Eden Forum Disappears

[jtemple]

@Rip Van Dan thanks for the incredibly helpful post! Yeah, I think I got a steal for sure. In searching the internet for information about the amp, I've come across several posts that discuss a mod to move the AC to DC converters off the board to lower the heat going into the board. Is that worth consideration? Are there other mods that would help extend the life of this amp?

 

[MuthaFunk]

@Rip Van Dan thanks for the incredibly helpful post! Yeah, I think I got a steal for sure. In searching the internet for information about the amp, I've come across several posts that discuss a mod to move the AC to DC converters off the board to lower the heat going into the board. Is that worth consideration? Are there other mods that would help extend the life of this amp?

MOD for the David Eden WT800 bass amp

We discussed in a much earlier blog that we provide service & repairs for the David Eden brand of bass amplification. In today’s blog we are showing the “World Tour Series” WT…

ivanrichards.com.au

In my opinion this is a valuable mod. Heat is the fist enemy of electronics. My WT400 used the same voltage dropping resistor design for the preamp and after 20 years of service I could see physical heat damage to the board and surrounding components. Obviously after 20 years of reliable weekend warrior gigging service it's not a design flaw per se but if a fault was to happen down the road I suspect those resisters and the components around them to be the first to check.

G

Thread 'David Eden WT800 Cuts Off / Over Heat Solution'

Dec 16, 2017

I have a wonderful Eden WT800 Model A. I bought it on Reverb.com. The sound of this thing is incredible!! It's my 3rd Eden head. My first was a 400WT, the second is 260WT and I recently got the 800. All three are the best sounding bass amps I've heard. Anyway, this past summer my 800WT kept crapping out. I would be playing away with the band feeling all bad ass when suddenly Err! Click! Pop...silence. Both limit lights and DC light would freeze on. If I hit on the side (somewhat gently) it would come back for a second but essentially it was dead in the water. From a cold start the...

• guestOU812
• capacitor david eden fan solution wt800
• Replies: 17
• Forum: Amps and Cabs [BG]

• 

 

[barneybass]

Howdy, I picked a later model Asian made Navigator pre. The input stage has hum and white noise. It’s so loud I can I can get the compressor to turn on and clamp it down. OBS not very useful for playing .

Haven’t had any luck finding a schematic. If anyone could share it that would be great? Thx in advance.

 

[moon-bass]

Howdy, I picked a later model Asian made Navigator pre. The input stage has hum and white noise. It’s so loud I can I can get the compressor to turn on and clamp it down. OBS not very useful for playing .

Haven’t had any luck finding a schematic. If anyone could share it that would be great? Thx in advance.

Just a note - are you loading the gain stage correctly? I had the same "issue" where I was using the master and gain like I would other amps, but the Nav is a little different - make sure you set the gain right below the overload point (i.e. light almost never flashes red). Hope it's an easy solution!

 

[barneybass]

I’ve had one before hence why I bought another one.
I changed the tube too to try that. It’s def in the something sounds wrong category, as it’s louder than the bass. It’s def at the start of the preamp, all the other controls affect the noise.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Howdy, I picked a later model Asian made Navigator pre. The input stage has hum and white noise. It’s so loud I can I can get the compressor to turn on and clamp it down. OBS not very useful for playing .

Haven’t had any luck finding a schematic. If anyone could share it that would be great? Thx in advance.

Don't have a schematic. Do have a manual for it. If you'd like one let me know and I'll attach it to a reply.

Also, you may want to ask Armin (bassmann1968) about it. He was the electronic guru on the Eden Forum before Marshall turned it off. Notice that there are two "n's" in @Bassmann1968. I asked him why he did spelled it that way when I first corresponded with him back in ~2007/2008. His reply was, "Because I'm German and that's how we spell it". He's congenial and concise and know's his .

One thing you may want to do is clean all the 1/4" jacks on the amp. Best way to do that is so spray a tiny amount of DeOxit 5 on an 8" long or so Q-tip and use that to clean the garbage off the contacts. Don't use so much it drips. Another way that works if you can't get those long stem Q-tips is to spray a little DeOxit 5 on the barrel and tip of a 1/4" plug and work it in and out of each jack 10 to 15 times. Pay particular attention to any jacks you don't use. They are more likely to get contaminants or oxidation on them precisely because they don't get used much so there's no plug rubbing up on them to remove any contaminants. This often clears up loud hums and intermittent problems. If that doesn't work, contact @Bassmann1968 and ask for some help.

 

[Mosthigh]

If there's anyone still around here, I have a line on a very minty Eden WT800. Date on the back says 5-4-98 (see pics). It's going for $900 CAD or about $665 USD. I think it would suit my pair of 1x15 Eminence Kappalite (450w) cabs.

Deal or no deal?

 

[12bass]

If there's anyone still around here, I have a line on a very minty Eden WT800. Date on the back says 5-4-98 (see pics). It's going for $900 CAD or about $665 USD. I think it would suit my pair of 1x15 Eminence Kappalite (450w) cabs.

Deal or no deal?

That looks like the original WT-800(A) which is rated at 400W/4Ω, 240W/8Ω, per channel and 800W/8Ω bridged. Price seems a bit high, IMO, though some still love these old Edens. Guessing those Kappalites are 8Ω. A modern 800W Class D amp would be able to drive both in parallel (4Ω), while the old WT-800 cannot, and would be limited to 240W each. I have a modded WT-500 with upgraded op amps and other goodies that I use for gigs (which are rare these days) with my fEARful T3W 15/6/1.

 

[cfortner]

I prefer the WT800 C, which delivers bridged 880W at 4 ohm, more practical amp.

 

[frankie5string]

I prefer the WT800 C, which delivers bridged 880W at 4 ohm, more practical amp.

Never thought I'd hear "bridged" and "practical" used in the same sentence about a bass amp...

 

[MuthaFunk]

I prefer the WT800 C, which delivers bridged 880W at 4 ohm, more practical amp.

I bought a WT800C in Ontario near Toronto about a year ago for $850 in mint condition in a Gator case. Price seems a bit high for an WT800A. That said, the 8 ohm rating the the WT800A is plenty for a single 15 equipped cab.

I personally love the Eden WT preamp. So versatile and I can always get a great sound no matter what cabs are there.

The Eden stuff is built Pro Gig tough.

 

[MuthaFunk]

If there's anyone still around here, I have a line on a very minty Eden WT800. Date on the back says 5-4-98 (see pics). It's going for $900 CAD or about $665 USD. I think it would suit my pair of 1x15 Eminence Kappalite (450w) cabs.

Deal or no deal?

View attachment 7450264View attachment 7450265

This has the same preamp and power amps that my WT400 + has that I bought new in 1998. It’s a solid work horse that I’m still gigging / practicing with to this day. One of the best preamps made.

I’d say check for noise with no signal on it. It’s prob a bit hissy and then offer a
more reasonable price. $750-$800 CDN

 

[cfortner]

Never thought I'd hear "bridged" and "practical" used in the same sentence about a bass amp...

More practical than an amp which only can deliver 800W at 8 ohm - the rest is headroom.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

If there's anyone still around here, I have a line on a very minty Eden WT800. Date on the back says 5-4-98 (see pics). It's going for $900 CAD or about $665 USD. I think it would suit my pair of 1x15 Eminence Kappalite (450w) cabs.

Deal or no deal?

View attachment 7450264View attachment 7450265

Yes, that's a WT800A version. My WT500 was upgraded to 800-watts bridged by David Nordschow (alias David Eden) and he used it on his cab design testing bench. So it has the same power supply and channels that mine does. That amp puts out 400-watts rms per channel into 4Ω or 240-watts rms into 8Ω. It will bridge at 800-watts into 8Ω, which is usually how I use mine. I have a DNS-410 cab by DNA (David Nordschow Amplification) that handles up to 1400-watts rms, so I rum my WT500/800 bridged at 800-watts into it.

You will probably be best off by plugging one cab into each side of the power - one into the left speaker output and one into the right speaker output. If your 115 cabs are 8Ω cabs you will get a max of 240-watts into each cab. If your cabs are 4Ω cabs, you will get a max of 400-watts into each cab. Do NOT plug either of them into the bridged output. That bridged output will deliver 800-watts into one of those 8Ω cabs and it can easily blow the one cab.

Although you could plug both cabs into one side (one into the amp and the second cab into the first cab), that will give you a total of 400-watts, which would be 200-watts rms per cab instead of 240-watts by plugging them into separate power channels. If you know the SPL rating of your Roland cabs, we could get a general idea on what decibel level that can put out with them plugged into separate channels.

Do NOT plug one cab into the bridged output and daisy chain a second cab into the first. The amp will see a 4Ω load at that output. A 4Ω load will generate way too much heat in the amp and parts may very well melt very quickly. Those older amps (mine is a 1999) don't have all the protective circuits that were added with later versions and could very quickly turn into an expensive paper weight.

That amp puts out some amazingly clear, clean, and full sound. It has an amazingly versatile EQ section. Bass EQ is a shelving control for everything at 35Hz and lower. Then you have three overlapping semi-parametric controls that cover all the frequencies your bass witll play. The Treble control is also a shelving control that boosts or cuts all the frequencies above 2.2KHz. With my '82 Jazz the only thing I ended up doing was boosting the low mids at either 250Hz (live performance) or 500Hz (best for recording my bass); leaving the rest of the EQ at flat; and turning the Enhance (a shape control) turned all the way down. That slight boost in the low mids gives me good definition and presence in the mix playing live.

Your Roland cabs will sound great with it, but best to let us know the SPL rating of your Roland Cabs to get a good idea of what your actual "volume" will be and whether or not that's suitable. Of course, with that amp, you could buy two more 8Ω cabs (if that's what you have) and run two into each side. That would give you a very loud de facto 412 set up (be sure you have a cart to move them with.

I've included a pdf copy of the owner's manual for that amp. It actually covers the WT500, WT600, and WT800. The only difference between the WT600 and WT800 is the power supply. The WT500 normally has only 500-watts bridged into 8Ω and does not have the ability to run in bi-amp mode. Bi-amp means it has a high output and a low output that in bi-amp mode will send the highs to one cab and the lows to a different cab. That amp also lets you set the crossover point where it splits those frequencies up. It's rarely used anymore because most bass cabs are full frequency cabs and if you use one for the high frequencies about the only thing you are using is the tweeter horn and the woofers aren't doing anything...basically a waste of a cab. Anyhow, I've attached the manual for you below.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Hi all,

I've received a number of PM's here at TB over the last couple of weeks asking what happened to the Eden forum, so I thought perhaps I should just put it out there instead of continuing to answer on an individual basis.

I was one of the two active moderators on the Eden Forum, part of the Eden website. The other moderator and electronics guru was Armin (bassmann1968). One morning when I went to check new messages on the forum, it wouldn't come up. Then I got a message from Armin saying he couldn't get it to come up either. Then he checked with our Marshall/Eden contact to find out what the story was.

Word came down that Marshall decided to close it because of "costs". Not sure where they incurred those costs as Armin and I were were not paid moderators. Only charge I can think of is the cost of hosting, which isn't that much.

There was no notice given and no explanation posted, they just pulled it entirely. Armin tried to see if he could perhaps adopt the forum so we wouldn't lose all the years of information, diagrams, illustrations, sticky notes, and Eden knowledge accumulated over the years. Marshall just said, "No".

So the final word is that Marshall decided to end The Eden Forum for financial reasons and the Eden forum is closed permanently. You can still post questions about Eden gear here on Talkbass as both Armin and I are active members and are happy to help out where we can. Wish I had better news for all you Edenites, but there it is.

Thanks for the post.

 

[Mosthigh]

Lowered to $800 CAD. Still mulling it over. The banana jack / binding post thing doesn't thrill me (aren't they banned in Europe or something?). For almost 3x less the price of a modern class A/D amp, though, as well as it's low-usage minty condition, does make it attractive. Plus, Phil Lesh used one for 10+ years (though I'm more of a vintage 4-string guy).

My cabs are custom Barefaced-type (in shape and size, anyways) and the 3015's are rated at 450w RMS, with an SPL of 98db, 40 - 4000 HZ.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

If there's anyone still around here, I have a line on a very minty Eden WT800. Date on the back says 5-4-98 (see pics). It's going for $900 CAD or about $665 USD. I think it would suit my pair of 1x15 Eminence Kappalite (450w) cabs.

Deal or no deal?

View attachment 7450264View attachment 7450265

Considering it’s age almost 28 years old, and the company is not longer in business, and as much as I love my Eden gear finding OEM repair parts and finding a repair tech that has schematics maybe problematic if it fails.

 

[MuthaFunk]

Considering it’s age almost 28 years old, and the company is not longer in business, and as much as I love my Eden gear finding OEM repair parts and finding a repair tech that has schematics maybe problematic if it fails.

This is somewhat true but there are schematics that have been posted here and other places on the net for the WT400 / 800 series amps.

Also the way they were designed is very easy to service for any decent amp tech.

 

[agedhorse]

This is somewhat true but there are schematics that have been posted here and other places on the net for the WT400 / 800 series amps.

Also the way they were designed is very easy to service for any decent amp tech.

Except for the parts that are no longer available… most Sanken output transistors on the market these days are fakes, knockoffs, counterfeits. It’s almost impossible to determine what’s real without radiographic analysis.

The same is becoming true of linear MOSFETS and some jFETs by the way.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

This is somewhat true but there are schematics that have been posted here and other places on the net for the WT400 / 800 series amps.

Also the way they were designed is very easy to service for any decent amp tech.

True on the Schematics, OEM parts, not so much.