- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,941
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- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
It does employ a soft limiter and some wave shaping to trick the ears a bit. Link Removed.
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The Official EBS Club
- Thread starter saxnbass
- Start date
It does employ a soft limiter and some wave shaping to trick the ears a bit. Link Removed.
Thanks for the link to the review/analysis, Tom. Great job, as always!
It just confirms what I said. Reidmar is pretty lacking in lows in flat setting, and while the low range as awhole can be boosted, there is always a roll off below 50 - 60-ish Hertz and an emphasis around 100-150Hz.
The measured output is actually lower than I anticipated.
OP, save your LMII and get a separate headphone amp, if that is required.
It just confirms what I said. Reidmar is pretty lacking in lows in flat setting, and while the low range as awhole can be boosted, there is always a roll off below 50 - 60-ish Hertz and an emphasis around 100-150Hz.
The measured output is actually lower than I anticipated.
OP, save your LMII and get a separate headphone amp, if that is required.
Soft limiter? This is what the article says: "Our Tech Director, Mats Kristoffersson, developed a technique that can be described as ‘soft-clip technology’ that actually allows the digital power amp to clip in a similar way as with a solid state amp." If the goal is to clip like a normal solid state amp, it may be soft compared to the raw clipping of a generic class D design, but solid state clipping doesn't sound soft, IMHO. And neither does the Reidmar to my ears.
Yeah, it also refers to the amp as "digital", which I am sure came from the EBS guys, not the magazine.
Regardless the terminology, driving the amp up to 10% just to reach the claimed output? Now there is an inflated spec from the manufacturer, IMO. It is not some tube amp for guitars we are talking about!
By the way, I saw the Glockenklang amp - now that is the lightweight amp EBS should have built!
Regardless the terminology, driving the amp up to 10% just to reach the claimed output? Now there is an inflated spec from the manufacturer, IMO. It is not some tube amp for guitars we are talking about!
By the way, I saw the Glockenklang amp - now that is the lightweight amp EBS should have built!
Cost?
There are contless cheap Chinese mini amps out there already.
Reidmar is bigger, heavier, more expensive and probably not really "better" at anything than they are.
Reidmar is price wise on par with Aguilar TH350, GK MB500, TC Electronics BH550 and MarkBass LMIII...
It is like 70-80% more expensive than its actual competition; Fender Rumble 350, MarkBass LM 250, TC BH250, GK MB-200, Ampeg PF-350 etc.
Does EBS aim to be another "bottom of the barrel, made in China" brand? Or do they want to remain an innovative, unique brand with practical design and solid power?
There are contless cheap Chinese mini amps out there already.
Reidmar is bigger, heavier, more expensive and probably not really "better" at anything than they are.
Reidmar is price wise on par with Aguilar TH350, GK MB500, TC Electronics BH550 and MarkBass LMIII...
It is like 70-80% more expensive than its actual competition; Fender Rumble 350, MarkBass LM 250, TC BH250, GK MB-200, Ampeg PF-350 etc.
Does EBS aim to be another "bottom of the barrel, made in China" brand? Or do they want to remain an innovative, unique brand with practical design and solid power?
I ask what Glockenklang costs, and I get a rant as if I criticized something... Go figure. 
I DO, however own a TCE BH250, and I can tell you that the EBS Reidmar is a much more powerful amp, no doubt about it.
I have also tried Fender Rumble 350, MarkBass LM 250, and Ampeg PF-350 in shops, and IMHO they do not touch the power or articulation of the EBS Reidmar 250. The Reidmar features and preamp is also very good. They have somehow managed to get a LOUD amp in that 250W (470W peak) amp, but the tone and shaping flexibility is also very good.
I also guess pricing varies a lot from shop to shop and country to country. In Norway, the Aguilar TH350 is 30% more expensive than the Reidmar.
I DO, however own a TCE BH250, and I can tell you that the EBS Reidmar is a much more powerful amp, no doubt about it.
I have also tried Fender Rumble 350, MarkBass LM 250, and Ampeg PF-350 in shops, and IMHO they do not touch the power or articulation of the EBS Reidmar 250. The Reidmar features and preamp is also very good. They have somehow managed to get a LOUD amp in that 250W (470W peak) amp, but the tone and shaping flexibility is also very good.
I also guess pricing varies a lot from shop to shop and country to country. In Norway, the Aguilar TH350 is 30% more expensive than the Reidmar.
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No rant intended!
I checked the prices at Thomann.de - a good place to shop even if you are in Norway.
They want €479 for Reidmar and €1199 for the Blue Soul.
I am however convinced (to the point of knowing) that the "articulation" you hear from the Reidmar is an effect off it having less lows ("more mids"), higher distortion (makes for more "presense" to the notes) and different voicings. The more you turn it up, the "harder" and more "barking" it sounds. How did you compare the amps? Same day, same shop, same loudspeaker, same bass, same SPL? How do you know it is more powerful?
We are talking about an amp that barely reaches 100W in 4 Ohms (not much, really), where the LMII delivers 400W continuous, even at 30Hz.
I checked the prices at Thomann.de - a good place to shop even if you are in Norway.
They want €479 for Reidmar and €1199 for the Blue Soul.
I am however convinced (to the point of knowing) that the "articulation" you hear from the Reidmar is an effect off it having less lows ("more mids"), higher distortion (makes for more "presense" to the notes) and different voicings. The more you turn it up, the "harder" and more "barking" it sounds. How did you compare the amps? Same day, same shop, same loudspeaker, same bass, same SPL? How do you know it is more powerful?
We are talking about an amp that barely reaches 100W in 4 Ohms (not much, really), where the LMII delivers 400W continuous, even at 30Hz.
Compared them on my personal stack in our band rehearsal room. Same day. Same bass. Same SPL? Nope, the max SPL of the Reidmar is WAY more than I could ever use. I have never tried to push it to the max, as my bandmates complain vigourously long before that. The TC Electronic BH250 in comparison can also stand its ground, but I have no problem with maxing that out in the same setting. That is also louder on max than I strictly need, but I CAN max it out without people running for cover.
I do not know about the BH250, but the tc electronics RH450 "450 watts" is measured to be 236W, so tc electronics seems about as dishonest about their power ratings as EBS.
Maybe your "250W" is actually 75W, as mentioned here:
Invalid Link Removed
Maybe your "250W" is actually 75W, as mentioned here:
Invalid Link Removed
Got my audio card for that. Yeah, based on this info I'd better keep the LMII. Maybe if a GK fusion comes along...
You brought up the TC Electronic BH250 as an "actual competition" to the EBS Reidmar, not me. Besides: Invalid Link Removed
I am an engineer with some electronics in my background, I have worked part time as a hifi tester for a national magazine, I have constructed and built my own amps and loudspeakers. Why am I telling you this? Just to underline that I have a pretty nuanced view of what tech specs tell you about a product and its perceived and measurable performance. Personally I think measurable values are interesting for construction and for matching pieces of a larger system. But when it comes to how happy you are with a product, perception is more important. I don't care if people speculate about actual watts. I have had many amplifier products for different audio purposes ranging from 1 watt (a Blackstar HT1R) up to dual monoblocks able to produce 1200W in 2ohms. If my BH250 is 75W so be it. It does what I need it to do. The difference between 75W and 250W in SPL is less than the difference between 1W and 4W, or less than 6dB, if you want. You can not hear watts, and you can not hear the price of the product. Both are indicators of something, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating (not the recipe).
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If you want to reproduce frequencies (as opposed to generate noise) below, or even in, the 50-60Hz range, you need something better than commercial bass guitar speakers. What we hear in performance as "ultra low notes" is interpolated by the brain from the 1st and 2nd harmonics. Some amp designers - EBS in particular - take advantage of these two facts to get more SPL for the same amount of power, as it takes a lot less energy to accurately cover 100Hz and 150Hz than it does to send a clean 50Hz at power to a speaker that's going to anyway mangle it. There *are* genres where low-frequency mud is seen as a virtue, and I certainly wouldn't recommend EBS for those.
Ok guys, I will not argue - feel free to spend your money whatever way you please!
Still, this is marketed as a low/medium power amp, with a rolled of response in the lows. Even within these "light duty" parameters, the amp fails to deliver on both range and output power, by far.
This comes from another engineer with a background not vastly different from your own, with the difference that my focus has been on PA and pro sound - a business where no-one shows up to a so a gig with an amp rack only good for 1/3 of the stipulated output. I do not bring a 3 kW rig to do a 10 kW gig.
"I'm outta here..."
Still, this is marketed as a low/medium power amp, with a rolled of response in the lows. Even within these "light duty" parameters, the amp fails to deliver on both range and output power, by far.
This comes from another engineer with a background not vastly different from your own, with the difference that my focus has been on PA and pro sound - a business where no-one shows up to a so a gig with an amp rack only good for 1/3 of the stipulated output. I do not bring a 3 kW rig to do a 10 kW gig.
"I'm outta here..."
I use my amp for stage sound. FOH is handled by an amply amplified set of passive subs with a total of 4x18" (if we have to use our own PA, that is).
I'm a bit puzzled that you need all that power on stage, since it is a good principle for good sound to keep the stage sound as low as possible to get both better, well distributed FOH sound and also avoid feedback in microphones etc.
I'm a bit puzzled that you need all that power on stage, since it is a good principle for good sound to keep the stage sound as low as possible to get both better, well distributed FOH sound and also avoid feedback in microphones etc.
Have you actually played through one, then? Your earlier post alluded to having played through "some" EBS gear, which I took to mean you had no specific experience with this amp. Not that that's a prerequisite for having an opinion, of course...Still, this is marketed as a low/medium power amp, with a rolled of response in the lows. Even within these "light duty" parameters, the amp fails to deliver on both range and output power, by far.
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I used to own TC Rh 450, Aquilar TH500and TC BH 250 and even TC Rh 750. I have to say that I'm very pleased to my Reidmar both soundwise and wattwise.
Very nice rig there! You're member #64 - a sacred Power of Two!Can I join the group? Looking forward to rocking out to my new set up!
