Been playing over 25 years

Rock, Blues, Country

If you're coming in looking for a distinctive amp character sound... this ain't it. This is for clean headroom that allows you to sculpt your sound with pedals if you need to or with modeling... or for seriously hearing what your bass actually sounds like. For me personally, I've really come to enjoy it (and I lusted after the SVT grit sound forever) and I can't believe this does good of a job for the price.

The power section on this is just unreal - I'm sure the wattage measure for volume is probably a little relative (then again, so is 1-10 or 11, right?), but I don't ever take it much over the "40W" marker going into a 2 x 12 cab (yeah, you read that right) and I've never had a problem keeping up with two guitarists and a drummer, either on stage or in our practice space. The EQ is a little weird if you're coming from a low/mid/high setup like just about every piece of equipment out there has, but it honestly ends up being more intuitive for adjusting to a room or different bass in front of it. I took a gamble on the line out, which I understand isn't "true DI" in the sense that it isn't an independent signal from the rest of the amp (so if you mess with EQ or volume, your FOH has to adjust on their end), but in the end I ended up pairing this with an MXR Bass DI+ for a FOH signal and to get another distortion sound, so it sort of renders that point moot. I also wish they'd put 2 Speakon jacks instead of 1 Speakon and 2 1/4" outs, but not the end of the world for me.

I think the biggest learning curve on this is the EQ, but as I mentioned, once you understand it, it makes much more sense than your standard 3-band.

For as light as it is, it feels like a tank! The only thing I'd even be a little nervous about is the small mute switch - which just feels light because, well, it's a tiny plastic switch that you just tap, no need for a big ol' mechanical clunker, right? And as silly as it seems, just the basic case is still a great touch.

I was very much on the fence between this and the Mesa/Boogie Subway series, and I think if they had been the same price (and both available from zZounds with pay as you play) I would have probably ended up going with the Mesa ONLY because of the name... but I don't at all regret going with this instead. It's done everything I've asked of it.

Haven't had to deal with them directly but a big reason I purchased was that it seems like they're extremely good about direct support (including from Pat himself!)

Would this blow me away as a gotta-have if I had the funds and the means? I mean, tonally, no - alone, it's not tickling my ears, but it does rumble the rump in a rather pleasing way (hey, this is a safe space, don't judge my kinks.) But as someone who needed (fine, WANTED) a physically-smaller bass amp that did the job so I could keep spending my money on rebuilding crappy guitars instead, this 100% does the trick.

15 years of guitar, bass, drums...

Radio-friendly metallic-tinged hard rock

Been paying over 35 years, I play Upright and electric bass

Rockabilly, 50's Rock N Roll, Surf and blues