Yorkville XS400 115 Combo

Controls include master volume (duh) Low, mid-low, mid-high, high, parametric mid, scoop (shapes sound), tube gain & tube drive (for distortion), Compressor, Drive Mix (Wet to Dry), Frequency, and Effect Return. Switches on the front: Mute, D.I. Output, tubeDrive (turns distortion on/off), and Limiter (limits tweeter highs). Has all the necessary input jacks.

This amp is killer. Compared to other combos its size, the bassmaster XS 400 kicks ass. It gets nice and loud, and the controls really let you shape your own sound. The speaker gives you cristal clear tone, and the real tone that your bass itself produces really shines through. Distortion (or tubeDrive) is nice for when you need that nasty heavy sound.

I haven't put mine through rigorous gigging or anything, but it's held together very well up until now. I mean, it's not going to crap up on me any time soon. I'd definately use it at live gigs if the opportunity came. Durable carpet covering, a heavy metal front grate, and solid plywood construction=this amp can take a BEATING.

Haven't had to call Yorkville for anything, but I've heard from many people that their customer service is very good.

This amp is great. No matter what kind of a bass player you are, no matter how good or experienced you are, everyone should have one of these versatile and useful combo amps. Small enough size to use at home yet loud enough to use at a gig.

Made in November 2004 (a few days before I actually received it).

-400watts (combo runs at 250watts until you put on an extension cabinet)
-Sovtek 12AX7A tube in the preamp

Front:
-Foot-switchable tube overdrive with a wet-dry knob, tube gain, and "overdrive" knob
-Compressor in the preamp section
-Bass, Low-Mid, Mid (with selectable frequency), High-Mid, and Treble knobs for the EQ (+/-15db for all knobs)
-Updated Scoop knob feature (explained fully in manual, which can be downloaded in PDF form at the Yorkville site)
-Wet/Dry knob for the effects loop -- perfect when using multi-effects boxes that don't have a lot of customizability to the amount of your signal you want affected
-Limiter
-Mute
-Button to switch the line out on the back from post-EQ to pre-EQ
-On/Off switch for the overdrive
-Passive and Active inputs (-6db for the active input)
-Tuner out
-Footswitch (use a TRS cable, and depending on how you use the cable, you can switch the tube overdrive on or off or the effects loop on or off) -- overrides the switch on the front when using it to switch on and off the tube overdrive

Back:
-Speakon jack for speaker out
-2 1/4" jacks for speaker out
-XLR line out
-Tweeter auto-mute for when using tube overdrive
-Effects loop
-Removable power cord


Loads and loads of features that are all very practical and very useful. I played a Battle of the Bands last night and used the Effects Loop with my Digtiech BP50 (and used the wet/dry knob to dial in just how much of the envelope filter I wanted), the tube overdrive for an epic metal song, the mute when checking my tuning with my Korg CA-30 going from the tuner-out, etc. etc.

My only beef is that Yorkville doesn't say outright that you're not running at the full 400 watts until you get an extension cabinet, but if you look at the speaker specs and talk to a couple of Yorkville employees, you can find this out pretty easily.

I use a Yamaha BB404 fretless as my main bass (strung with Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats). I play a lot of different styles (often with one band) from Pat Metheny-esque jazz, Hammerfall style epic metal, or down and dirty funk, and this amp does it all. The sound is very versatile, and the EQ is powerful without being obtuse or too subtle.
I'm a big fan of lots of mids, which is why I'm picking up a Yorkville XC210 extension cabinet for it as soon as possible (also so I can use all 400 watts). The tone is fantastic, especially considering the price.

Built like a tank. I have a red pull cart that I carry around heavier amps on (this one, the school's bass amps, a friend's Fender Bassman, etc.) and as I was pulling this into the school for a school show, the cart hit a particularly high stone in the foyer of the school and my amp took a nosedive onto the pavement. The only damage was aesthetic -- and that was only a slight scuffing on two of the knobs on the front. Built like a tank, I say!

They were very helpful when I ordered my amp -- it was backordered, and they gave me a date at which it was the earliest possible day for it to be done (Friday the 19th). It was in the store on Monday the 22nd, and in my hands that night.

The warranty is the best in the business -- two year, unlimited (even if you trash it -- which would be quite the physical task) transferable warranty. Fantastic. A friend of mine blew the speaker in his XM200 last year and it was replaced for free, very quickly.

I've been playing bass for almost three years now, and am primarily a fretless player. I put a Digitech BP50 in the effects loop (and sometimes a Dunlop Crybaby my brother owns) and also have two other amps -- a USA Peavey Microbass (fantastic tone and construction), a used Yorkville 100B (stuffier sounding, kinda underpowered with few features).

I used this next to GK combos, Fender, and Ampegs. The GK's were tinny, the Ampegs muddy, and Fender...let's just say Fender should stick to guitar amps, and leave bass amps to companies like Yorkville/Traynor, SWR, and Ashdown -- the ones that know what they're doing.

My only guff is the issue of portability. While this is certainly more portable than a Hartke 3550 and a 4x10, it's still pretty big for every day use. I find the handles on the XS400T (the 2x10 combo) much more useful -- the kind of deep dish steel handles you find on PA speakers. The handles on the XS400 are serviceable, but a tid bit small for people with larger hands.

In any case, if this were stolen, I'd probably go the head and cab route and get the XS400H with a 1x15 and a 2x10. I could use one or the other for smaller gigs, and then load both of them up there when necessary. As it is, I love this amp to death, and I can't wait to pick up an extension cab. It's got its flaws, but they're few and far between -- and for the price, you can't beat it.

400 watts + 15" speaker + $899.00 cnd = a 10 rating

I am using a fender jazz into a rackmount dbx comp into a zoom then into a microverb this amp sounds good loud for rock or metal.
Once again show me a good combo for this price .
I also have an Ampeg portabase 250 210.

I had the older 400b from yorkville and it lasted 9 years of hard on the road playing befor the amp started leaking DC and was craping out speakers. I paid $799.00 for this amp so divide that by 9 years of problem free playing. I am assuming that this amp will give me the same reliability if it don't it has an awsome warrenty you cant lose.

I never needed customer support but yorkvilles very large website is full of support and phone numbers with lots of replacement parts even for the old traynor brand.

I can not compare this amp to other products.
there are no good combos for this price at 400watts.
If you want to compare this amp to the edens, or ampegs or swr you should not buy this amp. Go get three jobs and a bank loan.

This is a brand new model by Yorkville (at the time I'm writing this). It is a 400 Watt bass combo with a 15 inch speaker and a tweeter. The feature that attracted me the most to it was the tube preamp (Sovtek tube) with another tube in parallel for seprate gain and drive controls. Picture it: 400 Watts of power with tube warmth in one unit for under a grand. One fantastic package. The amp also features a five band EQ, the middle band being an emulation of a parametric EQ (one specific frequency can be assigned to it). That's the main thing I wish was different with tis amp, I wanted something like a 9- or 12-band parametric EQ instead of this five band, adjustable compromise.

There's an effect loop (which I never use), a mute button (very useful) and an output for a tuner so you can tune while muted. There's a direct out, a compressor on the preamp, a wet/dry button to mix the gain and the overdrive, there are active and passive inputs, there's a limiter, and another limiter on the back for the tweeter only, a stereo footswitch to control either the overdrive or the effect loop, outputs for an extra cabinet... You catch my drift, there's pretty much everything on there. I play in a hard rock trio and needed power on a budget. This combo has almost everything I need.

Like most Yorkville products, this unit sounds good but unrefined. I never needed a crystal clear, crisp sound like something you'd get from an Eden. I play hard loud noisy rock and mostly want power and warmth. Ampeg would be the ideal choice, but I'm just too poor. This Yorkville combo is much better than what I expected to get for under a thousand canadian bucks. It gives me tube warmth and 400 watts of solid state power. Better EQ controls would have been nice. It's not high-end, but at least it doesn't pretent to be.

Only had it for a month, still too early to tell. It's built tough, it's pretty heavy. If you're a rock musician in Canada, it's pretty safe to say you've used Traynor and Yorkville products at one time or another. These things are workhorses. Not very refined, but reliable and tough.

I haven't dealt with them.

I've played in bands for 12 years. Although this is the first bass amp I've bought (I always played guitar and sang before), I've used and witnessed first hand several types of bass amps (combos, heads, SWRs, Trace Elliotts, other Yorkvilles, Edens, Fenders) and this is the most surprising product I've heard. Not the best sound you'll find, but loud enough to play live without a PA and versatile enough to switch to a quiet sound, perfect to accompany a brushed beat.

If it was stolen, I'd buy it again. It's good enough for me and I wouldn't want to pay twice the price for an Ampeg anymore.