Behringer BX4500H Ultrabass Bass Amplifier Head (450 Watts)

Feature:
Decent EQ and tone shaping. UltraBass sounds like a fat octaver, but a little bit muddy below middle C. Sounds rightous in higher registers.

Quality:
From what I see so far, its very well made and durable.

Value:
You won't find any thing this good for anywhere close to the price.

Desirability:
The head doesn't have alot of sex appeal but if you get one of the cabs with the aluminum cones and set it on top, it looks hot.

Sound:
Great sound, lots of power. However, if you buy this head take advantage of the neutrik speakon connections! They blow away the 1/4 in. patches hands down! I was happy but not impressed with this head until my speakon cable arrived and then BOOM! Like night and day man! Best deal under $200 or $400 for that matter.

Support:
The best thing I like about a product is NOT having to call support. So far so good!

Overall:
This one is a winner. I have only had it for a few weeks but I know what I like and I like this product.

Feature:
Please read my previous review, but in general, almost every feature is a useful one, especially if you decide to use this capable amp for other things than bass. I didn't think the ultrabass was important at first, but we have come to use it as well when we want an octaver effect.

Quality:
All my amps and cabs came without problems and have not had any problems since. We play regularly, move them from gig to gig, use them for practice, and don't baby them. They are very solid, with both the amps and cabs being housed in thick wood and black rug. Metal grills on the cabs have held up well and offer lots of protection. Here's a story - On the first amp I said that the knobs were too "loose", no resistance to the touch, which feels "cheap". Well by the time I bought number two, they had substituted knobs that had great high quality feel. Number three came that way as well. To say I was impressed, is an understatement. I am not saying they listened, I am just saying they are looking to improve and have.

Value:
The rig I have described above includes 3 BX4500H, 2 BA410s and 1 BA115. Even if you think the heads are overrated in terms of power (which I doubt having used them) lets say they produce close to 1000 Watts, you have three cabes with 8 10" drivers, 1 15" driver, and three high frequency horns (switchable) and they all have aluminum cones. All this costs less than $1700 even with Speakon cables added. Well - you could say Ampeg is the way to go - the 450W solid state heads there start at about $580 each. Hartke - $500. Do the math, then buy these things before they go up again.

Desirability:
As a group this triple rig has a lot of appeal, but even the smallest version looks fine on stage.

Sound:
This amp's main reputation problem is people love to bash Beringher. Otherwise, it's a really great bass amp for the working musician. I wrote a review on my first one back in October of 2005. We now use three BX4500H heads in our setup. Two of them drive BA410 cabs, and one drives a BA115. Someone back then said buy two, they're cheap. We got thinking about it, and it seemed appropriate to buy three in fact! The heads work best with a single cab, because of the impedence, so we bought three cabs, and three heads. We loop them, plugging the bass into the first one, coming out of the effects loop to drive the second, and into the second through the return jack, which basically just uses the power amp section of that head, and then the same loop out of head two and into head three. You can then adjust the settings on the first head, just crank up the output knob on all three and KABOOM! You get far less noise by slaving them in this manner. It's still not as spiffy as some tube amp at twice the price, but there's little else that will match it at the money. By the way, use Speakon cables to the cabs, it really makes a difference.

Ease of Use:
The variety of inputs and outputs make the set up I describe under sound possible and that is the key to making this a first class professional rig, while not spending the earth. And what I describe is just one possibility. A huge side benefit of the collective rig, is that it is modular. If you want to go to a small venue, or practice, take one head, and the BA115. Need a sweet setup in a medium sized venue, two heads, and the 2 BA410s. Need a system for an outdoor, or just want to impress the troops (and yes people will be impressed even though its Beringher) bring all three heads and all three cabs. A setup for any occasion.

Support:
No real experience with service, they work far too well. I have used the Beringher web site to keep up with what's going on there, and I find it useful.

Overall:
Great value, and it delivers. Would consider Fender pro series and Ampeg is money was not an issue.