-- I'll be anxious to see your comments once you get a chance to check it out!!
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Double Bass Best Amp for Jazz (Upright)
- Thread starter Warwick209
- Start date
-- I'll be anxious to see your comments once you get a chance to check it out!!
I decided to not drive an hour just to check out an amp I can’t afford anyway right now, sorry if I got anyone’s hopes up for a review. Any other MA/NH/ME folks looking to kick the tires, here’s the link.
BobDeRosa
Commercial User
- May 16, 2012
- 2,444
- 4,402
- Disclosures
- Owner, Tritone Jazz Fantasy Camps
I've heard wonderful things about GR amps, but does this Italian company have a support infrastructure in the US? If they use proprietary technology, like Markbass, where do you go for service?
Hey Bob, yes… GR bass has a support network with dealers like me at Bass Spotlight. Most any warranty issues are component replacement level and handled by dealers.
Be careful about GR Bass amps. Mine (bass one 350 head) started soon to get noisy fan, which is a problem I haven't yet fully solved. The same head I've recently played at a music shop has malfunctioning Mute switch. And the built in tuner is very poor.
Soundwise however, it is better than its price level would suggest.
Soundwise however, it is better than its price level would suggest.
Hopefully, you’ll have your issues solved. There is no way for any amp manufacturer to have a completely trouble free production run of their products. GR Bass touts their 5 year warranty so they should replace it. Good luck.
BobDeRosa
Commercial User
- May 16, 2012
- 2,444
- 4,402
- Disclosures
- Owner, Tritone Jazz Fantasy Camps
That's great, but they only list 9 stores in the US. If you don't live close to one of them, you're still faced with either a long drive or shipping charges, and probably a fairly substantial wait for repair. With any luck, the products are so good that no service is ever required.
Interestingly enough, the same was true for Euphonic Audio they only had a small number of U.S. dealers. Acoustic Image amps were “built to order”,
so if you weren’t on the east or west coast they were hard to demo as well. Like you I’m waiting patiently to hear “the good word” from a player stateside.
Just my take.
so if you weren’t on the east or west coast they were hard to demo as well. Like you I’m waiting patiently to hear “the good word” from a player stateside.
Just my take.
With all my amps and preamps and setups, I did a gig the other day with just the AI Focus with the EAP plugged straight in (MAS46) (didnt seem to matter if it was plugged into lowZ or highZ) and it sounded fricken great.
It always puzzles me that designers of Acoustic Bass Amps put a priority on notch filters vs low cut filters. Obviously,
having both would be ideal or a way to switch between low cut and notch is great. A notch filter alone just isn’t as effective.
Just my take.
That’s one of my gripes about the Acoustic Cube. After dropping $1600 I'd still have to use my fdeck. Otherwise the feature set on paper at least is perfect. Oh well.
I get to use a little Acoustic Image Coda at a friend's house. Thus far that's the only amp I've ever used where I feel fine, not inserting the HPF-pre.
They're out of production now. I'd love to find something else like that so I could spend my later decades plugging straight in.
They're out of production now. I'd love to find something else like that so I could spend my later decades plugging straight in.
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
Yep! Anything I buy will have to match the features provided on my AI Focus, especially the variable high-pass filter.
I can’t think of too many bass amplifiers that include this feature outside of Mesa Boogie, and I don’t see too many upright bass players using that brand.
- Steve
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
Quite a conundrum. I may end up with a pre-amp with these features in addition to a bass amp or power amp.
No preamp? ... I'd start there. ... All upright bass pickups sound better through a decent preamp. ... Radial makes some great bass preamps. ... And if you have an effects loop on the back of the amp you can by-pass the amps preamp, which is designed for an electric bass signal, and feed the upright pickup through the upright preamp through the effect in and directly into the power amp and out, you'll notice a big difference in your sound.
I've had onboard preamps before: a Biesele magnetic blending unit at the end of the fingerboard & the HPF-Pre strapped to the tailpiece. I love having essentially a giant active bass with a buffered signal all ready to go with a handy onboard level control.
The tailpiece solution was kind of awkward, so now I just use the HPF-Pre outboard, on the floor. If someone were to develop a double bass buffer/HPF in a form that mounted inconspicuously & let you change the battery quickly, I'd be delighted! (Then I could quit waiting for that unicorn amp that I can plug my piezo straight into w/o a buffer.)
The tailpiece solution was kind of awkward, so now I just use the HPF-Pre outboard, on the floor. If someone were to develop a double bass buffer/HPF in a form that mounted inconspicuously & let you change the battery quickly, I'd be delighted! (Then I could quit waiting for that unicorn amp that I can plug my piezo straight into w/o a buffer.)
I bought one of the GR Cube Acoustic amps earlier this year and am generally happy with it. A few small quibbles (I.e. the lights on the panel are BRIGHT. It would be fine in the day but on a dark stage looking down at the controls you can’t see a thing because the led lights are so bright right in your eyes). Sound wise it is a nice amp even without a high pass filter. Here is a clip from a gig I used it on. Blending a Yamahiko and a Neuman mcm114. Recorded from the direct out with mostly mic to the direct while favoring the pickup in the blend to the speaker. It is an amp worth checking out.
