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Ibanez Promethean

#101
FINALLY got a chance to do a quick comparison of the Promethean, the Genz Benz Shuttle, and a TC Electronic RH450. Not my best effort, and some sloppy playing, but it does show the dramatic tonal differences between the three amps...

Anyway, here's the link. Please be kind. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCnC0n4txgA
 
#105
I had a little different take on your vid than you did. I liked the Shuttle and the Promethean, but thought the RH450 was kind of false sounding. Could have been the EQ's you used, but the Shuttle and Promethean sounded better to me in every test. The Promethean was kind of a surprise to me...wasn't expecting it to sound so good.
 
#107
4StringsEnough said:
...and the Promethean is half the price of the TC. That gives it the moral victory in my book. Great video btw.
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Moral? How? Financial victory perhaps.

FWIW, I really like the Promethean, but IMO it is overpriced for what it offers. It needs to be about $100 cheaper I believe. The TC Electronic amp is expensive, but it IS a TC piece of gear, which has always been in the upper echelon of quality and innovation. Feature set of the rh450 aside (which no other amp has), I expect anything they make to have a little bit "more" in terms of quality and craftsmanship. You really have to see and handle an rh450 in person to understand.

I had a Shuttle 6.0 and I somewhat agree with the review. But that glassiness can be dialed out to some extent, and if you have a powerful active bass, you can drive the preamp and get some grit going. Passive basses might not be able to do that. Still, the overdrive is more of a unique kind of sound, not necessarily vintage sounding.

All three heads are great IMHO, but the rh450 is worth the extra money for me. As the reviewer posted, it does the clear more pristine tone really well, but the Tubetone and Spectracomp alone give it special flavor that you can control. Combined with 4 bands of semiparametric mid, and the ability to store ALL these settings in one of 3 different memory banks for quick recall just sets this head aside in the bass world for now.
 
#110
Well thanks to Musician's Friend Used item discount and a returned Promethean combo, guess what is coming to me for just 20 bucks more than the the head itself? :)

I would love to switch to a smaller head. I am looking forward to comparing it to my Markbass TA501, which sounds pretty much like a Little Mark.
 
#111
Smallequestrian said:
Cheaper? Its only $500 bucks...I don't think it offers much less than a Little Mark or F1 or even a Shuttle 6.0 which are all between $100 and $300 more. In comparison to some of those it actually has features the others don't.
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The Promethean is no where near the build quality of the LMII or Shuttle, and doesn't seem to have the oomph of those two either. It's a nice amp, but if I were going to spend $500, I'd spend a bit more and grab one of the others.

I just think it would be better sold at $399, or $449 at the most.
 
#112
Eublet said:
FWIW, I really like the Promethean, but IMO it is overpriced for what it offers. It needs to be about $100 cheaper I believe.
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It's cheaper than EVERY class D, micro head, except the Carvin. Why should it be $100 less? Because you don't think something with the "Ibanez" name is worth it? I'm happy at $500 and would have payed $600.

Because of Ibanez haters, Ibanez knows they can't put a boutique price tag on an item like this. So I guess I should thank you. :)


Eublet said:
The TC Electronic amp is expensive, but it IS a TC piece of gear, which has always been in the upper echelon of quality and innovation.
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I've owned their gear, and I disagree. In a nutshell, TC is Lexicon's competition for high quality reverbs and delays. That's their place in the market.

I'm not going to give them a G for their first attempt at a bass amp just because they have effects processors in that price range, and because they're proud of their name.

Just my opinion.
 
#114
Eublet said:
The Promethean is no where near the build quality of the LMII or Shuttle, and doesn't seem to have the oomph of those two either. It's a nice amp, but if I were going to spend $500, I'd spend a bit more and grab one of the others.

I just think it would be better sold at $399, or $449 at the most.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware you had direct experience with it. Nobody else had mentioned anything about build quality yet. I've had the Little Mark (liked) and the Shuttle (hated), so I'll be interested to make the comparison.
 
#115
X Ray said:
It's cheaper than EVERY class D, micro head, except the Carvin. Why should it be $100 less? Because you don't think something with the "Ibanez" name is worth it? I'm happy at $500 and would have payed $600.

Because of Ibanez haters, Ibanez knows they can't put a boutique price tag on an item like this. So I guess I should thank you. :)
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I'm no Ibanez hater. Check my profile. I've owned a lot of their gear and think they provide great bang for the buck, which is why I think this amp falls just a tad short. It's priced outside of Ibanez's typical audience, and doesn't stand up against the quality microheads that are only marginally more pricey IMHO.

I've owned their gear, and I disagree. In a nutshell, TC is Lexicon's competition for high quality reverbs and delays. That's their place in the market.
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They have a whole line of products that have world renowned respect in the studio, and a history of innovation and thinking outside the box. The rh450 reflects that lineage.

I'm not going to give them a G for their first attempt at a bass amp just because they have effects processors in that price range, and because they're proud of their name.

Just my opinion.
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I respect your opinion. But honestly, the price of the rh450 isn't the result of just a company's name in this case. The rh450 simply oozes quality and sturdiness, much more so than any micro head I've touched. It's pricey, but not insanely so. It does have features that no other amp on the market has, period. How much would a quality multi-band compressor pedal cost you? $250? It's included in the head. How about a very accurate tuner? Also included. It also gives a very organic tube simulator that is more than just a fuzz box. It faithfully reproduces the "give" of an all-tube head that is approaching saturation at high output. That's included as well. 3 memory recalls. This kills. Plus 4 semi parametric bands, a very feature rich rear panel, a galvanic isolation DI that will not buzz, digital out, pre-post DI, foot switch connector with ability to the same tuner at your feet, and on and on. There's a lot packed in this little head. TC didn't just sit on their laurels when they designed this and expect people to buy based on name alone.
 
#116
Smallequestrian said:
I wasn't aware you had direct experience with it. Nobody else had mentioned anything about build quality yet. I've had the Little Mark (liked) and the Shuttle (hated), so I'll be interested to make the comparison.
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It's not that it's "poor", but if you've owned the LM, you know how sturdy they are, but rather plain feeling. The Shuttle build quality is high, but the extra light weight makes it feel like a toy to me. I think that's more of a perception issue than a reality. The knobs on the Shuttle were sturdy and have a tactile feel that I like, versus the freely rotating knobs on the Markbass stuff which feels cheaper. Again, probably just a perception thing. I never had problems with knobs or anything else on either. They both took a fair amount of abuse.

I really don't want to sound like I'm knocking the Ibby. I just think it's a bit overpriced for what it is. But I hate graphic EQ's on bass heads, so perhaps I'm a bit biased against it from the start. I'd love to take one out at some gigs for a few weeks and see how it works. I definitely like that they included a mute switch, which is a pro-grade feature that I still can't believe MB didn't add to the LMIII.
 
#117
Eublet said:
It's priced outside of Ibanez's typical audience....
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Again, it's the second least expensive micro head. (IMO, the price of the GK doesn't count. They dropped their price due to major reliability issues) From what I can gather without taking it apart, its has good build quality. It has a nice eq section (I'm biased. I like graphic eq's over parametric) and it sounds great. I've had three Ibanez guitars, and three Ibanez basses. I think that qualifies me as the "typical Ibanez audience". I think it's a good price. How is it not priced accordingly?

Eublet said:
......and doesn't stand up against the quality microheads that are only marginally more pricey IMHO.
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I've played the Genz-Benz 3.0 and a few of the Mark Bass heads. The Promethean is in the same league as the Mark Bass heads, IMO. I haven't played a 6.0, so I can't comment, but I personally think the Promethean sounds better than the 3.0. I don't understand why you think the Promethean "doesn't stand up to the other micro heads".

Eublet said:
They have a whole line of products that have world renowned respect in the studio
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Of course they do. That's their market. Marshall has a whole line of world renowned guitar amps. I wouldn't dare buy their bass amps just based on their reputation as a guitar amp manufacturer.

Eublet said:
I respect your opinion. But honestly, the price of the rh450 isn't the result of just a company's name in this case. The rh450 simply oozes quality and sturdiness, much more so than any micro head I've touched.
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I respect your opinion as well. And I'm not doubting that the TC is a good unit. But presets, a tuner, a pretty box, and knobs with a fantastic feel aren't going to convince me that it's double as good as the Promethean, or worthy of a high price tag. I care about the sound quality over an amps features. In DKB's youtube video, I think the Promethean and the TC sounded very comparable to one another. Again, just my opinion.

I tell you what..........assuming the general consensus finds the MARK BASS F1 to be worth $800, then I think we can all agree that the TC is worth an extra $200 due to it's additional features. Fair? Then by that rationale, the Promethean is a SMOKIN deal. I'll leave it at that. :)
 
#118
JimmyM said:
I had a little different take on your vid than you did. I liked the Shuttle and the Promethean, but thought the RH450 was kind of false sounding. Could have been the EQ's you used, but the Shuttle and Promethean sounded better to me in every test. The Promethean was kind of a surprise to me...wasn't expecting it to sound so good.
Click to expand...

Interesting. The RH450 sounds better to me, followed by the Shuttle. I'm sure I could live with either amp, though.
 
#119
I just bought the TC -so maybe I'm biased, but I thought it had the best tone of the three amps tested here. I did enjoy the bright sound of the Shuttle for slap bass, but then again, I don't do much of that anymore, and I can dial up that tone if needed.
 
#120
JimmyM said:
but thought the RH450 was kind of false sounding. Could have been the EQ's you used.
Click to expand...
Having an rh450 myself, it's easy to see on that video that WAY too much compression was used in the recording (Sorry! :D ) I've played with the spectracomp a lot, and it does work really well for light and medium compression. In the video, it's highly visible by the LED reduction that it's turned up pretty high and squashing the tone a good bit. Still it sounds pretty good, but a lot of the dynamic response is gone. You can particularly tell on the slap portion, compared to the Shuttle which is ultra punchy, and the Promethean which is somewhere in the middle. The rh450 can go in either direction. If that spectracomp and tube tone where turned off in the video, it much of the punchiness of the Shuttle as well, but retains it's warmness a little better.
 

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