Eden WTX-260

(Off for No reverb and only one channel, otherwise 9 0r 10)
I was looking for a SS amp that featured the newer Class D switching topology and had a warm type sound and that was Clean, to be used mostly for Jazz, Blues and some non metal Rock. Such amps include Acoustic Image and Henriksen. Since AI is also a Bass Guitar amp, I looked for SS Bass Amps with such topology and found the Eden WTX-260 which the company has discontinued in favor of the higher powered version WTX-500. This is a Class D switching amp with a special Golden Ear chip which is supposed to give the amp a warmer tube like sound. I decided to take the chance and bought one on ebay. The amp is rated at 180W into 8 oms and 260 W into 4 ohms. There is a compressor that can be defeated as well as EQ and an Enhance control that changes the Mid band emphasis. Also has a serial effects loop, speaker outputs (Speakon and 1/4"), XLR out, headphone out and a footswitch for controlling the Enhance function. Single channel. No Reverb. I have used it with a Raezer's edge Twin 8 as well as an open back cab with a 12" Eminence Tonkerlite.

Played with a Pat Martino Custom Gibson as well as an Ibanez Artcore AS73, Fender Highway Tele. The sound of this thing is Amazing. Warm, clean sound and a lot of POWER. Can drive 4 Ohm loads and with the Twin 8 cab, is VERY LOUD. Would not want to drive that cab with a lot of pedals with distortion, but in to the Tonkerlite cab, great sounds with my tube distortion pedal. Very quiet. Great EQ section. I mainly have the compressor off the Enhance control on minimum setting but one can get interesting sounds with the compressor and or Enhance control engaged. Deep bass to beautiful sparkling treble output possible! Tons of power and headroom. Be careful to match it with a speaker that can handle that much power.

It's solid state and Eden make good reliable stuff as far as I can tell. No problems yet at all.

Eden staff were very helpful in answering questions about the unit.

Playing for 35 years and have used many different tube and solid state amps including Vox, Gibson Goldtone, Rivera, Fender, Roland Cube, Tech 21 Trademark 60 and have tried an Acoustic Image Focus. The Eden WTX-260 is in the class of the Acoustic Image and althought the AI may have every so slightly cleaner sound, the Eden is a bit warmer and has better EQ plus the compressor and Enhance to give much more variety. Wish it had built in reverb, but I am using a Lexicon LXP-1 in the Eden's serial loop with great success. So far I have not found the power to be lacking, but if you really need more, look at the newer 500 Watt (!!) version. I have to add that the AI is also incredible.

I read the other reviews and was inpress, so I went out and got one. I use this amp to do small gigs as a gospel bass player. The amp can deliver some real sweet tones for it size. The size is great for me because I got tired of carrying around a ton of weight and only at 3.5-lbs you can't go wrong. It have only one channel but with the compressor build in to it and a great EQ this little amp sings.

When I got the Eden 260 I used my Yamaha t1005 with Bartolini pickups and a NT3 preamp thur my Carvin PS200 cab which I replace the head with this one; a perfect fit. Did a show that Saturday and I was really happy with with the sound, tone and volume that came thur. For what I play I'll never have to look for better sounding amp. I been around for over 40 years playing bass and had all type of Amps. This is my last I hope. My Fender-P Bass sounds real good thur it and my Carvin IC5W is real sweet. The Amp has a clean bass sound and can be warm with the right setting. This is not your hard rock amp so find someting with lots of power, but if you're looking for something small and light to carry and sound good then this is it.

Just got it so I can't answer that yet.

Never had to use them and hope I don't need them.

Playing for 40 years on and off. I have 3 basses that use: Carvin IC5w - Fender 57R P-Bass and A Yamaha T1005. Eden WP-100 Preamp thur a Warrick 3.1 head / 4/10 Eden cab for church. A Roland D115 Bass amp which I can sell now. The rate this Eden 260 head to be a very nice head for the price. The do not need anything else because it all the different input and output jacks and a good DI.

This amp is an amazingly light and compact amp with a tremendous number of features for it's size. The pre-amp doesn't have a tube like most Edens but it has the "golden ear chip" which really does make a difference. It weighs about 3.5 lbs but produces 260 watts into 4 Ohms or "500 watts at peak". It has a three band eq with adjustable mid frequency, a "loudness switch" for a bass boost at lower volume. A built-in compressor, DI with ground lift and pre/post pre-amp select, an effects loop, tuner line, -12 db pad, 1/4 inch or speakon speaker outputs, mute switch, numerous lights to indicate clipping, activation of the compressor and if protection circuitry kicks in. I give it a 9 but would make it a 10 if it just had a little more power.

I have owned it for about 3 months and bought it to use with a Warrior bass. I have since moved on to a Smith bass which it works quite well with. I have tried a couple of different cabs with it but neither is very good or just right for my combination of Smith bass with this head. Tone is amazing and it really helped my Warrior sound great. I also use the pre-amp through my Bose Cylindrical system with one band to sweeten up the sound. The Bose can sound dry or sterile but not with the Eden head. It has a great musical tone that works well with any bass I have used with it. It will not get real loud. I tried it with an Aguilar 4X10 which did sound really loud but it was a 4 Ohm cab. I think you have to use a 4 Ohm speaker to really let the amp produce it's best sound. I previously had an Acoustic Image amp which produced what seemed like unlimited power. This amp won't get as loud but definitely has a better tone. And the compressor is an excellent feature built in.

I screwed up the other night and accidentally connected the speakon from the sub out on my Bose system to the output of the Eden head (instead of the sub cabinet). So, both amps were trying to send a signal out. The Eden protection circuit kicked in and the Bose actually played even with the signal running through the Eden. When I realized my mistake, I corrected the connections and everything worked just fine. My blunder would have fried a lot of amps but not this one. No problems at all.

I called them to ask about warranty and reliability before buying. They were very friendly and answered all of my questions. No problems.

I have played for about 21 years. I have owned a lot of different gear as I am constantly searching for "the Holy Grail" of tone. I think that the Eden heads represent some of the best sounding products out there. I don't know if they produce the most powerful amps. I have also owned a Traveler 300 and neither of these amps seem to produce as much volume as my little Ampeg BA (220 watt) combo. And the Ampeg doesn't have a real efficient speaker. But for a low price and ultimate compact size, I think these are hard to beat. It would be perfect if it had about double (or more) power.

Look at my first review for all facts.

As I said in my first review: Impeccable!

Look at the next post, customers support..

OK, here we go! I had a problem with the DI send. I noticed that after my first review, when I got to the studio. My problem was I bought the amp overseas, so shipping to Seattle and back to Sweden for service was a very bad idea. The warranty is only valid in the country of purchase...

I sent an e-mail to Eden to ask what to do. They helped me very quickly, sent a description and a photo of what to do and how. My guitarist/studio owner/technician friend solved the problem over a cup of coffee and 30 seconds with a soldering iron.

What can I say - even a small customer gets first class treatment. Gold medal to Mike Beatty (and others) at customer support!

I have tested the amp side-by-side with my big gig rig(!)

I use the little thing with two Gallien Krueger Neo 112 and 212, the sound is sooo good. Really shimmering, full and fat all the way. But...

...when you come to sheer, brutal force, you cannot match the Eden WT800 bridged into one D410XLT and a D410XST pumping out four digit watts.

Anyhow, the li'l rig sounds BETTER to me. Does what it is supposed to do.

In studio - the tech was amazed, impressed and laughed at the same time. Clean, clear sound, no need for studio mic pre amps and similar.

One thing I wish it had is a level control for the aux in, but that is no matter at all.

If my Eden gear got stolen, well, I ain't no sentimental guy. It's not a heirloom or so, but I would replace them. Don't know of any better things to use...

This is a brand new, 2006 or 2007 manufactured single channel amp. My local dealer tells me he's sold half a dozen so far and none have come back.

The 260 is a very compact amp with a switching (class-D) type amplifier topology of the sort pioneered by Acoustic Image and later by Euphonic Audio. It has most of the features of the larger Eden amps- mid shift, "Enhance" control, effects loop and so forth, but at a fraction of the weight. There's a DI out, a headphone out, auxiliary inputs, a tuner input, bass boost compressor, mute switch, a footswitch input for controlling the compression and enhancement, and of course the usual bass/mid/low tone controls.

It's also the least powerful of the Edens, at only 175 watts into 8 ohms and 20 watts into 4 ohms. This isn't an amp for someone who plays headbanging punk or metal, unless you run it into the PA, but it's more than sufficient for a band in a small to medium hall playing with guitar players using 30-60 watts amps. What I like is that it produces a little over half the power my old WT-400 while weighing only a tenth as much.

I'm using this with an older Fender of Japan P-Bass and a Precision A/E acoustic electric. I play blues, classic rock, a little jazz, some country- a bit of everything, really- and the WTX-260 handles it all. I prefer an old-school sound, but the WTX also handles a modern treble-have sound, too. With the A/E and using an Aguilar GS-112, I'm getting the best, most upright-like tone I've yet gotten out of that bass.

This isn't an amp you want to drive into distortion, and when it does clip, it doesn't sound very good. But at the same time this isn't a cold, clinical sounding amp, either. There's some nice warmth on the signal, even though it lacks the tube front end of the higher-end WT series amps.

I've only had this a very short time, but my past experience has been that Eden amps are trouble free if you don't abuse them.

Overall, I think this is a great little amp. The only real competition in the tiny-but-powerful bass amp category comes from the AI Clarus, which has a cleaner sound and more power, but doesn't have all the tonal variation of the Eden, and the yet-to-be released Euphoc Audio micro 300, which we haven't seen yet. The EA may yet prove to be the better amp, but for now, this is the best choice for someone looking for traditional Eden sound in a super compact package.

This is a small amp with lots of watt per kilogram. Compared to the Eden Traveler it is a bit less powerful, but in a small rig, for jazz band, rehearsal, studio work or when you have the house monitor system it is all you need. Will not do the job of an Ampeg SVT in your metal band, though.

Solid state preamp sounds very, very good, like when you connect an active bass into the effects loop return on a Traveler. (If you haven't tried that - try that!) The compressor sounds better than the one in te Traveler, the Enhance control is better calibrated. You have a "loudness" function, usable to get full bodied bass on low volumes. Like all Edens the straight through sound is perfect.

No channel swithing, but a foot controlled Enhance bypass gives you two sounds to change between. Foot switchable mute to tune too.

Effects loop is a standard nowadays, phones output jack too. You can use the amp without speakers, just for phones or as a preamp in the studio. DI out of course!

Will it have enough power? Yes - for what it is meant to be used to. For arena gigs you will use another guns...

Impeccable! Sounds as you want to sound like, but NOT as an SVT. Overdrive tone sucks, but you figured that out, I believe. This is an amp for non metal bass players. For that it is perfect.

Have used it a week, have never used a spare amp when using Eden gaer.

Answers email quick and nicely. Have never had use for service other than questions.

I chose this amp as a complement to my big rig: Eden WT800B + D410XLT + D410XST. Use te little one with one GK 112 Neo, one GK 212 Neo or with both. In other words: one heavy duty rig and one "nice to your back" rig...