djaxup

for me nothing beats the US 2-Band Stingray. The old S.U.B. Basses are very close sometimes in tone, but they feel more clumsy and just not as good as the real ones. 2-Band vs. 3-Band... my take on this subject: the 3-band is easier to use, it is very intuitive to use and its almost impossible to dial in bad tone. Also more varied. the 2-band has a bit more zing in the top end and a lot more deep low end booty. If your amp and cab can dish out serious low end you will for sure notice the difference. The 2-band has a phat deep low end to die for. Many amps have a built in HPF that essentially cuts out the lowest lows. If you think all that happens down there is unwanted rumble then you have yet to hear a bass/cab/amp combo that really delivers in that region. Feet massage and low end punch that can be felt without overpowering the other instruments is something very nice.

I've tried just about every flat out there and wanted to like them, but after a few days I always come back to stainless steel rounds. Rounds just seem to open up a lot more ways to articulate.

Spector lover here. I've owned several, have two at the moment, and each and every one of them was just awesome. I consider the Euro and Rebop Series to have the best value possible. You can snag a Rebop (that is basically a Euro with a bolt on neck. Euros are neck thru) for ~600€. And even a brand new Euro is under 2k €. They have a trademark sound that is very recognizable and full of character. Like a really angry piano.

Looks so great!

Your friend rocks! What a great bass, congratulations!

Love the finish, the neck, the fretboard! Hate the fret material. I use stainless steel strings, and those sound abrasive with stainless steel frets. Totally not my cup of tea. Bummer.

The Cutlass has the fantastic Bongo neck shape, the best I ever played so far. Completely effortless.

2-Band Stingrays are the best. I run mine almost always with bass at 100% and Treble at ~95%, depending on string zing. Meaning the newer the strings, the less treble I dial in. The mids are then boosted at the amp...

I do exactly that at the moment and it works okayish. I'd just like this bass to behave like my others I guess. It's not a huge issue... my combo amp has a nice compressor that also works to minimize this.

Without having read the whole thread, my otherwise great Sire V7 has a minor issue that I'd like to adress. Due to the curved fretboard the E and G string are much closer to the pickup and are therefore substantially louder than the A and D string. It gets better when I screw down the pickups, but that dilutes the otherwise great and punchy sound of the bass. Has someone found a better way to battle this?

So nice! Congrats

Any feedback tbonepete? would be interesting to read. Still love my Amp Three to bits. I have regularly used it in loud rehearsals more or less as a preamp, like this: Bass --> Amp Three --> DI Out --> Crest CA9 power amp --> Mesa Powerhouse 2x12 awesome. As the Amp Three lacks a horn it's sound is always a bit muffled compared to a full range cab like the Powerhouse. But the preamp is just soo good and sounds perfect with the 600 Watts of the amp. This is also an alternative to use it for bigger scenarios.

After spending two month with it, some rehearsals and some song recordings (sadly no gig yet) I thought I'd give you a short overview of the pro's and con's of the Amp Three. Rehearsal: I usually play through a Mesa Carbine M6 using an Ampeg 810E. So you could say me and the band are used to quite ground shaking bass tones and lots of air moving power. I brought the Amp Three to rehearsals and everyone was flat out overwhelmed by that small combo. It has such a deep low end sound... our room is 36 m², so not exactly small. Still the Amp delivered the goods. It even shakes your feet like the big boys. I have NO idea how they do this. It is unreal. And you can push the little guy a lot before you notice the speakers going more middy and driven in sound (or even visibly moving). Astonishing. Recording: the setup was like this: DI out (pre) into interface and an AKG Perception 220 to record the speakers, about 30-40 cms in front of the grille. The sound was really nice, I even used the build in compressor over the .vst compressors we had at hand. I ended up using almost only the microphone signal. The features of the Amp, and how they interact: - gain: I usually set the gain lower than the manual says, because this combo has some hiss to it. This is my main gripe with it, I think it's just too pricy to have any hiss, at least so easily noticable hiss. But setting the gain quite low definitely helps. It also makes the sound more "headroomy", if I set the gain to the usual "flash only on hard strokes" the sound gets too middy for my likes. - color switch: this one is important and maybe one of the main features. It gives a substantial boost to the upper mids/treble (3,8 KHz). It comes across as a high mid boost, the amp has a naturally warm treble because of the lack of a tweeter, though the 8" cones have a bit more treble definition than a 10". I have basses that work perfect with the color switch and I almost always have it on with them. My P-Bass and T-Bird, and my Bongo (a special mahagony version with lots of mids), they sound so awesome with this switch engaged. It makes the notes jump at you and just sounds so musical. If I use my Spector or my 2-band Stingray, I have to turn it off or it will bite off my ears if I dial in the usual amount of treble. Everything above 30% treble on the Ray means ears bleeding. As soon as I disengage the color switch I can go all out with no problems. And that sounds a lot better to me with both basses. So, use with caution. This is a voicing option with lots of character to it, but it can go out of hand. - bass boost: this one is magic, but only if you don't use the balance/intensitiy (see later) at the same time. Then it is just utter madness and boomy. But set the combo relatively flat and this button gives you booty shaking low end and thumb that's outrageous for such a small combo. The louder you dial the combo, the better this knob gets. It keeps the combo from sounding too middy and all Geddy like when playing loud. - Bass and treble EQ are normal. Treble is barely noticable, depending on the bass you use. - the parametric mids are just that. You have two different Q's, one that is very narrow and one broader. The narrow one is excellent to kill problematic frequencies... our rehearsal room has a problematic frequency at about the low A, and I was able to tackle that quite well with the mid knobs. The broader Q setting is more musical sounding and can drastically alter the tone of the amp. I set this knob different for each bass, but it is very easy to find the correct spot. - the Tone Balance section: this is a smilie face EQ that boosts treble and bass substantially. So in effect a mid cut, call it what you will. If you set balance in center pos and dial the intensity all the way up you get a solid slap sound and the bass played on it's own sound dope. Turn the balance to the left and it only boosts the bass, to the right: only the treble part. I leave this off most of the time. It gets much, much too boomy when used with the bass boost. I like the sound a lot with the more muffled T-Bird, the tone balance and the color switch add a lot of texture to the bass sound that is normally not there. - Compressor: very nice one. It makes the overall sound level lower if engaged and you have to turn the master up higher to compensate. I have it on almost always and have both knobs on 12 o'clock. You can notice it evening your sound without pumping. I like it very much, better than my EBS Multicomp. pros: - so easy to carry! It is small, has a very comfy leather handle and only weights 13,5kg. - It feels every bit as huge tonewise as my M6 Carbine sounded over my Powerhouse 1x15. And that really means something. The M6 could of course go louder, but I didn't need it to go that loud anyways. The Amp Three can easly handle a normal rock band. - The amp sounds perfect when played at low levels at home. That's very important to me. - I played the Amp Three with a little bit of PA (run over the DI out) and that sounded just sooo good. Perfectly audible bass sound with booty. - superb EQing options. They do take some time to get used to and understand the interactions of each. cons: - it is stupidly expensive. - it hisses when turning in too many treble options and running the gain higher. More than I expected it to. - It changes character over its loudness leves. From super headroomy to mids-to-the-face. So, EQ after setting the correct loudness - but I found this to be true for almost every piece of amp equipment I ever had. Honeymoon's over, I still love it. Can't wait to take it to a gig. Up until now everyone who heard it could not believe the pressure, fullness and musical sound that came out of this little box.

I like very low gain/drive settings on my sansamps. It gives a solid clean sound with good headroom that have that tubey top end (that is also nicely cut off). I love sansamp pedals! The bass sound instantly fits into modern fat guitar barrages.

I don't know about the Ashdown amps, but the Ashdown 410 Mag10 Deep is a superb cab imo. One of the best low budget cabs that can easily power a loud band rehearsal. The by far worst amp I've ever played was a Crate B200-XL. Like someone said at Talkbass: "it has a very powerful EQ that can go all the way from squirrel fart to pillow cushion" Absolutely impossible to get a decent sound out of it, it always sound like it has a bunch of wool blankets thrown over it and has absolutely zero lows. The perfect cab to go with this amp is the Hartke 410 VX, the officially worst cab I ever played. The sound is just mids, no lows and a shrill horn.

the Amp Three has a fan inside that runs only when needed. I played for an hour or so yesterday and I noticed the fan just before switching the combo off. Very silent, but hearable up close.

The Amp Two is a different character. Three and One are like siblings, their character is similar with the One being more portable and classic sounding, the three having more oomph and lows and a bit more treble response. Still it has the warm treble. Both have no horns or other treble speakers. The Two has a 12" and a 4", sounding more fullrange and Hi-fi. Many say it is a good match to an upright bass, but sounds superb with an e-bass nevertheless. The compressor is placed before the EQ. It has another voicing, but I can't really understand why Ed Friedland reviewed it so short in his video and only with a bass that does not show the extended upper register this combo has. And it does have more watts, also the screws around the speaker look awesome I liked it very much, but thought it was too big and heavy for my micro rig needs. direct comparison between Two and Three: - Two is substantially larger and heavier. Not really large or heavy, mind you. But still quite a difference. - Three has more punch in the bass frequencies, the two has a much more detailed and hi-fi sound - the two is a bit louder, but a more middy loudness. All AER Amps are very room filling and huge sounding, but the Three takes the crown for me in terms of sheer bassy goodness. - the Two is, to my surprise, less noisy. It's "horn" (it's not really a horn but a very small speaker) is very silent.

Got the Amp Three today. First impressions... - huge sound. It sounds like a full muscle amp and feels like a 212 in terms of air movement. Astonishing. Unbeievable really because it is so small. And it is that deep, full sound that so many micro amps lack. The kind of oomph you expect from much much larger and higher power rigs. This combo does NOT get its loudness via low mids and cut off bass range. So deep... crazy. And very focused and not a tad muddy down low. - the compressor is top notch. Not much else to say here, but it just works great. - it has a bit of hiss when turned loud or boosting the treble up. No other noises though, no hearable fan or anything like that. - superb sound, love the options. And just like medpb stated, quasi impossible to dial in unsusable sounds. So far I'm totally stoked.

I have just ordered an AER Amp three... looking forward to it I have had the Amp Two for some weeks and thought it was a great amp, but too heavy and cumbersome for a combo imo. Thats why I ordered the three... Those little things sound so huge, so good. All three of them. It really needs to be witnessed to believe it. I guess Ed's review videos are already known? [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_MiimcHKGQ"]https://www.youtube....h?v=O_MiimcHKGQ[/url] [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp8whYwmm6Y"]https://www.youtube....h?v=tp8whYwmm6Y[/url] I can remember the first time I heard my Bongo over the Amp One in a store. I had the bass plugged into the bigger Roland Cube 100 before... the difference was mind blowing, the tone was so much better, punchier, crisper. Worlds apart, really. Those amps are worth their high cost.

Here are my few pennies on this topic. I have owned several Spectors and also Warwicks, have tested a whole bunch of them. We have a store here that has lots of low to high end warwicks in stock, very nice. Spectors have a more aggressive, metallic vibe with an enourmous deep bass cushion if you want it. They have a glassy high end and a very recognizable throaty snarl. I know the Rebops and the Euros, and i like the Rebops better. A bit more punchy they are, less glass Superb Basses with an unmistakeable character. In direct comparison the Spectors sound more scooped, the Warwicks sound fuller and thicker. Of the Warwicks I know the Corvette JJ and $$, the Streamer Stage I and the Thumb BO. I liked the Streamer the least, they sound a bit like a washed down, tamer Spector Euro to me. Tame would be my first impression on its sound, not my cup of tea. The Corvettes have a special rather small and compact, yet heavy body. You should definitely try one first to see if you like it. I ended up selling my otherwise very nice $$ Corvette because of it. Soundwise, the JJ has more growl and character and the $$ can cover every needed type of sound. You can't replicate every Bass sound with it, but you can get pretty close. It pulls off superb J Bass sounds, MM tone and can even dish out a convincing P-Bass thud. The most versatile bass guitar ever, and as a MM Bongo player that means something. The JJ (Standard Vette) in active mode is like a J-Bass, only better. Growls like mad. The Thumb is the stereotypical Warwick bass. It is heavy, not exactly pretty but it really defines the term growl. It functions extremely well in just about every mix, can also get quite glassy on the top end... but boy, that growl. Whenever I try to show someone the typical Warwick growl, I point them to the Thumb. I like the bolt on version better. The hands down best imo is the Thumb BO 6, it has very nice soapbars instead of the two single coils. A band using a nice growly warwick bass sound would be Karnivool. Try Goliath or Simple Boy by them. And of course the nice intro to "All i Know", there you can hear the exquisite Thumb top end. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDKsosOvVmw"]https://www.youtube....h?v=sDKsosOvVmw[/url] ohhh that bit at 1:19... love it.