Budget transparrent class D amp heads ~300W?

[DocTrucker]

Morning!

 

Not something that I can do right now but I am gathering information on amps. I would like my tone to be largely shaped by the bass and pedal board. I currently have a laney amp stack after a spotting a good deal a while back. While the Laney RB9 is not a Class D does it add character or is it transparent? What options for ~300W class D amp heads stand out for balance of reliability and not shaping the tone? Am I best off repurposing a PA amp?

 

Thanks.

[Lozz196]

When I was doing similar I used Ashdown amps, both ABMs and RMs, as both have an EQ bypass switch, hence my reasons for using them. The RM amps are Class D, small, light & powerful. They did do a 300 watt version, but used you can get the 500s for around £300ish. Reliability-wise they`re good, and being based in the UK any issues they`ll sort quickly.

[Phil Starr]

We did measure the response of an Ashdown RM once and it is pretty much flat with the controls set flat anyway. Go to Ashdown for after sales service every time, they even come on Bass Chat from time to time.

 

I bought a Bugera Veyron as my neutral amp, I'm a cheapskate, what can I say  They are 700W amps in real money but you can turn them down. If you want a cheap solution this is a good option.

[Lozz196]

That’s interesting to know @Phil Starr, I know a good few amps have a baked in eq with controls set flat, nice to know Ashdown went that way.

[Phil Starr]

8 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

That’s interesting to know @Phil Starr, I know a good few amps have a baked in eq with controls set flat, nice to know Ashdown went that way.

That was just the RM, I used to have a MAG 300 and that definitely had the Ashdown 'sound'.

 

It's been an interesting journey for me the past few years. You'll probably know I've designed cabs for folks on BassChat mainly to put something back in. I was a complete newcomer to bass when I first joined and people here helped me a lot with my playing. @stevie and I worked togetehr on the earliest designs but came from slightly different angles, he was always an FRFR man wanting the most accurate cabs he could make, no expense spared. I was more interested in finding out why people generally wen't for a cloloured sound and what it was they were looking for in their ideal cabs.  It soon became apparent that Stevie's expertise was greater than mine particularly in crossover design and he was interested in making the best cabs possible with cost almost no object. I was lucky enough to be able to be around as he developed LFSys trying some early designs out, listening to a lot of prototypes and discussing loudspeaker design. I've finally settled on two of his designs. The original BassChat 110T and a Monza

 

Meanwhile I've gigged more and moved towards using in-ears and no back line. Floor monitors for low volume gigs and the in-ears for everything else. The Monza is only used rarely when I've a drummer who wants a bass speaker behind him or at festivals where bad experiences with poor techs means I take backline as a backup. If the sound people get it right the volume stays at 0 if I can't hear myself I turn it up and leave them to sort front of house. I had a couple of experiences playing sets with no bass at all on stage so I won't use somebody else's PA naked, so to speak. Having gone FRFR by going direct to PA having the FRFR Monza is a godsend. Room acoustics allowing I get a consistent sound through PA/floor monitors/in-ears/backline and practicing at home through studio monitors or headphones. 

 

The surprise came when @stevie bought a Trace Elliott amp, it just spread some magic through the FRFR speakers. I tried my Peavey Minimax and it does a similar trick. There's no mystery, whoever shaped the sound in the Trace amp was very good at their job in tome shaping and I can't quite match their expertise. It isn't one sound to rule them all, I still shape my sound differently for different bands and songs and enjoy being able to get it whatever I'm playing through, but when I do use backline I treat myself to a little bit of colour from a definitely non-flat amp.