Not impressed with Aguilar!?

[Joe Beets]

I've always liked Peavey bass amps. I haven't had one for a couple of years, but one of the sweetest sounding heads I ever had was a Centurion Mark III. It was plugged into a homemade cabinet with a Cerwin-Vega 18 incher. With the treble backed off a little bit it was as warm as my Demeter 201S or the Aguilar DB659 before that. And it made the most beautiful harmonics. I f I could find one of these in mint condition I don't think I could restrain myself.

 

[tplyons]

Yep, the Peavey Mark bass amps are phenominal. Wonder why they are no longer produced. Very underrated.

 

[Jerry J]

Amps is like women...

Some guys like playing blonds and others dig redheads and most folks love a classic brunette..

Whatever blows your skirt up is the one you should play. After all, if we all like the same stuff, how boring would that be?

Yes this appears to be a Ginger or Mary Ann thread. I always liked both of them...and blonds, oh and redheads and of course I dig brunettes.

And man could you imagine the cost of the stuff if we all liked the same thing?

 

[Fuzzbass]

...damn refreshing is what I say.

It's all good. We're talking about (in no particular order) Aguilar, EA, Ampeg, Bergantino, Accugroove, Acme, Fender, Sunn, Eden, Ashdown, etc. - again, IT'S ALL GOOD!

..or as Mike so elequently said, "It's ice cream!"

If anything, I'd like to see more honest opinions on TB...

Well said! The point of TB is to post our honest opinions about gear, good and/or bad. There are "fan clubs" here for certain products... rightfully so IMO, and nothing wrong with them per se, but I can see how someone might feel too intimidated to post a negative opinion of a popular product.

F'r instance: most of you know that I (and more than a few others) love Bergantino cabinets. However: it would never occur to me to debate someone who said they didn't like my favorite flavor of ice cream.

Everyone here should realize the obvious caveat: judgments on tone are completely subjective. If Person A likes Brand X and Person B doesn't like Brand X, who is right? Both!

 

[Fuzzbass]

And man could you imagine the cost of the stuff if we all liked the same thing?

Or if we (most of us) had to use the same thing... say, Microsoft bass gear?

 

[Jerry J]

Or if we (most of us) had to use the same thing... say, Microsoft bass gear?

Dang! and you know I was thinking that when posted that comment.

 

[Pickebass]

I've got quite a few pieces of Aguilar gear and the AG500 is definitely different. I guess when you plugged the amp in you were expecting the trademark tube warmth of the others. When it wasn't as warm as the DB series you were "let down". The AG500 is definitely not sterile, but there are a few amps in the price range with similar features that are solid state and have a warmer sound.

 

[angelopb]

Yes this appears to be a Ginger or Mary Ann thread. I always liked both of them...and blonds, oh and redheads and of course I dig brunettes.

And man could you imagine the cost of the stuff if we all liked the same thing?

Mary Ann would probably be a more ecomomical date, but you would probably need more than one date to score.

ginger appears to be high dollar, but she probably would not make you jump through the hoops.

 

[JMX]

Over at www.bassic.ch (German-language bass forum), there are numerous bad reviews concerning the D500's sound.

 

[Dr. PhunkyPants]

I can't understand why we aren't focusing on the cabs he was using, as well as the bass, as well as the bassist's expectations.....

You say you don't know what cabs you were using but that they were a pair of Aggie 210's. SOOOOO....let me note the following:

1. Two Aggie GS210's do NOT sound like a GS410. I know because I've tried them. The GS410 is IMHO the best-sounding 410 I've ever played through. The 210 is a nice add-on, but a pair of them do not cover the low end the way a single cab does.

2. It seems equally possible that you were playing through a pair of S-series 210's. These budget cabs are certainly nice for what you get, but I won't bet the farm that the two of them would make a "warm"-sounding partner to the head.

3. What sort of EQ-ing are you used to with your GK's? As pointed out elsewhere, Aggie EQ's are pretty narrow. If you are used to scooping serious booty into your EQ-curve, you might paradoxically be finding that an amp that's warmer when flat is not as rounded as you're used to.

In short--here's yet another example of everybody getting wrapped around the axle about one stage in the entire signal chain, without taking a global view.

And I would agree that the title of the thread is leading.

 

[gwreid]

Let me tell you of my experience in comparing bass rigs, not Aguilar but you'll get the point... Way back in the day I was running a Marshall half stack but bought an Acoustic 220 with their 4 x 15 408 cabinet. It sounded amazing in the store. My next gig, I took both rigs along. We were an eight piece band (3 brass) playing in a ballroom that would pull 2,000 punters on a Saturday night. We were resident there for a few years. Well, I set up both rigs and started to A/B them. F$@k, I couldn't tell the difference, what the heck was I listening to in the store!!!! UNTIL, I rigged up a long lead and went to the back of the room, maybe 100 feet away. It was like night and day, the Acoustic blew away the Marshall. Of course I was p'ed off because standing beside the rig it didn't sound any different than the Marshall. That was, until we started playing as a band. I can't tell you why but, when we all kicked in, I could feel and hear the Acoustic like nothing I had ever heard before. Money well spent and a lesson learned. Until you get in a band situation, you really can't tell what that new rig is going to sound/feel like. That Aguilar might sound "sterile" or great in the store but you have to use it "under fire" to ascertain what it really sounds like.

 

[rayzak]

I personally am happy that the AG500 isn't everyone's "cup 'o' tea". I wouldn't like being just another 500 user
I personally love mine, and I agree that the 500 watt rating is conservative. It's easily just as loud as my 359 was and I like it just as well. It is different, but i've found some wonderful sounds coming from this amp... dirty and clean. It sound wonderful through my GS212. The only thing I would've changed is maybe getting an 8ohm cab so I could add another just to knock thing off of my walls and rearrange things in my cabinets with even more authority.