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Terror Bass or to not terror

L

lovefist

Mar 27, 2008
288
10
#1
Well by tomorrow I should have my second bass head...I spoke with a few owners of the terror bass and the consensus seems to be it's a solid head. I think 500 watts is enough power and loved the tone of this guy. My main concern is making this purchase an impulse buy. I'm getting $100 off and it's only been played by me at the Chicago Music Exchange, but do I need it?

Have you had the impulse to buy a shiny new piece of gear when there are other things that would improve your sound (Friend of mine says to just get some cables, JDI, and wait for my old head to die)
 
#2
lovefist said:
Well by tomorrow I should have my second bass head...I spoke with a few owners of the terror bass and the consensus seems to be it's a solid head. I think 500 watts is enough power and loved the tone of this guy. My main concern is making this purchase an impulse buy. I'm getting $100 off and it's only been played by me at the Chicago Music Exchange, but do I need it?

Have you had the impulse to buy a shiny new piece of gear when there are other things that would improve your sound (Friend of mine says to just get some cables, JDI, and wait for my old head to die)
Click to expand...

A good amp and a better set of strings do more for your sound than anything else, with the exception of a good pre-amp or pedal. The TBass is a great, small package, high power tube pre-amp amp. Simple to use, very portable. Paired with Orange cabs it's damn near perfect.

500 W will cover just about everything a bass player needs. I've noticed that although I lament at times over not getting an LH1000, the LH500 pushes more then enough sound for me, especially on stage. At smaller venues 500W will mean you don't need to go through the PA. On larger, outdoor venues, you go through the PA for the crowd but the 500W on stage will make it easy for you to hear yourself without losing every ounce of your actual hearing.

The Orange is a good product. I'd go for it.

Or, of course, get yourself an LH1000 or LH500. All three are similar in ease of use, have a good tube pre-amp and enough power for most mortals.
 
#3
I just had a band at the bar tonight and the bass player was running a Terror Bass through an ampeg cab. It sounded awesome. Fat and with a touch of tube grit. Now I want one!

The DI output is VERY hot! At the board I put a -20db pad on it, kept the trim/gain all the way down, and barely had the fader up. It was still clipping the channel. Luckily the bassist warned me.

It's not a huge room so the amp itself was enough, but still... in most cases the sound engineer will want a line through the PA anyway. Then we can send it through the subs and blend it in the mix better. With the DI output being as hot as it was, the option just isn't there.

....maybe it was just this one amp, not all terror basses.
 
#5
I bought the Terror bass head the day I heard it through an Aguilar GS15 at a music store. I had been looking for a small head and was blown away by its sound.

In general, I don't put my tube heads on top of my speaker bottoms.

I have seen several bands on Austin City Limits put their SVT head on the floor.
 
#7
If you don't pump up the gain, you have tons of usable clean tone. Because the tone stack is transparent, you get a lot of straight thru volume.

If you don't want any distortion, maybe this isn't the amp for you as its warm 12ax7 tube breakup in the preamp stage is the charm of this amp.

Maybe a Clarus would suit you better.
 
#9
My guess is the vibration from the cab doesn't play nice with Tubes.

I found a thread in the archives about it:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-90021.html
Originally posted by telemark
I asked Aguilar tech support this same question. They do not recommend putting any tube equipment on top of a cabinet. Decreases tube lifetime. Vibrations will also be transmitted to tube filaments and this will end up affecting the sound (e.g. microphonics).
Click to expand...

There are a few products to isolate the cab from the head, like the auralex gramma, or bubblewrap.
 
#13
i bought an orange terror bass head last year.
amazing sound.
and it does like to dance around on top of your cab.
but i had a problem that turned out to be a little common.
regardless of the ohm load, when i pushed it a bit - should've been a little grit - it cut out.
orange claims that when you push the amp it pulls more power from the outlet & if that power source isn't regulated and perfect that the amp will temporarily cut out "to protect the amp from an unstable power source". i'm not sure how many bars you play, but i consider myself lucky if there isn't a neon sign plugged into the same outlet! this issue has happened at several venues with various levels of power conditioners, places that national touring acts have played with all kinds of gear with no problems.
i called orange.
they said they had a fix.
i sent in my amp.
they sent me a brand new one.
same problem.
i love the sound but am disappointed and downright nervous about being able to trust it on a gig when it can cut out at any moment.
there are some posts on the orange forum about it (including mine).
just information before you decide...
 
#14
I had a BT500 and ran it with a schroeder or 2 orange 15s. I always got compliments on the DI, I would warn the soundguy but they would always say it was great. It rattled a bit on the schro but not a problem with the orange cabs. Plenty of clean volume and a bit of tube growl. It was really loud with the gain set at 9 clock or 11 and the volume at 1 or 2. I wouldn't say the eq is very sensitive or precise, but for a basic warm bass sound you can't go wrong.
 
#15
walker rosewood said:
The DI output is VERY hot! At the board I put a -20db pad on it, kept the trim/gain all the way down, and barely had the fader up. It was still clipping the channel. Luckily the bassist warned me.
Click to expand...

I only played it once at a show (was not mine) and we ended with a microphone in front of the cab because the DI was really unusable.
Too bad, the sound is cool, I liked it.
 
#17
The DI runs at +4dbu. A lot of transformers in mixers are expecting -10dbu.

"At an impedance of 600 ohms dBu is equal to dBm (meaning the .775 volts produces one milliwatt of power). Since most modern equipment has input impedances much higher than the old 600 ohm reference it is safe to say that at .775 volts the actual power being transferred is much less than one milliwatt, but here we are only concerned with the voltage because at high impedances very little power has to be transferred in order to pass a signal. The dBu is commonly used in specifications to denote input and output levels for audio equipment. A rating of +4 dBu in equipment specifications implies a reference or nominal voltage of 1.23 volts."

I haven't used my TB500 in a DI situation yet but if I encounter the hot overload problem, I might try using the DI out from the TB500 into my Country Man DI and then to the board. The CM DI can accept any crazy input and tame it.
 
#18
personally, I love orange.. I wish I could go back in time.. not buy Markbass or Genz.. and grab the terror 500. it's quite ugly for my taste.. but it sounds Ampegish.. with warmth.. and it DEFINITELY sounds like an all-tube head. I had to play through one for a few songs at a live show, sitting in. I was utterly impressed.. it has crispness, bottom, and get quite clean if you want it to.. it's a very diverse head but never loses "bite.." I love the Orange sound and am stunned more players don't use Orange. I know Geddy Lee's tone is comprised of Avalon and who knows what else.. but even HIS sound live has more "bite", clarity, and tightness.. granted he's using the all tube head.. but I hear that same sound in the Terror head.. I love Orange.

at the above club, fyi.. there is "bad power" all the way.. the orange did not cut out. I am not saying ppl are lying.. I wonder if Orange has addressed the power issue. The club has power from the 1970s.. lol.. and likely aluminum wiring for all I know.. with neon signs plugged in, etc. no power issues that night with the orange head. I only played 4 songs.. the other bassist played 4 sets, like 35 or so songs with the ORange.. between sets, I noticed he turned the head OFF.. I guess because he feared overheating.
 
#19
Blah114 said:
personally, I love orange.. I wish I could go back in time.. not buy Markbass or Genz.. and grab the terror 500. it's quite ugly for my taste.. but it sounds Ampegish.. with warmth.. and it DEFINITELY sounds like an all-tube head. I had to play through one for a few songs at a live show, sitting in. I was utterly impressed.. it has crispness, bottom, and get quite clean if you want it to.. it's a very diverse head but never loses "bite.." I love the Orange sound and am stunned more players don't use Orange. I know Geddy Lee's tone is comprised of Avalon and who knows what else.. but even HIS sound live has more "bite", clarity, and tightness.. granted he's using the all tube head.. but I hear that same sound in the Terror head.. I love Orange.

at the above club, fyi.. there is "bad power" all the way.. the orange did not cut out. I am not saying ppl are lying.. I wonder if Orange has addressed the power issue. The club has power from the 1970s.. lol.. and likely aluminum wiring for all I know.. with neon signs plugged in, etc. no power issues that night with the orange head. I only played 4 songs.. the other bassist played 4 sets, like 35 or so songs with the ORange.. between sets, I noticed he turned the head OFF.. I guess because he feared overheating.
Click to expand...

what cab(s) were the tb500 plugged into?
was this a high volume situation?

I use either one or two tl606's.
I set the orange to 8 or 4 ohm for whichever setting is appropriate for my set up. low volume, first set stuff is always fine. but when I dig in or use a pick, it cuts out. with my new one, the cut out happened at soundcheck. it was a big venue & the sound tech told be to push it to check volume & it consistently cut out when I plucked the E with my finger.
the DI is hot, I always warn the sound tech... I've only had one venue say that it was too hot to use. the hot DI is not a deal breaker for me. it's a slight annoyance. that coupled with the head walking around (so, I'll set it on the ground or use a piece of foam) are issues I shouldn't have to deal with at this price point, but the "voltage regulator" that makes the amp cut out makes it unusable at gigs. & since orange claims this is the nature of class d, this makes me quite leery of all class d amps.
 
#20
punchclock said:
first set stuff is always fine. but when I dig in or use a pick, it cuts out. with my new one, the cut out happened at soundcheck. it was a big venue & the sound tech told be to push it to check volume & it consistently cut out when I plucked the E with my finger.


the hot DI is not a deal breaker for me. it's a slight annoyance. that coupled with the head walking around (so, I'll set it on the ground or use a piece of foam) are issues I shouldn't have to deal with at this price point, but the "voltage regulator" that makes the amp cut out makes it unusable at gigs. & since orange claims this is the nature of class d, this makes me quite leery of all class d amps.
Click to expand...


Does the problem happen regardless of where you use the amp? I mean it does it at rehearsal, different venues and your bedroom? If so, it is an amp problem.

I use a ARIS line conditioner in live situations for all my amps. Club electrical wiring is hit or miss. You can bet the owner wasn't thinking of upgraded wiring as a profit generator.

A light amp vibrating off your speaker is a a function of cabinet bracing and volume. With light weight comes trade offs. A mini amp of similar weight would wander just as much as the BT.
 

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