I took my new Eden wt-550 head to the studio today for an alternative rock session. I wanted to try using DI out of the head's tube preamp rather than using the studio's DI box. This session called for the P-Bass, so I left all the fivers at home. As I expected, I got a warmer fuller sound with a very subtle tube growl. It was a little rounder, with out being mushy or muddy. It actually sounded really nice in the mix, while still being authoritative and punchy. The Eden's DI is post EQ, so you can tweak your tone if desired. I set up the amp right next to me in the studio, and set my levels and EQ using the ear phones as a monitor. I pretty much left the head's tone controls flat with the enhance control at just above 9 o'clock. The tone sounded great, and the recording engineer even commented that he liked the tone that was coming out of the head. and no complaints about noise. I'm going to use this head for all future sessions. It was nice to have the tube preamp and the option to tweak your EQ right their at your fingertips.
The WT-800 can be run just fine without a speaker load. Even says so in the manual. So it makes for a nice headphone practice amp too. When I record with mine we run a line from the DI and mic the cab into two different tracks, then mix them. The DI is fantastic though. On the 800 you can choose post or pre EQ
Smash, Thanks for the heads up. While other amps might self destruct if you run them with no speaker load, there is no problem with running the WT-550 with out having a speaker connected.