so. And one more bit of information regarding case temperature. I elected to make the chassis out of steal rather than aluminum. Aluminum does offer better heat sinking qualities, but its light weight makes the amp too light, IMO, causing potential issues with the amp vibrating off the cab. Not really a trade off, as the amp is operating well within its safe operating area, and we're monitoring the temperature by the millisecond. It's just that the steal will be warmer to the touch than aluminum due to the reasons stated above.

Also glad to hear you're enjoying your new amp!

Jim

Talk about great customer service??? Wow. I ask a question and I get answered by the Top Cat himself!
Thanks for the response and information. I kind of figured it was designed in such a way. You've made a great product (as usual). Thanks again Mr. Bergantino

 

[FlatwoundFunk]

I've had a few gigs with my forte'/HDN210 and lots of solo practice and yes the amp gets a little warm on top (it didn't seem to register on me that one side might have been warmer than the other). I have yet to hear the fan come on unless i switch it to 2ohm operation, though i don't need to do this with my cab.

I must admit to being an ex-B|Amp user; the forte' turned out to be a better match for my simple brain. My B|Amp went to a buddy who could not afford new, and i replaced with the forte'.

I mention this because last summer i played several outdoor gigs in 105+ degree weather. I had set my B|Amp fan to "Quiet" for practice at home and forgot to change it back to "Normal" for these gigs. The amp ran like the champ it is and never blipped during those 4 hour always-on gigs. If the fan came on i never heard it because we were at gig volumes (and outdoors). And it continued to run like a champ when i got home, for practices and a couple other gigs.

I was worried however that maybe i had toasted something that would eventually cause probs so i talked with Jim B. He reassured me that even though i had the fan on the quiet setting, it would still come on when it reached a certain temp threshhold, ie the amp would self-regulate and not get hot enough to cause damage.

My long-winded point is: Bergantino products can take a lickin and keep on tickin.

This is good to know. 105+?? Wow. Now that's hot.

I completely understand about the switch. That's my second favorite part about the Forte. It's simple. I was using an Shuttle Max 9.2 and never used the 16 knobs on the channels to adjust. Now, I don't touch the eq because I don't have to. Before I didn't touch it because I didn't want to. Sounds perfect flat with all my basses.

 

[jibass]

Yeah, Sacramento valley in No. Cal gets hot as hell but it is dry heat. We hit 116 several days this past summer. You get high heat and humidity, right? That must be tough.
The native voicing of the forte' is just right for me. I make very minimal tweaks depending on the venue, sometimes use the bright switch. I'm still learning how to use the variable compressor. I just like the fatter sustain quality it can add in small doses so actually i don't really care how it works, i just go by the sound

This is good to know. 105+?? Wow. Now that's hot.
I completely understand about the switch. That's my second favorite part about the Forte. It's simple. I was using an Shuttle Max 9.2 and never used the 16 knobs on the channels to adjust. Now, I don't touch the eq because I don't have to. Before I didn't touch it because I didn't want to. Sounds perfect flat with all my basses.

 

[FlatwoundFunk]

Yeah, Sacramento valley in No. Cal gets hot as hell but it is dry heat. We hit 116 several days this past summer. You get high heat and humidity, right? That must be tough.
The native voicing of the forte' is just right for me. I make very minimal tweaks depending on the venue, sometimes use the bright switch. I'm still learning how to use the variable compressor. I just like the fatter sustain quality it can add in small doses so actually i don't really care how it works, i just go by the sound

I feel you on that. The older I get, the more I follow the K.I.S.S. motto. I used to HAVE to know how and why. Now I just enjoy what it is as long as it works for me. Keeps the blood pressure down and makes you easier to interact with.
Yeah the humidity is a bummer at times but I guess I'm used to it. I work around hot asphalt all day.

 

[KPO2000]

Tried the Forte out at Willie's in MN a few weeks back and fell for it hard. I went back and forth about whether I needed a Berg cab before I bought another bass head. Just placed and order for the Forte. Can't wait to try with my current cabs...and eventually (soon) scrape together enough to get an HDN212.