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Test Drove an EA i500 Last Night

Altitude

Altitude

An ounce of perception, a pound of obscure.
Supporting Member
Mar 9, 2005
11,200
14,096
55
Denver, nee Austin
#1
My normal amp (an Ashdown MK500) is in the shop, so I borrowed an i500 for my gig last night. Some impressions:

- It's unbelievably portable. It's small and light, fits in a nice little bag. It would be a perfect amp for anyone who has to walk a distance to a gig.

- The tone was more fat and warm that I thought it would be. My MK500 is possibly the most zingy modern amp out there, so anything else might sound fat and warm to me, but I was surprised at how cozy this guy sounded for such a small SS amp.

- The controls are, perhaps, a bit busy. But, then again, it was new to me and I hadn't had much chance to fiddle with it before the downbeat.

- It has no 1/4" speaker output, so you are forced to use Speakons. Probably a better choice, but it would be nice to be able to go either way.

- It had a little less balls than its power rating suggested. We played a mid-size club, and I had both the pre- and post- gains up to about 7, which gave me a little less stage volume than I'm used to. Not a big deal at all though.

In total, I really liked the amp, although it was a different animal from what I'm used to. If I were the kind of guy to have three or four amps around to choose from, it would definitely be a contender.
 
#2
Great points.

The size is a big bonus.

There are a ton of knobs and buttons, but Ive had to do minimal tweaking with my iAmp so far, so I havent been intimidated, yet.

That said, I too was surprised by the thickness the iAmp can deliver. Stays uncolored, and clean, but still thick.

I would agree that its not crazy powerful for a 500 watt amp, but paired with my Berg HT210S, I still feel like I get plenty of juice from it.

Again, thanks for the thoughts on this great amp.

My rig, as stated, just for kicks:

iAmp500001.gif
 
#4
Hey, I like the look (and sound) of EA stuff, I'm particularly interested in the iAmp 800 and 4 x 10 cabs.

Just out of interest, ebmuscmanlvr83, I noticed on your case it says 'bass rig', do you have seperate compartments inside the case for your amp head and cab etc? Just interested as when I upgrade (soon I hope!), I'm thinking about getting a flight case.

Cheers.
 
#5
WJGreer said:
My normal amp (an Ashdown MK500) is in the shop, so I borrowed an i500 for my gig last night. Some impressions:

- It's unbelievably portable. It's small and light, fits in a nice little bag. It would be a perfect amp for anyone who has to walk a distance to a gig.

- The tone was more fat and warm that I thought it would be. My MK500 is possibly the most zingy modern amp out there, so anything else might sound fat and warm to me, but I was surprised at how cozy this guy sounded for such a small SS amp.

- The controls are, perhaps, a bit busy. But, then again, it was new to me and I hadn't had much chance to fiddle with it before the downbeat.

- It has no 1/4" speaker output, so you are forced to use Speakons. Probably a better choice, but it would be nice to be able to go either way.

- It had a little less balls than its power rating suggested. We played a mid-size club, and I had both the pre- and post- gains up to about 7, which gave me a little less stage volume than I'm used to. Not a big deal at all though.

In total, I really liked the amp, although it was a different animal from what I'm used to. If I were the kind of guy to have three or four amps around to choose from, it would definitely be a contender.
Click to expand...
Great review. I agree with all of it. Many people consider the EA hi-fi sounding but I find it is a very warm sounding amp. Nowhere near as hi-fi as say a GK.

I quite often run with the level (pre-gain) at 9. EA will do a gain mod if you want more input gain but I have not bothered.

Also, I always carry a speakon to 1/4" adapter "just in case".
 
#6
Richard Lindsey said:
I like my iAmp 500 too. However, I find that I often have to crank the input gain a little higher than I would on most amps. I dunno if EA has a peculiar input sensitivity thing going on or what. I haven't measured this or anything; it's just my impression.
Click to expand...
The gain on EAs is linear the more you turn up the more you get. Other amps give you a huge jump between 2 and 4 then maybe not much more up to 8. If you are buying get the 800.
 
#7
The great thing with the iAMPs design is that you can drive them with their input gains and master volume full (although this is probably a little extreme) and it stays clean and together as well as loud IMHO. There aren't many heads around where you can crank the input and output and still have clarity and definition.
Of course this may look or sound unusual compared to most amps, but when most amps input gains are set to about 1-2 o'clock they start to break-up and clip. This also applies to the power amp section of a lot heads out there.
As far as volume is concerned I have A/B 'ed the iAMP500 with an Eden WT550 and there was no difference using the same bass and speaker cab to compare the heads. The only difference was that the Eden's input started to clip at about 12-1 o'clock whereas the iAMP500 I was able to turn up to 2-3 o'clock before it even looked like it was going to clip. Don't be scared to crank these things as their design allows this, without any problems.
I have found EA to be one of the most accurate when it comes to specifications on their gear. If anything, I think they are more conservative in their ratings compared to most.
 
#11
rhythm said:
Just out of interest, ebmuscmanlvr83, I noticed on your case it says 'bass rig', do you have seperate compartments inside the case for your amp head and cab etc? Just interested as when I upgrade (soon I hope!), I'm thinking about getting a flight case.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

I house the iAmp in the EA bag, but there are indeed seperate compartments for the amp and cab.
 
#13
I agree that you need to run the initial gain stage pretty high on the iAMPs. I had my 800 modified by Gary (I think he went less aggressive on the input overload protection), and it gained me (excuse the pun) a good deal of headroom. I haven't tried this with my 500, but after playing my 500 through two Wizzy's, I am pretty darn happy with its volume potential! :bassist:

Tom.

P.S.
I also own an MK-500, and to my ears, with the Harmonic Emphasis turned off, it's actually a fairly thick sounding amp, and not zingy at all. Of course, the HE is where the Mark King mojo happens (though I play/sound nothing like him), and I really like that feature.
 
#15
I borrowed an iAmp 500 head a few weeks ago from a TB'er, and really liked it. I like how well it works with my Wizzy cabs for doubling, since I also play upright. It took me a while to figure out the EQ, and I still only get the basics, but I can see where it would come in handy for dialing in rooms, or dealing with feedback or uneven response on my upright bass transducer. For bass guitar, it sounds great flat or with one of the contours (contour 1, I think?) selected.

I'm leaning very heavily toward gettin' me one ... ;)

earoscoe.gif


And here's a photoshopped 'special effects' version ... ;)
eacontrast.gif


Cheers,
Liam
 

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