I'm down here for the JO water polo tournament going on in and around Irvine, and have my son visit the grand parents. I thought it would be fun to visit Kiesel's showroom yesterday.
We had a great experience trying out not just the basses, but the sample of amps Kiesel keeps in the showroom... Tone Hammer 500, Darkglass 900, TCE 550, TecAmp, Markbass, and PJB.
Loved the Darkglass the best, and so did my son. Paired with a TCE 2x10 cabinet, I found it not just easy to dial in a tone I like, but also very versatile. A close 2nd was the Tone Hammer paired with 2 1x12 Aguilar speakers that were super light.
I really didn't find the baked-in tone to the degree I imaged after reading here about Tone Hammers, although it was not comparable to the Darkglass in terms of versatility. I could play either and be happy.... really happy if I could not leave the speakers at the church but have to schlep those to/from every time.
The one issue I had with the Tone Hammer was to get some good grind by dialing up the gain knob, the master volume became too sensitive to smaller movement as I was using it. Maybe I was using it wrong to get that grind. Whereas, the Darkglass has blend knobs which left the sensitivity alone for the master volume, or so it seemed to me.
I didn't care much for the TecAmp Puma. Nothing wrong with the amp as it performed well and was the smallest in the bunch. It just was not for me. It was paired with TecAmp's 2x12. Same for the others as well.
So you ask why am I posting this in the bass forum? It's because I went back today and came out with a Vanquish 5-string.
Started testing the amps with a black JB5 that really didn't appeal to me. The single coil neck PU was outstanding, but I did not care much for the bridge PU as I felt it seemed over-matched by the neck PU. It also was well over 10 pounds and felt significantly heavy to me.
So I traded it for a V59K, and I knew instantly this was a great bass. Went in today, and the guys in the showroom saw me walk in and said they put more cables in the bass room and go and help myself. I went in and plugged the V59K into the Tone Hammer for one more quick check, and carried it to the counter because there's a sign that says my wife called and said I could have any bass in the showroom.
I'll post pics early next week when I get back up to home in San Jose. No amp or audio interface down here in SoCal. Almost dying to get home.
We had a great experience trying out not just the basses, but the sample of amps Kiesel keeps in the showroom... Tone Hammer 500, Darkglass 900, TCE 550, TecAmp, Markbass, and PJB.
Loved the Darkglass the best, and so did my son. Paired with a TCE 2x10 cabinet, I found it not just easy to dial in a tone I like, but also very versatile. A close 2nd was the Tone Hammer paired with 2 1x12 Aguilar speakers that were super light.
I really didn't find the baked-in tone to the degree I imaged after reading here about Tone Hammers, although it was not comparable to the Darkglass in terms of versatility. I could play either and be happy.... really happy if I could not leave the speakers at the church but have to schlep those to/from every time.
The one issue I had with the Tone Hammer was to get some good grind by dialing up the gain knob, the master volume became too sensitive to smaller movement as I was using it. Maybe I was using it wrong to get that grind. Whereas, the Darkglass has blend knobs which left the sensitivity alone for the master volume, or so it seemed to me.
I didn't care much for the TecAmp Puma. Nothing wrong with the amp as it performed well and was the smallest in the bunch. It just was not for me. It was paired with TecAmp's 2x12. Same for the others as well.
So you ask why am I posting this in the bass forum? It's because I went back today and came out with a Vanquish 5-string.
Started testing the amps with a black JB5 that really didn't appeal to me. The single coil neck PU was outstanding, but I did not care much for the bridge PU as I felt it seemed over-matched by the neck PU. It also was well over 10 pounds and felt significantly heavy to me.
So I traded it for a V59K, and I knew instantly this was a great bass. Went in today, and the guys in the showroom saw me walk in and said they put more cables in the bass room and go and help myself. I went in and plugged the V59K into the Tone Hammer for one more quick check, and carried it to the counter because there's a sign that says my wife called and said I could have any bass in the showroom.
I'll post pics early next week when I get back up to home in San Jose. No amp or audio interface down here in SoCal. Almost dying to get home.
