Labsystems 250B Head

I bought this amp new from The Bass Player in Sydney in 1995 and have used it constantly ever since. I play most styles of music ( except jazz ) and have always been able to pull a suitable sound due to this amps active tone controls. There is considerable cut/boost available from the low, low mid, upper mid, and treble pots. It also features two voicing filters for the mids and highs, also controlled via pots. ( I hate graphic equalisers ) It is a single channel amp with a pad on the input for active basses. It has an effects loop ( no blend control unfortunately ) and a balanced 600 ohm out for the soundman. It also features a very nice sounding inbuilt compressor with a single ratio control. Very basic, but it works well. The amp is solid state mosfet design with a torroidal transformer and packs plenty of punch for its rated 250 watts RMS into 4 ohms. They use military grade components in their construction apparently, to ensure reliability.

My main bass is an Ernie Ball 5 string Stingray, but I sometimes use my passive Yamaha Attitude 5 string when I need a smoother tone. I also use a Yamaha RBX765A active 5 string for practising at home. The thing that I like the most about this amp is that it has such a nice warm tone. Thats is the main reason why I have kept it for so long. It has a definite vintage tube vibe to it which I prefer to the Hi-Fi sounds put out by some of todays bass amplifiers. It is a very quiet amp with no annoying hisses or hums, and easily handles the low B of my five string basses. I use a 400w 4x10 Genz benz and a 400w 15" EV with it and when I turn it up, it shakes the house. My kids are scared of it.

This amp had to be returned to the manufacturer recently as it stopped working. They had it back to scratch in about a week and shipped it back to me. I thought the repair bill of $100.00 ( Australian )was resonable as they checked everything out and ran it on a test bench for a whole day to satisfy themselves that everything was perfect before sending it back. This is the first time it has been in for repair after nearly seven years of constant use.

During the time my amp was in for repair, I sent them about six emails asking various questions. They answered every single email the next day and were very helpful and friendly. Exceptional!

I've played bass for 33 years. I'm not a virtuoso, but I consider myself to be able to hold down a good groove, which is what I love doing. The thing I like best about this amp, as I said, is its great vintage tone. If there was anything that I would change about it, it would be to add a blend control for the effects loop, and perhaps a variable input gain control. This amp has now been superseded by a 300watt model which I'm told, does have a gain on the input. I believe that they retail for about $1700.00 ( Aust ) and come with a two year warranty. If it were lost or stolen, I would have a good look around at whats available on the market, and, if nothing better is available for the price, I would buy another one.