AER Amp One

A new departure for AER it may be, but the Amp One very much continues the tradition of relatively high price, compact dimensions and high-quality build. To coin a very well worn cliché, the Amp One is built like a brick out-house. There's no chipboard or MDF here, just good, traditional, mortised 13-layer birch plywood, and it gives the cabinet a real feeling of strength and rigidity. There's no corner protection fitted to the cabinet but this, I suspect, is because AER quite justifiably feel that anything it bumps into is probably going to come off second best.

In common with the other two bass combos I've reviewed in recent months, the Amp One is small and easily portable. At 13.4kg it's not as light as the others, but is still an easy carry from the car to the gig — especially with its sumptuous, stitched, black leather carrying handle. The Amp One is also protected from the elements during that walk from the car (and from the baying crowds on the walk back) because it comes supplied complete with an equally sumptuous (but unfortunately not black leather!), padded, fitted and pocketed gig bag (am I the only one getting a bit fed up with the number of pockets fitted to gig bags? I mean, I'm a bass player. What am I going to put in all those pockets?).

Compact and relatively wieldy it may be, but the Amp One packs a serious amplification punch by incorporating a full 200W into 8Ω amplifier. This power level is significantly greater than either of the two recently reviewed combos, and made its presence felt from the moment I played a note. Before I spill the beans on how the Amp One performs, however, there's quite a bit more description to be done. The amplifier powers a single, 250mm (10-inch) driver with a neodymium magnet system and paper cone, made by specialist musical instrument and PA driver manufacturer Sica on the Italian Adriatic coast. The driver is designed for high levels of cone travel and is loaded by a slot-ported enclosure of around 18 litres in volume.

In common with other AER products, the Amp One is comprehensively equipped with features and facilities. Starting at the left of the upward-facing control panel, first we find the input jack socket. This is accompanied by a Pad button that drops the input sensitivity by 10dB, an input Gain control, an input clip indicator, and a Mute button. Moving along, we come to the Amp One's primary equalisation controls. First is a Colour button that simultaneously cuts 3dB at 700Hz and adds 10dB at 7.5kHz. Second is a Bass Boost button that adds 10dB at 55Hz. This is followed by a conventional variable bass control that provides ±10dB again at 80Hz. The bass controls are followed by a set of mid-range Level and Frequency controls, and a mid-range Q button. The Level and Frequency controls offer ±10dB at anywhere between 350Hz and 1.1kHz, while the Q button offers the option of high or low Q characteristic to the mid-range boost and cut control. Following the primary equalisation controls, AER have seen fit to include two somewhat quirky EQ controls — Balance and Intensity — collectively labeled Tone Balance. AER's description of the Tone Balance function in the owner's manual (with its decidedly idiosyncratic translation from the original German) was about as clear to me as very muddy stuff, but it appears that it functions to bias the overall tonal balance of the combo towards either the warm, mid or bright ends of the spectrum. The Balance control selects the region of response to be emphasised, and the Intensity knob controls its level of emphasis. In use I found the Tone Balance function pretty subtle and, especially considering the comprehensive tonal adjustment already available from the bass, semi-parametric mid and treble controls, couldn't see much point in its inclusion. I'd be interested to hear any alternative views. If the tone balance function didn't quite float my boat, the Amp One's next preamp feature, a compressor, definitely did. I'm not a huge fan of compression in recording and mixing — well, not of its over-use, anyway — but used creatively as an integral part of a live sound, compression can be a valuable sound-shaping tool. The Amp One preamp's compressor section provides an On/Off switch, Threshold and Ratio controls and an indicator that illuminates when the compressor is active. The Threshold control sets the level above which the compressor begins to attenuate the signal, and the Ratio control sets the severity of attenuation. A perfect example of the value of a compressor, such as the one fitted to the Amp One, for shaping the sound of an instrument was its use with my Steinberger CR4 electric upright bass. The CR4 already has an acoustic upright bass 'thump' to the leading edge of its notes, but with a little compressor the thump could be emphasised to bring even greater rhythmic drive to its sound. Finally on the Amp One control panel we find a Master Volume control.

Leaving the Amp One's control panel behind and moving on, its rear panel carries a comprehensive range of input and output facilities and sockets. Take a deep breath before you read this, and maybe stop for coffee halfway through, because the Amp One is not short of connection facilities and this is a long list. In no particular order, there's a ground lift button, a headphone socket, a line output socket, effects send and return sockets, an effects loop footswitch socket, a subwoofer output, equaliser send and return sockets, an auxiliary input socket and level control, a tuner output socket, a balanced DI output socket (with level control), and a pre/post EQ DI output switch. Phew! I honestly can't imagine there will be many recoding or live occasions at which the Amp One will be found wanting for connection facilities, but the observant among you may have noticed that one socket commonly found on bass combos is missing: the Amp One has no extension speaker output. In place of an extension speaker, AER suggest the connection of a powered 'subwoofer' if either the bass extension or maximum volume of the Amp One alone proves inadequate. Adding a powered subwoofer rather than driving an extension speaker from the combo's internal amplifier is clearly a more expensive option, but there's no doubt it makes better engineering sense. Presumably a powered subwoofer from AER to match the Amp One will be with us shortly.

So, after all that build-up, how did the Amp One perform? Well, there's going to be no fence-sitting or ambivalent waffle here — it is fabulous. Apart from going louder and playing deeper than, considering its size, it has any right to, there's something about the valve-like, warm, clear and gutsy tone of the Amp One that flatters an instrument. My Wal fretless sounded as good as it ever has before, with all the punch, growl and clarity I could ask for, and a beautifully warm and singing high register. Similarly, my Steinberger EUB was reproduced with a delightfully thick and rubbery swell that made me want to keep playing just for the sake of it. It was like having two new instruments and, within reason, it didn't really seem to matter how the Amp One's equalization was set; every sound had the same drop-dead gorgeous quality. The Amp One never sounded hard or grainy, however loud I asked it to play, and the high quality of the amplifier and speaker combination always shone through. I've rarely heard a bass combo of any size or type with quite the mix of abilities as the Amp One. It's quite an achievement. If I had to carp, I'd say that there's occasionally a little chuffing noise from the Amp One's reflex port and that its preamp controls are a little, well, idiosyncratic. But that's as far as any criticism goes. Circumstances conspired to stop me getting the opportunity to use the Amp One at a gig before writing the review, however that will soon change because, well, I'd like you to meet my new bass combo  0