Double Bass MA2x5 plus head or phil jones bass cub

[peteswanson91]

Played a pj bass cub at a session the other day and was pleasantly surprised by it. Definitely feel the two 5" speakers are the way to go. Now deciding between that or else the ma 2 by 5 with a head. Any thoughts gents??

 

[MrSidecar]

Played a pj bass cub at a session the other day and was pleasantly surprised by it. Definitely feel the two 5" speakers are the way to go. Now deciding between that or else the ma 2 by 5 with a head. Any thoughts gents??

Hey,

I used to play a PJB Flightcase for some years and was ok with it- really great except for some higher-volume situations, where I suffered from uncontrollable low-end (either too little or too blobby) and lack of definition. I play an Ehrlund pickup, which sounds amazing, but at too high volumes with the PJB, its acoustic qualities seemed to vanish. So I read tons of great reports on the MAS things, contacted Mike (super guy!!), and...

Long story short, I am waiting for my MAS 26 to be finished... I'm gonna use some head, but I'm not quite decided on if I'll go the modern class-D mini head way, or something else.

Best
Sidecar

 

[Dave Irwin]

The first gig I played with my new MAS25 left me dissatisfied but I've used it on a few more gigs and it's really shined. I've been using it with an AI Clarus. I guess it's all about the venue and and the tone you are looking for.
It always delivers what I describe as a punchy usable tone. It doesn't give me the same fat bottom I get from my AI Ten2EX but it is 2 5's compared to 2 10's.
On a a louder gig Thursday night, I paired it with the Ten2EX and it worked great. I got the punchy mids for definition and the blossoming lows from the AI.
On a gig today at a church hall, the MAS25 on the floor by itself easily handled the large room with plenty of lows.
It's really great what it can do for it's size and weight.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I can't speak to the MAS 25, but the CUB is great at what it does, and very limited beyond that. Its range can be extended by a variable HP filter or preamp that compensates for what it does at the limits of its capacity. I recently reviewed the Headway EDM-1 preamp (which has a variable HPF), and it does a fantastic job of not only controlling the blobby low end at the upper end of the CUB's volume range, but also adding clarity to the inherent unfocused muddiness that creeps in at the upper limits of any amp's range. I think the PJB amps are a great match for anyone using a Full Circle pickup, but can't speak to how they respond to other input signals other than to say that in my experience they tend not to sound good with darker or less ambient input signals. Hope some of this might be useful to someone.