Hey Gary,
 I just sold my vintage SVT cab and I'm looking for something smaller. I did buy a small  Behringer amp BX1200 last year off ebay just to  have something easy to play around with. It's ok to use as a practice amp. I still have a peavey cs400,F2bpre, dbx266, and a peavey118D enclosure to use for big venues, but I want to upgrade. Thanks for your input.
Howierd

Does anyone have experience with the '57 Fender Twin Amp reissue? I'm looking for something that will allow the pure, almost acoustic sound of my Alembic guitar to come through when played clean, but that can deliver 80's metal leads when overdriven enough?
 
Jonathan

Jonathan - a good friend of mine has the '57 reissue. I haven't played my Alembic through it but his tele and strat sound great. It's extremely clean - tons of headroom - difficult to get it to break up unless it's really cranked up. He uses a Jekyll & Hyde by Visual Sound for overdrive - very nice creamy sound.
 
Tom
 
(Message edited by tom_z on September 21, 2005)

Has anyone had any experience with EBS amps and cabinets? I currently use a Gallien Krueger 1001RB-II running biamped through a GK 410RBH and a GK 115RBH. The sound is much better than the Ampegs that I have used in the past and the customer support is AWESOME!. They have a chat board similar to this one which is always helpful. Their tech department responds to emails as quickly as Alembic does. Which always a plus. I love the tone that Marcus Miller has and he uses EBS. I am thinking of switching, but due to the fact that EBS is made in Sweden and does not have many retailers in the US, my concern is that I might not get the same level of service from EBS that I currently get from GK. I am also considering Eden. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Kevin,
 
I get the impression that the Eden amps don't receive very many complaints at all, either for sound or service, and you could probably find some to test drive if you check around a bit.
 
John

Some things I can tell you about Eden:
I have no complaints whatsoever about my WT600.  It sounds great and it's extremely easy to set up.  I run it mostly with the EQ flat with all my basses and a little bit of 'enhance', a feature typical to Eden amps (sort of a mid sweep).  If I have to adjust the EQ, it's mostly to adapt to the room or stage.  I really like the sound of Eden, but I can imagine it's not a sound that everybody's looking for.  It's clean, well defined, kind of 'HIFI'.  
On the customer support: it's fantastic!  The Eden forum is a great resource, as is their website.  If you're thinking of buying Eden, go and hang out there for a few days/weeks.  You'll see what I mean.  I once had an issue when I ordered a new cab and it arrived with a broken speaker.  I called the distributor for the Benelux and he told me not to worry.  I didn't have to go through the shop where I ordered it, because that would take too long.  He was going to send me a replacement so I could put it in myself.  Two working days later, UPS delivered the speaker.  Try that with some other brands!
Of course, people have had issues with Eden, there's not one manufacturer that doesn't make mistakes.  But for Eden, it's really difficult to find stories from people that were not satisfied with Eden gear.  
If you go Eden, go Eden all the way.  Amp and cabs...  They're incredible!

I have a good friend who graduated from Berklee and he swears by Eden. It seems like every time I hear a bass that I like they are playing through Eden or EBS. I really like the tone that Marcus Miller has and he uses EBS. I know that not everyone likes his tone but then again, none of us like the same tone anyway. Right now I am running biamped through a Gallien Krueger 1001RB-II and a GK 410RBH CAB and a GK 115RBH CAB. I love the tone and have a friend who works for GK. He takes care of me by making sure that if I am doing a gig away from home, that there will be GK gear waiting for me in whatever city it is that I am playing.H e has also swapped any gear that I have had problems with even though that has been very rare. Everytime I go to see a concert it seems like the bassplayer is using Ampeg (which I hate, I had an endorsement deal with them and I gave it up), or Eden or EBS. I love my basses and my GK setup but I am wondering if I could sound better if I switched to another amplifier manufacturer. Of course when we really get down to it, we are in the hands of the guy running the board so it might not make a difference whatI am playing through. What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance to all who respond

Now my rig is pure Mesa boogie with an alembic SF-2 in the send and return loop.
I've just been on Stanley Clarke's web site and his rig is a monster. I'd love to plug into that for a gig.....
 
Stanley's usual live signal path is split between Alembics' bridge and neck pickups. From there signals go into an Alembic power supply, to Alembic F-1X preamps (one per pickup), to a Mackie 2600 stereo power amp, which drives two Electro-Voice B 410 4x10 cabinets (from the bridge-pickup signal) and two E-V S-181 1X 18 subwoofer cabinets ( the neck-pickup signal). He usually uses a Marshall or Fender guitar tube combo for a bit of drit and crunch; this is driven by by the bridge-pickup F-1X preamp.  His effect are a Lexicon Alex digital delay and? EBS BassIQ analog envelope filter, which are looped into the bridge-pickup preamp and an OctaBass, looped into the neck-pickup preamp.
 
bit like a mini pa all to himself there.
Jazzyvee

Well, at the weekend I found the perfect rig. Unfortunately it's in Mike Pisaneks' music room so I'm going to have to borrow Paul Lindemans' Stockings and a very long ladder to 'borrow' it.
Seriously though, I was round at Mikes on Saturday to check out his new Europa (wow!) and had the chance to play it through his rig - F1X - QSC PLX2402 - 2 Eden 2x10s. What a fantastic sound, deep rich bass, punchy mids and clear ringing highs. After a particularly disappointing sound from my Trace rig on Friday night, I know exactly what I'm saving up for.
 
Graeme

I've just got a new Ashdown ALMK500 head.
I'm really pleased with it.
Nice and transparent with a good EQ section - a very 'funky' sounding setup with just the 340hz and 660hz sliders cut slightly.
I've also ordered an Ashdown Bentley 4x10 to go with it.

I own a 1983 Spoiler and recently purchased an SWR Workingman's 15 to replace an ailing Peavy combo amp. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! MY BASS HAS NEVER SOUND SOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD!!!!! DEEP BOTTOM, SOLID MID AND CLEAN HIGHS!!

Hi Keith, welcome to the group.

Another Keith. Before you know it we might catch up to the Paul's. LOL  
 
Keith

Huhuhuhu ...you can never catch up with Pauls.
It's a breed!
 
Paul TBO

Well, after much research and umming and ahhing, I took a chance and bought a Phil Jones amp. Off ebay. Er, without having tried one. Ever . . .
 
Yes, I KNOW this is something you should never do. Yes, I know you should meticulously audition amps to make sure they do what you want them to and sound how you want to sound.
 
But this was going at a decent price (considering Phil Jones stuff is pretty expensive), so I reckoned I could always sell it on if it didn't live up to the hype.
 
Anyway, in case you don't know, Phil Jones builds bass amps with 5 speakers. What these lack in surface area, he makes up for in quantity - the Six-Pak amp I bought features six of these 5-ers. But I was skeptical - I've always been from the 'bass-needs-big-speakers' school of thought.
 
But man, was I wrong. First of all, the volume out of this thing is incredible. At first I was worried - thinking this thing was like any other amp I've ever tried, I plugged in and noodled for a bit with the volume down to around 2 or 3 and I was pretty underwhelmed - 'This doesn't bode well', I thought. Not much volume at all. So I stupidly whacked it up to 10 expecting not much more volume and lots of distorted mush, and hit the strings. But the thing nearly blew my windows out. With the clearest, most bell-like tone I've ever heard. Not a trace of distortion.
 
With my ears still ringing, I knocked the volume down to a less painful 5 or 6, having learnt the first big difference between this and other bass amps: Phil Jones doesn't put all his volume in the first third of the volume dial (my old Hartke never got above about 3 on the volume dial - that was as loud as it went - beyond that point it was essentially the same volume, just with more unwanted mush). PJB amps actually do go up to 10.
 
The next thing I found is that this puts out more than enough bottom end, and much cleaner, more defined bottom end, in fact, than anything else I've ever tried.
 
And the biggest surprise: I could hear the true tone my bass for the first time. I knew my Alembic had a huge range of tones, but putting it through this seemed to bring out a whole layer of extra harmonics that made the whole sound so much more musical, somehow.
 
I've since found out too that in band situations, it doesn't need to be as loud as a regular amp needs to be - somehow the sound cuts through the mix a lot better and is much less 'directional': so the guys over the other side of the stage can hear you as well (which may or may not be a good thing).
 
I'm posting this cos I'm really blown away by this thing and think that everyone here should try one to see what they think - maybe it won't be to everyone's taste, but please don't discount it just because you think bass needs big speakers. This has just changed my mind about that completely.
 
OK, it has a downside - while it's marketed as being portable (it has wheels fitted and a trolley handle so you can wheel it like a suitcase), it's so over-engineered (heavy-duty metal fittings, thick casing) that it weighs a ton.And you could do yourself some serious damage trying to get it up and down stairs on your own. I recommend you get a mate to help - preferably your singer, cos he generally doesn't have to carry anything (other than his ego, of course, which may be burden enough for any man, but that's another story).
 
Anyway, that's all I wanted to say - try one out and hear the full glory of your Alembic!
 
K.