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Question about the Aguilar TH500

jeffbrewer

jeffbrewer

Jul 6, 2009
69
71
Atlanta
#1
If this is already addressed in an earlier thread, I apologize.

My question is this: I currently play an SWR redhead on smaller gigs and go direct/ears on larger gigs. I want to retire the redhead and go with something a little more powerful and get away from the combo thing. I'm interested in the TH500 bc of the weight and the price. HOWEVER, I'm really skeptical about these types of amps and here's why..... I have a really soft touch. I don't play hard. All of my dynamics come straight from my fingers, therefore I always set my amps for a lot of headroom. I've played a few (not the aguilar) of the smaller weightless amps and after a few minutes, every one has shut off. Mind you, I've never played the Aguilar so I can't speak for that. I have noticed that the Aguilar has a cooling fan so maybe that would help. Have any of yall had this problem with the tone hammer???
 
#2
AFAIK most of the Class "D" amps work fine at 8 ohms. If you really want to push 4 ohms the TH is one amp that has a reputation of not going teats up on you if you do. Myself, I've not had any of my lighter heads shut down with a 4 ohm load - I have an Aguilar TH350, an Ampeg Micro VR, and a GK MB200 . The only ones I've heard of having consistent issues are the Ampeg PF series. YMMV ;)
 
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#8
jeffbrewer said:
If this is already addressed in an earlier thread, I apologize.
....I've played a few (not the aguilar) of the smaller weightless amps and after a few minutes, every one has shut off. ...
Click to expand...

Everyone? How can that be?

It's certainly not a feature of any amp I've ever heard of, excepting the reported problems with Ampeg PF500's.

Without knowing any details I'd suggest this is user error.
 
#10
hmm...what brands have you played that have shut off because of heat? I have extensive experience on SMPS amps and I've never had on shut down. To answer your question though, the Aguilar is a great amp and backed by great support. I'd play one with confidence.
 
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#13
Hrm. Playing softly won't have anything to do with a head's behavior. If having very low input were a problem, then they'd be shutting off every time we don't play into them for a little while. They'd be totally useless and unacceptable products.

If you're really having that much trouble with class D heads, I can only think it's a run of bad luck, and has nothing to do with the type of head. A class D amp should give you full, clear sounds on demand, 24/7, no shutoff, no unexpected behavior (aside from not taking a heavily clipping signal well at all). All that and weighing 3 or 4 lbs.

Nice as my MB200 is for its size, I'm thinking of saving up for a TH500 myself, though I'm looking at several other things in the 500W range as well.
 
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#14
Real Soon said:
Hrm. Playing softly won't have anything to do with a head's behavior. If having very low input were a problem, then they'd be shutting off every time we don't play into them for a little while. They'd be totally useless and unacceptable products.

If you're really having that much trouble with class D heads, I can only think it's a run of bad luck, and has nothing to do with the type of head. A class D amp should give you full, clear sounds on demand, 24/7, no shutoff, no unexpected behavior (aside from not taking a heavily clipping signal well at all). All that and weighing 3 or 4 lbs.

Nice as my MB200 is for its size, I'm thinking of saving up for a TH500 myself, though I'm looking at several other things in the 500W range as well.
Click to expand...

I "think" he's saying since he has a light touch, he opens the amp up volume wise and this is what is causing the shutdown. It still doesn't make sense to me though.
 
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#16
If I wasnt completely in love with my Genz Benz gear the next amp I would look at would be a TH500. Never heard anything bad about them and everything I hear about the tone is nothing short of great.

As far as shutting down goes, in two years of gigging my Streamliner 900 has never failed me. Not once. I run it through a 4ohm cab as well.

Good luck, but I don't think you would have any trouble that TH500 should you choose to go that route.
 
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#17
jeffbrewer said:
If this is already addressed in an earlier thread, I apologize.

My question is this: I currently play an SWR redhead on smaller gigs and go direct/ears on larger gigs. I want to retire the redhead and go with something a little more powerful and get away from the combo thing. I'm interested in the TH500 bc of the weight and the price. HOWEVER, I'm really skeptical about these types of amps and here's why..... I have a really soft touch. I don't play hard. All of my dynamics come straight from my fingers, therefore I always set my amps for a lot of headroom. I've played a few (not the aguilar) of the smaller weightless amps and after a few minutes, every one has shut off. Mind you, I've never played the Aguilar so I can't speak for that. I have noticed that the Aguilar has a cooling fan so maybe that would help. Have any of yall had this problem with the tone hammer???
Click to expand...


I'm in a similar situation, I was considering to buy an aguilar TH500 & 2 SL112 because I am looking for a light weight rig, but I'm not sure if it's the right choice because I play with a very light touch (kind of Gary Willis technique) and I need more headroom and volume(power) that most bass players need.
 
#19
WRT thermal shutdown it is a question of how much average power you are putting through the amp. I suppose that a light touch could have a lower peak to average ratio than someone really digging in or slapping. Maybe with the amp adjusted near clipping the average power would be higher for a light touch. However the same thing would be true with a compressor adjusted to remove signal peaks so there should be some anecdotal evidence if that were a problem too.

Regarding these problems with the small class D amps, were they driving the same speaker cab? Did the amp recover immediately when power was cycled? If so it may have been an over-current shutdown rather than thermal. Some amps have quite a bit of thermal hysteresis and must cool off before power will be restored after a thermal protection shut off but an over-current protection event can be reset immediately by cycling power. I have seen the over-current shutdown happen when driving a cabinet with a broken crossover.
 

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