Uk Ant
New member
I'm currently bass amp free, and I've been looking at compact rigs and yesterday I tried out the Phil Jones suitcase and an Ibanez Prometheon.
Now I've been intrigued by phil jones gear since I first saw them a couple of years ago.
There stuff is all based round very fancy 5" drivers in assorted combinations.
The suitcase has four of them that are driven by 300w amp (if you use an extension cab as well). Not a cheap amp but very compact and light.
The Prometheon is a 1x10" combo, with a detachable 500w head, very funky.
Again you need the extension cab to get the full power, but it's 500w, which is much more wallop for ya buck. The Ibanez also comes in at around £300 less and is even more compact.
Both have multi band graphic eq, built in compressors, are switchable from passive to active, all the usual stuff. The suitcase actually has two inputs to two separate channels, which is no use to me, but I can see it being very useful to other people.
Sound wise the suitcase wins, it's got that bit more warmth and clarity, the Ibanez does sound a bit boxy when wound up, then again it's much louder.
Now for small for jazz, folk etc either of these amps would probably be fine on their own but if you need to compete with a heavy hitting drummer then you'll need to extenion cabs, or in the case of the Ibanez just a big 4 ohm cab as the amp can be taken off and used with anything.
It's that part of the Ibanez that I really do like, and the fact is very compact and pretty loud for such a small beast.
If price was no object then Phil Jones may well get some of my money, then again there are other choices such as small heads and 1x12 cabs.
As it is I may have to save up for the Ibanez plus extension cab
Now I've been intrigued by phil jones gear since I first saw them a couple of years ago.
There stuff is all based round very fancy 5" drivers in assorted combinations.
The suitcase has four of them that are driven by 300w amp (if you use an extension cab as well). Not a cheap amp but very compact and light.
The Prometheon is a 1x10" combo, with a detachable 500w head, very funky.
Again you need the extension cab to get the full power, but it's 500w, which is much more wallop for ya buck. The Ibanez also comes in at around £300 less and is even more compact.
Both have multi band graphic eq, built in compressors, are switchable from passive to active, all the usual stuff. The suitcase actually has two inputs to two separate channels, which is no use to me, but I can see it being very useful to other people.
Sound wise the suitcase wins, it's got that bit more warmth and clarity, the Ibanez does sound a bit boxy when wound up, then again it's much louder.
Now for small for jazz, folk etc either of these amps would probably be fine on their own but if you need to compete with a heavy hitting drummer then you'll need to extenion cabs, or in the case of the Ibanez just a big 4 ohm cab as the amp can be taken off and used with anything.
It's that part of the Ibanez that I really do like, and the fact is very compact and pretty loud for such a small beast.
If price was no object then Phil Jones may well get some of my money, then again there are other choices such as small heads and 1x12 cabs.
As it is I may have to save up for the Ibanez plus extension cab
