JGSpector

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.

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