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F500 vs Shuttle 9.0

#2
Musicman20 said:
Interested to know how people would compare the two.

Shuttle is cheaper, more features, and rated at higher wattage.

The F500 is that MB tone I know I like.

Basically, I want something clean, quick, light, small, with a lot if headroom.
Click to expand...

I've owned both. Here's my quick take...
Into a box like my UL310, the F500 (F1) is a killer. The UL310
has a wide sound stage so it matches well with the quickness
of the F500, that hasn't got really extended lows. Most of the
Markbass amps I've used do much much better at 4 ohms. The
UL310 at 5.3 ohms lets the amp do its thing.
The 9.0 into that same box is bigger sounding and almost as
fast, with more in you face at around 4K.

Using a smaller box is a whole other thing.
The 9.0 has more extended lows, so it can bring out as much
low end as a small box will allow. The F500 hasn't got the
extended lows of the 9.0, even though the specs would seem
otherwise.
Both amps are different flavors of wonderfull. I like them both
depending on the match up of speakers.
 
#4
Musicman20 said:
Interested to know how people would compare the two.

Shuttle is cheaper, more features, and rated at higher wattage.

The F500 is that MB tone I know I like.

Basically, I want something clean, quick, light, small, with a lot if headroom.
Click to expand...

Never had a chance to A/B, but B String has definitely gone to school on these.

I guess my only comment is that I don't see the Shuttle (non Max) amps having more features than the F500.... actually the F500 seems to have a slight advantage here with the dual semi-parametric mids (versus one of the Shuttle) and the much more usable variable filters versus the simple 'on/off' voicing buttons (which I find useless on virtually all amps that have these) on the Shuttle. Both have mute switches and good, full featured DI's.

Of course, the Shuttle 9 has a tube pre and the F500 is solid state. Even though the Shuttle 9/6 don't really sound 'tubey' to me in the classic sense of that word, you can hear that little bit of grit in there versus the pure, clean SS tone of the F500... just depends on what you want.

For plug and play, out of the box tone, the F500 pulls ahead. IMO, for 8ohm volume, I would assume the Shuttle 9 would be the thing.
 
#6
B String said:
I've owned both. Here's my quick take...
...

Using a smaller box is a whole other thing.
The 9.0 has more extended lows, so it can bring out as much
low end as a small box will allow. The F500 hasn't got the
extended lows of the 9.0, even though the specs would seem
otherwise.
Both amps are different flavors of wonderfull. I like them both
depending on the match up of speakers.
Click to expand...

Is that with or without the low-boost button engaged?

[My impression based on various G-B reports are that the un-bass-boosted tone was a bit on the lean side.]

Also, does boosting the bass control on the F500 even the playing field with the Shuttle 9?
 
#8
lo-freq said:
Is that with or without the low-boost button engaged?

[My impression based on various G-B reports are that the un-bass-boosted tone was a bit on the lean side.]

Also, does boosting the bass control on the F500 even the playing field with the Shuttle 9?
Click to expand...

The GB 9.0 and the GB 6.0 are voiced differently. The 9.0 doesn't lack at all in the low-end without the bass boost. It was intended to be used with larger cabs where as the 6.0, which I own, was voiced to use as a combo with a single 12" or 2x10".
Without the bass boost it's a little thin but nothing that has bothered me - I just keep the bass boost on, which not only fattens up the bottom but also tightens it up as well. When I want to play at a lower volume or not ratttle our china I turn off boost.
 
#9
lo-freq said:
Is that with or without the low-boost button engaged?

[My impression based on various G-B reports are that the un-bass-boosted tone was a bit on the lean side.]

Also, does boosting the bass control on the F500 even the playing field with the Shuttle 9?
Click to expand...

The leaner sounding bass is the 6.0, not the 9.0. When I tried
the 6.0, it never even made it to a gig. Very lean lows and
headroom. The 9.0 is a different animal.

With the smaller boxes I can take a little off the bass control
and engage the bass boost. (extention) This give much more
low end. BUT!!! Be carefull. The reason Genz Benz gave the
6.0 less low girth and extention was to help keep guys from
blowing out speakers from too much low end and volume.

It seems to me based on the boxes and basses I've used, the
9.0 might have a little more low end spread than the F500,
even though the specs would say otherwise. The lows on the
F500 (F1) are a bit more focused. At the same specs, I think
the LMIII hase a bigger low end than the F500.
 
#10
For the plug and play factor, the F1 is still one of my fav's.
The F500 and SWR Amplite are both very hard to adjust on
the fly. Its hard to see where the frequency is set on the
mids. Two friends have put black tape on these controls to
help see where things are set. But for a feature set, the F500
is hard to beat. The 9.0 has a little less features but sounds
so good with minimal tweaking. With the 9.0 its all about
setting the gain structure (volumes) set.
 
#11
B String said:
For the plug and play factor, the F1 is still one of my fav's.
The F500 and SWR Amplite are both very hard to adjust on
the fly. Its hard to see where the frequency is set on the
mids. Two friends have put black tape on these controls to
help see where things are set. But for a feature set, the F500
is hard to beat. The 9.0 has a little less features but sounds
so good with minimal tweaking. With the 9.0 its all about
setting the gain structure (volumes) set.
Click to expand...

+1 on the tone controls on the F500... very powerful, but there is such a lot crammed into that small front panel real estate that it would be next to impossible to adjust the EQ 'mid song' or whatever.
 

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