Acoustic Image Contra Combo

Mine's a mix of a thee year old amp and a new cabinet. I took a Clarus head, and a cabinet and parts direct from AI and made a combo. I won't repeat the basic specs since others have covered that. I will note that it has as wide a tonal control range as I need, along with a good effects send/receive, notch filter and low-Z out that I use for recording.

I'm playing mine with upright bass, electric upright (Azola), and a variety of bass guitars. This amp doesn't provide the kind of distorted sound you need for heavy rock and funk, but I find it suits jazz, folk, country and supporting acoustic instruments very well. You can always add distortion with an outboar device.

No problems.

My experience with AI has been first rate. I spoke directly with AI's president about the head-to-combo conversion, and he took his time to explain everything I'd need to know.

Playing for about 35 years; bass for 30. Best bass combo I've ever had. I'm selling my G&K 200MB.

Just posting an update to my previous review.

The Gallien-Krueger MB150 is a serious contender with this amp. I don't own a GK MB150, but I've tried one in the shop with several different bass guitars, and have also heard a few of these amps in live settings with upright bass (and Realist pickups).

I haven't tried all possible combinations of strings and pickups, of course, but the Contra seems *not* to be a great amp for P-bass at gig volumes. At low volumes, it's great with the P-bass, but at gig volumes, it starts to sound a little sterile and lame. (The keyboard player doesn't think it sounds bad, but I do.)

With a Jazz bass, I think the Contra sounds great at low *and* high volume. So much so, that I traded my P-bass in on a Jazz bass. It's all about finding the right bass for the amp, and vice versa, but I was having a very hard time finding an amp that sounded good at gig volumes with Fender or Thomastik flatwounds on a P-bass. YMMV, and there are many amps I haven't tried (particularly tube amps). But I think most modern amps are designed to sound optimal with a roundwound-strung Jazz bass. Or maybe Thomastik flats on a Jazz bass.

Bottom line, I give the Contra a vote of confidence as an amp for upright or Jazz bass. With a P-bass, it's iffy and may come down to your choice of strings or sound concept. Although when you get right down to it, in the end I traded the bass and not the amp, so I guess I do trust the amp to adequately reflect whatever bass you've got. And it's so very portable.

Still ticking after two years with lots of hard knocks on public transit. No problems whatsoever, except the plastic speaker grills cracked (and the woofer grill tended to fall off at random moments). But the manufacturer replaced the grills at no charge, which was more than I would have expected, given the abuse this amp has seen. Also, I should mention that the new version of this amp is likely to have more sturdy speaker grills. Version 1 of anything will always have bugs.

Very good. Quick response to e-mails, and no charge for service for which I would have expected some kind of fee.

Great value if you're looking for a small, portable combo that sounds good at jazz gig volumes with upright bass or Jazz bass. YMMW with P-bass or other basses. Try it and see. I don't claim to have comprehensive knowledge.

In my experience, the only serious competitor in terms of portability and sound quality is the GK MB150.

Probably made in 2000. This is the older model, 200 watts and 25 pounds. The newer model is 300 watts, 30 pounds.

10" downfiring woofer, plus a 5" speaker that faces forward. 4 tone control knobs. High and low gain inputs. Impedance selector button. Volume (gain) and master volume knobs. Effects loop. Balanced XLR out. 300-watt extension speaker jack with Speakon connector.

I only give this a 9 because the Coda has even more features. Compared to your average bass combo, this is a 10.

I use this with an Engelhardt C-1 upright bass, David Gage Realist pickup, and Velvet Compas 360 synthetic gut strings. Also with a fretless 1990 Fender American Standard P-Bass strung with an old set of Fender flatwounds.

This amp totally suits my style for classic jazz on the upright. It's clear, rich, and has plenty of bass without being boomy. It makes the Engelhardt sound surprisingly good. It's not quite a Paul Chambers sound, but then it's an Engelhardt and the strings aren't real gut.

The downfiring woofer design means that on carpet, the amp sounds muffled. I bring along a small board when I know there's carpet on the stage, and it seems to help. On a hard floor, or through the PA, nothing can touch this amp for tone. As a stage monitor, it's plenty loud. The sound from the woofer spreads in all directions so everybody onstage can hear you.

With the P-bass, it reproduces very accurately the sound of the unplugged bass. I just tested a bunch of Ampegs this week (solid-state combos and tube heads + cabinets), thinking that they'd give the P-bass a great Motown sound. Believe it or not, the Contra sounds better for that style. The Ampegs all seem to color the sound, and have too much midrange crunch. Also, I find that the Contra is much more responsive to differences in where I pluck the strings, which gives the P-bass a very broad tonal palette. The Ampegs seem to blur those distinctions. The Contra really does sound like your axe. If there's a dead spot, you'll hear it. If you don't pull a good tone from your strings, you'll hear it. But if the axe is good and your technique is good, this amp will do justice to them.

I'd like a little more punch from it with the bass guitar, but after trying all those Ampegs, I think maybe the Contra plus a compressor will sound better. It's ridiculously small and light, and has plenty of headroom. I occasionally have trouble keeping up with a drummer who uses a rock kit and pounds on it when he gets excited. With the average classic jazz drummer, it's plenty loud, and the 300-watt model is bound to be louder than this one.

I don't know how it sounds with roundwounds, or if it would be any good for slap.

With the upright, I generally have to roll off a little bass to avoid getting distortion, but the tone from the amp still has plenty of bass.

Overall the amp is very quiet. I've never heard any noise from it, but one time when I had the treble all the way up, the soundman said he was getting a hiss. I turned it down and he seemed happy with it.

This amp also gives a great clean jazz guitar sound, so it's not just a bass amp.

Very reliable. I've been taking it all over the Chicago area on buses and trains, several trips a week for about 18 months. On average, three rehearsals a week, and two or three gigs a month. Other than a few scuffs, it's still in great shape.

Very good. When I had some questions, the owner of the company responded kindly and quickly to several e-mails.

If it were stolen, I'd take the chance to upgrade to the newer model, or an Acoustic Image Coda. But it's a great amp.