NAD and totally rejigged my rig!

[Le Chat Noir]

Today I received a bit of a rarity in the post - a Musicman Audiophile HD500 bass amp. It was a short-lived and commercially unsuccessful foray into modern bass amps for Musicman, I believe they were only made for a few years about a decade ago and retailed at about 1300 dollars. The amps were made in Italy by the guys who went on to have much success as Markbass. I got it for 200 quid posted, bit of a bargain I reckon!

My intention was to tweak my guitar rig to triamp again, with 2 bass amps - one a really low endy clean (HD500) and the other fuzzy low mid/bass (Bass Terror). In the end I think the HD500 will end up being the sole bass amp in my rig! It's really meaty and the extra tone shaping abilities really help me sculpt my sound. However, I did try it with bass and for me the Bass Terror wipes the floor with it for the kind of tones I like. The Bass Terror will be staying with me as a guitar rig backup and my main bass amp!

Whilst I was at it, I also fooled around with my 18w clone, which hasn't had much use recently - remember now why I love that little guy! Instant gutsy AC/DC-type tone in a box, at sensible volumes - coupled with the fact it takes drive pedals well even when it's dimed! I may actually think about using this amp in place of my AD30 for a while... as much as I love the AD30, it's nice to have a change for a bit. The 18 watter has a lovely chimey, open sound, a stark contrast to the dark, muscular, dry sound of the AD30.

[AJS19]

Very cool Teddy! I'd love to see some updated gear pictures! Especially of that 18 watt clone. Handwired? Gut shots?

[Le Chat Noir]

It ptp wired on turret board, was a prototype chassis built by a company called Valvepower who now produce it as a little cage amp (http://www.valvepower.co.uk/18w_amp.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Mine was built with NOS components and caps and I got it for a bargain price, think it was about 100GBP on Ebay Don't have gut shots but will maybe take some sometime - I made a head case for it myself that I'm quite proud of, will get some shots of that when I have a moment!

[Neiloler]

Really cool, I love the little quant bargains of rock history. Sometimes I don't understand why some products or models don't take off. Markbass is really big right now, you'd think that people would have caught on before.

[indianDYsummer]

Really cool, I love the little quant bargains of rock history. Sometimes I don't understand why some products or models don't take off. Markbass is really big right now, you'd think that people would have caught on before.

Some companies need to make their amps really bright colors in order for people to see how awesome they are!

[Neiloler]

Really cool, I love the little quant bargains of rock history. Sometimes I don't understand why some products or models don't take off. Markbass is really big right now, you'd think that people would have caught on before.

Some companies need to make their amps really bright colors in order for people to see how awesome they are!

So. True.