- Mar 22, 2004
- 13,004
- 4,741
- Disclosures
- I play it all. Whatever works for the gig. Q+
I have been using Ampeg for years and I am an endorser since 1989. Lately I have had some dates that I need to fly to, and I hate doing backline rental on amp heads since you never know what you are going to get, or in what condition.
So that started a quest to look for a lightweight amp that could fly and would KILL and still have some ballzzz.
My quest started about 7 or 8 months ago so I had time and tried almost everything. And I must have sent a PM to everyone on TB to pick their brains.
Now lightweight to me is different than what others may consider lightweight. But anything lighter than an SVT or SVT2 head fits my description.
Some still think lightweight are those 5 pound bass heads and they are light for sure.. I tried them and it did not make the cut for me. But then this is all subjective I suppose.
So I am sure a few of you know my dilemma that went on for 3 months with Eden and the wt800C that had problems right out of the gate and went on 3 repair attempts and ra# etc. with less than poor customer service. Well after 3 months and much wrangling, I had my money returned, and I called Dave at Thunderfunk amps after reading reviews by others on TB. Kjung and Bassist30 in particular. Thank you.
Dave Funk took the time to talk with me, for nearly an hour the first day when I was thinking of getting his amp.
He is one of the most knowledgeable people that I have spoken with in 35 years of playing when it comes to amp tweaking and design. And he is knowledgeable in other sciences and historical events. And he was more than helpful while dealing with me and my million questions about his amp. And he is funny too!
His service is equal to what I always describe as the Sadowsky Customer Service style.. It is above and beyond what a customer could expect and makes you leave the sale feeling very good and like you made a contribution to the world.. hahah . But really, his Customer service is Over the Top great!
So I bought his amp.
My initial impression when the brown Truck came was. Wow this box is light! Is there anything in it?
It came very well packed and protected with a care gift from Dave. I have to say the guy stands behind what he says he will deliver.
Rack ears are included separately in the box and were wrapped in bubble pack along with the mounting screws as well as the power cable.
The amp only weighs 16 pounds! That fits my # two objective. My number one objective is tone/sound.
I had to just look at it for a minute and enjoy the simplicity of the design which is aesthetically very pleasing ,accented with the black chassis and the black knobs highlighted by a Thunderfunk Logo.
It looks somewhat vintage yet modern and still has a Boutique vibe about it.
The TF is well built. Very well built. The chassis is made of a tempered Aluminum and not the soft aluminum that you would associate with a snow shovel..
So I plugged it in set everything flat and turned it on.
The first thing that I noticed was How Fast This Amp Responds. It is FAST! It responds to your touch instantly. The notes seem to jump out at you. PUNCH!
Where my Ampeg, Ashdown and Eden gear almost seems as if there is a few millisecond delay before the note comes out, the TF is instantaneous.. I emailed Dave Funk about that and he said ( i will paraphrase) it may have to do with the Caps that other manufactures use that have looser tolerances. And he said that may cause a Group Delay.. Whatever that means, he knows and he is a freaking amp genius.. And pretty funny too if you talk with him.
Now I am not saying that Ampeg, Eden, or Ashdown are bad sounding. I think they Sound great! But the TF is Way punchier. Way more! IMO.
With the TFB550B, The notes PUNCH out at you. Dave said his caps are Close Tolerance and Silver something or other that allows fast, precise reproduction of sound.
My last 2-space amp that I used for small gigs was an Ampeg SVT3 pro, and the TF550B is WAY louder than that amp.Way more articulate, more punchy, more headroom, more clarity, etc. Basically no comparison at all except for the 2 rack space size.
It may be louder than my Ashdown abm500. I have not done an A/B test yet, but it certainly is tighter.
If you want to EQ, it takes more of a turn of the knob than the Eden design does, and I think that is good .. so that way you have better control over how much to + or - a freq where with the Eden you are set to those little clicks, that in 2 clicks is almost overkill.. I only use the Eden comparison because they have similar parametric EQ layouts.
The Eden does have a woollier sound. It is nice, but not as punchy as the TF and in time I suppose I can mimic that if I wanted to. But do I want to? Maybe.
The DI out is wonderful. There are two DI XLR outs. One Pre and one Post EQ. Good Idea! So if you want you can run both for recording or live. There is also a DI level out knob on the rear.
I tried the DI out into my home studio and is as nice as my Demeter tube DI.. go figure . It sounds great with my Sadowsky 5 string as well as my old school P-bass with Flats.. In fact I love the P-bass with flats on it very percussive That is what I am using tomorrow on a jingle thing.. I am going to try the DI out and see what the engineer says I am friends with the guys there so it is no big deal to experiment a little
I was called last minute to fill in on a jazz type gig last night. While I broke a sweat the amp stayed cool.. It has been years since I did a gig like that.
But the lighting was real low and the graphics on the front of the Thunderfunk were very easy to read in the darker stage lighting. And the knobs are easy to read as the rubbery feel is slip free. The knobs turn and feel smooth yet firm.
I notice some companies have been using Chrome knobs on their amps in recent years (Mesa and Carvin).
Sure it looks nice from a distance, but they are almost impossible to see in varying stage settings from dark stages to full on concert light setting. Thank you Thunderfunk for keeping the Knobs basic black with a big white line, its so easy to see. Especially for an old guy like me.
The Dual Speakon as well as Dual ¼ speaker outs is a plus. I noticed the Genz Benz that i tried only had speakon connectors which in an emergecy could be a problem.
I have only had the amp for a few days so this is still preliminary thoughts on the amp and design. But the honeymoon continues.
I will be using it on one of my high volume gigs this Saturday.
But I did rehearsal yesterday with my other original band, and found out that this amp is LOUD You usually dont find the two words Loud and Articulate together when describing a normal bass amp..Its usually either one or the other, but this amp does both! Really!
Another good thing I noticed about the TFB550B amp is that is seems to track better..
With other amps in this scenario try playing other amps LOUD,, and as you are watching the speaker,, hit a note with high transient, like a snap of the string, .after the note is over, and no sound is present any longer, and while you are still watching the speaker,, their speaker comes to rest AFTER the note is over with..
The TF on the other hand stops movement when the note is over, you do not see the speaker continuing in motion to its resting area of non-movement, transient over speaker not moving.. I have no idea why, but it certainly makes for less SMEAR as I call it..
Dave calls it damping Factor.
I have been playing the amp for a few days now.. Un-freaking believable.. Its Loud, it Sounds like its more than 550 watts @4.
Sounds like other 750 watt amps.. its crazy.
Its tight, its also warm sounding, and is what others say about this amp.
And yes that TIMBRE knob is Magic!
Everything set flat with minor tweak of the Enhance and one or two numbers to the left on the TIMBRE knob does the trick.
I will be using my BagEnd cabs this week and cant wait to hear how they respond..
FYI. I bought and paid cash for this amp, no deals or discounts. Full Price So I dont owe TF anything, these are just my thoughts.
Oh and it meets my #1 objective too.
So that started a quest to look for a lightweight amp that could fly and would KILL and still have some ballzzz.
My quest started about 7 or 8 months ago so I had time and tried almost everything. And I must have sent a PM to everyone on TB to pick their brains.
Now lightweight to me is different than what others may consider lightweight. But anything lighter than an SVT or SVT2 head fits my description.
Some still think lightweight are those 5 pound bass heads and they are light for sure.. I tried them and it did not make the cut for me. But then this is all subjective I suppose.
So I am sure a few of you know my dilemma that went on for 3 months with Eden and the wt800C that had problems right out of the gate and went on 3 repair attempts and ra# etc. with less than poor customer service. Well after 3 months and much wrangling, I had my money returned, and I called Dave at Thunderfunk amps after reading reviews by others on TB. Kjung and Bassist30 in particular. Thank you.
Dave Funk took the time to talk with me, for nearly an hour the first day when I was thinking of getting his amp.
He is one of the most knowledgeable people that I have spoken with in 35 years of playing when it comes to amp tweaking and design. And he is knowledgeable in other sciences and historical events. And he was more than helpful while dealing with me and my million questions about his amp. And he is funny too!
His service is equal to what I always describe as the Sadowsky Customer Service style.. It is above and beyond what a customer could expect and makes you leave the sale feeling very good and like you made a contribution to the world.. hahah . But really, his Customer service is Over the Top great!
So I bought his amp.
My initial impression when the brown Truck came was. Wow this box is light! Is there anything in it?
It came very well packed and protected with a care gift from Dave. I have to say the guy stands behind what he says he will deliver.
Rack ears are included separately in the box and were wrapped in bubble pack along with the mounting screws as well as the power cable.
The amp only weighs 16 pounds! That fits my # two objective. My number one objective is tone/sound.
I had to just look at it for a minute and enjoy the simplicity of the design which is aesthetically very pleasing ,accented with the black chassis and the black knobs highlighted by a Thunderfunk Logo.
It looks somewhat vintage yet modern and still has a Boutique vibe about it.
The TF is well built. Very well built. The chassis is made of a tempered Aluminum and not the soft aluminum that you would associate with a snow shovel..
So I plugged it in set everything flat and turned it on.
The first thing that I noticed was How Fast This Amp Responds. It is FAST! It responds to your touch instantly. The notes seem to jump out at you. PUNCH!
Where my Ampeg, Ashdown and Eden gear almost seems as if there is a few millisecond delay before the note comes out, the TF is instantaneous.. I emailed Dave Funk about that and he said ( i will paraphrase) it may have to do with the Caps that other manufactures use that have looser tolerances. And he said that may cause a Group Delay.. Whatever that means, he knows and he is a freaking amp genius.. And pretty funny too if you talk with him.
Now I am not saying that Ampeg, Eden, or Ashdown are bad sounding. I think they Sound great! But the TF is Way punchier. Way more! IMO.
With the TFB550B, The notes PUNCH out at you. Dave said his caps are Close Tolerance and Silver something or other that allows fast, precise reproduction of sound.
My last 2-space amp that I used for small gigs was an Ampeg SVT3 pro, and the TF550B is WAY louder than that amp.Way more articulate, more punchy, more headroom, more clarity, etc. Basically no comparison at all except for the 2 rack space size.
It may be louder than my Ashdown abm500. I have not done an A/B test yet, but it certainly is tighter.
If you want to EQ, it takes more of a turn of the knob than the Eden design does, and I think that is good .. so that way you have better control over how much to + or - a freq where with the Eden you are set to those little clicks, that in 2 clicks is almost overkill.. I only use the Eden comparison because they have similar parametric EQ layouts.
The Eden does have a woollier sound. It is nice, but not as punchy as the TF and in time I suppose I can mimic that if I wanted to. But do I want to? Maybe.
The DI out is wonderful. There are two DI XLR outs. One Pre and one Post EQ. Good Idea! So if you want you can run both for recording or live. There is also a DI level out knob on the rear.
I tried the DI out into my home studio and is as nice as my Demeter tube DI.. go figure . It sounds great with my Sadowsky 5 string as well as my old school P-bass with Flats.. In fact I love the P-bass with flats on it very percussive That is what I am using tomorrow on a jingle thing.. I am going to try the DI out and see what the engineer says I am friends with the guys there so it is no big deal to experiment a little
I was called last minute to fill in on a jazz type gig last night. While I broke a sweat the amp stayed cool.. It has been years since I did a gig like that.
But the lighting was real low and the graphics on the front of the Thunderfunk were very easy to read in the darker stage lighting. And the knobs are easy to read as the rubbery feel is slip free. The knobs turn and feel smooth yet firm.
I notice some companies have been using Chrome knobs on their amps in recent years (Mesa and Carvin).
Sure it looks nice from a distance, but they are almost impossible to see in varying stage settings from dark stages to full on concert light setting. Thank you Thunderfunk for keeping the Knobs basic black with a big white line, its so easy to see. Especially for an old guy like me.
The Dual Speakon as well as Dual ¼ speaker outs is a plus. I noticed the Genz Benz that i tried only had speakon connectors which in an emergecy could be a problem.
I have only had the amp for a few days so this is still preliminary thoughts on the amp and design. But the honeymoon continues.
I will be using it on one of my high volume gigs this Saturday.
But I did rehearsal yesterday with my other original band, and found out that this amp is LOUD You usually dont find the two words Loud and Articulate together when describing a normal bass amp..Its usually either one or the other, but this amp does both! Really!
Another good thing I noticed about the TFB550B amp is that is seems to track better..
With other amps in this scenario try playing other amps LOUD,, and as you are watching the speaker,, hit a note with high transient, like a snap of the string, .after the note is over, and no sound is present any longer, and while you are still watching the speaker,, their speaker comes to rest AFTER the note is over with..
The TF on the other hand stops movement when the note is over, you do not see the speaker continuing in motion to its resting area of non-movement, transient over speaker not moving.. I have no idea why, but it certainly makes for less SMEAR as I call it..
Dave calls it damping Factor.
I have been playing the amp for a few days now.. Un-freaking believable.. Its Loud, it Sounds like its more than 550 watts @4.
Sounds like other 750 watt amps.. its crazy.
Its tight, its also warm sounding, and is what others say about this amp.
And yes that TIMBRE knob is Magic!
Everything set flat with minor tweak of the Enhance and one or two numbers to the left on the TIMBRE knob does the trick.
I will be using my BagEnd cabs this week and cant wait to hear how they respond..
FYI. I bought and paid cash for this amp, no deals or discounts. Full Price So I dont owe TF anything, these are just my thoughts.
Oh and it meets my #1 objective too.
