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We know not everyone wants to (or can) spend the bucks to get a boutique amp for their upright bass. We proudly offer and recommend (and use) amps in the Acoustic Image and Euphonic Audio lines, both of which are highly respected, top-quality brands. But, let's face it - they don't come cheap.
 For several years now, we've been looking for a decent amp to do the job for buyers with more modest budgets. But as you may have read, the gear we sell has to pass the "Bob and Mark Test" - meaning, if we wouldn't use it ourselves, we won't sell it. It takes an amp with particular character and the right technical specifications to reproduce the acoustic sound of an upright bass.
With this amplifier from Traynor, we believe we've found a great option for those buyers. It's constructed with real plywood, not fragile particle board or heavy MDF. It uses an Eminence driver that Traynor had custom-designed specifically for this amp. It offers 100 watts - modest, but enough power to handle most small to mid-size gigs, and has an intelligently designed cabinet that allows it to be oriented normally or placed on an angle like a floor monitor. Its styling is clean and unassuming, not flashy, but classy. All this, and a solid 2-year warranty.
Obviously, most important (to us) is its ability to be used with Upright Bass - in researching it, we were told by the factory that it has an input impedance at (or around) 1 MegOhm, which makes it ideal for most upright bass pickups.
 So how does it sound? Surprisingly, quite neutral! We hesitated to audition one of these amps since it has a fifteen inch woofer, but were pleasantly surprised by its "voice." It is far less colored than you'd expect, especially considering the price level. Set flat, the amp sounds remarkably... well, flat! We found its tone clean and natural, even at higher volumes - with the Eminence bass (Realist pickup) and Bob's Juzek (Full Circle) - without using a separate preamp. Balanced tone, smooth upper mids, and far more top end than one might expect from a fifteen, and not at all boomy or tubby.
It also sounded great with electric bass; Bob's active 5-string electric bass sounded great all the way up and down the neck, and the "scoop" control made it easy to instantly dial in a contemporary electric bass tone. So this amp can do double-duty - it works equally well with electric or acoustic bass.
Why do we care about the angled side for monitor style placement? Most compact combos amps are aimed at your knees, and knees (at least mine) do not have ears on them. We often end up increasing volumes when we can't hear ourselves over the rest of the band, and DIRECTING the sound (rather than cranking up the amp) gives us a better chance of hearing ourselves without being yelled at to turn down. You'll also notice that Acoustic Image and EA cabs have a tilt-back feature; they "get it", too.
Highlights
- CD/Line RCA input Jack: plug in your iPod, tape deck, CD player, even a mini-mixer - play along with other tracks for practice or performance.
- Dual Input Jacks: Passive and Active inputs for compatibility with a large variety of instruments.
- XLR Output: Send a balanced XLR signal to the PA Mixer without a separate direct box - it even has a switch to send pre- or post-EQ!
- Effects Send and Return: If you have effects you want to add to your sound, you can loop them in here!
- Headphone Jack: Plug in some headphones and practice without bugging everyone in the house! Using the headphone jack automatically mutes the speaker.
- Innovative Cabinet Design: The cabinet has a unique shape which allows you to place the amp in a traditional position; but it also has an angled side, which also gives you the option to lay the amp down like a stage floor monitor.
Pros and Cons:
- In spite of its 100 watt rating, we find the amp can get quite loud without distortion.
- Volume-wise, it's not in the same ballpark when you compare to the much higher-powered combos from Acoustic Image, or the 550w Micro/Doubler from Euphonic Audio.
- While it's nowhere near as small and light as an Acoustic Image combo - or the EA Doubler and a Wizzy 10 - it's still reasonably portable, with a built-in handle on one side for toting it around.
- It's got one channel only (though with the AUX RCA jack input you can add additional sources) and has no microphone input.
- The DI output and effects loop are useful and gig-worthy features.
- It can power its internal speaker only; there is no external speaker jack.
- Its 15" driver sounds pretty controlled - not tubby - but the 10" and 12" speakers in the EA and Acoustic Image gear do have a tighter, more focused and controlled sound. Even so, it does not disappoint!
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Features
- Flexible Tilt-back Cabinet Design
- 3-band EQ (Bass/Mid/Treble)
- Scoop Control: boosts lows and highs, cuts mids; not useful for URB
- Active and Passive Instrument Level Inputs
- XLR Balanced Pre or Post D.I. Output
- RCA Auxiliary Line Input for CD / MP3 player
- Integrated All-Metal Bar Handle
- ¼ inch Headphone Output
- EFX send/return loop
Specifications
- Power: 100 watts
- Burst Power - 2 cycle: 150
- Speaker: Single 15 inch
- Frequency Response (Hz +/-3dB): 50 - 15k
- Inputs: two ¼ inch (passive, active); two RCA auxilliary jacks
- Controls: one each Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Scoop
- Input Sensitivity: (mV) 60
- Line Out: XLR with Pre- Post-EQ choice
- LED Indicators: Power
 - Headphone Jack: ¼ inch
- Speaker Jack: None, the unit is designed to drive the internal speaker only.
- Dimensions 13 x 17 x 21 inches / 33 x 43.2 x 50.3 cm
- Weight: 30 lbs. / 13.6 kg.
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