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Double Bass Trickfish mini 500

basss

basss

Supporting Member
Aug 27, 2001
3,543
1,306
NY
#1
I just picked one of these up and early results are very promising for upright. It seems to do a good job of taming piezo quack and feels balanced through the range of the bass with no external preamp required. The EQ is intuitive and responsive. No noise/hiss, no fan noise. Notes just feel good and have a nice bounce coming from this amp. Plenty of power for me.

Many 'bass guitar' amps I've tried that sound great with slab don't quite feel right with upright but this one does to me. I don't know much about Mike Pope, who designed the preamp, but understand that he does play upright.

Anyone using one of these?
 
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#3
Yes, I've been using one as my main DB/doubling amp for the past couple of years, and I think it is fantastic. I pair it with a Trickfish TF110, which can be angled up using its built-in stand, and it is about the best DB amp I've ever used (and believe me when I say I've used very very many). I don't even do anything with the EQ, sometimes just a small cut in the hi-mids. Works beautifully.

I pair it with an Audiokinesis TC112 for bigger/louder settings, or for bass guitar, and that works quite well also, as long as you remember that you can turn the master volume up as much as you need to (it's a more linear control than most amps, so I have to forget my expectation that turned up to noon is basically full on, as we learn from so many amps).

Mike Pope is a brilliant engineer and an absolute monster bassist, electric and upright. I remember hearing him in John Patitucci's old chair in the Chick Corea Elektrik Band and he crushed it.
 
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#5
I’d love to check one of those out.

Mike Pope is brilliant, by the way. He might be more well known as an electric bass player, but he’s a monster upright bassist too. Very much in the mold of Patitucci who he studied with and actually subbed for in the Electric Band. Incidentally there is a trio record out there with Mike playing piano and JP playing bass.
 
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#6
Mike is a fantastic upright player, pianist, and composer. He teaches at Berklee, too. Mike's EE partner, David Yates, is also a bassist and has spent his career designing high-end medical device electronics.



As for the Trickfish, I've been using my 1k with upright for about 7 years. Mostly with a 110, but sometimes a 112. Per Mike's recommendation, I might roll in some 8kHz to brighten up my Realist Copperhead, but that's about it. Sometimes I'll roll out a little 40Hz, if needed. Don't typically need to do much else with it.

Input Z is (I believe) 1Meg, which works well with the Realist, IME. Mike also uses (or did) a Realist. YMMV with other pickups. I can say that there is absolutely no lack of bottom or piezo quack with the Trickfish. Every note is thick, punchy, warm, and clear.
 
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#7
Had two gigs this weekend one on upright and one on electric. The mini 500 sounded great on both delivering a big, puchy, clear, musical sound.

Have you guys messed with the internal hpf jumper? I noticed mine was set to off. Another thread says that default is for it to be on and that it is set very low.
 
#8
basss said:
Had two gigs this weekend one on upright and one on electric. The mini 500 sounded great on both delivering a big, puchy, clear, musical sound.

Have you guys messed with the internal hpf jumper? I noticed mine was set to off. Another thread says that default is for it to be on and that it is set very low.
Click to expand...

Hey Jeremy and Bob, if you were to compare this amp to another, what would be it's closest twin? I've used most everything, too.
 
#9
Hey Dylan I've only had the amp for a couple days so it's hard to say definitively. Of the amps I've owned it reminds me of the EA Iamp 500 and the AI Clarus but with its own personality. They are all very clean clear and extremely well engineered amps. The Trickfish has a built-in musicality to it's flatness it whereas those amps seem to be a little bit more clinical in their precision if that makes any sense. I remember the Iamp 500 being brighter and the Clarus more open and laid back in comparison. I liked the AI a lot but found the EQ didn't always work for me even with newest four band version. The Trickfish EQ is more intuitive and does what you expect when you turn the knob, especially the high mid which I never liked on the AI.
 
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#10
FWIW, the Trickfish isn't quite "flat". There is at least a small dip around 1kHz and the top end is rolled off, which is why other amps may sound brighter with the knobs at noon. There is no hype to my ears. It's a very clean, warm, neutral sound, but might be a little dark for some without the treble being boosted a little. On the Bullhead 1k (with the Pascal amp), the low end is fast/punchy, but tight and controlled. It has plenty of low end extension, but the deep lows don't get out of hand. I've never had a need for an external LPF on my amp.

Compared to AI, I agree that the Trickfish EQ is more intuitive and useful. The AI is more flat and sterile, but the Trickfish needs less EQ to sound right, if that makes sense, and the EQ is in the right place. That said, I don't use a mic through the bass amp much anymore, so that could shift things in AI's favor.
 
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#12
From the few times I've used Tone Hammers with upright I remember piezo twang and a big bottom that was hard to control, typical of an amp geared to electric. The Trickfish seems better suited to upright to me but I know there are some great players that use the Aguilar. I know Patitucci uses one but I'm pretty sure he runs a pre in front.

I should say the few times I did use Aguilars they were supplied backline and I didn't get a ton of time to tweak them. Maybe the sound is in there somewhere but the Trickfish is definitely more plug and play. Aguilars always sound great with electric.
 
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#13
dylanjohnson said:
How would you guys compare it to the Tone Hammer? I couldn't get a sound on that at all that worked with my bass, but I know a lot of people use it for upright. d\
Click to expand...
The last Tone Hammer I tried was probably in 2013 and I was playing a Shen SB200 w/Full Circle at the time. I couldn't get much of anything I liked on electric or upright out of the Tone Hammer at that time, but it's too long ago to remember what specifically didn't work for me. I used PJB for a few years of heavy gigging on DB and EB until I discovered Trickfish and went all-in on that in 2017 and never looked back.
 
#14
I mostly use an old GK 200mb for upright, but struggle with head/cab combos for larger venues. I've tried multiple GK heads, MB, AI, EA, WW, Phil Jones (though that was a combo), Aguilar etc. I mostly find that they are either super boomy and have to be EQed to death, or are somehow just generally hard to hear onstage without getting into midrange honk zone. I'm tempted to try one of these out. For reference, I think my favorite head for upright is actually the old GK 400rb. I don't enjoy hauling it around, however.
I probably just need to experiment more with cab placement, etc. I don't do too many larger/loud gigs on urb, though.
 
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#15
I haven't used the TF on a large gig yet so can't say for sure how it will behave but knowing what I know from other amps I think it will work great. It's a very different sound than GK so if you like that it may not be your thing.
 
#17
I'd say the lows are wider than the RB series, but maybe not as big as the MB series, which have pretty massive lows. I did have the lows cut a bit at the gig but it responded well to that.

And how do you know Dave? And how did you figure out who I am? I thought I was pretty careful to remain anonymous here so I could ask dumb questions and make stupid comments. 😂
 

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