Review Demo - Demeter Amplification Bass 400

Read the review: http://bit.ly/DemeterBass400

Electronics guru James Demeter has spent more than three decades producing amps and pedals that exemplify his no-frills approach to handcrafted analog gear. Based on his 800-watt VTBP-M-800D bass amp, the new Bass 400 is a petite 400-watt powerhouse that pairs Demeter’s early ’80s VTBP-201 tube preamp with a class-D power amplifier. The idea was to provide a smaller and more affordable alternative to Demeter’s flagship bass amp, with minimal tonal sacrifices.

Half-Power Howler
The Bass 400 comes in two aesthetic flavor options—a caged enclosure (which we received for our test unit) or a tolex-wrapped head. An exceptional handwiring job was revealed when I pulled the amp’s bottom panel off. The preamp’s circuit board looks decidedly old-school next to the modern and precise class-D power-amp board. The preamp’s board is populated with low-noise metal-film resistors and a ceramic socket for the 12AX7 tube. There’s also a little trimmer pot for matching the amp’s output volume with the sensitivity of your bass’ pickups.

The front panel sports a 3-band EQ and controls for volume and presence, along with separate inputs for active and passive basses. A switch below the bass dial sets its range to within either 60 Hz or 120 Hz, and the switch beneath the treble knob selects dark, normal, or bright mode for the highs.

The back of the amp features separate power amp in and preamp out jacks alongside dual Speakon 1/4" combo speaker jacks, which deliver either 250 watts into 8 ohms or 400 watts into 4 ohms. The rear panel also houses a balanced XLR output with a pre/post EQ switch that can be upgraded with a dedicated Jensen transformer for a couple hundred bucks.

To continue reading the review, visit: http://bit.ly/DemeterBass400