Hi guys, first of all, I would like to thank the people who responded to my first post, I have been in TalkBass for a short time but I already love it haha.
So, in my first post i was asking for bass combo amps, but i think i'm going for Head and Cab. I found a pretty cool HD410 4x10 (I haven't bought it yet), but now i'm looking for the head. I'm looking one that has an FX Loop and that it has some built in setting for Overdrive
Hope you guys can help me, have a nice day!
(PS: my english is terrible and i had to use translator, sorry)
A nice and very light 500-watt amp is the Eden TN-501 (TN=Terra Nova). I personally have the TN-226 which is the 225-watt rms version. I bought that amp specifically for a small brew pub that we would play 3 to 5 Fridays per month for the last 3 to 4 years. I got a 225 watt version because I only bought it to use with one 112 cab (Eden EX-112). Wish I had bought the 500-watt version, but I got a good price on the 225-watt one from a friend.
Both the 225-watt and 500-watt versions have the same features and preamp, it's just the power section that's different. I have the 225-watt version and wish I had the 500-watt one.
It has both active and passive inputs. The "active' input has a 12db pad on the signal to compensate for a hot signal in an active bass and give you more granularity in the use of the gain control. It has a mute button which leaves the tuner connection working and nothing else - very handy! Gain control has a nice gain-set light that should flash when you are in the "sweet spot" playing your loudest lowest notes. That's a key thing with Eden amps to get that clear loud signal to the power section.
EQ section has bass and treble shelving controls and two semi-parametrics one for adjustments from 30Hz to 300Hz (low-mids) and the other going from 200Hz to 2KHz (high mids). The bass EQ boosts or cuts 30Hz and below and the treble boosts or cuts from 2Khz up. It has an enhance control which is a shape control, a bass boost button to boost the bass without cutting the low-mids, and an auto compressor that is far better than the one on my WT500/800.
I actually turn on and use that compressor if I have my 225-watt version turned way up (my112 cab will handle 300-watts rms). Otherwise my clipping light will start to come on. If it flashes too much, it goes into protection mode, which gives you the stunning sound of silence. I never use the auto-compresso on my big Eden amp, though I've never run it into clipping either.
Previous experience with Eden auto-compressors was they only sounded good with slap. If I see that clip light flash at me, I engage the compressor and it only engages when the gain-set light is flashing. So it stops the peaks that would otherwise drive it into clipping. It's probably not engaging a lot, but it does at the right times and keeps it from clipping. That allows me to get the max out of it into my single 4 ohm 112 that I usually run with it if I need to. I don't hear any distortion when it does engage and I like that.
The 500-watt version will run that same power with one 8 ohm cab and a full 500-watts with two of them. I should have bought the 500-watt version of the amp and the 8 ohm version of the Eden EX-112 cabs, but didn't expect to buy 2 cabs. Was a one off for a small club we played a lot. Sounded too good together so got another cab and ran them with my big amp on medium sized clubs. Now I just use my DNS-210 cab for all indoor venues.
The previous Eden gear master volumes get really loud before you hit 12 o'clock. My TN-226 one didn't and I contacted Eden about it, worried that I might have a problem. They said the master was not set up the same as previous Eden amps but more like the Marshall amps (surprised?...not at all). On mine I need to turn it up almost half way to get a decent level out of it at all and then it just continues getting louder the farther up you turn it. Have to turn it up to about 4:30 or 5 o'clock to drive the amp into clipping whereas turning it up to one or two o'clock with the previous Eden amps would often cause them to clip.
It's really a great sounding amp and weighs 5.3 lbs. Street price on it is $649 but you can usually find them used from a low of about $349 up to about $449. You can get a shoulder bag for it or use one you already have. I throw my TN-226 into the bag on my shoulder grab my 112 cab in one hand and my bass in the other and most of load out or in is done.
For another $150 you could get a DNA-800 amp ($799), with 800-watts rms into 4 ohms, which would give you even more versatility. But that's an 800-watt amp, not a 500-watt. The Eden TN-501 is a 500-watt amp (into 4 ohms).
I had an Ampeg PF500 and an SVT7 Pro...so I get it. Its funny how many Class D amps I have owned...yet I still have my trusty Peavey T-Max that is 20 years old and never had a hiccup.
