Al Krow

I'm interested that you think a 10" cab is going to be more articulate than a 12" cab? I've been fortunate to have had several really good cabs over the recent few years and my Berg CN 212 and Mesa PH 212 (neither of which I have any longer as I've downsized to 112s) were two of the very best I've had in terms of clarity; they both outshone the two VK 210s I've had.

I've come across MB amp and cabs as being described as 'warm' on plenty of occasions, but don't remember anyone describing them as 'sterile' before! I noted that one of the criteria for the OP was "powerful". One general point to be aware of is that a lot of combos only let you deliver their full output via an extension cab. One notable exception is the MB AC 121 Lite (there's actually one currently in the FS). This little beast will deliver a full 500W through its 12" speaker. I don't recall having to ever push mine hard, even with a full 5 piece rock band and no PA support.

Yeah fair - it's just that Muppet would have been hearing the difference in the band mix via his IEMs. As you said, the headphone on the Mk2 DG900s is akin to post DI out i.e. post drive, EQ and cab sims. As folk noted earlier, cab sims are just another tone shaping tool and I think whether they are going to be the right thing is very much "it depends". Via headphones I found that they indeed take the edge off - arising from less pronounced mids and more rounded top end and I particularly liked the first of the 3 cab sims which had an Ampeg flavour. In my little test the cab sims sounded particularly good on clean and with a pick. It was less good both with finger style or with the drive - the latter interestingly is different to what Ian McFly was saying - but not surprising I guess: different drives are going to give different results, right? Here the less pronounced mids resulted in less clarity / punch. So I certainly wouldn't want a cab sim as default for all my material and playing styles; as with any tone shaping it's a "nice to have" for when you want it and the convenience of having it set up and accessible on a pedal board or multifx to kick in when required would be ideal. But the better test must surely be via the PA and in a band mix - by their nature headphones (and IEMs) are not going to be the same as what our audiences are hearing? Still not convinced that this DG pedal is going to justify its price tag as a £250 headphone amp, particularly as unlike dannybuoy I don't have any issues hearing my bass through a Zoom B1-4 via my headphones. The Zoom really is an incredibly good value piece of kit.

Agreed. 1. fingers 2. venue acoustics & PA 3. your signal chain, from strings to your cab 4. spoons

Now, you're just stirring! 😁

Nah completely disagree. A musical instrument is not a spoon.

Amazing that you've got yourself a gig - very jealous! What difference were you hearing with the cab sim engaged?

Lot of well put points. Aside: found myself disagreeing with the analogy of the bass and a spoon in cooking! A quality musical instrument can make a difference to our sound eg Stradivarius vs £50 violin; they're not the same thing. A great violinist will sound very good regardless. But he or she will sound better on the Strad played with a top notch bow (which can, by itself, cost more than a high-end electric bass). And you can blind test that any day of the week. But that's, of course, not a comment on 4 vs 5 vs 6 string basses.

If £250 is a touch on the pricey side, there's the Zoom B1-4 for £65. Excellent headphone amp. And get a tuner, drum machine and bunch of fx thrown in for free!

I've had both the VK 210MNT and the Berg CN 212. Both excellent but for me, no question, the Berg edged it. For a smaller very capable one-stop-compact cab solution, also worth considering either the Fearless F112 or a Barefaced BB2, which should both easily handle the output from your AG700. Be interesting to see what other AG700 owners pair their heads with. What sort of music are you playing and are you currently in a (loud?) band?

I'll have you know I recently joined the neo-luddite bass club*, chairman @dodge_bass. Membership currently open. *for folk with an aversion to PC editing of pedals (although I still do when I must) and use of anything midi...

And Queen Victoria never travelled by air. What's your point caller? 😄

Hah! You now have me stumped, as I've only ever owned / played Yammy BBs. Maybe @AndyTravisor @dave_bass5can help out with that one.

+1 ^^ I guess the drummer was particularly ugly, which is why he's been kept out of the limelight, or any light really...😁

Good man. An Ibby or a Yammy? Hmmm...not going to find me objecting: that's 50% of my herd, right there!

Oooh that is exciting news!

Tbf being a dad to a young family + new demanding job = major new responsibilities + tiredness. Spread over a long period, it can be v. draining and lead to a loss of motivation on lots of fronts. Then add to that the stress and uncertainty of Covid-19. It's not necessarily anything more. No instant cure. It's a phase of life many of us will go through or have been through and are now out the other end, celebrating our mid life crisis with our basses and bands!

Dave - if it makes you any happier ICE was always the stuff I put in diet cokes and generally sinks Titanics.

Noooooo!!! If you say midi amp then you will have the Morningstar MC6 & 8 midi crew (led by @Quatschmacher and his minion army) up in arms! D class it is, my good man. Lump it. The rest of us have to!

Shame about the DG. If you don't want to de-rail a thread then you can't refer to something like this as a microamp: This is a micro-amp!

Did you just buy that really competitively priced DG M900 v2 in the FS? If so, you could be in for a very pleasant surprise!

Oops, thanks Jack. I actually meant RCF 735A - what happens when I'm posting in the wee hours! I've corrected my earlier post.

Yup it's very good! I posted this a couple of years' back in case of interest: The Becos kit, which is another comp with ratio that can be set to infinity as @ped mentioned, is worth checking out too - has replaced my Keeley. Feature rich and really useful led monitoring. Great review here: