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What's wrong with the Tone Hammer 500?

#41
FFTT said:
As someone living in Ohio, you should at least try out a Reeves since they are built in your state.
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I'd like to try one but there are no dealers around here, for one, I can't afford to put that kind of money into an amp head, for two, and I don't (can't) deal with moving heavy stuff, anymore, for three. I am perfectly happy with my 1962 Concert Amp (with it's internal 4-10s or plugged into a bass cab) when I want to heat up the room. :cool:
 
#42
tastybasslines said:
I have a friend who manages equipment and amp rentals for professional bands performing locally. He did some work on my bass recently and I got to see this wall o' bass amps while I was there. It was like heaven. This is a person who gigs himself, and plays and sets up rigs every day with every amp and speaker cabinet combo you can imagine. ALL THE TIME. When I saw this wall, I asked him what both his favorite and least favorite amps were. Aguilar were his least favorite - they were weak and broke down the most and whatever else. Genz Benz were his favorite. Now we are not all professionals and don't need to use multiple 1000 watt heads at a time, but to address the OP, I'm sharing an "industry insiders" opinion, so to speak. FWIW. I was surprised too.
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This changes everything. I'm selling my Aguilar gear. Look for it in the classifieds by the end of today. :laugh:

M. M.
 
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#44
DerekW said:
More curious than suspicious. Everything I've heard makes me want one. Been watching the classifieds for that reason, and that's how I noticed the trend.
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It is a great amp. Warning: You can't judge trend by what you see on TB. There is also what I call the "red Ford Explorer syndrome". I never noticed how many were on the road until I bought one.
 
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#45
People get sold on an idea, and the idea doesn't always live up to expectations in real life. I think we all get sucked in at one time or another, because something appeals to us, and when we read all of these feverish posts and reviews talking about how amazing something is—it just feeds the fire. But the real test is time and usage, period.

I was looking for a compact, light head that I could bring to rehearsals that sounded amazing. My quest began. I had seen tons of glowing reviews about the Tonehammer, so it went to the top of my list. I went to a local music store that has a pretty extensive inventory, where I was able to plug a bunch of amps into the speaker that I actually own (this is very basic and important... but an amazing number of people will go out and try gear out through equipment that they don't own... it may be cool to plug into an Ampeg SVT and an 8x10, but if your rig consists of a Crate solid state head and a single 15, then it should come as no surprise when that killer piece of new gear sounds like limp spaghetti coming out of their rig).
I admit that I went there fully prepared to buy the Tonehammer, but after playing through about 8 different heads, I was very surprised to find out that the nicest tone that I was hearing came from a Gallien Krueger MB Fusion, a brand that I'd never considered before. I was sold.

Personally, I found the Tonehammer to be somewhat sterile—now I know that there are people out there who LOVE these amps, and will argue until the cows come home about how perfect they are—and they're perfectly right to do so, because this piece of gear works for them. If anyone asks about what kind of small amp they should buy, I'm happy to extoll the virtues of the MB Fusion because I love the way it sounds, and how easy it is to get those sounds (no wrestling with parametric EQ's!!). But is it right for you? Who knows, you'll have to try it out for yourself.
 
#46
I'm an avid Aguilar fan... A guy who buys and sells a lot of gear and spends time on TB. I was very excited when the amp came out, I thought it would be a good alternative to having to lug the DB750 out. My expectations is that it would be very close in tone to the other Aguilar products I own. I expected it to give me the same character with a little less punch. It didn't. I tried 2 of them and felt the same way.

IMO, it's the power section. I use a tone hammer pedal straight to the PA or into my berg IP112 and it sounds awesome. I have even used the pedal into a power amp and was very happy. I'm not an engineer and can't explain why this is, but it is what I hear. I really wanted to like it but it didn't do what I expected. So besides the usual fanboy mentality, I think everyone wanted a 5lb DB750
 
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#47
So there are folks on TB who don't like the Tone Hammer 500? To be honest, this is how I feel right now.

crybaby11b.jpg


M. M. :)
 
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#49
caligula said:
To me, they slam very hard and sit in the mix almost perfectly...
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That's not my experience at all.

Lately, I've been using a TH500, with an Aguilar 4x10 cab, at rehearsal (supplied by the studio), and I can't say that I like it. It seems to live up to it's name, though - hammering the tone into mush. (I had a similar issue with Orange amps.)

Next week will be three weeks with it... No, I won't be using it on-stage.
 
#50
esa372 said:
That's not my experience at all.

Lately, I've been using a TH500, with an Aguilar 4x10 cab, at rehearsal (supplied by the studio), and I can't say that I like it. It seems to live up to it's name, though - hammering the tone into mush...
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Hmm, not my experience at all. Unless there is something wrong with the amp, itself, it must be some other piece in the chain causing the mush, IMHO.
 
#51
Never owned one, but I do know 3 people that have. One said it was okay and the other 2 hated it. Seems that everyday at least one or more TH500 or TH350 comes up for sale in the TB classifieds. It obviously has some people that love it, but think about how many more GK's are being used than Tone Hammers and you don't see even half as many GK's for sale. I'm not a GK fan, only using it as a comparison.
 
#56
I'm glad that there is discussion about the TH. And I'm talking about the TH 500 which I own. I've got mixed feelings about it. In a nutshell:
> A road ready rack mount version - probably one space - should be offered
> It needs a better EQ - like their former DB 680 - parametric
> It should stay all solid state
> It is made very well
> It should be offered as a preamp only
> The power switch should be on the front panel (!)
> If they must offer an integrated head then they should offer a version that goes to 2 ohms (like a lowly Carvin - that I also own) and it should have at least 1000 watts at 4 ohms.

I've owned:
AG 500sc
GS 210 - a pair
DB 680

I still own a DB 659 which has astounding tone.

There's room for improvement in the Tone Hammer 500.
 
#57
esa372 said:
That's not my experience at all.

Lately, I've been using a TH500, with an Aguilar 4x10 cab, at rehearsal (supplied by the studio), and I can't say that I like it. It seems to live up to it's name, though - hammering the tone into mush. (I had a similar issue with Orange amps.)

Next week will be three weeks with it... No, I won't be using it on-stage.
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I realize we're going slightly off topic here, but that's a bit strange to hear / read, I don't doubt your experience though.

I use two 1x12 custom made neo cabs and have never had any mush with my TH 500. I use an EBS compressor pedal most of the time to add a bit punch and tightness, but even without the pedal my rig sounds wonderfully precise and punchy with a lot of definition.
I don't have any experience with Aguilar cabs, so, unfortunately, I cannot comment on that.
 
#58
DrumsAndBass said:
I'm glad that there is discussion about the TH. And I'm talking about the TH 500 which I own. I've got mixed feelings about it. In a nutshell:
> A road ready rack mount version - probably one space - should be offered
> It needs a better EQ - like their former DB 680 - parametric
> It should stay all solid state
> It is made very well
> It should be offered as a preamp only
> The power switch should be on the front panel (!)
> If they must offer an integrated head then they should offer a version that goes to 2 ohms (like a lowly Carvin - that I also own) and it should have at least 1000 watts at 4 ohms.

I've owned:
AG 500sc
GS 210 - a pair
DB 680

I still own a DB 659 which has astounding tone.

There's room for improvement in the Tone Hammer 500.
Click to expand...

There was a pedal preamp available for many years; might still be available. I used one with a QSC power amp.
 
#59
My two cents...

I bought a TH500 in the summer of 2013 and sold it a few months later because I didn't like the tone. Turns out it wasn't the amp but rather one of the speakers in my cab slowly dying. :rollno: By the time I discovered this I had bought a SVT 7Pro and just went with their Pro Neo cabs.

Fast forward to earlier this year and I'm putting together another rig for pick up gigs. After using a GK MB500 for a while I picked up another TH500. I don't get to use it regularly like the Ampeg but so far I'm liking it a lot; but I'm still learning how to "dial" it in. This is a unique amp and the tone (especially the mids) and drive controls interact differently than other amps. So it takes time to learn what it's capable of, maybe some people just don't like that. :whistle:
 

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