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TH 500 vs. LMIII (w/ ampeg cab)

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phattline

Aug 2, 2013
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#1
I had an ampeg b2re head break on me recently. I'm getting it repaired (maybe), but I've been meaning to upgrade my rig for a while now, so I'm going to buy a new head. I'll probably keep the ampeg around as a backup. I have an ampeg bse410h (410, 200 watts) cab. Eventually I am going to get a new cab, but not until later on down the road.

So far I've borrowed both a GK 1001rb and a genz benz shuttle (I don't remember which model, it was rated 500 watts at 4 ohms) from friends, and they both worked fine with my cab (and amazingly I haven't blown it out yet), but neither are something I'm too interested in owning myself.

I'm considering either an Aguilar tone hammer 500 or a little mark III at this point as a replacement head. I've also tossed around the idea of just spending slightly more and getting a little mark 800 instead. I won't be able to utilize the extra power right now with my cab, but it might be worth it in the future since I'm planning on getting another cab soon.

Any advice in this situation? Has anyone tried out such an odd pairing of amp and cab before? I mostly play in a loud rock band, and I like a punchy sound.
 
#3
I've had both the TH 500 and the LM III (in the combo form) and imho, the the TH has a surprisingly full and warm sound, and Aguilar did a good job getting its class D amp to do the Aguilar DB-type thing. I actually at one point replaced the MB head in my MB combo with the TH (same dimensions ironically) and while it sounded good, I noticed that with low notes especially, the definition/punch/attack of my notes didn't have the same degree of clarity. So after about a month of fruitless knob twisting with the TH, I finally put the LM head back in and after running the VLM? (tube simulation) around 12 o'clock I was happy enough with my sound.

That was a year ago, the Tone Hammer has a new home, and I use the MB several times a month but now I also run a Bassbone in front to warm & fatten things up just a bit more.

My personal conclusion is that the TH sounded nice and tube-like, and killed when I was playing alone, but lost focus on lower notes. Where the MB is a bit less warm, and a bit modern, but it seems to have a more even ability to keep up with the power demands required to make low notes punch.

On a related note if your budget is where these two amps are new, I would Strongly recommend you consider a Thunderfunk 550B. For the used price on these, it's without doubt what I would put at the top of my list. The Thunderfunk amp is incredible, and a bargain at the used price. You really need to try one. It pretty much does it all! And my only regret about the Thunderfunk amp is, no one to convinced me to use it earlier.
 
#4
The LMIII is a work horse. Mine is going strong after 4yrs.

I love the sound of GK and Ampeg and have owned several.

I have toyed the idea of getting rid of my LMIII but just love the ease and so far, no issues with this head.

I too may need to upgrade in a few months as my new band is an 8 piece with a 3 piece horn section..so may need a little more power, even though we are going direct..I could use a little more wattage...We will see.
 
#5
Been gigging my LMIII for two years, or so, with basically good results. The only gripe I have with it is a lack of eq for frequencies between the low knob's 40Hz center and the mid-low knob's 360Hz center. I keep saying I'm gonna get an eq pedal, but haven't yet. Don't get me wrong, it is a great amp, and does sound good. I just need some extra tweaking ability.
 
#6
nozkcb said:
I've had both the TH 500 and the LM III (in the combo form) and imho, the the TH has a surprisingly full and warm sound, and Aguilar did a good job getting its class D amp to do the Aguilar DB-type thing. I actually at one point replaced the MB head in my MB combo with the TH (same dimensions ironically) and while it sounded good, I noticed that with low notes especially, the definition/punch/attack of my notes didn't have the same degree of clarity. So after about a month of fruitless knob twisting with the TH, I finally put the LM head back in and after running the VLM? (tube simulation) around 12 o'clock I was happy enough with my sound.

That was a year ago, the Tone Hammer has a new home, and I use the MB several times a month but now I also run a Bassbone in front to warm & fatten things up just a bit more.

My personal conclusion is that the TH sounded nice and tube-like, and killed when I was playing alone, but lost focus on lower notes. Where the MB is a bit less warm, and a bit modern, but it seems to have a more even ability to keep up with the power demands required to make low notes punch.
Click to expand...

I bought a LMII while waiting on my Tonehammer to arrive and planned to sell it again when getting the aggie.
I experienced the same - the aggie sounds much warmer and more tubelike while the LM has more hifi-like sounds with more definition in both the lower and the higher frequencies.
BUT i made the exact opposite experience when not playing alone. The aggie's better when biting through the mix against my guitard. I mostly play rock right now. I could not get myself to sell the LM because of the tonal differences, when playing reggae or ska, i'll prefer the LM. But right now, in my current band, i have a lot of dirt in my signal, having the gain and drive around noon, something the LM is not capable of.

It feels like the LM is very neutral, just amplifiying what goes in and not colouring much, a great bass sounds great, a crappy bass sounds crappy.

I could live happily with either head as my only amp but i much prefer to have both.
I'm using 2 Aguilar GS212 cabs, and either head pumps out so much volume through these beasts that i'm feeling quite safe, no matter what the guitard throws at me.
 
#8
I have gigged a GK 700rb into an Ampeg 410 and I thought it was a great tone. I also like punchy. I also sold my TH 500 and picked up a Mark Bass Big Bang and a GK MB Fusion 800. Not sure which I'll keep but I never really gelled with the TH 500, FWIW I use a Sadowsky J bass.
 
#9
Markbass will get you punchy tones all day with almost any cab in my experience. I played an SD800 for about 5 years through various cabs (4x10, 2x12, 8x10, 4x12) and got plenty of punchy, detailed midrange tones out of it. It sounded good, but it was just too dry for my tastes. Not enough character, or low end.

Got the TH500, and I'm a happy camper. I feel there's more musical flexibility with this amp, plus more low end.

The deciding factor IMO is how much low end do you want?
 
#11
I've been using my LMIII through a fEARful 12/6 and a 12-sub at outdoor venues this summer and I have been more than happy. I haven't experienced the compression from turning up too high and I've been getting big, thick reggae tone.

I've not had the pleasure of playing through a TH-500, but I've had my LMIII for a few years now and am totally happy with the plug-and-play, punchy, accurate sound.

Wouldn't mind having a LM 800, though.....
 
#12
Monkey said:
I've been using my LMIII through a fEARful 12/6 and a 12-sub at outdoor venues this summer and I have been more than happy. I haven't experienced the compression from turning up too high and I've been getting big, thick reggae tone.
Click to expand...

I believe Markbass changed up the limiters on the models after the SD800, so the low end response should be better. The difference in cabs could make a huge difference as well, I'm sure your cabs pound with any head!
 

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