Double Bass Best Amp for Jazz (Upright)

[crd]

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.

Sounds great!!! I've had my eye on the Neuman mcm114. Are you playing in fifths? I love the extended range.

 

[Chris Symer]

Yep, been in fifths since May 2000. The Neumann is a nice little mic.

 

[Jazzdogg]

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.

Thanks, Chris!

 

[Ric Vice]

Kudos,
What exquisite interplay between the three of you. The amp sounds very nice. It captures the intricacies of your most excellent bass playing.

 

[brianrost]

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.

Now I can afford it, so I went up to check out the GR Acoustic Cube last night. I posted a thread here.

 

[basdanne]

One thing over the years that I have noted is the Amps that use FET’s in their preamp circuits sounded better for Double Bass. The prime examples I know of are,
Walter Woods, Gentz Benz Shuttle Series, Genzler, Red Eye Preamps and Headway EDB series preamps. I’m sure their are others that I haven’t mentioned.

Very interesting! I am looking for a head with a maximum of 300 watts to match my GR bass at110 cab (4ohm). This cab is amazing! have noticed that my quilter bb800 sound much better than my acoustic image head. Even when I use an external preamp in either amp! Is that because of how the power amp is constructed? But i am now looking for a head with less power for a better match with the cab, and better eq than the quilter. Sometimes i use a EBS Stanley Clarke pre. These are my candidates:
-Markbass nano 300
-Genzler MG 350 (No effect loop)
-Warwick gnome (10 mohm impedance!)
-One of the smaller GR bass heads, But I am not sure of the quality?

I need at least 1mohm input impedance.

Any thoughts about the candidates? Other suggestions?

 

[DoubleMIDI]

If you can find a Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 (amp only) used, that might fit too and has an effect loop. But semiparametric mids, not low and high mids.
300 watts at 4 ohms, 185 watts at 8 ohms.

 

[basdanne]

That is a nice one. Hard to find here in Europe.

 

[basss]

Very interesting! I am looking for a head with a maximum of 300 watts to match my GR bass at110 cab (4ohm). This cab is amazing! have noticed that my quilter bb800 sound much better than my acoustic image head. Even when I use an external preamp in either amp! Is that because of how the power amp is constructed? But i am now looking for a head with less power for a better match with the cab, and better eq than the quilter. Sometimes i use a EBS Stanley Clarke pre. These are my candidates:
-Markbass nano 300
-Genzler MG 350 (No effect loop)
-Warwick gnome (10 mohm impedance!)
-One of the smaller GR bass heads, But I am not sure of the quality?

I need at least 1mohm input impedance.

Any thoughts about the candidates? Other suggestions?

The Warwick Gnome i pro sounds great with upright. I had an AI clarus and like you I came to the conclusion the sound wasn't for me. I usually cut mids quite a bit on any amp and when I did that with the AI there was no punch left. The Gnome stays punchy when the mids are cut and sounds pretty natrual. I would recommend getting the 'pro' with the extra watts. I have a TC Electronic Bam200 and the extra watts of the i pro make a difference.

 

[basdanne]

Cool! But the gnome’s eq options are a bit restricted? I also notice that it lacks a effect loop if I would like to use a seperate preamp. But maybe I just could put the preamp in front of the amp?

 

[basss]

It is a budget amp so lacks some features. I find if an amp sounds good a 3 band EQ is fine. It's got a good clean sound but may not sound as refined as the AI. I've owned a bunch of expensive amps and am happy with it.

 

[randyplaysbass]

The GR Bass ONE-350 is great! The Genzler also great. I have both for sale

 

[66 Fender Jazz]

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.

Acoustic Image Coda S4 Plus works for me in up to medium venues without need to DI to PA. Too bad they're finito.

 

[basdanne]

The GR Bass ONE-350 is great! The Genzler also great. I have both for sale

Cool. Pros and cons for the amps soundwise and functions?

 

[randyplaysbass]

Both are great. It comes down to your preference on the controls. I personally played a GR Bass ONE – 800. When I used it for the first time… I was blown away by how much better it sounded than my Aguilar tone hammer 500 hours using at the time. Night and day.