Bergantino Forte

[BassTerd]

I have the B\Amp and a BB2. I can't imagine that you'll be dissatisfied, they are both killer

yea thats what i meant, i have a B/Amp coming in any day now and the barefaced in a couple of weeks

 

[zon6c-f]

Starting 2018 with bag for my forte’ and Cover for my HDN1-12

 

[walkbassman45]

I'm getting ready to buy an amp any day now. 40 years later and the back can't take the 13 ply 80 lb cabs anymore. This is getting difficult.Bergantino, Aguilar, and Mesa. Which to get? Leaning towards Bergantino or Mesa. I wish the Tone Hammer had 700 watts, that would have put it in the running. I play a vintage P bass with TI flatwounds. Big bands, swing music, Blues, Rock. I like both the Bergantino and Mesa Subway cabs.

 

[jibass]

I LOVE my Forte. I even use it with a small 110 cab for duo gigs with a folky singer-songwriter acoustic guitarist. And it scales up for use with a moderately loud rock covers band in which i use my Berg 210, or 112+210. I originally had a Bamp but it was just way more than i needed in terms of EQ. I typically leave all Forte EQ at 12, compression at 12 also. Sometimes i will turn on the Bright. I've used in small folk pubs, medium sized venues, and outdoor gigs. The Forte has never blipped. I can also tell you that Bergantino support is stellar. I was having a rattle problem with a cabinet and Jim B spent over an hour on the phone with me troubleshooting and ultimately the issue was resolved.

I guess if i had one nice-to-have with the Forte, it would be the high pass filter (or low pass, or whatever that is properly called). That was a really nice feature with the Bamp and if i could choose between it and the compression for the Forte, that would be my vote.

You cannot go wrong with Bergantino products...

 

[husky123]

You cannot go wrong with Bergantino products...

^^^This^^^

 

[monsterthompson]

I wish the Tone Hammer had 700 watts, that would have put it in the running.

The TH wattage rating is pretty conservative, from what I’ve read, and there’s little reason to believe it wouldn’t legitimately compete with the other amps you’ve listed, with their 700-800w ratings. Considering the rule is that you have to double the watts to get +3 dB, the difference, all else equal, between a 500w amp and a 700-800w amp shouldn’t be significant.

I think you should judge the amps based on tone and features. The Berg gear has a fantastic reputation, so I’m sure it’ll sound quite good. If you like the TH, I wouldn’t exclude it from consideration or comparison based just on the 500w rating.

 

[zon6c-f]

The TH wattage rating is pretty conservative, from what I’ve read, and there’s little reason to believe it wouldn’t legitimately compete with the other amps you’ve listed, with their 700-800w ratings. Considering the rule is that you have to double the watts to get +3 dB, the difference, all else equal, between a 500w amp and a 700-800w amp shouldn’t be significant.

I think you should judge the amps based on tone and features. The Berg gear has a fantastic reputation, so I’m sure it’ll sound quite good. If you like the TH, I wouldn’t exclude it from consideration or comparison based just on the 500w rating.

I’m still getting used to the transparency

Forte’ sounds like YOU What you put into it is what comes out ; unlike a Fender, Acoustic, Ampeg ... what have you

Your lower back will love the HDN1-12

Hard to imagine such a powerhouse amp in just a few pounds. Loving forte’ Class D!

 

[jthisdell]

I play a vintage P bass with TI flatwounds. Big bands, swing music, Blues, Rock. I like both the Bergantino and Mesa Subway cabs.

I play a vintage P with TI flats through Berg cabs and love it. IMHO the cab is the most important piece and you can't go wrong with Berg. Only criticism of them that I've ever read is that some think they get too middy at very loud volumes (i.e. the low end does not keep up as volume gets high) but I do not play at extreme volumes and have never noticed such an issue. I've have CN112 and CN210 cabs and had an NV115 (which I loved but would not fit in my Miata and I wanted two cabs that would work together). I bought a TH500 but this was before the B-Amp came out. When I was researching rigs I realized the Berg thread was 200 pages of "This XXX Berg cabs sounds great with this YYY head" and the TH thread was 200 pages of "This TH sounds great with theis ZZZ cab" and I realized they were both winners. But I am still tempted by a B-Amp.

 

[walkbassman45]

Well, I did it. I put in an order with Bergantino today for a Forte and the 112 cabinet. The research that I did seems to point to the P bass with the Forte.

 

[SCT1422]

Well, I did it. I put in an order with Bergantino today for a Forte and the 112 cabinet. The research that I did seems to point to the P bass with the Forte.

Which 112 did you order ??

 

[walkbassman45]

HDN112. Saves the back. I will add the 2×10 later.

 

[jibass]

Triple Crown! Forte, HDN112 and HDN210. Exactly what i have and use.

HDN112. Saves the back. I will add the 2×10 later.

 

[Jigmay]

Can anyone give me an idea how the Forte would compare to a Walter Woods M-400 in tone quality? I realize they are a lot of differences (wattage, and other Appliantology), just thinking about sound quality. It’s playing through a Berg AE112. Haven’t had to buy Tums for years till I learn about this amp!

 

[JoePP]

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.

I can definitely attest to that. I played my B|Amp all summer last year at many sweltering outdoor gigs where it sat right out in the sweltering Florida sun, and it never broke a sweat!

 

[JoePP]

Ok, finished with day job stuff, dug into the amp a bit more. I always reserve judgement until I get it into a live gigging situation, but gawd knows I've cycled through enough gear to have a decent idea.

I'll compare it to the Mesa D800+ since...well, that's what it is sitting on top of. Running into the Subway 1-12 cab. When I first plugged it in it seemed a bit noisy but most of that was my Pigtronix Infinity (which needs to be rebooted regularly). Noise floor is similar to the D800+, it seemed louder on the Forte because I had it overall louder (master volume tapers are different).

My initial thought was that the Forte is a bit more open but more thin, but I'm finding this really depends on the gain setting and the VRC. I'm pretty much a compressor snob as I'm spoiled by using either my FEA dual band or Empress live and a Mike-E (Distressor circuit) in the studio. When I crank the VRC I find that I'm pulling up some distortion with my fretless, not so much on my fretted. The fretless though is an odd beast as the TI flats and low action combine for some interesting artifacts.

I typically leave the eq flat at first and mess with gain structures and in this case the VRC. Then I fiddle with the eq to see where they feel right/wrong. One reason I was interested in the Forte is that the eq centers are right around where I typically would set a parametric anyway.

I'll put some more hours on it tonight but I'm finding sweet spots by gain between 11-2pm and VRC 9-1pm. Once you get past noon on the VRC it is a bit too squashed for my taste, but frankly I like having a bit of it in the signal chain. Between those two knobs you can go from a more open/articulate sound to a fatter/thick tone. The G-string really speaks well on this amp, and in general notes seem to be very quick attack and they keep kicking. By contrast the Mesa is just a hair softer in the attack with just the slightest bit of sag (vaguely tubeish) - which I also like a lot depending on the gig.

With both amps I find I don't really need to touch the eq except maybe to deal with a room. On the Mesa you have the deep switch and voicing along with gain, the Forte it is gain and VRC. With the eq on the Forte I can get close to the Mesa deep switch, but not quite the same.

Short story is there is magic in both amps. The D800+ wins on flexibility as you've got the dual parametric, deep and bright switch, voicing control and variable HPF. But the Forte has the eq in the right places and the gain and VRC interact in ways that I haven't fully explored yet, but so far like. Both will get stupid loud.

You mention that the eq centers on the Forte are right around where you would typically set a parametric anyway. What kind of eq settings are you typically using? I run my B|Amp with two HDN 210s, and find that I need to add some wide-Q boost in the Hi Mids and Highs, and also a little bottom end boost (wide Q at 60hz or med Q at 100 or so.) I play in a very loud classic/guitar rock band with a heavy drummer and two Les Pauls, so I find I need to try to sneak my way into the mix by getting under and over top of the already-full low midrange of the guitars.

 

[JoePP]

Hi Jim, what are the Q widths on the eq filters and bright switch on the Forte as compared to the B|Amp. Are they all med width? Thanks!!!

 

[Jim Bergantino]

Hi Jim, what are the Q widths on the eq filters and bright switch on the Forte as compared to the B|Amp. Are they all med width? Thanks!!!

Hi Joe

The q’s of the forte’s tone controls are the same as the wide settings in the Bamps. The bright has the same q as the Bamp’s bright but at a fixed frequency and gain.

 

[bucephylus]

I LOVE my Forte. I even use it with a small 110 cab for duo gigs with a folky singer-songwriter acoustic guitarist. And it scales up for use with a moderately loud rock covers band in which i use my Berg 210, or 112+210. I originally had a Bamp but it was just way more than i needed in terms of EQ. I typically leave all Forte EQ at 12, compression at 12 also. Sometimes i will turn on the Bright. I've used in small folk pubs, medium sized venues, and outdoor gigs. The Forte has never blipped. I can also tell you that Bergantino support is stellar. I was having a rattle problem with a cabinet and Jim B spent over an hour on the phone with me troubleshooting and ultimately the issue was resolved.

I guess if i had one nice-to-have with the Forte, it would be the high pass filter (or low pass, or whatever that is properly called). That was a really nice feature with the Bamp and if i could choose between it and the compression for the Forte, that would be my vote.

You cannot go wrong with Bergantino products...

+1, this is pretty much the way I play the B|Amp, but without compression. The feature on the B|Amp I do use is the HPF.

 

[Lowendtech]

So here I am at the music store. Was thinking I was about to trade my D800+ in on the Forte. Really dig the very open tone/sound of the Forte.
But......
What’s with the pots. They’re quite wobbly and upon pulling one of the knobs off, the shaft is plastic!!!!! They feel quite less than robust.
In comparison to the D800/+ which feel solid as a rock.
I can’t help but feel that if they ever took a little knock, they’d snap off like a twig.
Is it just me? Very curious about this. So much so that I think I’ll hold off for now.
Opinions welcome. Thanks.

 

[jibass]

I've had my Forte on several dozen gigs in a variety of venues from small folk club to outdoor music-in-the-park, and everything in-between. Admittedly i'm pretty fussy about taking care of my gear, but i can tell you i've had zero issues with the amp knobs.