Audiophile Bass System from Ernie Ball

Ernie Ball jumps into the bass amplification market with its new HD-500 Audiophile Bass System. The HD-500 was designed from the ground up as a state-of the-art, high fidelity bass amp, with exclusive features including an LVR control. The control emulates vintage style speaker cabinets when using modern, full-range speaker systems. Other features include:

• A 500-watt amp with a vacuum tube preamp
• Two channels of EQ, each with four frequency bands
• A direct output for recording or sound reinforcement
• Tuner output
• An effects loop

Dudley Gimpel, 15-year product designer for Ernie Ball, explained, "The market has never seen an amp quite like this it uses high-tech IGBT output devices as the heart of the power amplifier and a toroidal power transformer, a design thats low in hum to keep this amp very quiet. Plus, we make the amp with only high-quality components."

The suggested U.S. retail price for the amp is $1,299. The amp head comes in four voltage versions for various countries.

Ernie Ball also offers a choice of two full-range bass cabinets. The HD-210 uses two 10" woofers plus a high frequency super tweeter, handling 350 watts. The suggested U.S. retail is $799. The HD-212 uses two 12" woofers and a 6" high-frequency driver, handling 600 watts, with a suggested U.S. retail price of $1,050.