Bass Gear Review

Reviewer	Rhon Herndon
Manufacturer	Aguilar
Model	DB680 tube preamp and DB728 tube power amp
Price	$4290 list, $3000 sale price

Dimensions	2 rackspace preamp, 4 rackspace power amp
Wattage	400 watts RMS at 2, 4, or 8 ohms selectable
Speaker(s)	n/a
EQ	full parametric
Effects	preamp has stereo effects loop for external effects
Controls	the usuals, plus high and low freq full parametric
Other	crossover controls when biamping

After all these years of searching, I have finally found total satisfaction. The all tube bass preamp is warm, sweet, fat, and the full parametric eq allows for phenomenal tone shaping. It has bass and treble knobs, plus two levels of tube-driven bass boost (3dB and earth-shaking 8dB). It comes with a two-button footswitch...one button for mute and one for selecting between input one and input two. The power amp has eight Svetlana 6550 power tubes, and the warmth is what I have always dreamed of having. I have tried many rigs, and this is truly the absolute ultimate in bass amplification. Aguilar gear has a Class A rating. Tone, warmth, richness, top quality workmanship, and tremendous volume (louder than my 900 watt RMS solid state amp was). Sure, Aguilar costs more, but in my opinion, it is worth it. It even comes with a 10-year warranty! To top it off, the customer service (Dave Boonshoft at Aguilar) is the best I have ever encountered. The preamp weighs 17 pounds and the power amp weighs 57 pounds. See www.aguilaramp.com for more info.

Construction	100%
Loudness	100%
Clarity	100%
Tone	100%
Size/Bulkiness	80%
(hey, it's a tube power amp...heavy)
Value	100%
(it's expensive, and worth every cent)
Overall	100%