Yamaha BBT500-110 Combo

I bought this new a few weeks ago because I was looking for something lightweight with good power. This combo has a 10" speaker plus a HF tweeter, 250 watts (500W with a 4 ohm extension), and weighs around 40 lbs. Features? It's got them up the yin-yang: 5 user presets/channels (footswitchable with optional MIDI footpedal), 11 amp models, adjustable compressor, output limiter (switchable but not adjustable), semi-parametric multi-band EQ (with an additional single-band parametric EQ as well), line out, headphone out, speaker simulator (switchable), effects loop, tuner out, MIDI in/out (for channel switching and patch saving), tweeter attenuator, and a few other things.

The only things I might have liked that it doesn't have is a mute switch and a built-in tuner (since it's already digital). But I'm not complaining, it's got more useful features than most amps out there.

Note that this amp (and the BBT500H head as well) will do 250 watts into 4 ohms, 500w into 2 ohms. So if you want to get the maximum power out of this combo, you have to plug in an external 4 ohm cabinet (you could also disconnect the internal speaker and connect a 2 ohm external speaker for full 500w power, but I've never seen a cabinet spec'd at 2 ohms).

Having 11 amp models means that this Yamaha covers whatever sonic ground I need it to. Since it is a "modeling" amp it's not going to sound exactly like an Ampeg or SWR or whatever. But it's got some awesome sounds in there, like the "Modern" (great for slap and pop as well as fingerstyle), the "Classic" (scooped mids), and the "Heavy" models. Then there are some sounds that I like a bit less but are still VERY solid: "Tube," "Solid state," "R&B" (deeeeeep bass), and "Vintage." Then come the decent sounds: "Flat," and "Overdrive." Then there are the sounds that are very genre-specific, and not my genre: "Fuzz" and "Distortion." I'm a gear/tech nut, so having the choice between 11 models really appeals to me, even if I'm not going to use all of those sounds.

Regarding low end response, even with a single 10" speaker, I find that this combo really puts out some deep yet punchy bass. I primarily use an Ibanez SRX500 4 string, and this amp has no problems pumping out a clean and loud low E or D#. I really can't comment on 5 string low B performance though. Also, I haven't noticed any speaker/output distortion as of yet, even when turning overall volume up to slightly more than 3/4 - and at that level, everything in my living room shakes, including the floor and walls (yeah, my neighbors hate me). The only thing to watch out for is that the input "clip" red LED doesn't light nearly soon enough, so depending on which amp model you're using, you might want to turn down the input knob and turn up the overall level to get clean output.

By the way, if you read about this amp elsewhere you might read about HF hissing with the tweeter on. I've found this to be true if you're playing in a dead-quiet environment. Thus, when I practice at home I usually only turn on the tweeter to a very low setting to reduce the amount of hiss I hear. It's not an issue when playing with a band, you'll never notice the hiss (especially not if you compare it to your bandmate's high-gain guitar amp), but at home you might notice it. Personally, I'd leave the tweeter off all the time if it weren't for the fact that it really adds presence to the high frequency response when slapping/popping. But for fingerstyle stuff, you won't miss the tweeter if you turn it off. Also, the only other bass amp I've owned (GK Backline 112) didn't have a tweeter and didn't have the hiss, so maybe the hiss is just a tweeter thing.

One last thing - the "Fuzz" and "Distortion" models really feel more like models for the guitar than the bass, so I plugged in with a 6-string and wailed away. I got some good guitar sounds out of the amp, especially with the speaker sim switched on (which cuts high-end response). The only problem was I could definitely hear what I think is "digital artifacting" - some weird, unnatural distortion that I've never heard from any non-modeling amp. My guess is that it has something to do with the fact that this amp does have a sampling rate which affects how frequencies interact and are reproduced? Anyway, not a big deal really, because I would never use this for guitar for a gig, and I NEVER have that problem when I plug in a bass.

It's a solid state amp, so obviously no tube issues. But I really haven't used it long enough to rate reliability. And I would use it without a backup because I don't have a backup...

The only experience I've had with customer support is asking them questions about the amp before I purchased it (some of the info on yamaha's website is wrong). I did get responses within a reasonable time span (a few days at most).

I'm mostly a guitarist, but I started playing bass in a Latin pop band recently so I wanted to get a bass-specific amp. So although I've been playing bass for 10 years, I've never owned a bass amp before (except for a very short stint with a GK Backline 112). For me, this is a great amp. It's light, it's got some really good tones, it's got a lot of sonic choices and tune-ability, and it's got a good amount of power. On the downside, it might not have enough power for the loudest applications, and I guess you could say that you might have to get over the mental hurdles of it being a "digital" amp and being from a non-standard bass amp company. If you are able to get past those things, I think you'll find it's definitely worth your consideration. Besides for some great tones, having five switchable sounds at your feet (with an optional MIDI footpedal) is great - why should guitarists have all the channel-switching fun?

Even though it's a modeling amp, the modeling only goes so far as to change the amp type, there are no built-in effects besides the compressor (and the speaker sim, if you want to consider it an effect). So it's not like a Bass POD with delays and chorus all over the place. My guess is that Yamaha purposely omitted effects - besides the compressor - because they want this amp to be taken seriously. I think they definitely did a good job taking classic bass amp sounds and features and taking them to their programmable extreme.

If I were to lose it or for some other reason needed another bass combo, and if I were going to spend more money I'd consider the Mesa Boogie Scout, which I've tried and really liked, or the Hughes and Kettner QC412, which I've never even heard but it just seems like a very cool amp - gotta love that tube window ;). But for the price I paid ($700 for "not factory sealed" from music123), there's really no other combo amp than this Yamaha for me.