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Club Trickfish!

#501
silky smoove said:
Does anyone have experience with both the TF112 and TF212V cabs? I’ve got a pair of TF112s and I’m considering selling them to fund a TF212V, which I think will be more my speed. Just curious if anyone has used both and can speak to the tonal differences.
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At one point I had the TF112 and the TF212V. I have no experience with two TF112's. I found the TF112 to be a great sounding full bodied cab, but somewhat subdued. The TF212V projects much better. A more authoritative tone, but overall very similar to the 112. The TF112 was nice, but I regret letting the TF212V go.
 
#503
Sodbuster said:
At one point I had the TF112 and the TF212V. I have no experience with two TF112's. I found the TF112 to be a great sounding full bodied cab, but somewhat subdued. The TF212V projects much better. A more authoritative tone, but overall very similar to the 112. The TF112 was nice, but I regret letting the TF212V go.
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How was the portability with the TF212? Do you think 2 TF112 will transport better then the TF212?

Thanks
 
#504
That is a difficult question for me to answer. Shortly after I purchased the TF212 I started having issues with my hip, so I didn't move it much. The physical issues were not related to the cabinet, just to be clear. I never would have parted with it had I been healthy. Two TF112's would be slightly easier to transport, but the TF212 is not a difficult lug either. The TF212 was my favorite of the TF cabs I have owned. (TF208,TF208V, TF112, and the TF408) All were impressive, however.
 
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#505
Sodbuster said:
That is a difficult question for me to answer. Shortly after I purchased the TF212 I started having issues with my hip, so I didn't move it much. The physical issues were not related to the cabinet, just to be clear. I never would have parted with it had I been healthy. Two TF112's would be slightly easier to transport, but the TF212 is not a difficult lug either. The TF212 was my favorite of the TF cabs I have owned. (TF208,TF208V, TF112, and the TF408) All were impressive, however.
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Sorry to hear that about your health. I have the TF112 and TF408 cab. I love the sound both cabs produce together and on there own. I have played through 212 cabs most of my journey and come to find them to be the sound for me. I’m just trying to decide if 2 TF112 will produce close to the sound of 1 TF212 SMH.

Thanks for your help I appreciate
 
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#507
emjazz said:
Can anyone with a .5 or 1k comment on how they take effects...specifically drive/distortion? Is the .5 maybe better for dirt because it's warmer sounding? Thanks!
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I've never met an amp that wouldn't take effects well, unless it was a vintage amp that couldn't handle lots of low frequency content from octave pedals or extreme sweeps from envelope filters. More to your actual question, I use a 1K with effects all the time and it works great. As for distortion I've run through mine; Damnation MBD1 and MBD2, Strymon Sunset, Creation Audio Grizzly, 3Leaf Doom, Darkglass X, Pike Vulcan, and... probably others I'm forgetting at this point.

I've not done a side-by-side with my 1K and a .5K, but any differences that would lead one to be warmer than the other are exclusively in the power amp section and are likely to be extremely minor. On top of that, the 1K is plenty warm. All the Trickfish stuff seems to have a very gentle LPF up top that is incredibly musical and keeps harsh frequencies from building up while simultaneously not killing clarity. I don't think you could go wrong with either.
 
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#508
silky smoove said:
I've never met an amp that wouldn't take effects well, unless it was a vintage amp that couldn't handle lots of low frequency content from octave pedals or extreme sweeps from envelope filters. More to your actual question, I use a 1K with effects all the time and it works great. As for distortion I've run through mine; Damnation MBD1 and MBD2, Strymon Sunset, Creation Audio Grizzly, 3Leaf Doom, Darkglass X, Pike Vulcan, and... probably others I'm forgetting at this point.

I've not done a side-by-side with my 1K and a .5K, but any differences that would lead one to be warmer than the other are exclusively in the power amp section and are likely to be extremely minor. On top of that, the 1K is plenty warm. All the Trickfish stuff seems to have a very gentle LPF up top that is incredibly musical and keeps harsh frequencies from building up while simultaneously not killing clarity. I don't think you could go wrong with either.
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Is the power section of the 1k that much better that it's worth spending the extra funds?
 
#509
emjazz said:
Is the power section of the 1k that much better that it's worth spending the extra funds?
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As I mentioned, I've not compared the two side-by-side. The 1K uses a Pascal power supply if memory serves and all I really know is that I like how it sounds. In terms of actual power, the 1K is not the most powerful of comparably power spec'd amps I've owned through similar or even the same cabs. That said it has plenty of power on tap to drive a pair of TF112 cabs to much louder levels than I ever need on a gig so it's a moot point. I think the .5K uses one of the standard ICE modules that everyone else tends to use. That's not a bad thing, just an observation.
 
#510
silky smoove said:
As I mentioned, I've not compared the two side-by-side. The 1K uses a Pascal power supply if memory serves and all I really know is that I like how it sounds. In terms of actual power, the 1K is not the most powerful of comparably power spec'd amps I've owned through similar or even the same cabs. That said it has plenty of power on tap to drive a pair of TF112 cabs to much louder levels than I ever need on a gig so it's a moot point. I think the .5K uses one of the standard ICE modules that everyone else tends to use. That's not a bad thing, just an observation.
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Sorry, I misread what you wrote. I thought you had both amps. Super helpful. Thank you!
 
#511
emjazz said:
Sorry, I misread what you wrote. I thought you had both amps. Super helpful. Thank you!
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I’d love to have both! Alas, I’ll somehow get by with just a 1K :smug:

I can’t reiterate this enough; They’re wonderful amps. They won’t do the SVT thing or anything similar, but if what you want is solid clean tone that’s not brittle or harsh, they rule.
 
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#514
emjazz said:
My favorite amp is an Aguilar DB750, but not to carry, and not the fan noise. I haven't found something similar that's smaller, but I love that the Trickfish amps are quiet, lightweight, and fanless. That's what's driving my curiosity.
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I used to own a DB750. The 1K is every bit as clean and warm, but lacks a bit of that wrecking ball quality that the DB750 does better than basically any other amp on the planet. I wouldn’t call the 1K a DB750 substitute, but I would be perfectly comfortable on any gig where my old DB750 held its own if using my current 1K.

fast slapper said:
I tried the 1K for a bit. Nice amp. Didn't work well with my passive basses compared to a GK or a number of other preamps. Kind of reminded me of a Markbass.

Lots of power, low noise floor, rolled off above 10khz(measured). Nearly flat when set flat.
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Just out of curiosity, what didn’t work well for you with a 1K and passive basses? I’ve used mine with both active and passive basses to great success. Not questioning your experience, just curious.

Also, can you clarify what you mean when you say that it’s nearly flat when set flat given that you also so that it’s rolled off above 10khz? To my ears, when playing through a pair of TF112 cabs with the L-Pads set to noon, it’s definitely rolled off above 10khz with something like a 2-3db/oct slope (i.e. it’s gentle), has a broad and shallow dip around 500hz, and then rolls off steeply pretty low, and just as a guess I’d call it 50-60hz. I wouldn’t call that flat, but it’s also just me using my ears through a particular set of cabs and not having measured the response.
 
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#515
Almost sounded like the input impedance was too low. Highs were muted and lows were weak. Came to life with a preamp to buffer the input.

Measured the preamp section through a interface. Gentle 2db shelf below 200hz and rolled off very low. Above 200hz it was flat to 10khz. Overall very flat for a bass amp. Above 10khz it rolled off fairly sharp. At least 10db down at 20khz. Not an important range for bass but I like those "air" frequencies for solo tone.

This was in 2016. May have changed over the years.

Would be interesting to compare it to a Vanderkley.
 
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#516
fast slapper said:
Almost sounded like the input impedance was too low. Highs were muted and lows were weak. Came to life with a preamp to buffer the input.

Measured the preamp section through a interface. Gentle 2db shelf below 200hz and rolled off very low. Above 200hz it was flat to 10khz. Overall very flat for a bass amp. Above 10khz it rolled off fairly sharp. At least 10db down at 20khz. Not an important range for bass but I like those "air" frequencies for solo tone.

This was in 2016. May have changed over the years.

Would be interesting to compare it to a Vanderkley.
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Interesting about the input impedance issue you experienced. I’ve not had that issue with passive basses at all with my 2018 1K.

What did you use for signal generation through the preamp to do your measurement?

I totally agree about the range above 10khz on a bass. In my studio I’m frequently high passing down to 10khz, if not lower like 8 or even 6 for some tunes.

Vanderkley is a brand I’ve never seen anywhere in-person. I almost thought they were vaporware until they showed up on Scott’s Bass Lessons.
 
#517
I used pink noise. ARTA Software
First used a loop back measurement for reference to confirm a flat response from the interface. I use this a lot for diy speaker tuning.

I liked the overall package. Highest quality lightweight ss bass amp I've seen/tried. Top shelf op-amps and extra caps for the power supply. Solid piece of aluminum for cooling.

Might try another one someday.

The DB750 brought me here in 2001. Wish I had the 1250.00 they were selling for back then.
 
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