Reason Bambino 8 Watts - Now with Video and Audio!

[Reason]

Eric,

Thanks for the tone report! Considering your other amps, we're very pleased with your assesment.

Thanks again and welcome to the Reason family!

Best,

[CSchlegel]

Originally Posted by farlowhigh

just to say that I received my Bambino yesterday and had to resist ripping open the box like a tone-hungry beast.

Awesome!

That little handout with the sample settings is a really handy reference point! Great place to start and then tweak to suit. You have any questions about the settings I used in the vids, please ask.

Have fun!

[GoofyDawg]

Once you find the sweet spot with your guitar, the Bambino just sounds incredible! And with a Strat, I just haven't found a better match. My Strat sounds great on other amps, but there's something about the Bambino that really brings the best qualities out my Strat. Here's a clip of a song I'm working on right now:

http://guitargear.wordpress.com/file...-goofydawg.mp3

Using a MIM Strat plugged direct into the Bambino in the neck pickup. The Bambino is set to Channel 1 at the just the edge of breakup. I've got the Fat Boost engaged, and the tone knob at about 10 o'clock (my Strat is pretty bright). What an amp!

[farlowhigh]

very cool track! The amp really does shine with single coils. I am really loving this amp! so many great tones in this amp!

[splatt]

fantastic sounding little amp!
and, obeid's vibrato rocks.
dt / spltrcl

[MCK]

Amazing. Is the Grande version also out? The one with the Reverb & Effects Loop.

[GoofyDawg]

I think Grande is coming out this month. You should give the Reason guys a call. That's a pretty highly-anticipated amp. They really nailed it with this amp.

[MCK]

Sounds great! Thanks for the update

[guitarlix]

When is the Grande coming out?

[Reason]

Originally Posted by guitarlix

When is the Grande coming out?

We're looking at January at this point. The "amp" portion is long since done- Obeids been gigging with the Grande in his rig (the Grande and an SM25) for about six weeks now. He's still tweaking the bells and whistles and finalizing layout and such. The Grande is coming together well, so keep an eye out first of the year.

Best,

[bbell]

I've had the Bambino Combo Deluxe for about a week. Still need to spend more time of course but I thought I'd post something. At first I thought the Private Jack speaker was a little harsh. However after a little playing time it really smoothed out. Its tight and smooth - really liking it now.

The tolex on this combo is green. Very sharp with the gold badge. It looks really well constructed. At 30 lbs or so it isn't exactly "light" but it isn't too heavy either. It feels like a real amp, looks like a real amp, plays like a real amp. Nothing "mini" about it.

My main guitar is a Strat with EMGs (single coil type). Its got a lot more mids and gain on tap than a normal Strat. For that I'm liking the bright channel, with the volume knob pulled out for extra sparkle, and the bass maxed which scoops the mids. I've got the volume at about 50% - the active pickups can easily push that into a smooth overdrive. Backing off on the guitar volume it cleans up great. The amp is silent when not being played (the EMGs no doubt help, but it isn't noisy with other guitars either).

On those settings it is quite loud on 8 watts and quite a bit louder than I want for bedroom playing on 2. I may pick up an attenuator for it (I've got a THD Hot Plate but its 4 ohms and the Bambino wants 8 or 16). The combo speaker is 16 ohms.

There are lots of options with this amp - I only need the attenuator if I insist on playing it in my bedroom with those kind of cranked settings. In stack mode you can use the master volume to play at low levels. But I really like the sound of that bright channel. Stack mode has more grit and crunch, although it cleans up pretty nicely, too - just not as transparently as the non-stack channel.

It sounds really good through the headphones. It isn't exactly the same as the speaker but it is very good. There's a volume knob for the headphones. About the only thing that is hassle with the amp is seeing the back pane controls. They are inside the cabinet pointed down. So its a little hard to tell which jack is headphone and which is line out without tilting the amp bending over and looking upside down with a flashlight. I'll memorize it soon. Same issue with the ohm switch.

And I wish the lead for the speaker was a little longer. Its fine if you want to plug it into the amp. But if I stick an attenuator between the head and the speaker I'm going to need a male to female extension.

That said the jack and socket have a high quality feel. Just like everything else about this amp.

I've been too busy to really incorporate it into my home set up. When I do I'll take the line out and put that through some time based effects. Or mike it and do the same. I'd rather have those effects happening downstream of the amp anyway. Given that, I don't think I'm going to miss the lack of effects loop and reverb. For recording this is perfect.

I've put an OCD distortion in front of it and that sounds good, too. But its pretty much unnecessary.

[Reason]

Originally Posted by bbell

I've had the Bambino Combo Deluxe for about a week. Still need to spend more time of course but I thought I'd post something. At first I thought the Private Jack speaker was a little harsh. However after a little playing time it really smoothed out. Its tight and smooth - really liking it now.

The tolex on this combo is green. Very sharp with the gold badge. It looks really well constructed. At 30 lbs or so it isn't exactly "light" but it isn't too heavy either. It feels like a real amp, looks like a real amp, plays like a real amp. Nothing "mini" about it.

My main guitar is a Strat with EMGs (single coil type). Its got a lot more mids and gain on tap than a normal Strat. For that I'm liking the bright channel, with the volume knob pulled out for extra sparkle, and the bass maxed which scoops the mids. I've got the volume at about 50% - the active pickups can easily push that into a smooth overdrive. Backing off on the guitar volume it cleans up great. The amp is silent when not being played (the EMGs no doubt help, but it isn't noisy with other guitars either).

On those settings it is quite loud on 8 watts and quite a bit louder than I want for bedroom playing on 2. I may pick up an attenuator for it (I've got a THD Hot Plate but its 4 ohms and the Bambino wants 8 or 16). The combo speaker is 16 ohms.

There are lots of options with this amp - I only need the attenuator if I insist on playing it in my bedroom with those kind of cranked settings. In stack mode you can use the master volume to play at low levels. But I really like the sound of that bright channel. Stack mode has more grit and crunch, although it cleans up pretty nicely, too - just not as transparently as the non-stack channel.

It sounds really good through the headphones. It isn't exactly the same as the speaker but it is very good. There's a volume knob for the headphones. About the only thing that is hassle with the amp is seeing the back pane controls. They are inside the cabinet pointed down. So its a little hard to tell which jack is headphone and which is line out without tilting the amp bending over and looking upside down with a flashlight. I'll memorize it soon. Same issue with the ohm switch.

And I wish the lead for the speaker was a little longer. Its fine if you want to plug it into the amp. But if I stick an attenuator between the head and the speaker I'm going to need a male to female extension.

That said the jack and socket have a high quality feel. Just like everything else about this amp.

I've been too busy to really incorporate it into my home set up. When I do I'll take the line out and put that through some time based effects. Or mike it and do the same. I'd rather have those effects happening downstream of the amp anyway. Given that, I don't think I'm going to miss the lack of effects loop and reverb. For recording this is perfect.

I've put an OCD distortion in front of it and that sounds good, too. But its pretty much unnecessary.

Thanks for the detailed review...and it looks like a big welcome to the Gear Page is in order.

Have you used the 2 watt setting much? That would be a good "inbetween" step from the 8 watts and an attenuator. Plus, since there is an internal load, you can just flip the impedance selector to 8ohms and pull the speaker jack out of the amp.

Oh, one more thing. Headphones work fine in eather the Line Out or the Headphone out. The each treat the signal a little differently, but you may find that you Line Out just as well, if not better for use in phones.

Again, thanks for the detailed review!

[bbell]

Thanks - great to know about line out being able to take the headphone. I am mostly using it in 2 watts. 8 watts is hella loud for my bedroom. 2 watts is too loud for it, too. Either one is a lot of fun. I'll probably end up using the line out most for a while.

Its a great amp. Thanks for making it!

[GoofyDawg]

Originally Posted by bbell

Thanks - great to know about line out being able to take the headphone. I am mostly using it in 2 watts. 8 watts is hella loud for my bedroom. 2 watts is too loud for it, too. Either one is a lot of fun. I'll probably end up using the line out most for a while.

Its a great amp. Thanks for making it!

If you want grind at low volumes, put the amp into StackMode, then use the StackMode volume as a MV. Works like a charm! You get mostly preamp breakup, but it's pretty killer, just the same, especially with the normal and bright channels contributing at once.