EBS Gorm 350ET 210 Combo

The amp is a 350W combo with 2 10" speakers and a 2" tweeter, with Mosfet electronics.

I purchased the amp around september 2004, just as the new model came out (with upper rubber handles and sturdy side handles, plus wheels, which the previous model didn't have).

I play several styles (from alt/hard rock, like A Perfect Circle, Tool, Pearl Jam or Foo Fighters, to more brit pop-rock like Placebo, Radiohead, Biffy Clyro, My Vitriol, etc... but occasionally i might play jazz, punk, prog...), and it suits them all! It has a great range of action, and it can cover virtually anything, even if many bass players are reluctant about EBS amps and their possibilities with hard rock or metal.

It has a single input, single channel (separate gain and volume knobs), but with a couple of nifty options, like the bypass switch (to get a clean amplified sound, or filtered thru the 4-knob eq), or a "bright" knob for some clear, high end boost. The interesting part comes with the built in Compressor/Limiter (external footswitch to enable/disable it -plus an added "mute" switch- optional), the Character switch (to get a mid-range boost/cut), and a Crossover option, to send the low frequencies to an extension cabinet (especially useful if you wanna use a 1x15 cab... Only downside is that the cab needs to be autoamplified, or you need a poweramp for it).
As far as outputs are concerned, it has a single XLR output, plus Line (full range signal), Tuner, and Low (for bi-amping via an extension cabinet, controlled by the Crossover knob) jack outputs. It also has Monitor, Lo-Z (for low impedance units, disables when the front input is being used) & Remote (for the optional footswitch) jack inputs.
And another interesting feature... all inputs & outputs have a phantom power option (you just need a stereo cable for this). I asked, and in theory, the input jack only powers EBS pedals (9v ones, can't use it with a ValveDrive pedal, for example), but I haven't tried to use it with an active bass (the TD-650 head's phantom option does allow for powering active basses, if i recall correctly, but I'm not completely sure about that).

Several options can be toggled via the dip switches in the back panel... Ground (on/lift), EQ (pre/post... to choose if you send the signal before or after going thru the amp's eq) and speaker simulator (off/active) for the XLR output, serial/parallel loop mode, and phantom power for the loop return and for the front input.

I use the amp with my two bands in numerous settings (small and large rehearsal spaces, small clubs, mid-sized venues... Haven't had to use it in an outdoors event, tho), with different kinds of amps (mostly Marshall's and Engl's... AVT 150 head and combo, JCM900 head, Engl Powerball head, etc) and it can hold them perfectly without level problems.

The only two general downsides are that it's quite heavy (although the several handles and wheels compensate slightly for that), and that if you wanna use an extension cabinet and make a good use of that bi-amp crossover option you need an auto-amplified cabinet, or a power amp to drive a passive cab.

My main bass guitar is a Limited Edition '00 Squier P-Bass Special V, with Fender electronics (Pro-Tone passive humbucker pickups), but I've also used other bass guitars with it (including an Ibanez ATK, a 5-string Ibanez BTB, a 5-string '80s Washburn). And I get awesome tone from all of them. Many players will see this as a limitation, but I don't like to have an excessive mid-range (like Ampeg or Trace Elliot combos have... horrible "nosey" sound with loads of mids), I like by bass sound to be very full and powerful, but with a clear high end, and this amp gives me exactly that. Crystal clear sound but full and with loads of punch. And if needed, you can add some mids with the "character" switch or using the bypass option.

As I've said before, it suits virtually any style, unless you want that typical vintage sound (which you can compensate with an effects box that can colour the sound to your choice, the amp will deliver exactly what it receives... full WYSIWYG, or in our case WYHIWYG, what you hear...). It can deliver that low end to make everything sound fuller, or get a high, clear, metallic sound. I use an EBS ValveDrive distortion pedal and WahOne wah/volume/envelope filter, and I get wicked tones from them. I've also tried a UniChorus which i expect to purchase soon, and I get the same results, perfect sounds.

Normally, "competing" with a Marshall JCM900 and Engl Powerball guitar amps (plus drumset & voice), in a hard rock (almost modern melodic metal) setting, the amp holds itself with the gain/control at 4-5 the most, and without any noticeable distortion. At 7 or so it starts to crack a bit, but not enough to make it a downside, plus it's a nice "crack" that provides a slight warm distortion.

It hasn't given me any problems until now (except a slight problem with the Bi-amp switch, which was solved by toggling it on and off once). I've moved it around for several gigs in the last 3 years, and the usual rehearsal place we have is more like a basement (with the climate/isolation issues that involves), and it hasn't given me problems up until now.

It hasn't needed repair yet, and my retailer (AGL Musical, in Madrid, Spain) was reliable and prompt with my needs, plus it has direct contact with the official distributor.

I've been playing bass for many years, with many basses & amps, and I have to say EBS is my #1 choice. This amp, even if it's a 350W combo, can handle almost any situation (up to a couple-thousand-seat venues, of course... If you're playing arenas, I'd suggest going for the TD-650 and cabinets).

The only thing I don't like so much is it's high price, but you're paying for a really high quality product... I tried it with a Fender Bassman 400 head+cab and Peavey Firebass 400 head+cab, and it blew them away really easily, in terms of sound, power... Plus, in comparison with an HD-350 head + 2x10 cab, it has the benefit of it being a single pack, plus the bi-amp option (which the HD-350 doesn't have).

Of course, I would've liked it if it came with the optional footswitch, and with an amp feature for an external cab, but this last thing would boost up the price significantly...

So, if you need a "smaller" amp, and have the money for it, i absolutely recommend it!

I got this combo used two weeks ago. The amp front panel is very similar to the HD-350. I'm using a HD-350 since a couple of months. The GORM seems simple but is very complete. Except that, as compared with the HD350, it's a pity that the drive pot (an associated gritty sound feature) has been removed. But the monitor pot is very useful at home to play with a CD through the monitor input which is available on the back panel. I don't know if I'll use the crossover pot in the future, but I don't believe since this GORM is really complete, as I already mentionned. The phone output provides the best phone signal that I've found and this is important to me since I train myself mostly with headphones to avoid noise disturbances at night for my family. Up to now, I was mainly playing with headphones and a KORG Pandora. The loudspeakers combination is 4 ohms and this is really important since this allows to extract all the 350 watts output power from the amp, which makes a great difference. The drawback is that it doesn't allow a supplementary cab. But I anyway do prefer that. And if you're willing a supplementary cab, you can use the crossover feature, send the infra-band to another combo, such as a 1x15 GORM. But I'm rather sure that most bassists will have enough power with the GORM. As compared with the HD-350, I also prefer having the DI output on the back panel and more place on the front panel. One feature that I appreciate on the HD-350 and which is also available on the GORM is the possibility to switch between serial and parallel for the effect loop, since, in parallel mode, it such provides a mixer between the dry sound of the bass through the preamp part of the amp and the wet sound from the effect loop. There's also a pot on the back panel for the horm level. What else do we need, except he HD-350 drive pot? Hey, Mr EBS, please add this pot on the next GORM generation.

I'm mainly playing rock and pop titles in a single group. I'm using a couple of high-end basses (including a Fender Precision Relic, a Warwick Dolphin 4 fretless, a Spector Euro 4, a Bossa OB-5P, a F BN6 and a 5 strings from a French local luthier), aiming to select THE bass, and keep only one, even if I guess that it's not possible. But since the result also depends on the amp and sometimes a simple pedal can completely change the sound of a bass (even a simple compression), I was not able to decide which one to keep. Especially because, until the GORM, I was disappointed to get a different sounds with the amps that I was trying and with the headphones/Pandora. So the basses that I was appreciating most at home were not sounding similarly well in the group. With the GORM, I get a very similar sound and I do appreciate. It's hard for me to think that it could be better. But I'm sure it could, since I already experienced improvements of sounds that I was not imagining improvable. Anyway, I'll continue trying and I'm now in a better position to select THE bass, or the right bass for each title style.

I can't say much about the reliabilty of this amp. As far as I know, EBS don't make low reliablity items. I had absolutely no problem with the severals EBS items that I've used for some time (Classic preamp, EPX-800, HD-350, Dynaverb pedal, Micro-Bass preamp). My notation is fo these other EBS items.

No opinion.

I've been playing for 4 years only. I've started playing bass very late in my life and I continue doing my best making up for lost time. And I'm especially focused on the sound quality, since it's really an important feature in rock and pop. And getting enough medium to hear oneself while keeping a round nice bass sound in the middle of two guitarists and a heavy drummer is really a challenge. I'm less interested in the look nor the reputation (I don't trust who plays with what. Even if I care a bit for selecting my trials. But I do prefer making my own opinion, with the help of some friends bassists). I've owned more than 35 basses during this period, tried a lot of more, and owned and tried a couple of amps and cabs. The pity is that I have never tried an EBS cab. But now that I have this fantastic GORM, I'm now heading to try a 2x10, or better a 4x10 with the HD-350. From my opinion, the EBS EPX-800 (which is discontinued) is a great amp too, as well as the EBS HD-350, the MESA 400+ and the SWR SM-900. But for the time being, this GORM is the best combination of amp/cab that I've had, especially for the volume. I hope this helps.

My Gorm was made 2003 and I fell in love at first listen. I play pop and rock and I wanted something small sized instead of my 1x15" + 4x10" cabs and amplifier. I tried a tilted Carvin which sounded OK but didn't run properly. Then I tried a Trace Elliot which also sounded OK but wasn't strong enough. Then I got the Gorm into my hands and I just plugged in the bass and all clouds on the rock'n roll heaven was blown away. The Gorm's got one input on the front panel and a monitor input on the back. It's got a headphone jack, effects loop jack, tuner output jack, line output jack, balanced XLR jack with a number of setting options (speaker simulations etc.), line output for extra speakers and a few more jacks. It has a built in compressor which runs great and with no noise. There's a jack for an on/off footswitch for the compressor. I use this small sized combo on any stage, tilted as a monitor and it has all the power for my purposes. I'm not a high tech user and I like my equipment to be as plain as possible and the Gorm is perfect for me. I've got all filters set on 5 and use the sweep filter to colourize my sound. It's as simple as that. I usually play at small and medium large venues and the Gorm does it's job. At large venues you might need an extra speaker cab. I used to use a D/I box for the PA-system and since we've got a lo-tech system, there was great troubles to get a decent bass sound. With the Gorm I just use the balanced output and I could actually hear a big difference the first time I used it.

I'm using Yamaha and Aria Pro II bass guitars. The Yamaha has single coil pickups with a pretty poppy sound. The Aria has active pickups. They have pretty different sounds, but the sweap filter makes the difference smaller. I've had some problems with ground noise before, but that's all gone now. I think there's a ground lift for the balanced output as well. One of the first things I reacted on regarding the sound was it was so balanced, no matter where my fingers were playing on the fretboard. No unwanted humming at all. I don't play to many different styles, but I play both fingered and with a pick and I don't have to make any adjustments as I switch styles. I'm not a fan of to much treble and I don't even use the built in driver. Still there's a lot of brightness to add in this mode, and I would be highly surprised if a funk or fusion bass player couldn't find a fitting sound. EBS recommends to turn up the input volume knob to the position where the light indicator starts to flash red. Then you turn up the main volume as loud as you want to play. I've played it on maximum volume with the indicator for the input volume fairly flashing. It's loud and there's a little bit of distortion. If I turn it down just a little bit there's no distortion what so ever.

I totally trust this amplifier. I was really worried with the tilted Carvin combo because it broke a couple of times and the last time I wouldn't take it back. This one does it's job and lets me worry about other stuff.

I havn't been in direct contact with the EBS company. I contacted them once recently regarding their web site. I complained about their bad choice of fonts and I recieved an answer a couple of days later. They were aware of the problem and are making updates right now. I've got authorized service at the music store where I usually make my shopping. I'm not sure of how long the warrenty is valid for. I think it's two years or something.

I've been playing for 25 years. I own my two bass guitars, the Gorm, a PC and a Mac laptop with a USB soundcard for hard drive recording. That covers my needs. I would most likely buy a Gorm again if I lost this one. I love the instant sound from the Gorm. Before I got the Gorm, I didn't think I'd ever get the bass sound that you get in the headphones in a studio. Well that's the sound I got the first time I switched on the Gorm. The thing I like the least is the clothing on the cab. It's pretty delicate and easy to scratch and get dirty. I'm getting a plywood hood for my Gorm anyday now. And it's worth it. I compered it with a Carvin combo and a Trace Elliot. They both sounded OK, but that was before I tried the Gorm. In my opinion, they're not comparable. The Gorm is a champ. The only amplifier I've tried that sounds just as good, was an Ampeg with an 8x10" cab. But it doesn't fit in my trunk and it's to big for my wallet too.

Great and verry accurate eq. Nice 'monitor' input and control for external inputs like sampler, drummachine,...
Although i lack the possibility of a cabinet extension, that would have been great, but the speakers are already 4 ohms, so...
I also would like to see side-mounted handles instead of the ones mounted on top.

I play mostly pop, rock, country, with my jazz-type bass it sounds great on the bridge pick-up, but i need to add a little low on the eq. I like the character switch for slapping.

Still working so far

Haven't had to deal with them yet

Good versatile amp, with great tonal possibilities, but no side-mounted handles, no extension cabinet possibilities.
Nice projection !

The new Gorm ET! Great (yeah, really) sound. It sounds BIG. I've played Hartke for 5 years and loved it, untill I heard this baby!!! It's a small 2x10 combo (though it's heavy) and sounds like a 4x10!!!

The possibilities are limitless... Many in- and outputs. I like the tiny dip-switches. Some say it's too tiny, but why make big switches on a small combo?

BIG!!!

It stays straight on high volume

Never failed so far...
Due to robot-technology that's hard to demolish

I've got a great store (Hartman Music, Langedijk, Holland) who helps me with everything. Great service and really listens to my wishes...
(http://www.hartmanmusic.myweb.nl/)
Check it out

Great combo. Worth the high cost. It's expensive but man, what a sound...

Worth every penny!