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iAmp 800 Review.

#21
Another thumbs up here for the EA guys! When I got my 800 last summer I had a little trouble after only a few hours of play, but I just made an e-mail to the EA directly and Larry, John, and Gary were all more than helpful in a quick replacement. All done through a holiday to beat it all. They arranged for everything and even paid for shipping. All I had to do was stick it back in the box and answer the door to the UPS guy. I've been very happy with it since. I must have a very hot input on mine, it's quite easy to get the preamp to clip with my passive Jazz, but the power amp section gets plenty loud before it would ever even think of clipping. Glad you're liking it Joe, I knew you would!
 
#22
Big Joe said:
Joker,
Do you ever run a single B-1? How's it hang? I'm thinking of getting one for just practice and the like. I like that I can get one at 4 ohms to boot. 800 watts should be enough to get some kind of decent level out of it... Right?!
:confused:

I want something small/portable but at the same time, B-string worthy. I am also considering an Epi 112 (#1 contender I think so far), EA VL-110 or 108, Berg 112, etc. :ninja:
Click to expand...

hey Biggie,

oh, before i forget, great little review! you're making me really GAS for the 800 more. ;)

but i love using my single Acme 1x10. for practices in my friends' tiny studios, its a godsend. pumps out enough low end to keep up with most any 18" bass drum, and loud enough for most coffeeshops and cafes. also, 4 ohms @ 800 watts, you might actually break the poor thing! :eek: the acme is rated at 175 watts, but only needs 250 watts to get it going. i prolly send 300 just to be sure.

but yea, the B-String responsive is like NO other. really quite remarkable, and my fav.

go ahead and try the Acme 2 week trial. you wont be sorry.

the EA 1x10's dont have a chance, and dont even consider the 2x8 for anything Low B like.

as for 1x12's and the Low B, the Epifani, IMHO, handles the low B best. the Berg is a little gunshy, and the Aguilar's just a wee bit too mushy mouthed for me. the EA has a killer punchie sound, but again, just doesnt feel as deep, nor does it massage your tone in the same way the Epifani's do.
 
#24
Big Joe said:
Thanks... I had a GS-112 that I picked up from jraj, and didn't care for it either. I'll have to look into the B-1 and the T-112 then. I will probably end up with the 112 though in the long run... Well, I guess we'll see!
:bassist:
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Just as a warning about pushing 800 W into the B-1, the Acmes are great speakers, and I love my B-2 to death--but don't expect miracles from one little 1-10. Every speaker has a limit to how much it can move and how much it can put out. As I'm sure you know, you can't just put ever-increasing amounts of power into a speaker and expect ever-increasing acoustic output. At the end of the day, the B-1 is still just a 1-10--albeit a terrific one. You'll get a surprising level and quality of sound out of it, but you won't get big volume. It has its limits. As joker point out, it's rated for 175 W. Of course you can use bigger amps than that, if you don't push them hard, but it's definitely possible to damage a B-1 with 800 W. I'm not saying you necessarily would, but you could.

Actually Andy Lewis has been known to complain that people think you can run just any old amount of power into his speakers without hurting them. He remarks that this is in fact not true.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm just saying be careful, and don't have unrealistic expectations.
 
#25
If there is not problem with the total volume than you really don't need to push the input section to clipping

Mike
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Yeah, it just seems strange that I'm running it with the input gain up full.

Joker,
Have you tried your 500 with a passive bass? Were you able to drive the input section to full power? I just want to make sure there is nothing wrong w/mine. thanks
 
#26
hey, Basss

actually, yea.

with my sadowsky set in passive mode and a few slap/pops, i could get the light to dance, with the gain knob up around 7-8 on the dial. i could get the same lighting with some aggressive playing on my low B, too.

but remember that the active section was DOA, so i dunno if that affected the amp, too.
 
#27
Thanks Joker
I just tried the amp again with my P bass which has "hot" Seymore Duncan p pup in it and was able to get the input light to flicker. I guess its a combination of fairly low output pups on my Yammy (bartolini 59k's) and somewhat low input level on the amp.

By the way if anyone is looking for a nice bag for the 500 check out Invalid Link Removed. Nicely padded, lightweight, my Iamp 500 fits well (about 1/4" extra real estate on the sides but I'm going to try to modify the computer sleve to remedy this). I'm sure the EA bag is nicer but a $28 shipped this one seems hard to beat.
 
#31
Richard Lindsey said:
Just as a warning about pushing 800 W into the B-1, the Acmes are great speakers, and I love my B-2 to death--but don't expect miracles from one little 1-10. Every speaker has a limit to how much it can move and how much it can put out. As I'm sure you know, you can't just put ever-increasing amounts of power into a speaker and expect ever-increasing acoustic output. At the end of the day, the B-1 is still just a 1-10--albeit a terrific one. You'll get a surprising level and quality of sound out of it, but you won't get big volume. It has its limits. As joker point out, it's rated for 175 W. Of course you can use bigger amps than that, if you don't push them hard, but it's definitely possible to damage a B-1 with 800 W. I'm not saying you necessarily would, but you could.

Actually Andy Lewis has been known to complain that people think you can run just any old amount of power into his speakers without hurting them. He remarks that this is in fact not true.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm just saying be careful, and don't have unrealistic expectations.
Click to expand...

I know, I know... I was HALF-kidding. I didn't mean that I would hit it with the FULL 800... Just enough to keep it clean (as in totally clip-free) and hopefully with some volume to it. I would rather have the 800 watts not turned up as much than have the 500 (at 8 ohms) cranked, if you catch my drift. When I had my B-2, It generally got drowned out with the 700 watts I was running into it and I was pushing the amp a little too hard at times IMO. I would have preferred around 1K or so to keep it a little cleaner with extra room to work. So that is the only referrence I have to go by for Acme... When I look at wattage, I look at it in terms of what I don't use rather than how much I do. And again, this next smaller cab would really only be primarily for practice. I am leaning more towards maybe a B-2 (which is about as heavy as I want to go at 50 lbs.) or more realistically, the T-112. ;)
 
#32
jokerjkny said:
ooh, mike, mike, mike...

then again, if i had your fingers, i prolly could massage tone from a cardboard box! ;) :bassist:
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The truth of the matter is I played the T-112 for a number of years and loved it. I also truly believed what Nick had told me - that putting a transmission line in such a small box was impossible. I had no reason to doubt Nick's word. When I first talked to Larry about using EA gear he told me that he was not interested in talking to me unless I tried the gear. I traveled to Mike Tobias' shop who had a Cxl-112. I A/B'd the T-112 and the Cxl-112 with both an iAMP 600 and my WW.

What I found was that the Cxl-112 was bigger and warmer in the lows without loosing the brilliant mids and the highs that both the Cxl-112 and the T-112 share. Whether or not Nick was right, I cannot say, what I can say is tha the EA CxL-112 works and works very well. There is only 1 cabinet that I like better than my CxL-112 and that is the EA NL-210. This cabinet is absolutely the best cabinet that I have ever played through.

I would like to take a moment to say that these are ONLY my opinions. I am not the most technolocially advanced person- iI just know what I like. I am sure that each of us hears something different and unique in each cabinet, whether it is an EA, Berg, Acme, etc. Each of these designers come from different schools of thought and all are valid. It comes down to "what do you hear". Another disclaimer, my T-112 was one of the very early ones, I have not played through the newer ones

Mike
 
#33
Thanks for the info, Mike... The only problem is that I have no where to try out any EA gear. I bought the 800 on blind faith (with a little help from TB and basstasters). I have played the T-112 and enjoyed the tone despite being more of a "tens" guy and have them available locally to boot. I also really dug the transportability of it with the one single top-mounted handle. How does the CXL-12 do with one handed transport? It's not a major issue, but an issue nonetheless. ;) :cool:
 
#34
Big Joe said:
Thanks for the info, Mike... The only problem is that I have no where to try out any EA gear. I bought the 800 on blind faith (with a little help from TB and basstasters). I have played the T-112 and enjoyed the tone despite being more of a "tens" guy and have them available locally to boot. I also really dug the transportability of it with the one single top-mounted handle. How does the CXL-12 do with one handed transport? It's not a major issue, but an issue nonetheless. ;) :cool:
Click to expand...

The Cxl has three handles. Two located on each side, integrated into the cabinet and on the bottom is a spring loaded handle that doubles as a tilt back feature. It weighs in at around 42-44 lbs.

EA has a new PA dealer - Medley Music. I think they are near Philly. I am not sure were Avoca is in relationship, but you might want to give them a call

Mike
 
#35
Mike Dimin said:
The Cxl has three handles. Two located on each side, integrated into the cabinet and on the bottom is a spring loaded handle that doubles as a tilt back feature. It weighs in at around 42-44 lbs.

EA has a new PA dealer - Medley Music. I think they are near Philly. I am not sure were Avoca is in relationship, but you might want to give them a call

Mike
Click to expand...
Thanks again, I'll look into them... ;)
 
#36
Mike Dimin said:
(...)

EA has a new PA dealer - Medley Music. I think they are near Philly. I am not sure were Avoca is in relationship, but you might want to give them a call

Mike
Click to expand...

they've been a dealer for a while now, cause that's where i first heard the uber-cool 350 combo, and bought my 350, a few years ago. they're supposed to be an Aguilar dealer, too, but i've only seen a DB659 preamp there. *shrug*
 
#37
basss said:
Yeah, it just seems strange that I'm running it with the input gain up full.

Joker,
Have you tried your 500 with a passive bass? Were you able to drive the input section to full power? I just want to make sure there is nothing wrong w/mine. thanks
Click to expand...

I had this problem with DB signals when I used a certain DB preamp. For this reason, I keep my 800 in a rack with a Sansamp RBI, which I use as a straight line leveling device (it runs flat, with even the master volume straight up at 12 O'Clock - all of the "simulation" part is off). With this setup, I have full control of the line signal so that I don't have to run the 800 pre full on to get the LED's up into the middle range. When running like this, I've never had to take the master volume up past 3 on the iamp, and I'm running relatively inefficient Vl208 and 108 cabs most of the time.
 
#39
arizonabass said:
Mike Dimin wrote:

"The Cxl has three handles. Two located on each side, integrated into the cabinet and on the bottom is a spring loaded handle that doubles as a tilt back feature."

It does?? I'll have to go look... :ninja: Most embarrassing.

Howard
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Yeah, I didn't notice the handle on the bottom of mine for a few months. Felt kinda sheepish after that.
 

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