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Warwick Gnome i-Pro Review

#21
Yea. I have ONE gig-bag where the iPro fit - a Sterling bag for my Ray 35. It has a huge front pocket and one time I successfully used that on a trip to store the amp, power cable, speaker cable, instrument cable, and a Snark. That and the ELF 110 and I was good to go! The li'l Gnome should be awesome.

In other news, we're finishing a kitchen remodel and I'm buy a huge new grill tomorrow, so it's gunna be a month or two until I get any other bass gear besides the new blue Aerodyne J I have on order. :/ Will try to remember and resurrect this thread whenever I get around to the next Gnome.
 
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#23
aproud1 said:
Picked up the Gnome i-Pro couple of weeks back as a lighter replacement backup. Wanted something a little easier to have in my gig bag and had high hopes this could deliver the goods in a pinch, or for low volume rehearsals. Initial testing in my basement was promising, but really only tells me if I like the baseline tone and that EQ works for me. I'm kind of picky about this.

I had planned on using to rehearse with a jazz quartet, which was where I planned to use this but we are still trying to align our schedules. Last night got to play with one of the loudest guitar players I know and a drummer I've played with for years. Played in the drummers space, which I am very familiar with. If a setup works here, it typically works for most gigs.

Setup my controls to where I think they should be, test and sounds good. We start playing, I bumped some tone controls and the master volume. That was the last time I touched the amp until I turned it off. That says a lot. I dislike amps where I constantly have to tweak knobs all night. Playing through a Deltalite 12" in an old Roland combo box (no tweeter). I had plenty of volume to keep up and my Jazz bass sounded great. No complaints. I was honestly surprised by the volume and feel of this setup. Amp is very responsive and has admirable power into an 8 ohm load. Had more power to give. This was without my HPF (which I forgot to bring). The tone controls work as you would expect and seem to have enough range to adjust for all the variables.

I was ready to send this amp back if it didn't pass this test. It exceeded my expectations. It has plenty of power, the EQ makes sense/works like you would expect (though I'd guess a little scooped, slap and pop sounded fabulous), the fan is quiet (unlike the Elf) and while it fits in my gig bag, it doesn't feel like a toy. Not likely to vibrate off your cab. It is solid metal and the pots are all smooth and provide just the right amount of resistance though with some sharp edges.

Cons? no speakon is really it and is it that big a deal? I always have a spare 1/4" to speakon on me and all my cabs can handle both. So no problem here.

I've played many amps and really like a few. A lot of amps, with some pretty wild power ratings, just don't seem to have that punch into an 8 ohm load. This Warwick isn't one of them. I bought this as mainly backup but really, I could see using for gigs. I am pleasantly surprised by this amp and look forward to using it a lot more. No, it won't replace my SVT7Pro but it is a great addition to my gear.
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Nice review, ty.:thumbsup:

aproud1 said:
Some gut shots and atop my dirty old cab. The metal plate is not the top cover, it covers the top cover.View attachment 4439129 View attachment 4439130 View attachment 4439131 View attachment 4439132 View attachment 4439133 View attachment 4439134
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A cover over a cover? I bet the designer's a Harley guy lol.:roflmao:

musicman556 said:
@aproud1 I followed pretty much the same path you did. Had an ELF, wasn't wild about the really strong tonal profile that you couldn't really shake, and THAT FAN! Sheesh! I legitimately own a vacuum that is more quiet than my ELF was. I DID like the ELF tone for rock, and I found the drive/overdrive mostly pleasing. I did NOT like the really heavy-handed compression. I returned that and soon after bought the Gnome iPro.

Loved the Gnome. Didn't care about the USB interface. Sounds great. Very reminiscent of my GK Legacy. Clean, full, unbridled power. Quite fan. Responsive EQ. I agree with the assessment that with all knobs at noon it's a bit scooped. Not a ton, but some. I didn't notice any heavy compression or overly-aggressive HPF. Sounded great into 4ohm or 8 ohm loads. Would prefer Speakon out, but like you, I have adapters on hand.

The ELF always felt like it was trying to protect its output section to me. All the "weight" and impact of my playing just felt like it was getting sucked away. The Gnome never gave me that impression. Now, to be fair, the Gnome iPro is like 300-400% bigger and quite a bit heavier than the ELF, but it never played/sounded like a "little amp." The thing the Gnome doesn't give you, though, is any useful overdrive. That's OK with me as I play clean 99% of the time, and have pedals for when I don't.

In a fit of stupidity, I sold my Gnome to a neighbor as I was thinning the herd of extra stuff I had accumulated over the years. I have 3 other 500-800 watt class D heads, and in truth when you get the Gnome I Pro, you are only a couple pounds and inches away from the Aguilar Tone Hammer 500. That's just another inch and a pound away from the Legacy 800. A couple more pounds and 1" of height and you're now playing the TT800. I reasoned that I just didn't need the Gnome. It's no truly a pocket amp like the ELF.

That was about 3 months ago. I miss the Gnome. I really enjoyed playing it! Just this weekend I was looking at options on maybe snagging a used baby Gnome, the lower-powered, non USB model. If it sounds the same it will be an absolute winner. Has anyone played the biggest and littlest Gnomes back to back to see if they sound the same? I don't really view this as a backup amp, but more of a tiny grab-and-go jam/small gig option. I usually pair it with an ELF 110 cab (that thing, unlike the ELF amp, I LOVE) or a GK Neo 112.

I think the smaller Gnome will provide enough of a differentiator in packaging to make sense for me to keep it around. My neighbor loves the old iPro so much that I would feel bad asking to buy it back. He's an awesome dude and I'm sure would sell it back to me for the price he paid, but then he'd just go out and buy another. He loves it that much, lol.

I took a pic of the amp stack right before I sold the Gnome iPro:
View attachment 4832514
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Agreed! The ELF's tone is too compressed.

Was wondering if a pair of those 10" ELF cabs would do a gig woth a drummer?
 
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#24
Heavy Blue said:
Nice review, ty.:thumbsup:


A cover over a cover? I bet the designer's a Harley guy lol.:roflmao:


Agreed! The ELF's tone is too compressed.

Was wondering if a pair of those 10" ELF cabs would do a gig woth a drummer?
Click to expand...


Well... um... if he's a heavy/hard rock drummer, I don't think so. I cannot definitively answer that as I don't have two of the ELf 110s and haven't actually pushed my single 110 into too much volume either. I have pushed it a bit at home just testing it out and you can definitely hear it change and get stressed when you start feeding it some real volume and hard playing. It is my small/quick jam with friends cab, or travel to a small church (no/quiet drummer) companion. I do think a pair of 110s would be perfect for playing with a jazz club type drummer or similar.

I find that the little 110 definitely hits its volume limit about where you think a tiny lil 110 would hit it. Maybe a smidge more, but not a ton. It's definitely not a replacement for a standard-size 112 or 210 cab in the $300-500 range. It is a good sounding, light and tiny box for low-medium volume gigs. I play aggressively clean fingerstyle, and like a lot of grunt/attack. I'm not shy about chest thump. If I'm playing any kind of rock with a drummer, I'm bringing more firepower than the Elf110.

To get back to the Gnome iPro, I was REALLY happy with that little guy on a stack of 2x GK Neo 112ii cabs! Plenty of juice on tap, with no compression that I noticed, at an outdoor thing I did a while ago. We had an un-mic'ed drummer and the rig handled it no-sweat. Being out in the open air vs a closed room drastically changes the impact of a drum kit on the ears. Regarding amp/cab matching, I think it's more about speaker surface area and cab tuning at a certain point (and of course, speaker efficiency.) This gig confirmed my belief that once you have a couple/few hundred watts of power on tap, it's probably more about good speaker cabs rather than just throwing more power at something and hoping it will sound good/be loud enough.

I generally buy the 800w+ versions of whatever amp I'm looking at just because I like overkill. Sometimes the bigger version of an amp has a few more bells & whistles, but in all reality, I don't think I'll ever need more than 300-500 watts for anything I encounter the rest of my life. HOWEVER, I absolutely gain benefit when bringing more cabinet with me to any gig. More speakers sound more better, even at the same or low volume. Every time. (assuming they are well-matched!)
 
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#26
Hendricks97 said:
I use 2 of the 2x8s at most of my gigs and never had an issue keeping up
Click to expand...

Awesome! Yea I really want to try the 2x8 cabs. Quite a bit more surface area than a 110!

More than once I have had one of those in my Sweetwater cart, but haven't gone through with it yet. I already have some great GK 112 cabs that are only about 3 lbs heavier and a few inches wider.... and they were $125ea less than the Elf 210. It just doesn't really make sense in my situation to add the 2x8 cab to my arsenal. :-(
 
#27
Ampeg SVT210AV cabs are the bomb. I got two of them and use a MarkBass Little Mark 250 Black Line head. I take one cab for coffee house type stuff, or theatre gigs, and band practices. I'll take both cabs, in a vertical stack, for most gigs with drummers -- including jazz trio/quartet gigs with my upright. Soundman love to mic these cabs, even though the DI on my LM250 head is killer.

I don't think I'd have much use for a 1x10 cabinet in most contexts I play in -- jazz, rock, country, bluegrass, theatre -- electric or upright bass. My other amp is a Traynor SB112 200w combo, which is pretty good too.
 
#28
musicman556 said:
@aproud1 If it sounds the same it will be an absolute winner. Has anyone played the biggest and littlest Gnomes back to back to see if they sound the same?
Click to expand...

I didn't played them back to back, but sold the 200W version to upgrade to the IPro.
They don't seem to have any difference in tone.

Just put it on scope to verify power output claiming, it delivers indeed 280W@4ohm, and about 138W@8ohm. With a 100mV input signal, it reachs "onset of clipping" (actually there are some kind of limiter implemented that prevent it so) with gain at 9 o'clock (master dimed).
Actually gain/master controls seems to have a peculiar behaviour (at least compared with tube amps, which I'm used to); so you can reach full clean power at various other points; for instance 3 o'clock on gain and master at noon - with no hint of distortion either - which in my mind defeats the purpose of having a "gain" control...(besides obviously for accommodating different output pickups)
 
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#29
Realizing this thread is pretty old, nonetheless I'm much happier than expected with the Gnome iPro. Bought a TE Elf and later a 2x8 TE cab - the Elf soon developed a fault and began turning itself off. I didn't think much of the Faitals either.

Gnome works differently: no stupid autocompression, no tone suck, abundant grunt. The fan is inaudible.

I lucked into one of Bill Gallien's old cabs, an EV designed TL606 with an EVM-15B in it. They work extremely well together, albeit at 8ohms load - still plenty for what I'm doing.

Low B on 5-string active pre is all there, and there's great enunciation/growl from my fretless JB anywhere on the fingerboard. I'm mildly tempted to build a 1x12 cab to run in parallel with the EVM, but there's no pressing need for 280 watts right now.

All in all, night and day compared to the Elf, for which I have nothing good to say.
 
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#30
Arohana said:
Realizing this thread is pretty old, nonetheless I'm much happier than expected with the Gnome iPro. Bought a TE Elf and later a 2x8 TE cab - the Elf soon developed a fault and began turning itself off. I didn't think much of the Faitals either.

Gnome works differently: no stupid autocompression, no tone suck, abundant grunt. The fan is inaudible.

I lucked into one of Bill Gallien's old cabs, an EV designed TL606 with an EVM-15B in it. They work extremely well together, albeit at 8ohms load - still plenty for what I'm doing.

Low B on 5-string active pre is all there, and there's great enunciation/growl from my fretless JB anywhere on the fingerboard. I'm mildly tempted to build a 1x12 cab to run in parallel with the EVM, but there's no pressing need for 280 watts right now.

All in all, night and day compared to the Elf, for which I have nothing good to say.
Click to expand...
I bought my Elf when it first came out and I’m a little surprised to hear negativity about it. Mine hasn’t had a single issue. The fan has never been overpowering and I’ve gotten constant compliments on my tone with the 2x8s.
 
#31
Arohana said:
Realizing this thread is pretty old, nonetheless I'm much happier than expected with the Gnome iPro. Bought a TE Elf and later a 2x8 TE cab - the Elf soon developed a fault and began turning itself off. I didn't think much of the Faitals either.

Gnome works differently: no stupid autocompression, no tone suck, abundant grunt. The fan is inaudible.

I lucked into one of Bill Gallien's old cabs, an EV designed TL606 with an EVM-15B in it. They work extremely well together, albeit at 8ohms load - still plenty for what I'm doing.

Low B on 5-string active pre is all there, and there's great enunciation/growl from my fretless JB anywhere on the fingerboard. I'm mildly tempted to build a 1x12 cab to run in parallel with the EVM, but there's no pressing need for 280 watts right now.

All in all, night and day compared to the Elf, for which I have nothing good to say.
Click to expand...

A lot of people love the Elf and it was certainly a break through product. I personally didn't care for it but everyone has different tonal goals/fan tolerance levels.

Glad you're happy with the Gnome. I still rock mine at rehearsals through a single 12 cab I've had for ages. It sounds far better and louder than it should. One of those amps that seems to work for me.

Hendricks97 said:
I bought my Elf when it first came out and I’m a little surprised to hear negativity about it. Mine hasn’t had a single issue. The fan has never been overpowering and I’ve gotten constant compliments on my tone with the 2x8s.
Click to expand...

Not aware of any Elf functional issues. Have heard of more with the gnome.
 
#32
Loving the Gnome ipro also. I have a TC Bam200 and the extra watts of the ipro do make a noticable difference. Really sits in the middle of the 200 and 500 watt amps that I've played as far as output, as it should. Sounds great with upright too.
 
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#33
aproud1 said:
Picked up the Gnome i-Pro couple of weeks back as a lighter replacement backup. Wanted something a little easier to have in my gig bag and had high hopes this could deliver the goods in a pinch, or for low volume rehearsals. Initial testing in my basement was promising, but really only tells me if I like the baseline tone and that EQ works for me. I'm kind of picky about this.

I had planned on using to rehearse with a jazz quartet, which was where I planned to use this but we are still trying to align our schedules. Last night got to play with one of the loudest guitar players I know and a drummer I've played with for years. Played in the drummers space, which I am very familiar with. If a setup works here, it typically works for most gigs.

Setup my controls to where I think they should be, test and sounds good. We start playing, I bumped some tone controls and the master volume. That was the last time I touched the amp until I turned it off. That says a lot. I dislike amps where I constantly have to tweak knobs all night. Playing through a Deltalite 12" in an old Roland combo box (no tweeter). I had plenty of volume to keep up and my Jazz bass sounded great. No complaints. I was honestly surprised by the volume and feel of this setup. Amp is very responsive and has admirable power into an 8 ohm load. Had more power to give. This was without my HPF (which I forgot to bring). The tone controls work as you would expect and seem to have enough range to adjust for all the variables.

I was ready to send this amp back if it didn't pass this test. It exceeded my expectations. It has plenty of power, the EQ makes sense/works like you would expect (though I'd guess a little scooped, slap and pop sounded fabulous), the fan is quiet (unlike the Elf) and while it fits in my gig bag, it doesn't feel like a toy. Not likely to vibrate off your cab. It is solid metal and the pots are all smooth and provide just the right amount of resistance though with some sharp edges.

Cons? no speakon is really it and is it that big a deal? I always have a spare 1/4" to speakon on me and all my cabs can handle both. So no problem here.

I've played many amps and really like a few. A lot of amps, with some pretty wild power ratings, just don't seem to have that punch into an 8 ohm load. This Warwick isn't one of them. I bought this as mainly backup but really, I could see using for gigs. I am pleasantly surprised by this amp and look forward to using it a lot more. No, it won't replace my SVT7Pro but it is a great addition to my gear.
Click to expand...
The Elf was a disappointment - idiotic compression. Fan noise. Mine began turning itself off, and that was that. Gnome is vastly superior. Adequate dB @ 8 ohms load into an EVM-15B.
 
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#34
Arohana said:
The Elf was a disappointment - idiotic compression. Fan noise. Mine began turning itself off, and that was that. Gnome is vastly superior. Adequate dB @ 8 ohms load into an EVM-15B.
Click to expand...

Played an Elf at a store and someone elses at an open jam dealie. Had to work to get a sound I liked, but the main issue was the fan seemed extra. Don't have a lot of honest real world experience. But both experiences told me it wasn't for me. I will say, it really broke the mold for tiny bass amps. I appreciate that.

Still use my Gnome at weekly rehearsal with the loud band. Ironically use my big loud rig with the quiet band in my basement (Glockenklang Steamhammer into a 2X12). The Gnome single 12 combo really gets me there. Simple, intuitive and loud. It's nice really liking your rig.

ZERO AMP GAS!
 
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#36
baxter_x said:
Why? is a matter of tone or features?
Am asking as I acquired the Gnome yesterday and I also own the 7 pro.
Click to expand...

Power & features. I no longer have the SVT7 but use a Markbass LMT800.

When playing out I like the DI out to be pre EQ and I do sometimes play with some stupid loud people. Having the extra headroom can help. The Gnome is totally capable and I still own and like it (recently recommended one to a good friend and it's his only amp). It can cover most of what I do, but sometimes it's nice to just have a little more.

That said, the gnome cannot cop that SVT tone. It's not what I usually go for, but it's cool to have (especially for a P Bass). I really like the SVT7.
 
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#37
aproud1 said:
Power & features. I no longer have the SVT7 but use a Markbass LMT800.

When playing out I like the DI out to be pre EQ and I do sometimes play with some stupid loud people. Having the extra headroom can help. The Gnome is totally capable and I still own and like it (recently recommended one to a good friend and it's his only amp). It can cover most of what I do, but sometimes it's nice to just have a little more.

That said, the gnome cannot cop that SVT tone. It's not what I usually go for, but it's cool to have (especially for a P Bass). I really like the SVT7.
Click to expand...
Gnome is a great wee amp (with no SVT pretensions). As you know, they're completely different circuits and voiced differently.

Mine into that TL606/EV cab I mentioned is well suited to fretless and sharpens up nicely if I want fret definition from a Stingray copy.

If you want Ampeg options, the SGT-DI will do that through a Gnome :)
 
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#38
I agree. The eq does what you want without any surprises or drama.

No need for an Ampeg SGT-DI. I have one of these and that button gets me there.

1750086771339.png
 
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