6 Class D bass amp comparison：Bergantino、Aguilar、Epifani、Markbass、Darkglass

1:04-10:34 All Record Post EQ Signal
10:48 - And use the mic pick up the bass cabinet (Markbass 102HF)
Bass：Sadowsky RV4、FBass Bn5、Moonrise MJB-200
Mic:Audix D6、Shuer SM57
Audio Interfaces：Focusrite 4Pre

[@RobMLyon]

The AG700 blew me away and I own 2 mb heads. Time to sell one or both!! I also have this cab so she’s a keeper ( A HUGE thanks for doing this)

[@joelonsdale]

They are SO similar that the differences are insignificant, especially once the drummer starts playing. I've got a Little Mark and an EBS Reidmar and they DO sound quite different but I don't really care that much - it's all about the song and very little to do with the minutae of tone. Anyway, don't get too hung up on the gear, it's all about the song...

[@francoishtzl157]

He record through the DI so you can't hear a lot of difference. I switch from Darkglass to Bergantino and they sound and feel a lot different

[@jobbo89]

I think he did something wrong, they shouldn't sound that similar

[@RobMLyon]

@@jobbo89didn’t sound similar at all with a set of cans on

[@Tigers25]

Great A\B comparison.... Thanks and greetings from Berlin, Germany

[@carlosps9612]

If you tell me that you just changed the pictures and the sound was always from the same source I would have believed you.

[@jenson-2460]

You should really train your ears then ;-)

[@cunjoz]

@@jenson-2460 no he shouldn't. i'm listening this through my adam monitors and the differences are insignificant when they're set flat. yes, the darkglass has the most high end, but psychology plays a significant role in noticing things. if you're looking for a difference in sound and you have visual aid, you'll be able to find it more easily. you can even be tricked into finding differences where there are none just because you're expecting them.

[@NelsonMontana1234]

@@jenson-2460 Yeah, like I'm sure you could pick out which was which without looking at them.

[@davidl.jr.2006]

Epifani all the way. It’s very clear and transparent.

[@shipsahoy1793]

I have a little mark head, so I always wondered if I made the right choice, as I didn't hear what some of these other great brands of heads sounded like in comparison. So after hearing how similar these heads all are, I'll just keep EQ'ing and using different cabs to suit the situation.🤣

[@codybass]

Well, this convinced me not to buy a new amp. Thanks!

[@EricT43]

Great comparison, thanks! I thought the Aguilar AG700 sounded the best, it had a spacious clarity and deepness that the other's didn't. The differences are very minor, however. Any one of them could be EQ'd to sound like any of the rest.

[@groovedoctor82]

Man the Tone Hammer sounds great in my opinion. Great shoutout. Epiphani would be 2nd/close tie. Great playing too!

[@Itsallawesome]

Dark glass and Aguilar for me

[@NelsonMontana1234]

So similar with the Epipani having a heftier low midrange and the Aguilar being a bit thinner than the darkglass a bit brighter. I've played the Bergantino and although I love their speakers I found the head isn;t as powerful as its wattage would suggest. The Markbass seems to be a nice medium.

[@nothingEvil101]

All VERY similar

[@nothingEvil101]

@RODSLINGER I‘m generally not the biggest fan of these small digi-amps soundwise. They might be cool and practical, but they‘re always a compromise

[@donvape336]

@RODSLINGER the same power section, very interesting.

[@samcockrell]

Mark bass is smoking🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@marvinkmooneyoz]

I wasn’t hearing the difference on the issues were all set flat, I heard a small difference at the beginning of when you had the settings changed, but as the video went on, my ears got more acquainted with them, and I started noticing the difference is more…tonehammer has more it’s own character vs ag for example, markbass sounds made for a certain type of laid back funk player

[@beornthebear.8220]

I have a Mark Bass Little Mark Tube 800. I think I'll keep it.

[@guil_juliao]

Darkglass was the biggest surprise here. I'll keep my markbass head for now. All other heads are very similar sound to each other.

[@andesneko]

Bergantino and AG700 did it for me. For slap, Bergantino for sure.

[@huffnbassist8779]

Great playing

[@ObraBass]

Nice demo

[@gianlucabassi8853]

GrBass amps are great too

[@user-bw4sr9iq9j]

PUT YOUR EAR PHONES ON... No they don't.... Listen....!!! ? ? ? ? This is great video to sharpenyour skills on. Just in the power supply you can hear different tones...and quietness... Let alone the mids in each and presence.. IMO And thanks to the author for a great video...

[@craigmoran893]

My god, they all nearly sound the same. I wish we could know which is the best quality - drop test!

[@mariocortes3632]

Maybe is using just the Di of each amp? That why sounds so similar? Probably the sound coming out of the speaker have some coloration

[@ethanlancaster76]

You are absolutely correct. We’re only hearing the signal from each amp pre EQ and most, if not all of the power amp sections in these are exactly the same and made by Bang and Olufsen so I really don’t know how people are saying that one amp sounds so much better than another since the tone is indistinguishable. I’m only noticing minor changes in the output level that is coming from the DI and made the comparison a waste of time for anyone who is trying to make a decision based on the natural coloration of the different amps as the EQ and preamp sections are being completely bypassed making the difference in tone negligible to say the least. I guess just go for the one that looks better to you if you’re not interested in anything other than the DI of your amp.

[@johnsausage]

​@@ethanlancaster76At 10:44 they compared the power amp output with a mark bass cab. I thought I'd hear most of the differences in the preamp section though. The differences with the cab are so subtle again (most likely because of teeny tiny different settings and different behaviour of the EQ, switches, etc.). Means that it probably doesn't really matter which amp you get and you only decide based on the additional features the amps provide. Which makes choosing an amp much easier :-D

[@american-professor]

It's interesting how there's almost no difference between these amps w/o eq

[@alfieharries]

Wow, had no idea that the head made this little difference. Got decent in-ears in, can barely hear a difference between any of them 😂

[@samcockrell]

They all sound so close in comparison price and weight plus the cabinet and what’s in your bass you can’t pick a one cause there isn’t a bad one👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@calvin2516]

I listened through a set of DT770 pro's. Aguilar and Darkglass had a bit too much character, though i liked their sound. My personal favorite of that group would be Bergantino. Then get the character through the instrument and effects.

[@bergglobus2428]

The tone is pretty close. The only difference I noticed was that I didn't like the black one with the fat knob and the black and white Aguilar seems different. But other than that it comes down to the features for me.

[@gitsapongpromthep1985]

For me ; (Epifani Bergantino)>(AG700 Markbass)> Tone hammer>Darkglass

[@JohnECocaine]

Yep

[@rogerb5957]

Welcome to the world of class D bass amps. Before class D, the power amp design had a huge impact on the tone and feel of your amp. Now with class D, every amp out there is using one of just a few different off the shelf class D modules. So you no longer have every amp out there having a different power section design. This video is a good example of how that has affected the bass amp market, as all these amps sound very similar. So similar in fact, that I doubt you would be able to hear much of a difference in a live setting and I'd be willing to bet that with the use of EQ and possibly a distortion pedal for added harmonics, every one of these amps could be dialed in to sound just like the others.

[@johnsausage]

It would be nice to have a comparison (made as good as this one) with other amps. AFAIK most of the new class D amps use the power modules from ICE. But how come they all design the preamp section that similar? I guess they want to have a clean signal first and foremost.. which isn't bad to start with.. but as you say.. none of these amps have any "character". Doesn't matter which one you buy if you ignore the additional features..

[@francismckagan5422]

The usual BS we can find on internet. If you set any amp to sound the same, they WILL sound the same. In a blind test you wouldn't make any difference against any other amps.

[@rogerb5957]

@@johnsausage IcePower is the most popular, but there are some amps out there using Hypex and Pascal. There are some subtle differences in the way the different amps behave. I know there are a lot of players who think power is power and that the power section has nothing to do with the sound and feel of the amp, but I highly disagree. Take the effects send out of your class D amp and run it into something like a Crest CA9 and the difference can be very eye opening.

[@rogerb5957]

@@francismckagan5422 A lot of this comes down to how well trained the player's ears are. Your'e correct in that a large percentage of players wouldn't be able to tell most amps apart if you set all the tone controls to achieve the relatively similar sound. But there are certainly those among us with more highly trained ears who can pick out the details in different amps. Think of studio engineers who are able to pick out the subtle differences between different compressors, or microphones. To bassist with highly trained ears, the subtle differences do make a difference. Most players though could probably plug into any amp and get a very usable tone. As an amp manufacturer myself, I still believe that 90% of your tone comes from your hands and not the bass, or the amp.

[@francismckagan5422]

@@rogerb5957 I agree 100%

[@heriberteisinger5892]

is it just me, or do they all sound identical?

[@bcroson82]

Tone hammer sounding nice and round and warm to me. Dark glass and mark bass frequently sounded too thin and metallic. The EPI was a real dark horse as well.

[@lordthorby6199]

I owned the tonehammer 500, I got a lemon out the box. I contacted Aguilar they refused to service it. I sold it for an orange and never looked back. Now I refuse to own anything Aguilar their Customer service is as bad as their quality control.

[@littleblackcloud86]

The Tonehammer wins this for me, by quite some distance. Fattest sounding with the nicest mid-range.

[@yanniskalt4062]

They all sound the same because they are practicality from almost the same chips. I bought an TC electronic and it sounds like them

[@catbrian22]

能否做Trickfish 箱頭或cab頻測？謝謝

[@luigi.zanini]

1:04 2:01 3:00

[@JohnECocaine]

Epifani

[@kaybhee6]

if u close ur eyes,,, can u hear any diff

[@ts4gv]

barely

[@sri888]

You are right I can not... it may be the recording or just...Class D hell

[@jaroslavhorvat6307]

Of course not, I play bass, I can't hear subtle sound differences.

[@donvape336]

I can't hear a difference and I play bass. Well, what difference I may hear isnt worth any cost difference.

[@HollywoodTheTradeKing]

Maaaaan. I cant hear any difference

[@raffaelecrupi9347]

trovo le 2 Aguilar, soprattutto la tone hammer , quelle col suono piu' pulito !! , piu' hi fi !!! La Darkglass, quella leggermente piu colorata

[@brianjenks1]

I or any good player can get a great tone from any of those amps

[@raffaelecrupi9347]

quella che mi piace meno...la Darkglass !!! ma son gusti !!!

[@kaybhee6]

same

[@kevmac1230]

Don't hear much difference between the amps but I think I'd go with the Epifani though the Darkbass surprised me at how good it was with out distortion.

[@BassMan2727]

Aguilar ag 700 is top.

[@joekao192]

They all sounds similar, in my experience, the cab matter, bass head is not import !

[@Ashton351]

For real? I hear ZERO difference. ?

[@johnsausage]

In the beginning at 1:13 the Tone Hammer 500 sounds fuller than the AG 700 at 1:23 and the settings SEEM to be similar. But the difference is so subtle you could just get the same sound by tweaking the amp a tiny bit. Then compare the AG 700 at 3:00 with the Tone Hammer 500 at 3:10. The Tone Hammer 500 sounds thinner.. but you can see that the bass knob is turned down a bit. I guess they were just manually trying to get the same sound. At 10:44 I thought that the sound differences would show at last.. xD

[@thomasluce3512]

So it's a di shootout

[@sethnicholls7861]

It would be nice if every amp was set flat, you know with all the EQ knobs at 12:00?

[@isaiahedwards8193]

They were in the first set of clips.

[@ts4gv]

They didn’t like this idea, that’s why this video is one second shorter than 12:00

[@relaxingsounds1386]

they all sound the same