I've yet to hear a class D amplifier that hits as hard as a lead sled but if you insist on a pocket amp I would go with the Aggie.
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Help me pick a rig? TH500/Mesa 800/TF.5/Rumble 800
- Thread starter Tonecaster
- Start date
Id suggest the TH700. My TH500 had limited headroom.
I like both for different reasons as stated. I feel the Mesa TT 800 has way more versatility than the TH 350. It gives you the 400+ preamp and the Subway preamp all under one hood! I love the tube sound it can produce or the crisp punchy sound at the click of a switch. I also like the deep/bright toggle option. And the high pass filter! If I could only keep one it would be the TT 800 hands down! I play Rock, Blues, and some Motown.
Hi Ed,
Judging by the poll results, it looks like my recommendation will be clearly in the minority. I recently purchased the exact Fender rig you listed in your post - Fender Rumble 800 head and 2x10 cabinet - except I bought two of the cabinets.
It checked off several boxes for me which I won't bore everyone with. I have a gig this weekend with a Steely Dan tribute band and it's going to be the concert debut of my new rig. I'll make an attempt to document it via photos and video, and post here on TB.
Stay tuned…
Adam
Another vote for the Subway 115 cab. @agedhorse engineered the mud right out of those cabs. I'm waiting for a 112 to pair with mine. I never could find the second 115 to try them together, but I really liked the 112-115 combo at the local dealer where I could try them. They mix well. Love the modularity. They are light and they punch like Hagler.
You owe it to yourself to give a listen to the TT 800 and WD 800. You can get some dirt from those, but they can also be played clean and they have a great deal of tonal versatility.
Welcome back to the deep end! I took a long time off too, prioritized my career and family and let my skills go to seed. I've been back into it for the last few years and it is great to be playing music again!
You owe it to yourself to give a listen to the TT 800 and WD 800. You can get some dirt from those, but they can also be played clean and they have a great deal of tonal versatility.
Welcome back to the deep end! I took a long time off too, prioritized my career and family and let my skills go to seed. I've been back into it for the last few years and it is great to be playing music again!
I've never played a Mesa amp but have heard great things about the 800s. Been playing a TH 500 for the past several years through Bergantino AE cabinets and I love it. From reggae to smooth R&B to blues to jazz standards, it sounds great with hardly any knob twiddling at all.
For 800 bucks, the Mesa D800 is quite the amp considering everything you get. That's my pick.
I do have some thoughts on the choices you've laid out. hard to go wrong with Mesa, and while I am not currently using one I wouldn't hesitate doing so again. I had a D800 when it first came out and liked it, traded up to a + for the hpf and deep switch. I haven't tried the newer heads but if I were in the market today, it would probably be the WD or TT, for added versatility. I had Aguilar gear at one time and spent too much time wrestling with the Tonehammer to find usable sounds. I found their cabs to be too heavy for me, and was underwhelmed by their tone. I switched from mostly electric bass to now 99.9% upright bass so my needs have changed. For me, the sweet spot for both EB and DB is Genzler. The Magellan 800 is a killer amp, and I used it for quite some time but have traded down to a Magellan 350 as I didn't need so much power for DB. It also is two channel, which is useful to set for two different basses which I often did (usually a P bass with flats and a jazz with rounds). I've been all over the place on speakers, and now have landed on Genzler 10-2 arrays ( I have a pair). While I have never owned Subway speakers, they also would be a solid choice for a 2-cab solution.
I should add that as good as these premium amps are nowadays (Mesa, Genzler) the need for a backup is greatly diminished. My backup is a TC BAM 200, $150 and is tiny. Only to be broken out in case of emergency, which is highly unlikely as good as today's gear is.
I should add that as good as these premium amps are nowadays (Mesa, Genzler) the need for a backup is greatly diminished. My backup is a TC BAM 200, $150 and is tiny. Only to be broken out in case of emergency, which is highly unlikely as good as today's gear is.
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From your list, I'd go with the Mesa setup just because @agedhorse designs some really nice gear.
If you allow a suggestion outside of your list, I'd suggest some DNA amps and cabs. As you can see from my avatar I am a DNA Endorser. I've used a DNS-410 cab by DNA since 2015. It is the one size fits all - unless it scares the owner of a small venue. I get told to turn down using that one cab if I turn the master on my 800-watt Eden amp anywhere close to 10:30 at outdoor Festivals, so no need for an 810.
In 2019 when I got my endorsement from DNA, I bought the DNS-210 for places that the 410 scared. The first night I used it, I also brought along my DNS-410 cab and stacked the 210 on top of it. If the 210 wasn't enough for this "almost large" venue, I could quickly unplug my 210 and plug in my 410. The DNS-210 proved itself to be more than enough and the 410 was just an expensive amp stand that night. The DNS-210 will handle 700-watts rms and has a max SPL of 134db. It is also the clearest cleanest and most articulate cab I've ever heard. I run my 800-watt amp through it at all my indoor venues and 10 o'clock on my 800-watt amp's master is usually as high as I need to run it. So that cab by itself is all I need for ALL my indoor gigs. Street price runs between $849 and $969.
I've been using my Eden WT500/800 amp with my cabs since 2010 and it sounds wonderful. It does however weigh about 36-lbs in its rack. So, with the money I had saved up from gigs before Covid-19 and that stimulus check, I went ahead and bought the DNA-800 amp, which weighs all of 4.8-lbs. Even though it was designed by David Nordschow (founder of both Eden and DNA), it doesn't have all the semi-parametric controls that my big Eden amp does. Instead it has 4 controls for EQ - Bass (centered at 35Hz), Low-Mid (centered at 500Hz), High-Mid (centered at 2KHz) and Treble (shelving EQ from 2KHz on up). It's quite simplified but all of those EQ's have very usable centers. It's very easy to dial in a good sound quickly with this EQ set-up.
It also has a shape control that boosts the bass, cuts the low-mids, and gently raises the treble. This is a much more usable feature with far more granularity in it than the Enhance controls that David used in his Eden amps. He's also included a studio-quality compressor that is adjustable for both threshold and ratio. You can add just a little sustain with it or make it sound like an organ with no attack and a note that will sustain until you mute it, as well as everything in between. I am quite impressed with it. The front also has a gain control with a gain-set light, and of course the master.
It also has an adjustable DI output and a mute button that kills everything except the tuner output. One of the kind of cool features is a rear input so you can keep a clean face in a rack situation or if you just set it on top of the cab by itself. That's an either/or set up. You can only use one input at a time, either the front or the back, but not both at once. The back also has an aux-in with adjustable levels. Has an effects loop and a slave-in in case you want to use a couple of amps to run a lot of cabs. Although this amp works best at either 8 ohms (400-watts rms) or 4 ohms (800-watts rms), it can also handle a 2 ohm load at "almost full power" as it says in the manual. David prefers to run it at either 8 Ω or 4Ω.
Street price on the DNA-800 is $799.
Here's the set-up with both DNS cabs and only the 210 plugged in being driven by my Eden WT500/800 amp. I now only use the DNS-410 for outdoor venues and Festivals. The DNS-210 handles everything with a roof on it.
and here's a shot of the front of the DNA-800 amp:
Yes, others have remarked about the Rumble's vintage setting.Based on your requirements and your list, I would say Aguilar and the Rumble
Despite someone who has owned and still own various Mesa products (even a tube hi-fi amp).
Because the Aguilar has that baked in tone that would work for R&B and the Rumble's Vintage setting. With Mesa you may have to do some knob fiddling
If you do get the Mesa Boogie get the WD-800. Too bad, Bass San Diego closed.
I miss San Diego and I favor the north beaches
I do not own any of the three BTW but have experience with them. I have not seen or heard a Trickfish. Good luck.
There isn't a bad one in this bunch. In the end, I'll probably two, one as backup, and then work with both.
So much of this also in the player's hands, the room(s), etc. Stores are hard to hear in.
Yes, a shame they did close.
Funny, we had two homes in Placitas until not too long ago...
All The Best,
Ed
Not on your list but I just picked up a tt800 Mesa. I have the 2 1x12 cabs on the way. Don't know how the cabs sound but the amp is more versatile than anything I've played before.
2, 4 and 8 ohm options
Two fully independent and uniquely voiced preamps. Warm tubey boogie preamp and a subway 800.
Headphone out
USB port on the back.
Non parametric eq (which is easier for me to understand) on both channels
High pass filter on both channels
Separate gain on each channel
Only a couple hundred bucks more than a standard subway d800+ So the price point isn't terrible.
If I remember right it'll also auto bridge output to one channel. But I read the owners manual in a hurry so you might want to verify that.
2, 4 and 8 ohm options
Two fully independent and uniquely voiced preamps. Warm tubey boogie preamp and a subway 800.
Headphone out
USB port on the back.
Non parametric eq (which is easier for me to understand) on both channels
High pass filter on both channels
Separate gain on each channel
Only a couple hundred bucks more than a standard subway d800+ So the price point isn't terrible.
If I remember right it'll also auto bridge output to one channel. But I read the owners manual in a hurry so you might want to verify that.
I've been using a BB802 now for 6 months and it's the best all-round rig I've ever had. has a lot of GRUNT and will absolutely DRIVE a speaker load without hesitation. I love it. I will buy a second one for next year, as a spare and to be able to run both when outside at large venues. I almost pulled the trigger for an SVT, but am happy I chose the Quilter, especially comparing a 3Lb head with an 85Lb head.
+1 on this take. I play a lot of Americana and string band stuff without a drummer but when I do have a gig with a drummer it's really fun. The Quilter heads thrive with modern power-hungry super cabs. There's a point where the cabs just wake up, for lack of a better description.
I would also add the Genzler Magellan 800 and their Bass Array cabinets to your list. I have the head and use it with a Fearless F112 or Bergantino AE112's. The only reason I don't have the Genzler cabs too is because I already had my other cabs and they sound pretty good.
Most of my gigs are smaller venues where the cab(s) are carrying the whole venue and from all the reviews I have seen of the BA cabs - they really praise the dispersion and projection.
I like the Genzler head because it just has so much power in a nice package. I have never come close to using everything it has on tap. I would describe the sound as your bass, only louder, but with enough EQ shaping capability to dial in a wide range of tones if you want it.
I see many of the others on your list are also good amps too. It sounds like the ToneHammer wouldn't be my thing though.
Most of my gigs are smaller venues where the cab(s) are carrying the whole venue and from all the reviews I have seen of the BA cabs - they really praise the dispersion and projection.
I like the Genzler head because it just has so much power in a nice package. I have never come close to using everything it has on tap. I would describe the sound as your bass, only louder, but with enough EQ shaping capability to dial in a wide range of tones if you want it.
I see many of the others on your list are also good amps too. It sounds like the ToneHammer wouldn't be my thing though.
Thanks for the support Dr..
Yes, I turned away from music for what I felt would be a better life for my (then) future wife and sons. It worked well. Provided good neighborhoods, schools, healthcare, etc., but there was always an empty space that music had filled. Not that I have any regrets.
Very happy to be back at it.
All The Best,
Ed
All good points Bherman. Didn't include Genzler as I have never played through any, and as such know nothing of them. But they do get a lot of respect here on TB. I will look into Genzler.
Good point on the BU. In most cases, my direct and IE would more than suffice.
Thanks for your thought-out opinion!
All The Best,
Ed
OK, I have to ask Maxspinrun, what does that cab sound like? And what does it weigh...
All The Best,
Ed
