I've been bitten by the G.A.S. bug and begun to think about another amp, although there's really nothing wrong with the ones I have. My only reason for considering another amp is that I think the older AI Clarus amps may lack clarity and power. They sound warm and natural but a bit closed in rather than open. The EQ isn't very effective. The Ampeg PB 250 has a great EQ but isn't the most natural sounding amp. As much as I'd like to have a WW I just can't justify it, because it doesn't seem like a good long term value. It seems a bit like buying an old classic car that's difficult and expensive to service. I've considered a Doubler and Clarus + series 4 but really can't pull the trigger. After experiences with series III AI heads, I prefer the earliest ones but would expect the Flex EQ to be an improvement. 2 ohm capability is important.
I think that with the new Claris 4+, Rick and the folks a Acoustic Image, have gotten a nice defined, neutral, sound, with some improvements over the three band Claris 4's. Although, 2 ohm stable amps are interesting, I never bring
a pair of cabs to any gigs, so it's not important for an amp to have that capability. If the gig requires a larger cabinet, I either bring my
TC 112 or run FOH into the house. In fact, these days, more often that not, I'm just running FOH through the
Headway EDB-2. Owning a Woods, is exactly like
owning a classic car. Actually, it's kind of like owning a
Tucker Torpedo or a
Dusenburg, but you can machine parts for those cars, while you can't make you're own vintage discontinued semiconductors. I bought mine long ago, when they both cost about as much as a AI Clarus +. For me
it's not an issue, and the sound is spectacular, but then again, so is a
Headway EDB-2 and it cost's a whole lot less.
Mike Arnopol has been talking about a new amp he is working on with the cats from Sonic Farm. He says their 2di4 DI box sounds as good as it gets with upright and that this new amp is gunna be stellar... While we're waiting, and then waiting for someone else to buy it and rave about it, I still haven't found any preamp that sounds better for upright then the Headway. I think the Headway into a nice power amp (maybe the Minnie 800) or something similar ( I run mine into the power section of an AI Focus ) is damn good, and can make so many pickups sound good (not many other preamps have a variable impedance nor one so high). That said I tried my Shertler Stat B into a Demeter tube pre (an older rack space one) and into a power amp and that sounded stellar too. I know Demeter is making his Tube pre with a Minnie underneath it and I'd sure love to have one of those, but I wonder if I'd ever end up putting the Headway in front of THAT just because I needed some of what its got...then it would be too much....so until something tops the Headway in terms of function and tone, (or headway puts out an amp with the EDB2 as a front end) I think you can heardly beat it for
I'm hoping that Mike will come up with something wonderful, he certainly has with the
MAS4x5's. Like you, the
EDB-2 is just the best little box out there, and it fits into one of the pockets in my DB Case. Headway built a guitar amp, with their pre amp as it's front end, but unfortunately, there wasn't a market for it, so the amp was discontinued. I'd doubt that they'll head back down that path. To much competition, to small of a market, but you never can tell. I'm looking at a
Demeter Minnie, but if Mike gets his amp to market, then by the time I get around to buying one, Mike could have "built a better bass box.
Ric
