Phil Jones Bass amps?

[evan47]

Are there any PJB amp users on this forum?

I am looking for a small amp for mainly home use and the size of these amps seems great. Looks like some of the combos could be tucked away out of sight and moved from room to room rather easily.

Just how good do they sound at low volume levels?

Would they handle my active 5 string without breakup?

 

[Cuzzie]

PJB Bass cub is a fantastic amp with a beaut of a DI out of you ever needed to go FOH and took it into the wild.

It will handle a 5er

[evan47]

Yes, this was the one I was looking at.

I had a idea of stacking it on top of my Ampeg B100R combo with effects through the Cub in a sort of biamped set up if I ever gigged with it.

[ezbass]

Yep, PJ fanboy here. I run a Flightcase into a PB300 (when I need the extra power). I’ve also owned a Cub and a Bass Buddy. Quality gear, perfect for gigs or home practise and 5 strings are handled with ease.

Edited January 2, 2022 by ezbass

[Dan Dare]

Another PJB fanboy here. I used to have a Flightcase, which I ran with a power amp and a couple of C4 cabs when I needed to make more noise. The Flightcase was great on its own for lower volume applications and adding the C4s plus power amp to it gave more of the same. Great sounding set up, but a little inconvenient onstage as I could not stack it neatly. I eventually sold the Flightcase, but kept the C4s and acquired a couple of 4Bs, which I use with an Aguilar head (with as many cabs as I need plus a power amp if necessary). I found the cabs are responsible for much of the sound and that any high quality, clean sounding head will give very similar results with them.

[WinterMute]

I had the Super Flightcase in my studio for a year or two, lovely little amp to record with, never missed a beat. Quality kit, well designed. 

 

A bit quiet unless you add extra powered cabs, but that wasn't the purpose in the studio. 

[Woodwind]

On 02/01/2022 at 19:56, evan47 said:

Are there any PJB amp users on this forum?

I am looking for a small amp for mainly home use and the size of these amps seems great. Looks like some of the combos could be tucked away out of sight and moved from room to room rather easily.

Just how good do they sound at low volume levels?

Would they handle my active 5 string without breakup?

 

I use my double4 to boost my contrabassoon at all my gigs.

That goes to Bb, a semitone lower than a five string, before I've added any effects and it handles it perfectly.

 

The double4 and the Bass Cub are really fantastic combos.

 

I'd love to try the new bass cub pro as well, which is a serious step up in volume capability over the original cub due to being able to run an extra speaker cab.

 

Arguably there are no better tiny combos, but whether they are worth the expenditure is up to you.

 

ie the same money would buy you a bigger, but louder amp or you could get something of a similar size, but less refined for a lot less.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Woodwind

[peteb]

 

I've got a little double4 combo that I use as a practice amp, on my desk besides me as I type. I also have one of those headphone amps as well and I used to have a 4x5 cab for a while, which unfortunately was nowhere near loud enough for my needs.

 

All of them are great sound wise, but I couldn't see myself ever gigging them for the types of genres I usually play. However, I did see a guy playing at a bar when I was on holiday using a bigger 12x5 cab that sounded pretty sweet and was plenty loud enough. 

 

[lozkerr]

On 02/01/2022 at 19:56, evan47 said:

Are there any PJB amp users on this forum?

I am looking for a small amp for mainly home use and the size of these amps seems great. Looks like some of the combos could be tucked away out of sight and moved from room to room rather easily.

Just how good do they sound at low volume levels?

Would they handle my active 5 string without breakup?

 

The rehearsal studio we use has a PJB 300 watt 4 x 5" combo. It handled my active five-string Jazz OK and had a nice sound, but even when cranked to eleven, it couldn't keep up with two guitar amps plus keys going through the PA. I record all our rehearsals and it was next to impossible to hear the bass. We don't play at a ridiculous volume, either.

 

After a couple of sessions, and gripes from the rest of the band about not being able to hear the bass, I started bringing my Eden Metro along instead. Same rated power output, but a gazillion times louder. OTOH, the Metro is a big lump - more than twice the size of the PJB -  and it weighs a ton. 

 

Based on that admittedly limited experience, I think the PJB would be fine for home use and probably OK for gigs with a couple of acoustic guitars and vocal PA. I can't see it working in our six-piece rock band without going through the PA.

[Yan_Huriey]

I bought a secondhand PJB briefcase amp. I did have some issues with it, but once I got it sucessfully repaired it was epic. Such an amazing sound is surprising from such a small unit, I'd have another, they are very good indeed.

[Basilpea]

I use a BG400 4 x 5 combo which is fine for small/medium size gigs but in a big hall with a six piece band I also add my 8 x 5 cab as well, which gives a great sound and stacks of volume.  These amps are really well designed and built to a very high standard - reassuringly heavy but the 8 x 5 has wheels and a pull-up handle so you can transport it easily with the combo on top, a really neat quality piece of kit, also has 2 channels so good for doubling.

[bumnote]

On 06/01/2022 at 11:47, lozkerr said:

 

 

Based on that admittedly limited experience, I think the PJB would be fine for home use and probably OK for gigs with a couple of acoustic guitars and vocal PA. I can't see it working in our six-piece rock band without going through the PA.

I gig with an C8  which I can supplement with either 1 or 2 C4s  giving 8,12 or 16 x5 speakers.

I normally take a C8 and a C4, with a blackstar amp, Im not keep on the PJB digitals

I can cope easily with 2 loud guitarisr and a drummer.

I used to have a m500 which I foolishly sold, and would replace if I could find one.

[NicoMcJ]

How is the 4x5" cab with other make heads?  I'm thinking a Markbass 500w head (300w at 8 ohms) into the little 4x5" cab would make a killer portable rig with a small stage footprint.  Do the cabs work well for rocky stuff?

[EssentialTension]

For me, PJB Briefcase is perfect home practice amp.

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, NicoMcJ said:

How is the 4x5" cab with other make heads?  I'm thinking a Markbass 500w head (300w at 8 ohms) into the little 4x5" cab would make a killer portable rig with a small stage footprint.  Do the cabs work well for rocky stuff?

 

If you use enough of them, yes. A PJB 4x5 is equivalent to a single 10 in cone surface area (I appreciate there's more to it than simple driver area). I haven't measured the XMax, but the cones move a fair amount visually, so the displacement has to be good.

 

In practice, one of them gives the equivalent output of a high quality 10 or even a 12. It's surprising how much poke it has. I have 5 of them, although I've never used more than 3 in anger (if I see a good used one, I buy it). 4 of them, driven by my head plus a power amp, sounds mighty. My neighbours were not happy.

 

The beauty of them for me is that I can take out as many as I need and because they are so small, they're an easy carry and fit into the car boot.

 

Tonally, they are on the clean side, although not hi-fi or sterile. With small drivers and no tweeter, they reproduce highs without sounding spiky or brittle. I use mine with an Aguilar head (plus power amp if needed) and the warmth of it complements the cabs nicely. I should imagine a Markbass will give similar results. I'd try before you buy, however.