Musings on Aguilar TH 350

[Father Gino]

I bought one of these years ago just as a backup to my Streamliner 900 with two Aguilar SL 12s. I never used it much at all. During Covid, I read up on its operation a peculiarities. I did mess with the drive control in our masked Covid rehearsal lair with two older Aguilar GS 12 and a P bass with Labella flats. I did achieve a very nice old school, low mid, thick, classic P bass with flats tone. It was lovely playing blues with two guitars and drums. I took the P and the TH 350 with the SL cabs to a club with a different band and didn't like it at all. To be fair, it was a hard venue with me backed up into my rig, trying all night to not hit the keyboard player in the head with my bass.

More recently, I've been using it for rehearsals with yet another old school rock band with a flat wound strung J bass and one 8 ohm, 2x10 Avatar. I'm really liking that combination with the drive control almost off. The only problem is it's totally maxed out and I have to set the gain slightly higher than I'd like just to get enough volume. I actually like clipping the preamp a bit when I want to, but this is just a bit too much.

Do you think a TH 500 might improve this situation?

I'm really curious now about trying the J, TH 350 and two SL 12s. Would it be loud enough? The Streamliner is overkill for those two SL cabs and I often play with the master volume between 10 and 12.

 

[Al Kraft]

I don't know the specs on the Avatar, but cab efficiency can become problematic with lower powered heads. I would expect you to be pleased with volume levels you could achieve with two SL 112's. The TH500 will likely help some with Avatar, the TH700 would give you a very noticeable increase in capability over the 350 IMO.

 

[H Nighttrain]

So... your volume need is slightly beyond the reach of the TH350 (200W @ 8 ohms) Avatar (2x10) rig.

Will the TH350 (350W @ 4 ohms) Aguilar (2x12) rig be loud enough?

I'd reckon so.

I often use my TH350 with an 8 ohm 115, but pair it with a 4 ohm 212 if I think it might be needed. The 212 rig is capable of producing significantly more volume.

 

[Al Kraft]

The 212 rig is capable of producing significantly more volume.

My experience as well as you get more power out of the head and you have doubled the number of speakers. IME more speaker area frequently is worth a lot more volume-wise than more Watts.

 

[Jeff Scott]

...it was a hard venue with me backed up into my rig, trying all night to not hit the keyboard player in the head with my bass.

Why? I bet the keyboardist had plenty of room for him/herself.

As to the sound issue, do you have that single cabinet up off the ground high enough off the stage for you to hear yourself well?

 

[SJan3]

I did an outdoor gig tonight with my TH350 and two MarkBass 102P cabs. I had no FOH support and the rig did very well right down to my B string. To get any serious volume out of the TH350 you need to run it at 4ohms with enough and efficient speakers as @Al Kraft mentioned.

 

[Father Gino]

Yeah, Captain Obvious told me more cabs = more noise. But it's nice to have a conversation about this kind of thing because where else but here would anyone care. I really knew that it was loud enough with two cabs as I had used it several times successfully. With a better understanding of the amp, it's time to try it again. I think my preferences for tone have moved to a thinner, brighter sound. I used to think I liked my GS cabs better than the SLs but now it's the other way around. I've never tried this bass with the TH 350/SL rig,

 

[Al Kraft]

Yeah, Captain Obvious told me more cabs = more noise. But it's nice to have a conversation about this kind of thing because where else but here would anyone care. I really knew that it was loud enough with two cabs as I had used it several times successfully. With a better understanding of the amp, it's time to try it again. I think my preferences for tone have moved to a thinner, brighter sound. I used to think I liked my GS cabs better than the SLs but now it's the other way around. I've never tried this bass with the TH 350/SL rig,

It seems like from your description of your preferred tone you will like the 350 with the SLs a lot. It's not to say that the combination has a weak bass presence, rather that set-up should be plenty loud if aren't trying to set off car alarms a block away with sub-bass.