Bass Club Chicago Shootout - Bergantino Forte vs Aguilar Tone Hammer 500
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- Bass Club Chicago compares the Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 with the Bergantino Forte in a blind shootout. We played two basses, one active and one passive. Signal went direct from each head to our camera. The heads are referred to as Amp A & Amp B. Let us know which head you prefer in the comments below, and we will respond and let you know which head you picked as your favorite!
www.bassclubchicago.com
SPOILER ALERT! OK, here are the results! If you haven't watched the video, and made your choice between A or B, STOP READING NOW! As we have mentioned, the basses were played directly into each head, with no processing between them and the amp. The signal was taken directly from the XLR DI out of each amp, and sent direct into our camera. Amp A was the Aguilar, and Amp B was the Bergantino. Every attempt was made to make sure the signal output was balanced, but it does seem that Amp A may have a slightly hotter output than Amp B. Thanks for checking out our video!
As soon as amp B kicked in, I knew the first one (amp A) was Aguilar. The reason is: IMO, Aguilar did an amazing choice for their treble frequency, which adds a nice top end but without being harsh. So when amp B kicks in, it sounds harsher, it has a treble frequency that doesn't please my ears. The same problem happens with Markbass Little III (there's a comparison between it and the Aguilar AG 700 here on RUclips), where Markbass chose 10KHz while Aguilar uses 4KHz for their treble freq. So I'd bet Bergantino chose a treble freq closer to Markbass.
But anyway, both of them are amazing, and would probably please their buyers.
P.S.: Nice bass player! Who's the guy?
I'm curious what setting you used on the TH-500. Since the drive and gain work together, if you have both at 12:00 (as shown on the video), the drive was engaged quite a bit which would affect the sound. When I play on my TH-500, if I want a clean sound, I have to have the gain around 9:00-10:00 and adjust overall volume with the Master. If I want to use the drive sound, I'll crank the Gain to 12:00-1:00 and adjust the Drive correspondingly to achieve my desired sound. With the active bass, it sounded like it had more drive. If the Drive and Gain were set at 12:00 for both, the active and passive basses, the active would achieve more drive from the hotter signal than the passive.
I was beting the B was TH. I preferred the B then. Nice surprise
Ah, I didn't like bergantino many years ago and went with an Eden WT405 instead. I still don't like them and still have the WT405. It rocks.
You can see the reflection of the blue Aguilar light on the bridge of the bass at 1:30 ;-)
how can you accurately compare when one amp is clearly recorded louder then the other? The louder amp will jump out and probably sound better because you can hear it better.
I liked the A with the active sadowsky a TON. B sounded better with the passive Mike lull but honestly that bass sounded poor out of both amps.
Sound-wise I prefer Amp A for the Active Bass, Amp B for the Passive. Amp A had more presence and heft with the Sadowsky. B had better string and frequency balance and with the Passive Lull. I am going to guess that A is the Aguilar, and B the Berg.
Tom Huguelet totally agree on absolutely everything here
I agree too
Agree.
Tom those were my thoughts exactly. Amp A for SADOWSKY and amp B for the lull
A the best 👍
I would say “A” is the Aguilar TH because of its very immediate response and big bottom. The “B” sounds a little tighter, or focused but lacking the TH low end fundamental. Both tremendous amps either way 👌
A with the active Sadowsky
B with the passive Lull
Amp A but was very suprised it was the Aggie. Have owned both the 500 and the350 and was never able to get that kind of glassy sound from them. On the other hand I never used the DI.I think the Sads pre have a lot of impact here
I was surprised at how solid the Aggie sounded. I've used them on a couple of shows and thought they were weak. I think you're right about the pre having everything to do with that.
With the Aguilar TH you really have to use the gain and the drive to dial in your tone because of the schematics with a gain and drive circuit in the preamp section. Gain will give you more volume and still stay pretty clean, once you get your desired volume the drive circuit allows you to add more harmonics, growl all the way to an overdriven tone. If you have any experience with the preamp pedal that this amp is designed around you know what I’m getting at ✌️
I like Amp B for highs. Amp A had really good definition but both are great. Should have used a boutique wood bass to show the differences. Wood shows up sound more
While A was nice, for me B was more transparent with even tone more mids with a rounded bottom.
You should redo this shootout and make sure both amps are set to the same (or as close as possible) volumes. I owned the TH500 and loved it but I now have the Bergantino Forte with a Bergantino HD410 and this is my favorite rig I've ever owned by far.
Great amps, I went the Epifani personally and never looked back!! Glad u enjoy it
The Forte's DI out was much more flat than I would have expected. Good comparison either way.
Definitely preferred B; it was pushing some 'invisible frequency' in the-low mids; good dynamic balance across strings, and balance between fundamental tone and harmonics. Both sounded great though; nice demo - recording and playing. Thanks :D
I’m surprised. I thought they were a lot similar sounding than I’d have thought at first. Having owned the TH500 (but never using the DI), I always thought it was a bit “wooly”. But I wasn’t able to tell it from the Bergantino just by listening.
Of course, it could just be Kenery’s playing that makes them both sound good 😉
Both are amazing 🤩 I’ll happily take either on
definitely amp b for me, I like the way the amp offers more characteristics of the bass, either the active or passive
I preferred the A head , Aguilar surprisingly.
Thanks for doing the comparison. I wish more of these kind of comparisons were posted on you tube.... very useful. I'm really surprised that you couldn't get a dead silent clean matched signal out of the Bergantino. I own the amp. The DI is absolutely dead silent with no hiss.
I liked B in every case except the fingerstyle with the active J. Then again using only a DI signal IMO is not the best way to determine the overall best sound of a particular amp.
sounds like steel strings on the sadowsky, and why do I hear white noise on amp B? Also, I wish they were played though the cab and Mic'd
With the active Sadowsky amp A had more clarity, the one thing I noticed too was did the sadowsky have flat wound strings?. That may play a little part in the tone too. In Passive mode, amp B sounded warmer and had a richer, organic sound.. honestly, both amps would work for me all day.
Both basses had factory round wounds on them.
I am willing to bet that A outs itself on that fact that it has that mid spike characteristic of that range of amps. B though was more dynamic in the passive bass. I'll put my money on A to cut through the mix. I'll be surprised if I got flipped around on this one.
Hey guys, thanks for clip. not sure if it was mentioned but, are the DI's set to pre or post on both heads?
IMHO - I thought Amp A was far above Amp B. Just much more depth and color on that. No question. Hey Mark/Rick - if amp A is the Berg Forte am I a winner and I get one for free (lol)?
Amp A sounds better by itself, more scooped in the mid range, but, for me Amp B has a tighter low/high mid range, you would cut through a band easier with Amp B. I'd buy both, use Amp A in a trio (bass, drum, guitar) I think it would blend better in that setting and Amp B for everything else (horns etc).
A for me. So glad I bought the Aguilar TH 500 years back. That said the Berg is superb also. Great shootout thankyou
The Bergantino B-amp and the Forte HP allows you to add a number of different really good "tube", drive, od, fuzz to the sound on top of actually being transparent when needed. The regular Forte is good, but more of a transparent amp. Have an Aguilar TH 700 and the Forte HP and there is no comparison. Forte HP is so much better sounding and can do anything the Aguilar can do better and much more. Plus way more powerful if needed. Will replace the TH 700 with an EBS 802 soon. BTW, the Bergantino cabs are phenomenal. Have the HG410 and an NXT 2x12. Only issue with the bergs are that they are expensive. But there is only top components in any of Bergs products.
The A amp had a nice clear slap tone with the Sadowsky.
B had the better finger tone with the Lull.
Could we please get a demo that dedicates a part to just holding a note for 4 beats on different strings up the neck. I’m dying to hear what the amps sound like instead of a players style. How do these sound during a slow song, blues or just a simple shuffle? You know, how real bass playing at gigs are played. The initial split second attack tone is important, but what does it sound like after that?
On balance. Amp B because the passive guitar sounded better.
With the Active bass I like Amp A, With the Passive I like Amp B
The same
The Aguilar sounded warmer, similar to a tube amp. To me, it's much preferred over the other amp. But then again, I'm old school.
I prefer amp A with the active bass and amp B with the passive.
A was much better for active basses & B was better for the passive.
I preferred Amp A. I’ll be really surprised if it’s the TH500, because I’ve used that amp a number of times and have never really gotten along with it.
100% agreed - and A was the TH500 so no idea whats happening haha
Amp A for me on pretty much all counts
The Forte D is capable of bone crushing distortion, does the Aguilar have that ability or is it more average in that regard? I would think that side of an amps character should be demonstrated rather than its ultra clear modern sound. Anyone can make a sterile sounding amp.
I suppose the hiss we hear with the active bass going through Bergantino can be dealt with somehow, if not - you shouldn't compare them at all... Either way - must say I prefer the Aguilar... And the Bergantino to my taste goes far better with the passive bass
A is definitely the Aguilar. The mids kind of sound like you are playing through a fluffy wool pillow. The Forte is definitely more clear, but is missing some of the warmth from upper mid mids. I liked the Forte more with the Lull, but the Aggie more with the Sadowsky.
Surprised that they were that similar - both sounded very good. Great playing and groove as well. I could work to this demo and just let it play in the background.
I don't know what was going on with the mix or recording, but Mike Lull basses sound WAYYYY better than this. RIP Mike, you were one of the greatest human beings I ever knew.
My guess, A-The Berg, B-The Aggie. The Berg for active, the Aggie, passive. I would gig with either. Nice.
Aguilar-warm and syrupy. Bergantino-clean and sterile.
So I missed which amp was A which was B?
Amp A had me at the "get go.."
Thanks to everyone for participating! We'll give a little more time for a few more people to chime in, then we'll start responding to your comments.
Bass Club Chicago A, for girth.
Come on guys, give us the goods!
Okay sorry sorry, I didn't scroll down
Both heads sound great to me. It’s like comparing a Ferrari with a Lamborghini, both great cars but have different characteristics about them.
Please, what’s cab do you use for this démo ?
Not in every case, but in general B
A. No question.
I liked Head A better. To me had more bottom end.
Compared to the amp A, the headroom of the amp B is just gorgeous !
I've owned the Aguilar and think I know which that one is. I think......
A for active, B for passive
I love A 100% ill get 1 very soon thanks
Active I liked A-amp, but, passive I prefered B-amp. ...
the bass amp reference ... DB751... everything else is just imitation and a lower cost/weight..
Amp A sounds better, but it was also louder...
Both sound good. I bet you can play music with either of them.
A = TH500 and B = Berg. I preferred amp A.
A for Active...B for passive
I would prefer amplifier B
How about throwing in a few just straight quarter note pulse lines, or something Duck Dunn flavored maybe? Just groove a bit more repetitively, through in some reggae
I hate these overplayed sorts of demos. No useful info contained there in for myself and many others who play a bit more laid back. I can’t tell which one I like because of the 5 string wankery
Throw not through
I like A
WTF...Whats it sound lke just finger style..incredible
I think the Sadowsky active pick ups sounded much better.
I prefer amp A across the board.
Amp A
Amp “A” sounded by far better. More punch. Amp “B” too bright for both basses.
I prefer the A
In my honest opinion amp A blew amp B clear out of the water
Amp A for me
Definitely liked A better. More present tone.
Bro...Amp A is uh killa...what is that?!
All the way A
A - Forte, B- T-500
A. won it for me......Hands down my tone.
A
Holy shit, I have the two Aguilars and I'm selling the db751 to fund a Bamp
A for me
A more crisp and clean
A better way was to let the bassist play two bars of licks on amp A, then immediately switched to amp B and play the exact lick on amp B with the same muscle memory and dexterity. This video was not sufficiently accurate for me. Thanks for trying.
Amp B has richer mids...
amp “A” vs amp “B”
“A”guilar vs. “B”ergantino?
before even listening my brain thinks it knows which is which, hahaha
Not a fair test IMHO. :-(
Argghh. Can you tell us how you recorded this? It seems that the gain staging between the two amps is off! In the 1st run Amp A was set at a louder volume than Amp B....maybe not for the volume/gain settings on the actual amp, but as we all know that don't mean a hill of beans when the DB output can have huge variances in actual output volume vs what the knobs say. Man brains not working today.... Trying to say that Amp B sounds like at post you had to boost the volume to mach Amp A or something like that, so Amp A might sound better because it was louder to the general pop. Just wondering if all was done properly in recording or where you guys just having some fun? Sorry but I'm a gearslut and do a lot of studio recording too, I don't know it all though but wanted to see if my guess was correct. Don't matter either way as there was nothing out there before! Thanks though guys, I really appreciate it. And I dug both amps, the 1st sounded more typical to what the major Class D's sound like today. The second had more detail, but had a lot of background hiss and the low end was lacking as well. But I couldn't tell if that was from recording technique or the amp itself, which is why I ask. Had a few so maybe I'm way off....hahahaha. I'm actually in the market for one of these as well for my small venue live rig(I've got 3 different rigs right now). It's down to the Darkglass, Aguilar, Mesa, and Bergantino Class D's. Want to get them all in a room together with my studio rig and go to town....:)
Good observations. In retrospect, it does sound like Amp A is slightly hotter than Amp B. We recorded all basses direct from amp DI to camera input via XLR. Then recording was downloaded directly to a computer. All efforts were made to make sure outputs were equal, but a tweak of onboard bass controls could have affected output.
Bass Club Chicago... Ahhh hate it when that happens. It's always easier in hindsight though 😉 Thanks again for putting these up.
amp a
The amps weren't level matched, and thus your shootout is fundamentally flawed.
I prefer amp a
Amp A
A
A
A
A