JGSpector

Oh man, I thought someone might ask me this one day. Firstly, I will just state that I really love getting amps whether they be new or pre owned and trying them out. I have a genuine interest in how they fit with my personal requirements and preferences as a blind player, so that's why I appear to have so many amps. I currently only actually own 3 (some would say too many I know) which are a Bergantino Forte HP2, a Trace Elliot TE1200 and the EBS Reidmar 752. I genuinely like all 3 of them, they all sound great and have excellent build quality. To answer your question though , if I could only keep one of them it would absolutely be the Bergantino Forte HP2. It has absolutely everything a gigging bass player could need, variable rate compressor, high and low pass filters, built in drive with multiple firmware options for overdrive, fuzz (modern and vintage), FX loop, aux in, headphones out, studio quality DI, the ability to handle a 2 ohm load, it's got more power on tap than you can shake a stick at, it's compact, light weight, the build quality is first class and most importantly of all, it sounds absolutely fantastic. It's unbelievably versatile and if you want it, it even has a bluetooth footswitch that can be used with it. I can't imagine any gig situation that it couldn't handle to be honest. I don't know if you've read my review of the Berg, but if you do or have, you'll notice that right at the beginning I say that it's not technically 100% accessible to me due to how some of the push buttons work, but even considering that, the amp is so good and flexible that I wouldn't be without it. Interestingly, I'm actually considering thinning mine down to the Berg as my main amp and keeping The Reidmar as my backup amp and moving the Trace Elliot on. I genuinely love the Trace as well but it doesn't quite have the versatility of the Berg. I also do some jam sessions etc and sometimes do some work with blind teenagers where they can try playing instruments, so I will use the Reidmar for that and the jam session stuff as there's no way I'm taking my Berg to be potentially damaged. That's not to say that I think the Reidmar is rubbish, far from it, I think it's a great and versatile little amp, but given that it only cost me £200 and 2 pedals that I no longer wanted, I could handle it if it were to get damaged in some way. Sorry, have waffled a bit there but I hope that has answered your question

I can categorically state that the 752 is unbelievably loud. Running mine into a Barefaced 210 at four ohms means the amp is running at 450 W. In a band with a loud hard hitting drummer, two guitars, vocals and keyboards I have never had to Have the volume any higher than four or five on the dial the amp is incredibly versatile for sure, you can get pretty much any sound you like out of it. It is definitely not a one trick pony

That is true. However, the truth is, I never use the Bergen Tino with the 210, I only use it with my SC or ST. I was simply using it as an example for my answer. I use an EBS Reidmar 752 with my 210, that amp is 450 W into a 4 ohm load which is absolutely perfect and phenomenally loud for such a small overall package

That's a good point actually. I also prefer my 12" Bf cabs (1 SuperCompact, 1 SuperTwin. Not run together, that would be insane. I use the ST for outdoor and big gigs and use the SC for rehearsals and small to medium gigs) with my 5 string basses. So why do I have a BF 210 I hear you ask. Basically, because I got it as part payment/trade for a 410 cab I was selling. I had thought I would sell the BF 210 but I actually really like it and use it in my music room and because I play at jam sessions etc, I often use it for that because the footprint is so small even compared to my SuperCompact.

I have. I owned 2 BF 110s a few years ago and they were great but I've recently in the last month got a BF 210. I would go with the 210 every time now that i've had experience with both options. My reasons are: - the 210 is still ridiculously small for what it can put out and it's a very easy 1 hand lift rather than two 1 handed lifts for 2 separate 110s. - Tonally there is no difference between a single 210 or two 110s when run together, but the thing that swings it for me is that on the 110 you are limited by them being 8 ohm cabs giving you a 4 ohm load when they are run together. Whereas the 210 has a 4/12 ohm switch, enabling you to cater for almost any power of amp within reason. Barefaced say that when in 12 ohm mode, an amp going into the 210 will run at approximately 1/3 of its full power rating at a 4 ohm load. For example, I have a Bergantino Forte HP2 which has a power rating of 1200 watts into 4 ohms. There is no way my BF 210 can take that kind of power in 4 ohm mode, however, if I switch it to 12 ohm mode, the Berg only runs at around 400 watts, which is well within the 210's power handling. That flexibility really makes the difference for me.

Overview. I recently purchased a pre owned EBS Reidmar 752, well, I say it was pre owned but in truth a local chap bought it as a gig rig backup but didn’t like it for some reason, so I got it dirt cheap for a bit of cash and 2 pedals that I was selling anyway. It’s basically in new condition with less than 10 hours studio use and no gig use. I had never played through an EBS amp before so I was keen to try it out. Disclaimer: I’m just a dude who plays bass in a few projects and bands for fun, I am by no means a pro musician or online reviewer. All views are my own and I have not received any payment or other incentives to produce this review. I am only reviewing gear that I actually own or that I have access to due to items being on loan from various friends. Build Quality. The Reidmar 752 is a nice neat little amp that is not much bigger than a 14” laptop. It’s approximately twice the height of a modern laptop, but as EBS themselves say, it will fit nicely in a standard laptop bag. I transport mine in a laptop backpack rather than a courier style bag, but you get my drift. The amp is very solidly constructed and has nice clear writing for the controls which, for those who can see, is very useful indeed. The aluminium casing is nice and sturdy and the hole thing is robust. Amp Dimensions & Power. Dimensions: Width, 36.3 cm (14.29”). Depth, 26.2 cm (10.31”). Height, 7.6 cm (2.99”). Weight: 3.8 Kg (8lbs 6oz). Power: 230 watts into 8 ohms, 450 watts into 4 ohms, 750 watts into 2 ohms. Knobs & Switches. The knobs on this amp are nice and solid and feel good under the fingertips. All have a recessed line to indicate where the control is set and it is tactile enough to feel with a fingertip or thumb nail. If on a dark stage or if you are blind like me this is very welcome. All of the EQ filter controls have a centre detent which I always like. The mid frequency selection control, input gain, compressor, drive and master volume knobs do not have a centre detent however which of course is pretty standard. The push buttons are of good quality and respond well under the fingertips. All are of the type that stay in when engaged and pop out when disengaged, which is excellent for blind players like me but also useful for people trying to figure out how their controls are set on a dark stage. The power switch is a rocker style, is good and solid with a positive clunk under the fingertip when engaged. Features, layout & ease of use. Front Panel (from left to right). 1/4” instrument input jack. Character push button: When engaged, the bass and treble frequencies are slightly boosted whilst the mid frequencies are slightly cut. Input gain dial: Turn this dial clockwise to increase the input gain. An LED illuminates to indicate when clipping occurs. Compression dial: Turn this dial to increase the amount of compression. An LED illuminates when compression is occurring. Filter active push button: When engaged, the EQ filters are active on the amplifier. When disengaged, the EQ filters are bypassed. Bass filter dial: Cuts or boosts bass frequencies. Mid filter dial: Cuts or boosts the mid frequency selected on the Mid frequency selection dial. Mid frequency selection dial: Selects the mid frequency to be affected by the Mid filter dial. Treble filter dial: Cuts or boosts treble frequencies. Bright filter dial: This is an advanced low noise high pass filter that adds space and presence to the overall sound. Drive dial: Turning this dial clockwise increases the amount of drive produced in the tube emulation stage. This control can boost gain up to 34db. When at its maximum the drive is compressed, resulting in natural limitation. Drive can be engaged and disengaged by footswitch. Master volume dial: Turning this dial clockwise increases the output volume of the amplifier. It does affect the volume of the Line Out. It does not affect the volume of the DI Out. Rear Panel (from left to right). Power switch (top). Voltage selector switch (bottom). Fuse cover. Power socket: Insert an IEC cable with the correct fuse for your location into this socket to power the amplifier. Speak-on socket: Connect your speaker cabinets to the amplifier using a speak-on cable into this socket. The minimum load for the amplifier is 2 ohms. 1/4” effects send jack (top): Run an instrument cable from this jack to the input of an effects pedal or first effects pedal on your pedal board. 1/4” remotes jack (bottom): Connecting a footswitch to this jack enables remote operation of the Drive and Mute functions. 1/4” effects return jack (top): Run an instrument cable from the output of an effects pedal or last effects pedal on your pedal board into this jack. 1/4” filter remotes jack (bottom): Connecting a footswitch to this jack enables remote operation of the Character and Filter Engage functions. Note that the Character and Filter Engage buttons must be at the in position for footswitch operation to work. 1/4” headphones jack (top): Connection for standard headphones. Plugging headphones into this jack does not mute the signal to any connected speaker cabinets. 1/4” line out jack (bottom): Use this jack to connect the amplifier to additional power amplifiers or to other devices that require a line signal. The volume of the line out is affected by the master volume control. 3.5mm aux in jack (top): Connect an external device such as an mp3 player to this jack. Volume of the signal to be mixed with your bass sound is controlled by the external device’s volume controls. The signal sent to this jack is not present at the DI output. Post EQ push button (bottom, left): When engaged, the signal sent to the DI out contains all filter, compression and drive features that are engaged on the amplifier. When not engaged, the signal sent to the DI out is a clean unprocessed signal. Ground Lift push button (bottom, right): When engaged, the grounding pin is deactivated. This can help if grounding hum is present, as disengaging the grounding pin can reduce or eliminate the hum. When not engaged, the grounding pin remains active. DI balanced output socket: Studio quality balanced direct out XLR to connect to front of house or a recording device. Sound quality. EBS have some black magic going on in their amps which apparently maximises the power efficiency to squeeze out every last decibel of volume and tone. Whatever they are doing is very definitely working! The Reidmar 752 is rated at 450 watts into a 4 ohm speaker load. I ran mine into my Barefaced 210 cab (4 ohm 500 watts) and was easily able to compete with a loud rock drummer, 2 guitars, keyboards and vocals but still have some juice left if I needed it. It feels like there’s a lot more headroom available in this amp than it is rated for and it is stupidly loud for a 450 watt amp. Don’t forget, its maximum power rating is 750 watts into a 2 ohm load, I imagine this would be usable for pretty much any gig situation. I haven’t tried the amp into my Barefaced SuperTwin yet but I can’t imagine it will be anything less than glorious through that cab. There is a “Character” push button on the front of the amp which boosts bass and treble slightly whilst cutting mids a little. To be honest, I keep this on all of the time as I like the tone it produces as a starting point for tweaking the rest of my EQ and drive etc. You can actually disengage the EQ filter section so all you get is your bass’s natural tone. I really like this as I can switch between 2 different tones without having to mess around with my EQ, also great if you use the drive but don’t need it for a particular part of a song as you can simply disengage the filters section all together. With all the filter controls set to 12 o’clock, the drive all the way off and the compressor all the way off, the amp is crystal clear and punchy with great articulation. Once you start sculpting your tone with the EQ filters and compressor it really starts to get fun. The Reidmar 752 has a semi parametric mid EQ filter which consists of 2 controls. The mid EQ which cuts or boosts the selected mid frequency and a mid frequency selection control which sweeps you through a broad mid frequency range. This is fantastic for really dialling in that tone that is going to cut through the mix in a difficult venue or if you have a particularly dark sounding bass. The bass and treble EQ filters do exactly as you would expect, they cut or boost the bass and treble frequencies. The bright control is fantastic for adding some airiness to your tone and generally giving you some more top end sparkle, also great if you’ve got old or dull strings that need brightening up. The drive on this amp is fantastic. It’s not a rip your face off pedal style fuzz but is instead a drive designed to emulate classic tube amps at their various stages of break up when being pushed hard. You can get a lovely subtle harmonic effect with this control set low but the more you turn the control up, the more breakup warmth and character comes through until it sounds like you’re pushing a 300 watt pure tube amp to within spitting distance of meltdown. My default is to have this control set somewhere between 10 o’clock and 3 o’clock depending on the style of music I am playing. Conclusion. Even though I’ve never played through an EBS amp before this one, I have been aware of EBS’s reputation for well made products and extremely high quality sounding gear for several years now. What immediately struck me about the amp is how simple the front panel layout is. You can literally start at the left and work your way along and find what you’re after intuitively, even if you can’t see anything. It took me minutes to learn the front panel controls rather than hours, and that is something I really appreciate in an amp. Overall I have to say, I’m very impressed indeed, its build is good and solid, it’s easy to use, it sounds fantastic and it punches well above its weight when it comes to volume. There’s a vast array of tones available and I’m confident you could cater for pretty much any musical genre or playing style with the amp. The ability to engage or disengage the EQ filters is a really nice touch that to be honest, I wish more manufacturers would incorporate into their amplifiers. The compressor is very usable and not at all noisy which is nice. I love the drive on this amp, it sounds and feels warm and natural but has real teeth when cranked. There’s everything a player could possibly need on the rear panel of this amp. DI with pre/post EQ selection, ground lift, effects send and return, 2 yes 2 footswitch jacks, aux in, headphones out and a line out jack. The DI, line out, effects loop and headphones all sound crystal clear with no added hiss, just excellent stuff. I absolutely do not regret paying the silly money I did for this amp, I will use it for jam sessions and smaller gigs for sure but I’ve also found since buying it that I’ve used it constantly in my home studio. If you are a blind player, the EBS Reidmar 752 should definitely be on your short list of amps to check out. It has everything you could need for an amp of its size and power class and it’s very intuitive to use. To find out more about the Reidmar 752 and other EBS gear, visit the EBS website at: https://ebssweden.com/content2/amps/ #BlindMusician #BlindBassPlayer #Blindness #PlayingMusicBlind #EBSReidmar752 #EBSReidmar752GearReview #MusiciansWithDisabilities #ExperiencesOfTheBlind #BestBassAmpForTheBlind

to be honest, I don't really keep track of who owns who when it comes to gear manufacturers, so I'm not really sure I can add much to the conversation. What I can say though is that a few months before I got my TE1200 there was a bass player in another band rehearsing in the same studio space in one of the other rooms. He and I got talking and the short version is that he let me have a play through his TE1200. I liked it instantly from both a sound quality perspective and a layout perspective. I only found out after I bought my own TE1200 that Trace are now part of Peavey but if I had known beforehand I very much doubt it would have put me off getting one. Ultimately I played through the amp, loved it and then went and bought one. Admittedly I have owned a couple of Trace amps back in the day and had good experiences with them and was intrigued to find out what their new class D 1200W head was all about, so maybe that bit of nostalgia helped but the TE1200 sounding so good and being so solidly built was certainly what tipped the balance in me getting one of my own.

Overview. I recently purchased a Bergantino Forte HP2 along with a Forte gig bag. I have to say, I absolutely love it. The amp isn’t absolutely perfect from a blind user’s perspective but the imperfections can easily be worked around and to anybody who is not blind, I doubt they would even be considered to be imperfections. So, here are my thoughts. Disclaimer: I’m just a dude who plays bass in a few projects and bands for fun, I am by no means a pro musician or online reviewer. All views are my own and I have not received any payment or other incentives to produce this review. I am only reviewing gear that I actually own or that I have access to due to items being on loan from various friends. Build Quality. The amp: I think the form factor of this amp is very nice indeed. It’s immediately clear when taking it out of the sturdy and padded box that this amp is built with extremely high quality components. It has a smart aluminium body with unusual but very grippy rubber feet at each corner. It feels really sturdy and none of the knobs or switches feel loose or cheap. The gig bag: Again a very nicely made product, is well padded, has good quality zips, has a large outer compartment that is big enough to fit the amp power cable, speaker cables and the bluetooth footswitch and still have space for ear protection, spare batteries, screwdriver etc. The main compartment is perfectly sized for the Forte HP2 and because it is top loaded the amp is easily accessible without having to lay the bag on its side to get to it. The shoulder strap is a permanent part of the bag which I like as there is no chance it can become unclipped. I’m definitely glad I bought the gig bag, it somehow manages to do a superb job of protecting the amp whilst not being bulky, which I very much appreciate. Amp Dimensions & Power. Dimensions: Width, 13.25” (33.66cm), depth 8.375” (21.27cm), height 3.75” (9.525cm). Weight: 6.4 lbs (2.9 Kg). Power: 600 watts into 8ohms, 1200 watts into 4 ohms, 1200 watts into 2ohms. Knobs & Switches. The knobs on this amp are nice and solid and feel good under the fingertips. The master volume, input gain, compressor and drive knobs all have an angled slice cut out of them that has a recessed line in the centre so you can easily feel what position the knob is at if on a dark stage or if you are blind like me. All of the EQ controls have a centre detent which I always like to find on an amp. The input gain, compressor, drive, high and low pass filter and master volume knobs do not have a centre detent which makes sense of course. Something I absolutely love about this amp is that the master volume knob is massive. In fact Bergantino themselves refer to it as “one big knob”. As you can no doubt imagine, having a master volume knob that is 4 or 5 times the size of all the other knobs is perfect for blind players or people who are forever operating on dark stages. The push buttons are of good quality and respond well under the fingertips. However, they are the type that do not stay in or pop out when pressed. This did throw me for a minute to be honest, mainly due to my tactile requirements as a blind player. Having said that, it is immediately obvious whether the Mute, Punch and Bright buttons have been engaged. This is also true of the Drive Engage button, although if only using low levels of drive it might not be quite as obvious. What I do is turn the Drive knob all the way up before pressing the Drive Engage button. That way it is immediately clear that the drive circuit has kicked in. All I do then is dial back the Drive knob until I have the level where I want it. The DI pre/post function is controlled by pressing the Punch button for a few seconds. Similarly the 4ohm/2ohm setting is toggled by pressing the Mute button for a few seconds. You can also switch between two high frequency EQ settings by pressing the Bright button for a few seconds. In all cases an LED next to the button changes colour to indicate which setting has been selected. This of course poses a problem for blind players. Ultimately you could ask a band mate to confirm which colour the LED is displaying. I think realistically this would be the best and safest way to get around this as the last thing you want to do is set the 4ohm/2ohm setting wrong and end up damaging your equipment. This won’t actually be a problem for me at all as I have an 8ohm cab and a 4ohm cab that are never used together meaning that when I use the 8ohm cab the speaker load is 8ohm which has the amp running at 600 watts, whilst when using the 4ohm cab the amp will run at 1200 watts which is the default setting for the Forte HP2. The power switch is a rocker style, is good and solid with a positive clunk under the fingertip when engaged. Features, layout & ease of use. Front Panel, from left to right. 3.5mm aux input jack (top): For connecting external devices. 1/4” instrument input jack: (bottom). Compression knob (top): Turn clockwise to increase amount of compression. Input Gain knob (bottom): Adjust for instrument input level. Overload indicator LED (next to input gain knob): Flashes when input stage is being overloaded. Master volume knob: You can’t miss it, it’s massive! Protect indicator LED: Comes on when amp is overheating, if it is receiving dirty power, if air vents are blocked, if cables are damaged. The amp automatically mutes if this occurs. Clip indicator LED. Comes on if output signal is clipping. Drive knob (top): Turn clockwise to increase amount of drive. Engage Button (at 5 o’clock position next to the Drive knob): This button engages/disengages the Drive effect and is also switchable via the Bluetooth footswitch. Press and hold this button or the Drive switch on the footswitch for 2 seconds to toggle between primary and secondary Drive functions. The amp will always power up with the Primary Drive function selected, regardless of whether it’s engaged or not. Drive engage indicator LED (next to Drive knob): Lights up when drive circuit is engaged. Flashes once when primary drive is engaged, flashes twice when secondary drive is engaged. Variable low pass filter (bottom): This control adjusts the Low-Pass frequency of the amp from 1 khz when the knob is turned fully to the left and 10 khz when the nob is turned fully to the right. Variable high pass filter (bottom): This control adjusts the High-Pass frequency of the amp from 30 hz when the knob is turned fully to the left and 120 hz when the knob is turned fully to the right. Bass EQ knob (bottom): Adjusts the bass frequencies, plus or minus 10db @ 65 hz LoMid EQ knob (bottom): Adjusts the LoMid frequencies, plus or minus 10db @ 250 hz HiMid EQ knob (bottom): Adjusts the HiMid frequencies, plus or minus 10db @ 1khz Treble EQ knob (bottom): Adjusts the treble frequencies, plus or minus 10db @ 3.5 khz Punch Engage Indicator LED (top): This indicator illuminates orange when Punch is engaged Punch button (top): Engages the Punch filter of the amp and is switchable via the footswitch. It also toggles between Pre and Post EQ for the DI select when pressed and held for 3 seconds. DI Pre/Post EQ Indicator LED: Illuminates green when “pre” is selected and yellow when “post” is selected. Bright Engage indicator LED: Illuminates green when the Bright filter is engaged Bright button (top): Engages/disengages the Bright filter and is switchable via the footswitch. It also toggles the bright frequency between +6db @ 2khz and +8db @ 7khz when pressed and held for 3 seconds. Bright Frequency Indicator LED: Illuminates green when 2khz is selected and yellow when 7khz is selected. Mute Engage Indicator LED: Illuminates red when Mute is engaged. Mute button (top): When engaged the Main output and DI output are muted. The tuner output in the back of the amp remains unmuted for silent tuning with a connected external tuner. Pressing and holding the Mute button for 3 seconds will toggle the amp between 4/8-ohm operation and 2-ohm operation. 4/8-ohm or 2-ohm Indicator LED: Illuminates green when 4/8-ohm operation is selected and yellow when 2-ohm operation is selected. (The fan is automatically engaged when in 2-ohm mode). USB Port: Use this port to insert the Dongle for the bluetooth footswitch or to install new firmware from a flash drive. It can also be used to power/charge an iPod or similar device. Rear Panel, from left to right. Power Switch (top). AC socket (bottom). 1/4” Tuner jack (top). 1/4” Headphone jack (bottom). 1/4” Effects Send jack (top). 1/4” Effects Return jack (bottom). Ground Lift switch (bottom). Direct Out socket. 2x locking speaker connectors. Sound quality. This thing is absolutely amazing! Without any drive engaged at all and with the EQ flat the amp is crystal clear and is completely neutral as far as I can tell. The EQ is incredibly easy to use and I found that minimal adjustments made a big impact on my tone whilst keeping everything as clean as a very very clean thing. Once you start using the various tone shaping tools built into the amp, pretty much any bass tone you could possibly wish for is right there at your fingertips. The Punch and Bright buttons make a significant difference to the tone even with the EQ set flat. The variable high pass and low pass (VHP and VLP) controls give you the ability to filter out any pesky boomy frequencies from your bottom end or tame any unwanted frequencies from the top end. Moreover, they give you even more control over any of the available overdrive and fuzz firmware options you use. I really like the compressor on this amp too. It does a wonderful job of smoothing out your tone whilst somehow managing to not compromise it in a negative way regardless of where you set the compression control. Using the firmware options. The ability to install overdrive and fuzz firmware options onto the amp was, along with all of its other great features, a major point of interest for me. As a rule I do not like using digital equipment as it invariably features digital displays which as a blind player, I have no chance of being able to use. However, when I looked into this amp and learned that the firmware could be installed using a flash drive, my cautious interest became a full blown desire to get one and I have to say, I am not disappointed. As a fully blind but competent computer user I am more than capable of using flash drives for file transfers and storage anyway, so downloading the multiple firmware options from the Bergantino website is easy. There are 17 firmware options currently available for the Forte HP2 on the Bergantino website ranging from a B15 to Tube Screamers and multiple fuzz offerings. Once you’ve downloaded the files and made sure you’ve followed the detailed instructions on the web page for how to format your flash drive and name your firmware files, installing your chosen option is incredibly easy. If you are blind, here’s how to do it. Step 1: With the amp switched off, insert the flash drive with your chosen firmware file on it into the USB port on the front of the amp. Step 2: Switch the amp on and immediately press and hold the Bright button for a few seconds. Basically, I count to 5 before letting go and that always seems to work. I always leave a good 20 seconds before I remove the flash drive to allow time for the firmware to install. It’s as simple as that. Once you’ve removed the flash drive, you’re good to go with your awesome new firmware choice. Summary. Quite simply, this amp is the best amp I have ever owned or played through. It’s incredibly easy to use, has intuitive controls and a logical layout. It’s beautifully constructed, light and looks great. The range of tones it’s possible to get out of it are almost unbelievable and the amount of head room is ridiculous. Even though the amp is not technically 100% accessible to me as a blind player due to the style of push buttons and use of LED lights to indicate certain functions, it’s incredibly easy to work round those issues and to be perfectly honest, there isn’t an amp anywhere that I have found that doesn’t use LEDs to indicate things like clipping, mute on/off, drive on/off etc, it’s kind of a necessity really. The fact that it’s so easy to install different firmware options and use the amp in general outweighs the slight inaccessible bits by a loooooooong way. So would I recommend this amp to other blind players? Yes, but only if, - You are a competent computer user, as installing the firmware will not be possible if you are not. - You don’t mind finding a work around for the bits that aren’t accessible or are happy to just ask a band mate to tell you what colour an LED has changed to when you press a button. Every time I play through this amp it sounds fantastic. Ultimately it makes me want to play more and I think any piece of equipment that inspires you to play more can only be a good thing. To find out more about the Forte HP2 and other Bergantino products, visit the Bergantino website at: https://bergantino.com/

Oh, thanks for the heads up about the clip LED not actually existing. I'll edit the post to correct that bit. I play Spector basses which are all pretty high output and I just run the input gain on the amp at around the 12-1 o'clock position and haven't suffered any problems. 12

Overview. Like many bass players out there, I’ve owned, borrowed and tried out dozens of amps from a plethora of manufacturers over the 26 or so years that I’ve been playing. Some have been combos but most have been heads. There’s just something I like about a box that you can put in a backpack or gig bag with some cables, take to any venue, plug in and get your sound from. Personally, I reckon a modern class D bass amp of 800 watts or higher is the perfect balance between power and head room, weight and portability, certainly for my requirements anyway. I owned an old Trace Elliot combo back in 2000/2001 for a few months after a crappy little Fender combo I previously had gave up the ghost. I can’t remember what the Trace combo was for the life of me but I do remember that it was extremely heavy and I’m pretty confident it was a 200 or 250 watt 2x10 model. I also enjoyed using a Trace Elliot Elf as a home practice amp for a while more recently and was hugely impressed by it. Needless to say, I had my eye on a TE1200 and took the plunge as soon as I could. So, here are my thoughts on the amp. Disclaimer: I’m just a dude who plays bass in a few projects and bands for fun, I am by no means a pro musician or online reviewer. All views are my own and I have not received any payment or other incentives to produce this review. What’s in the box? - Trace Elliot TE1200 amp. - 4 button footswitch. - 24ft footswitch cable. - IEC power cable. - Rack mounts. - Gig bag. Dimensions, weight and power. Dimensions: 305mm (12.0”) x 305mm (12.0”) x 91.9mm (3.62”). Weight: 5.22 kg (11.5 lbs). Minimum load: 4 ohms. Power: 1100 watts at 4 ohms, 835 watts at 8ohms. Build Quality. Quite simply, this thing is a tank. The metal construction is incredibly solid with nice metal knobs and protective bars on the front panel. The push buttons are of good quality and all of the jacks are good and solid. Similarly, the DI, speak-on sockets, power socket and power switch all feel robust and gig worthy. I’ve read online that some people don’t much like how the amp looks, but I quite like it and certainly like its rugged build. The packaging it comes in is also sturdy and the amp is very well cushioned within it to protect it from harm during shipping. The amp is a bit heavier than similar sized heads in its class but nothing like the weight of old Trace Elliot equipment and it can be easily carried in a gig bag or even mounted in a hard case using the provided rack mounts. It’s also worth mentioning here that the footswitch is equally well made. It’s reasonably weighty, has decent switches that are well spaced to allow room for your foot to hit the one you’re actually aiming for. Its weight and the rubber feet on the underside do a great job of keeping it in place when playing. The amp does come with a gig bag which is basically a giant version of the mini gig bag that comes with the Trace Elliot Elf. It is reasonably well padded and has an internal divider to separate the internal compartment into an area for the amp and an area for the footswitch and cables. Whilst it is great that the amp comes with a gig bag, I must admit, I tried it out and wasn’t that confident that the bag was sturdy enough for heavy gigging etc. I have since purchased a much more robust Gator 12/12 mixer bag to transport the TE1200 in as it is well padded, has good strong zips, a large external compartment for cables etc and has a decent shoulder strap. Features, layout & ease of use. Front Panel: The front panel of this amp is wonderfully straight forward and takes seconds to get your head around. As a blind player, I place great stock in an amp layout being uncluttered and intuitive. The TE1200 easily meets both of these criteria. It consists of a top row and a bottom row. The controls are well spaced out and all elements are tactile. Here’s what the front panel consists of. Top row, from left to right. Input gain dial: Unlike most amps out there, this control does not have an LED that illuminates when clipping. Low band compressor dial: Turning this control clockwise increases the amount of compression applied to the low band. Compressor active push button: This button is located between the low and high band compressor dials and activates the compressor functions for both low and high bands. It illuminates when active. This function is also available on the footswitch. High band compressor dial: Turning this control clockwise increases the amount of compression applied to the high band. Output level dial: This is the master level control for the amp, turning it clockwise increases the output. Mute push button: This button is located to the right of the output level dial. Pressing this button mutes the output to any connected speaker cabinets. The button illuminates when engaged. Mute is also available on the footswitch. Bottom Row, from left to right. Instrument input jack (1/4”). Bass EQ dial: This is centred at 70 Hz and is an active EQ control enabling you to cut and boost this frequency. Low Mid EQ dial: This is centred at 600 Hz and is an active EQ control enabling you to cut and boost this frequency. EQ pre/post compressor push button: This button is located between the Low Mid and High Mid EQ dials. The default position of the compressor is before equalisation. When the switch is pressed, the compressor is moved to a point after equalisation and the switch illuminates. High mid EQ dial: This is centred at 2KHz and is an active EQ control enabling you to cut and boost this frequency. Treble EQ dial: This is centred at 5KHz and is an active EQ control enabling you to cut and boost this frequency. Pre-shape push Button: This button is located to the right of the Treble EQ Dial. Pressing this button changes the EQ to the distinctive Trace Elliot “Pre Shape 1” curve giving the traditional Trace Elliot tone. This function is also available on the footswitch. Headphone jack (1/4”): When a jack is inserted, the signal to the power amp is automatically disconnected. Rear Panel: The rear panel on the amp is also very well thought out and intuitive. There are an awful lot of elements on the rear panel but Trace have managed to space them out well. Here’s what’s on the rear panel, running from left to right. MIDI Out Socket (top): When functions are toggled from the front panel or footswitch, the corresponding MIDI information is transmitted from this jack to synchronise the function with a slave TE1200. I know nothing about MIDI and will never use this feature but full details are laid out in the user manual for anybody who does intend using it. Footswitch socket (bottom): Connect the TE1200 4-button footswitch here for parallel control of the front panel switch functions. USB Out: This is provided for connection to a computer or a digital audio workstation for recording. Tuner out 1/4” jack (top): A direct send from the input circuitry for a tuner. It is not processed and is fully buffered. It remains active even when the amp is muted to allow silent tuning. DI Socket: This is a balanced output to send to a mixer console or analog recording device. DI Pre/Post EQ Push Button (top). DI Ground Lift Push Button (bottom). Pre amp out 1/4” jack (top). Power Amp in 1/4” jack (bottom). Effects Level Push Button: This button is located above the FX Send jack. Some effect units are designed for lower input levels. When pressed, this switch lowers levels to prevent distortion. Fx send 1/4” jack: This is located beneath the FX Level push button. Fx return 1/4” jack (bottom). 2x Speak-on output sockets. Fuse: Use only the properly rated fuse for your line voltage. Voltage Selector Switch: Set this to your local mains voltage. An incorrect setting can damage the amplifier. Power Switch. Mains input: Connect an IEC cable with the correct fuse for your location to this socket. Knobs and switches. The knobs on this amp are really nice. They are metal and feel good under the fingertips. Each one has a little notch at the edge so you can feel where it is pointing. This notch is quite small though, so quick adjustments in a gig situation may take a few more seconds. All of the EQ controls have a centre detent which I always like to find on an amp. The input, low compression, high compression and master volume controls do not have a centre detent. The push buttons are of good quality and respond well under the fingertips. However, they are the type that do not stay in or pop out when pressed. This did throw me for a minute to be honest, mainly due to my tactile requirements as a blind player. For amps that have the type of push buttons that stay in or pop out, when pressed it is immediately possible for a blind person to tell if for example, they have the compression button engaged or not. With the type that are on the TE1200 however this is not possible as the buttons simply give a click under the fingertip rather than staying in or popping out. This is absolutely fine for the Mute and Pre Shape buttons as it is immediately obvious whether they are engaged or not. For the Compression Active and Compression Pre/Post buttons it is not as obvious whether they are engaged or not, particularly if you only use light compression. Ultimately LEDs do light when these buttons are engaged, so it is possible to see from those, but if you are a blind player all you can really do is ask a band mate if the associated LED is lit. The FX loop level, DI pre/post and ground lift push buttons are of the type that stay in or pop out so are easy to tell which mode you have it set to if you are blind or are on a dark stage. These are good sized solid buttons with clear feedback under the fingertip when they are pressed. The power switch is a rocker style, is good and solid with a positive clunk under the fingertip when engaged. Sound quality. The first thing I do when I play through a new amp is set the EQ flat and make sure no compression or built in effects are turned on and play through it at a loud home practice volume. I have to say the TE1200 sounded very very good when doing this. The bottom end was warm, the note articulation clear and the punch very much defined. I was already quite impressed and then I started playing with the EQ a bit and engaging the compressors. Because the EQ is active, small adjustments go a long way toward sculpting your sound. Something I perhaps hadn’t been expecting from the amp was its brightness. The old Trace combo I had back in the day definitely wasn’t anywhere near as bright. I think that maybe I was half expecting the TE1200 to sound naturally darker than it actually does. This is not a criticism, far from it, I was very pleased with the inherent brightness of the amp. The high and low band compressors are simply awesome, I think so anyway. They manage to give you complete control over the high and low bands independently of each other. Perhaps the best thing for me at least being that the compression is never so extreme that it affects your tone in an unpleasant way. For me the sweet spot was setting the low band around 3/4 on and the high band around 1/4 on. This gave me a ridiculously tight bottom end and tamed the highs enough to give a nice even response across the fretboard even when really digging in. I have played with the compression pre/post button to try out having the compression before or after the EQ stage but I definitely prefer it before. The pre shape button is fun and really gives that absolutely classic Trace tone that we all know and love and wow does it sound good when using effects like fuzz, overdrive etc. This thing goes very loud indeed. I have used it through both my Barefaced SuperMidget and SuperCompact cabs separately, meaning that the amp is running at 8 ohms, but even at rehearsal with a very loud drummer I never needed to push the amp past 4 on the volume. I imagine running it into both cabs together at a 4 ohm load will be truly epic. What I have particularly enjoyed about playing through the amp is its huge head room, it has handled everything I’ve thrown at it with ease and stayed sounding great the whole time. The DI is very nice and extremely quiet and clean. The headphone out is also extremely nice to play through for neighbour friendly practice and manages to portray the actual sound of the amp rather than the weak tinny sound that some amps deliver through their headphone out. The effects loop again is very nice and silent as far as I can tell. A word of warning though, you will need to connect the footswitch to turn on the effects loop as it is off by default and the only way you can turn it on is by connecting the footswitch. I actually thought I had a faulty unit and was pretty much ready to send it back until I read through the manual for about the 4th or 5th time and noticed a single sentence that stated that the effects loop could be turned on and off using the footswitch. Within 5 minutes the loop was on and I was getting sweet sweet sound through it. Summary. I was very excited about getting this amp and I must admit I really really like it. It’s robust, easily portable, looks smart and most important of all, it sounds fantastic. I particularly like the simplicity of the front panel and its intuitive layout. It sounds great at low, medium or offensive volumes and it is very easy to dial in whatever tone you want. The only thing I don’t like is the supplied gig bag. If it had a zip or even a couple of plastic clips the amp would feel much more secure and I would use it. But given the amp’s weight I would much rather use an alternative gig bag. From a blind player’s perspective the amp is incredibly easy to use with regards to its controls and layout. The only slight issue is the push buttons as described earlier. If the push buttons don’t bother you then this amp is easily near the top of the list for best bass amp for the blind from a usability perspective. Sound is of course completely subjective but I would be very surprised if you didn’t like the sound of this amp straight out of the box and it can certainly handle clean tone and any effects you could possibly want to run through it. I ran fuzz, overdrive, Wah, flanger and octave through the front of the amp along with chorus and delay through the effects loop and it sounded awesome with all of them. To find out more about the TE1200, visit the Trace Elliot website at: https://www.traceelliot.com/ #BlindMusician #BlindBassPlayer #Blindness #PlayingMusicBlind #TraceElliot #TraceElliotTE1200Review #TE1200 #MusiciansWithDisabilities #ExperiencesOfTheBlind #BestBassAmpForTheBlind

It's fine as long as you don't boost the bass on your instrument EQ. I just leave mine flat and it's fine. Obviously it doesn't sound as big and full as a full sized amp but then it's not going to through something that tiny.

This is my review of the itty bitty teeny weeny PJB Nano X4 practice amp. Overview. If you’ve read the posts I wrote about the PJB BP800 and D400 heads, you’ll already know that I was seriously impressed by them as amps in general but when considering the additional requirements I have as a blind player, I also consider them to be two of the best amps available for people who are severely sight impaired. I was in the market for a practice amp which has the smallest possible footprint but that has aux in capability and is actually usable as an amp rather than a tinny thin sounding device with hardly any bass “feel”. The PJB Nano X4 immediately came to mind, so after considering it, I went ahead and purchased one. They are not particularly cheap at anything from £299 to £340 here in the UK depending on where you buy from, but given my previous experience with PJB products, I was confident the build quality would be excellent, sound would be top notch and the bluetooth functionality would come in very handy given my requirements. I’m writing this after having the Nano for just over a year, and it’s certainly been getting plenty of real time use. So, here are my thoughts on this mini practice amp. Disclaimer: I’m just a dude who plays bass in a few projects and bands for fun, I am by no means a pro musician or online reviewer. All views are my own and I have not received any payment or other incentives to write this piece. Build Quality. As with every other PJB product I’ve used, the build quality on this little thing is top notch. It has sturdy aluminium housing with a metal grill over the speaker. It has 2 solid bars that protect the controls and the dials, sockets and switch are all the quality you’d expect from PJB. Although not the triangle shaped solid aluminium knobs that I raved about on the BP800 and D400 amps, the knobs on this little unit are still pleasant under the fingers. This thing is very small, my other half thinks it’s the cutest bit of bass gear she’s ever seen. It measures in at 6.3” wide by 7.9” high by 7.8” deep. Features, layout & ease of use. The controls are incredibly straightforward with all positioned on the top face of the unit. The layout is logical, with the instrument input, aux input, headphone out and power switch all along the top row. The middle row has the input level control and aux in/bluetooth switch/level control. Finally, on the bottom row are the bass, mid and treble EQ controls along with the master volume. All in all excellent and very easy to navigate if you’re blind. The power switch is very tactile and gives a good clunk under the fingers when switched. All 3 of the EQ controls have a centre detent which is useful. All of the knobs are solid aluminium but none have tactile pips or pointers. The instrument level control does have an LED which lights up when clipping but unfortunately there is no pip or pointer on the knob to indicate what position the knob is in. The aux in/bluetooth level control technically has 3 functions: 1. You can switch between good old fashioned aux in mode in which you would connect a device to the aux in 3.5mm jack and bluetooth mode. 2. When you have it in bluetooth mode you can pair a bluetooth device with the unit by holding the knob down for a few seconds. An LED flashes blue when in pairing mode, so not great for those of us who can’t see. However, with about a minute of experimentation I figured out that I only needed to hold the knob down for about 3 seconds to put it into pairing mode. Worth noting as well that once you’ve paired a device, the unit will automatically connect to it, so no need to go through the pairing process every time. 3. This is also the level control for any connected device. This knob does not have a centre detent. Sound quality. To put it bluntly, I was absolutely astonished by the quality of sound this thing kicks out. The amount of volume it can produce is also very impressive, I would happily use it for acoustic gigs and just have it under my seat facing the audience, I’m confident it would be perfectly capable. It handles the B string on a 5 string bass with no problems at all as long as you are not clipping the input already and the whole thing sounds clean and natural. There’s a good amount of cut and boost available on each of the EQ controls and even with music playing and jamming along, the sound quality remains superb. It’s also worth noting that the Nano X4 works beautifully for guitar. My friend plugged his guitar into it and was blown away by how clean and musical the sound quality was. We were both hugely impressed when he used his overdrive effects as well. Bluetooth mode is also truly impressive. If there is any degradation of sound quality when using it, I honestly cannot hear it, it’s easily as good if not slightly better than a very expensive pair of Sony bluetooth headphones I’ve had for a couple of years. - The unit also has a 3.5mm headphone out jack for quiet practice which also provides incredibly high quality sound. I do wonder if PJB missed a trick in not giving the unit a line out to be honest. I can easily imagine having this little amp permanently connected to my interface for quick recording of ideas or even proper recording sessions. It would certainly beat having to find space for my main gigging amp head on my desk to connect it up to the interface. I do wonder if in a couple of years there might be a 2nd generation of the Nano X4 with a line out or maybe even a DI out. Summary. There’s not much else to say really. The PJB Nano X4 is a tiny, well constructed high quality practice amp. It’s not particularly cheap but it is a quality product. The features it has are easy to use and functional, bluetooth in particular being ridiculously useful and I must admit, one of the main reasons I was so interested in it. If you are blind, it’s a nicely tactile unit that is easy to use but do bear in mind that just like with most amps out there, an LED will light up when clipping the input. I haven’t found the lack of a centre detent or indeed a pip or pointer on the input or aux level control to be an issue at all but if you particularly care, that might be a deal breaker for you. To find out more about the Nano X4, visit the PJB website at: https://www.pjbworld.com/cms/

This is my second review of a Phil Jones Bass product, this time the small and lightweight D400 bass amp head. This product easily ranks as one of the best bass amp heads for blind players in my opinion and here’s why. Disclaimer: I’m just a dude who plays bass in a few projects and bands for fun, I am by no means a pro musician or online reviewer. All views are my own and I have not received any payment or other incentives to write this piece. Overview. If you’ve read the post I wrote about the PJB BP800, you’ll already know that I was seriously impressed by it as an amp in general but when considering the additional requirements I have as a blind player, I also consider it to be one of the best amps available for people who are severely sight impaired. Because I was so impressed with the BP800, my interest in PJB amps increased, so when I saw a pre owned D400 available from Bass Direct here in the UK a few years ago, I went ahead and bought it. As much as anything, I didn’t have a backup amp at all at that point, so figured a small one that I could use for home practice and that would also double as my backup wouldn’t be a bad idea. The D400 falls in the £500 to £750 price bracket new here in the UK and depending on where you get it from the price will vary. If you can find a pre owned one like I did, you can save a fair bit of money. Build Quality. As I’ve already mentioned, I purchased my D400 as pre owned. As a result, it didn’t come in it’s original packaging. Given how well thought out the packaging for the BP800 was when I got it though, I would imagine the packaging for the D400 would be just as good. What is worth mentioning here however, is that the D400 does come with it’s own gig bag. This is not a cheap flimsy thing but a proper padded made to measure sturdy gig bag with shoulder strap, front pocket with zip for speaker/instrument cables etc and a main zip compartment for the amp with a section specifically for the power cable. The bag is really well thought out and put together and it makes for very easy transportation of the amp and other necessary bits and pieces. The D400 is a very solid piece of kit. It’s all metal, has proper mechanical switches, uses the same awesome knobs as its bigger sibling the BP800 and is light weight. It’s also very small, measuring in at only 9.6” (244mm) x 7.6” (193mm) x 1.7” (43mm). It also weighs in at only 2.9lbs (1.3kg). Features, layout & ease of use. Just like on the BP800, the EQ and front control panel is an absolute joy of functionality, simplicity and intelligent layout. Everything makes sense, is intuitive and everything is solidly engineered. The rear panel is the same in that it is arranged intuitively and everything you could need on such a small amp is present. Knobs and switches. I went into this in detail in my post about the PJB BP800 but for completeness, I’ll talk about it here as well. The knobs on this amp are superbly engineered but the reason I am raving about them so much is because, due to the long triangle shape, you know precisely at what level you have set any particular control purely by feel, for me this is a big thing. As I mentioned earlier, I am blind and to be frank, it can be a royal pain in the backside figuring out what position each knob is set at on other amps, particularly in a gig environment. The fact that I have absolutely no trouble whatsoever in feeling the position of the knobs is a breath of fresh air for me. To be fair, not all knobs on all other brands are terrible, most however are not easy for me at all. The knobs on this amp and the BP800 though are by far the best I’ve ever come across. Add to that the fact that all but the compression and master volume controls have a centre detent, knowing where I am regarding my front panel settings is a doddle. The switches on this amp are also of solid quality with positive clunks and clicks under the fingertips when they are engaged or disengaged. Sound quality. Just like the BP800, the D400 is incredibly clean sounding and responds musically to the slightest adjustment of the EQ. Each EQ control allows -18DB cut and +18DB boost and I have found that regardless of how extreme I make the EQ settings, the amp remains clean and undistorted. I don’t know how PJB do it but it’s seriously impressive. The amp has a 5 band EQ section allowing for some supremely detailed tone shaping. - The amp has a 3 way input switch. When in the top position the amp is muted, when in the middle position the amp is ready for active instruments and when in the bottom position the amp is ready for passive instruments. - The instrument input control does exactly what you would expect it to do. I really like that it has a centre detent just like the rest of the EQ controls, it gives a great point to start from and there is an awful lot of adjustment to be had depending on your preference. - The low bass control stays crystal clear all the way through its adjustment and I can’t get it to fart out even when playing on the B string on a 5 string bass. Just like on the BP800, the manual states that the low bass control effects the tone of B, E and A strings. - The high bass control is smooth and musical just like the rest of the EQ. Again, just like on the BP800, the manual says that the high bass control effects the tone of the D and G strings. - The low mid control gives a huge range of adjustment and really helps dial in as much or as little low mid focus as you want. - The high mid control does a great job of sharpening up the overall tone without getting clicky or harsh. - The treble control isn’t a control I generally use but it does a great job of adding a bit of sparkle to the top end if you want it. - One of the things I love about this little amp is its built in compressor. There is a switch to turn it on and off and a knob to the left of the master volume knob to control the amount of compression applied to your signal. The more you turn the knob in an anti clockwise direction, the more compression is added. Again, I don’t know how PJB do it but it sounds great regardless of how extreme you set it. - The DI on this amp is supremely quiet and clean. Not much more to say really, just excellent. - This amp also has a headphone out jack for quiet practice which also provides incredibly high quality sound. Playing through effects pedals with this amp is, just like with the BP800, great fun and sounds awesome. What I particularly like is when playing through a fuzz or overdrive pedal, pulling back on the treble control removes any harsh high end but the rest of the tone doesn’t seem to be affected. If I didn’t know the D400 runs at 200 watts at 8ohms and 350 watts at 4ohms, I would swear that its power rating was significantly higher than it actually is. There just seems to be so much head room and it is seriously loud. When I first got it, I took it and 2 Barefaced 12” series cabs to rehearsal to see if it would cope with my very loud rock covers band. It took it in its stride and it still had plenty in the tank. I have no doubt that if I were to need to use it at a gig because my main amp had died, it would be able to cope, particularly if I were primarily using the amp and cabs for stage monitoring. It is also worth noting that there is a Line Out jack on the rear of the D400 which enables you to connect to a powered cab, which gives you even greater scope for speaker cab configurations and indeed greater volume if you really need it. To be honest though, unless you are playing in the world’s loudest band on an absolutely enormous stage with no PA support, I’d find it hard to believe that this amp wouldn’t be loud enough if running it with two 8ohm cabs and therefore using all 350 watts of its available power at a 4ohm load. Summary. I’ve had my D400 for about 3 years now and absolutely love it. It’s the amp I use at home for practice as well as what I use for smaller quieter gigs or indeed electro acoustic gigs. Its build quality is superb, it’s equipped with everything I want from a small easy to transport amp and it punches well above its weight when it comes to tone, volume and clarity. In particular, if you are blind or visually impaired and are looking for a small powerful amp that’s incredibly user friendly, then the PJB D400 would be well worth checking out. To find out more about the D400 amp, visit the PJB website at: https://www.pjbworld.com/cms/

I had a PJB D400 which I actually liked slightly more than the BP800, it was a fantastic little amp, it just lacked the power I was after. PJB did do a D1000 model and I would love to get my hands on one of those if one came up. I believe the D1000 is basically the same as a D4000 but with a 1000W power amp.

Not to worry. Screenreader software does identify emojis. For example, if someone likes my post or puts a concerned face in like in the response above the screenreader actually says "like" or "concerned face".