krispn

I'm digging the sound - not as muddy as the T Bird sound I'm most familiar with (tho I've not heard some of the highly respected after market T-Bird pick ups out there) I could totaly rawk one of these in my pub band doing folk/Irish covers

The review was from the link I posted - not my words but stuff that I did notice but said so much more eloquently than I could have. Im seriously thinking about another one (currently using a Basswitch for preamp/eq/di) as my drive unit - might be a good choice as they are really solid.

The Tone Hammer is a totally different animal. With the AGS off, it's just an uber clean EQ with gain boost. Very high quality, and the sweepable mids are fantastic. You know how everyone raves about the Sadowsky outboard preamp/DI pedal. I had one, until I got my Tone Hammer. The TH covered the Sadowsky thing VERY well. The low control has the same 40 hz setting with the AGS off, as does the 4k treble setting. The sweepable mids on the TH are just wonderful, though I do wish it would go up to about 2k. No big deal. The EQ on the TH is flat when it is engaged. When you also turn on the AGS, at the lowest setting, there is no hair on the notes at all. Again, NO hair at all unless your bass is just SUPER hot in terms of output. What does happen when you engage the AGS is that highs are immediately rolled off in a way that simulates a vintage tweeterless cabinet. So the tone gets warmer sounding off the bat, even though the lows and mids are still the same. The Treble control now acts more like a Presence knob does on the Sansamp stuff. It dials in grindy mids in the 2.5k region. Very slick. The lows are tightened up a bit as you boost them, so instead of getting really deep and boomy, they get fat and vintage. Again, still no hair on the notes because the AGS gain is fully counter clockwise. The mid control still allows you to cut/boost mids where you want them. Very slick. Vintage tones with no hair. As you add more AGS gain, the tone gets warmer until you get some hair, and then it starts overdriving. With the EQ flat, the overdrive tone is VERY mid-oriented such that it can sound a bit nasally and harsh. But remember, this is with the EQ flat, and most folks who are used to hearing a classic tube amp (think SVT for example) should note that an SVT is no where near flat. There's a mid scoop. So to get rid of that nasally midrange in the TH, you have to cut mids as you boost the gain. Setting the knob around 2-3 o'clock puts the mid control around the 750 hz mark, where you'll get some classic SVT'ish mid scoop going. Start cutting the mids there to get the tone you want. Cut to anywhere from 10 to 8 o'clock, and you can pretty much close your eyes and thing your running through the BDDI and not the Tone Hammer. The cool thing is that you aren't having to use a Blend knob at all to control that mid scoop. Just scoop the mids as deep as you like to get the tone you're after, and then adjust the Treble (which now more like a Presence, remember?) to get the amount of cut you want. Then, dial up the bass if you want it fat and deep, or cut it back to keep a thinner tone. Very slick, and way cool. Here's another trick about the TH that I use a good bit. I'll scoop the mids ALL the way out around 750 hz for a rock tone. With the Bass/Treble boosted to around 2 o'clock, this is very similar to the "Fat Tube" setting from the BDDI manual. But the cool trick is instead to cut treble and bass back. I'll set bass to 11 or maybe 10 o'clock, and cut treble all the way back to 8 or 9 o'clock. The result is a very warm, lower-mid dominant tone (because the upper mids and lows are cut back so far), with a subtle, understated top end. It's very B15'ish and sounds awesome with a P bass or jazz with flats. At this point, if you want more depth, rather than boosting the bass, you move the mid frequency knob clockwise, which pools out upper mids and articulation. If you want more of that, then you move the knob counter clockwise to bring those upper mids back into the tone. The highs and lows stay the same, so it's an easy way to adjust your tone on the gig to get more/less articulation in the mix. These are just a few examples of what the Tone Hammer can do. I'm a huge fan of it obviously, but I came from being a BDDI user for quite a while, and I just never could bond with the new VT pedal. I still love and have a deep respect for the BDDI, and while I don't use one myself much anymore, I know I can always make it work. The Para Driver I wouldn't bother with myself. A lot of folks around here have slammed the Tone Hammer because you can't use the AGS like a second channel, where you can engage/disengage overdrive at will without causing volume differences. I guess I can understand that, but really that's not the Aguilar'sdesign intent. Instead, think of it more as a single channel tone shaper, that will "hammer" (pardon the pun) your tone into a wide variety of directions. It just takes a little time playing with the controls to figure out what does what. I still learn new things about it all the time. It's not that it's complicated, but rather that the AGS circuit ties in very closely to the mid control, so changing the mids affects the overdrive tone, and the more gain you add, the more the low end tightens up to prevent things from getting muddy.

Read this for how the tone hammer can be used as either a clean unit or a drive channel its post 16 by Eublet I've added the section I refered to in the next post. Makes good reading! [url="http://www.talkbass.com/threads/sansamp-para-driver-vs-aguilar-tone-hammer.755083/"]http://www.talkbass....-hammer.755083/[/url] Few years back when I had a tone hammer I sat and went through all this stuff eublet said in his post and you can hear what he means clearly. I'm now tempted to get one again and try it with my current rig!

Video up on Premier Guitar with sound samples- can't add link from work pc but its on their YouTube channel

Who was the band ?

Maybe some of your suggestions Alex to give us an idea of what you're thinking? I'll read the full thread later o if you have already done so apologies. It's reading a bit like a 'here what we offer for all your suggestions' thread at the mo and a lovely insight into the technicals and intricacies involved in speaker/cabinet science I may add

I auditioned for a band recently - an established one- and in our pre audition chat I asked what they were looking for in a new member. The wanted someone who could play solidly, not the greatest layer ever but who could adapt to the tune. I also asked about stage craft. Did they have certain things they liked to do on certain tunes, did they dress a certain way gigs or particular venues? If you ask these questions early on in the process they can be fine tuned in person. A wedding band might well dress smart for their gigs, a rock covers band could be a jeans and tee shirt gig. Ask as many questions at the application stage so once the audition comes your prepared. I'd a drummer show up to an audition late and after the inevitable phone calls to find out where he was and give directions he got out of his car and said "I shouldn't really apologise for being late its a hard place to find!" My response was "It's my first time at this rehearsal room too and I made it on time. You have 15 minutes left of your slot before the next person gets here. Still wanna play or would you like to leave?" He played one song with us and then I sent him packing. Tardy is not an attractive quality!

Cheers

**See my post in Off Topic** Mods please feel free to delete So the rest of my team have all decided that they are too old/unfit/lazy to do this years run! The last of them just threw in the towel this weekend (to be fair the rest of the team were comprised of his workmates who had a big plan to get fit for TM but didn't bother their arses!) So with that in mind if any BC'ers are doing the race on the Sunday this year and fancy another member to join drop me a PM! G

Musicman Big Al has a massive p sound both passive and active not the usual look though. Its also got a heap more tones available if required.

If you're across in Edinburgh your welcome to try my Lakland jO5 and basswitch preamp and see what the sounds like bring your current bass too and try with the Basswitch if you fancy. I don't have any MTD's though