I just tested out a used Terror Bass 500 v2 for about an hour with a few different basses. Cosmetically, in was in perfect condition, but I don’t know about the type/condition of tubes inside. Unfortunately, I was only able to play it through one cabinet, an ashdown 410. After reading so many good reviews, I’ve been eager to try this thing for a while! Here are my initial thoughts:
The preamp sounds nice, like a good passive tone stack tube amp should. The eq knobs offer subtle tone shaping, which isn’t really a drawback because it sounds pretty natural in most positions.
I liked playing it at the edge of breakup, with the gain knob roughly halfway up, in the 10:00-2:00 range. Nice touch sensitivity, and good harmonic complexity in the mid-top end of the spectrum, and a crisp gritty overdrive.
I played mostly with a pick, and a little finger style as well.
I didn’t personally care for the clean setting, it didn’t sound bad, just boring for my tastes. The pad switch did offer some nice variation though, even with passive basses. Without the pad engaged, the top end sounded more wide open and hairy, with the pad on I could tighten up the high-mids and highs a bit, and push the gain up a little more.
I have read several reviews praising both the bottom end and loudness of this amp. I was a little underwhelmed with the lows myself, but I tend to like full tube amps with with deep fat lows available, like HiWatts, SVT’s, bassmans, and ashdowns and older Mesa boogies. I would describe this amp’s low end as solid, lean, and precise. It sounded to me like there’s a high-pass filter in the circuit somewhere in the range of 40-80hz. And if that is the case, that could be contributing to the sense that this is a particularly loud 500 watts.
I would love to play this side by side with some other hybrid amps, because I wouldn’t personally describe this as sounding too much like a full tube amp as some others have described. It sounded to me like a good tube preamp in front of a neutral and tight solid-state power amp. It did not give me the rich thick harmonic complexity that can be found in the bottom end of a good all tube amp. But, not everyone wants or needs that. I would imagine that this amp cuts and punches through pretty well in a live mix.
The preamp sounds nice, like a good passive tone stack tube amp should. The eq knobs offer subtle tone shaping, which isn’t really a drawback because it sounds pretty natural in most positions.
I liked playing it at the edge of breakup, with the gain knob roughly halfway up, in the 10:00-2:00 range. Nice touch sensitivity, and good harmonic complexity in the mid-top end of the spectrum, and a crisp gritty overdrive.
I played mostly with a pick, and a little finger style as well.
I didn’t personally care for the clean setting, it didn’t sound bad, just boring for my tastes. The pad switch did offer some nice variation though, even with passive basses. Without the pad engaged, the top end sounded more wide open and hairy, with the pad on I could tighten up the high-mids and highs a bit, and push the gain up a little more.
I have read several reviews praising both the bottom end and loudness of this amp. I was a little underwhelmed with the lows myself, but I tend to like full tube amps with with deep fat lows available, like HiWatts, SVT’s, bassmans, and ashdowns and older Mesa boogies. I would describe this amp’s low end as solid, lean, and precise. It sounded to me like there’s a high-pass filter in the circuit somewhere in the range of 40-80hz. And if that is the case, that could be contributing to the sense that this is a particularly loud 500 watts.
I would love to play this side by side with some other hybrid amps, because I wouldn’t personally describe this as sounding too much like a full tube amp as some others have described. It sounded to me like a good tube preamp in front of a neutral and tight solid-state power amp. It did not give me the rich thick harmonic complexity that can be found in the bottom end of a good all tube amp. But, not everyone wants or needs that. I would imagine that this amp cuts and punches through pretty well in a live mix.
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