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Double Bass Clarus SL - what a great little unit

#21
Thank you for providing that time-line re your experience with the Micro 300, Adrian. It does quell the buyer's remorse that was building up in me in anticipation of its arrival. When I questioned the salesman as to whether EA had resolved the noise problem, he reported that EA had assured him the problem was history. Still, I take field reports from reliable sources such as yourself seriously. Again, thanks for putting your experience in historical perspective. I'll sleep better tonight.
 
#24
basss said:
I think they were selling for about $750 or so? I probably would have bought one if it was about $200 less. I think there can be only so much of a premium put on portability and there needs to be a somewhat decent watts per dollar ratio in this post Walter Woods era. :hiding:
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Interesting thought. However consider this: I bought a new WW M-100 in the early 80's for about $750 (Walter, correct me if I'm wrong). And, yes, I paid about $750 for the Clarus-SL several years ago. The SL is rated at 150 Watts into 8 Ohms (somebody, correct me if I'm wrong), more Watts for the $$$ than the WW offered, no?

The problem I had back then was that I couldn't find a small cab of commensurate quality to the WW. Computer-aided design of the mid-90's-til-present has ushered in an era where there's a number of outstanding options in small, super-quality bass cabs. The WW amps were way ahead of their time and continue to be highly desireable. Whether their cost can be justified relative to the less costly, superbly high quality, sufficiently powered and extremely portable amps of AI is the question that, I believe, many of us ask ourselves.
 
#26
Basicbassist said:
Interesting thought. However consider this: I bought a new WW M-100 in the early 80's for about $750 (Walter, correct me if I'm wrong). And, yes, I paid about $750 for the Clarus-SL several years ago. The SL is rated at 150 Watts into 8 Ohms (somebody, correct me if I'm wrong), more Watts for the $$$ than the WW offered, no?

The problem I had back then was that I couldn't find a small cab of commensurate quality to the WW. Computer-aided design of the mid-90's-til-present has ushered in an era where there's a number of outstanding options in small, super-quality bass cabs. The WW amps were way ahead of their time and continue to be highly desireable. Whether their cost can be justified relative to the less costly, superbly high quality, sufficiently powered and extremely portable amps of AI is the question that, I believe, many of us ask ourselves.
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Man do I sympathize with you. Until EA built the Transmission Line VL Series cabinets I went through about 10 different cabinets looking for a match for my MI-100-8 and MI-400-8 Woods. For some time I actually used a pair of B-15N Cabinets with Walter's amps and they sounded pretty good. Then I tried one of those GK aluminum cabinets with the 15, a pair of Bose 802's, a SWR Baby Blue Extension with 2x8's,and Flite Sounds 2x8 with the Black aluminum drivers. Until EA developed the VL nothing IMHO had the frequency response that matched with Walter's amps.
Now their are lots of choices. AI is certainly a good option. Walter's amps have certainly retained their value, but there is more competition these days as well. I was lucky enough to buy mine when they weren't quite so expensive. Of course there is still the longevity issue. Walter's amps tend to last a long time. I think the jury is still out on his competition. Acoustic Image has great customer service, but they haven't been building amps since the mid 70's. Only time will tell.

Ric
 
#27
My WW M-100 that I bought from Walter back in '84 sounds great with the Wizzy 10. In fact, I just realized that I've never even changed the fuse on the WW head. The most I've ever had to do was spray some cleaner in the pots. It still works great.
 
#28
The Clarus SL arrived today. It's a nice little amp. I'm still getting used to the eq on it. Not sure I like it all by itself (might be too clean) b/c I'm hearing the string "boing" and so I'm trying it. I did run the WW preamp into it and it sounded like the WW with a little more oomph.

Edit: That was with the Wizzy 10. The Epi UL110 sounds a little more full. However, the Acme B-2 really sounds good with just the Clarus SL.
 

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