We size-up four surprisingly versatile sub-$500 amps from Ampeg, Hartke, Fender, and Ashdown.
Bass amplification has evolved though many stages, but the basic notion of an amp and speaker in a single enclosure has served bassists well for more than 60 years. The current generation of bass combos make bassists’ lives a little easier with back-saving portability, great tones, and floor-shaking power.
This roundup covers the smaller end of the combo world: the latest 1x12 options. Models of this caliber are often deemed bedroom or practice amps, but here, the manufacturers have more in mind. We often need something smaller than our stadium rig for intimate gigs, writing rooms, or rehearsal, and all these combos bring enough beef to be considered more than practice tools.
We examine the Ampeg B-112, Ashdown Rootmaster 220, Fender Rumble 100, and Hartke HD75 from top to bottom. In each case, the manufacturer attempts to capture its signature big-amp sound in a compact combo that speaks louder than its modest footprint might suggest. In the bass arena, where bigger often seems to be better, these little powerhouses remind us that it’s not about the size of the rig, but how you use it. And did we mention they’re all under $500?
Click the amp you're most interested with or hit next and start with the Ampeg BA-112.
Ampeg BA-112
Ashdown Rootmaster RM-C112-220
Fender Rumble 100
Hartke HD75
Ampeg BA-112
Ampeg has long been famous for its iconic, all-tube bass amps—specifically, the vintage “flip-top” B-15 and various iterations of the thundering SVT head. But for many years the company has also offered the BA series of smaller, more practical alternatives for working musicians with humbler means and needs. The entire BA line was recently revamped, and here we’re taking a look at the newest edition of the BA-112, an affordable, 75-watt 1x12 combo that packs a punch with smart, usable features—including a taste of the signature SVT tone.
Ratings
Pros:
Big tones. Impressive feature set. Dirt on demand—including SVT-style tones—with the Scrambler circuit.
Cons:
A little heavy for its size. No DI or tuner output.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$249
Ampeg BA-112
ampeg.com
Tilt Back and Fly
The BA-112 features what the company calls its Legacy preamp, a 3-band EQ with ultra-hi and ultra-lo pushbuttons, as well as a Scrambler circuit whose name might confuse some vintage-stompbox aficionados: It’s intended to emulate an overdriven SVT, not the short-lived Scrambler fuzz pedal that Ampeg released in 1969 (and reissued about nine years ago). The BA-112 also has a -15 dB input pad for active basses, and both 1/4" and 1/8" auxiliary inputs, with a single front-panel level control.
The amp weighs 42 pounds—a little heavy in my book—but its footprint is not much bigger than your typical live monitor wedge. Interestingly, the BA-112’s cabinet also features an angled design that lets you turn it horizontally and lean it back to a 60-degree angle for stage-friendly monitoring. I’ve played many a small stage with my amp primarily blasting away at my knees rather than my ears, so kudos to Ampeg for this practical design feature.
Scrambled and Rocked
I tested the BA-112 with a ’75 Fender Jazz reissue, and with the EQ set flat the amp’s character had a lot of what many players envision when they think “Ampeg”—it’s bold and unapologetic. The Scrambler circuit, which is activated via a front-panel pushbutton, features drive and blend controls. Blending just a hint of the overdrive signal is key to getting SVT-ish tones (higher settings can sound pretty harsh). For me, the sweet spot was with drive at noon and blend at about 10 o’clock. This gave my bass a big bottom end with the perfect amount of grit. I was also impressed at how the ultra-lo switch helped me coax even more oomph from my J.
The Verdict
The BA-112 has a lot of Ampeg attitude wrapped up in a svelte, solid package. The all-steel chassis and solidly braced cabinet seem ready to endure a long life of being schlepped from rehearsal to gig and back home again. Of course, big tone and punchiness are just as important, and this amp’s got both. Considering the BA’s humble power rating, it’s no surprise it doesn’t move mountains, volume-wise. However, it is well suited to its purpose: It’s a really good rehearsal amp at a fair price. The Scrambler overdrive is a nice bonus, but even without it this is one great little combo. Tilt it back and let it rip!
Watch the Review Demo
Ashdown Rootmaster RM-C112-220
Fender Rumble 100
Hartke HD75
Ashdown Rootmaster RM-C112-220
Ashdown Engineering has been anchoring the low end on some of the world’s biggest tours for the better part of two decades now, boasting such notable artist endorsees as Foo Fighters' Nate Mendel, U2’s Adam Clayton, and Pino Palladino (the Who, John Mayer). In addition to their high-end ABM line and all-tube custom-shop designs, Ashdown offers the Rootmaster series of amps and combos for everyday players. The new RM-C112-220 we’re checking out here packs beauty and features inspired by high-end Ashdown amps into a compact, affordable package.Deep Roots
At almost 50 pounds and 220 watts, the 220 is a stout bugger in every sense. (Ashdown says they have since brought the weight down to 36 pounds.) It’s loaded with a single 12" Ashdown speaker and a full-featured front panel. Top-row dials control the 5-band EQ, while the bottom row governs more nuanced functions. At far left, the shape button engages a scooped-mid EQ response, while EQ in/out completely bypasses the top-tier knobs to serve up the amp’s bare, foundational tones. Both options are great, though I wish you could control them with the optional footswitch. Next in line are dials for input gain, compression level, compression and drive on/off buttons, drive level, sub harmonics, output level, and line mix (which governs the rear-panel 1/8" aux input).
Ratings
Pros:
Great tonal range. Speaker and DI outs are mighty practical.
Cons:
Onboard effects sound good but could use more controllability.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$499
Ashdown Rootmaster RM-C112-220
ashdownmusic.com
The rest of the back panel is worth mentioning, too, because Ashdown provides useful expansion and output options: a 1/4" DI output, effects send and return, and a Speakon connector that lets you add an extension cab to make this a true small-club amp.
Rooting for Rumble
The 220 made it easy for my Yamaha BB1025X to get a great, full tone right out of the box. The shape control proved to be a quick flavor enhancer, and pairing it with deft top-row EQ tweaks made it even more useful. I gave the low end a healthy bump and the amp still handled the Yamaha’s 5th string with ease.
As you’d expect from its control set, the 220 offers up a heap of tonal options—from edgy to round and everything in between. At its core, the amp is all Ashdown: midrange-y and warm. It’s pretty easy to get a mix-friendly tone in no time. The sub-harmonic feature is great to have, although you have to crank it all the way up to get full-on, octave-dive coolness. The drive control is useful when you want some edge to your sound but don’t want to bring a separate overdrive pedal. I dug the range I could achieve while working the circuit in tandem with the EQ, as I was able to muster everything from subtle grit to nasty lead tones. My only warning is to not get too taken with all the bells and whistles: Too much of a good thing can be bad, and with everything on the great tones can go away rather fast.
The Verdict
The Rootmaster RM-C112-220 is one of the more complete bass combos I’ve encountered—especially in this price range. Ashdown has jammed about 8 pounds of hammers into a 7-pound sack. And if you’re just getting into effects like overdrive and compression, this amp could be a great place to try them out without having to shell out cash for extra devices. All said, the 220 will carry you from rehearsal to a small-venue gig with ease.
Watch the Review Demo
Ampeg BA-112
Fender Rumble 100
Hartke HD75
Fender Rumble 100
Introduced about a decade ago, Fender’s Rumble line of combo amps was designed to offer power and portability at a reasonable price. True to form, the latest Rumble 100 provides all the tools a working bassist needs. It’s compact yet authoritative, competitively priced, and it can veer from springtime sweet to winter brash with a few small adjustments.
To Rumble is Human
The Rumble 100’s layout is one of the better I’ve seen on a combo amp. The front is dressed with Fender’s vintage-sparkle grille cloth, and the controls are wisely situated on the back edge of the amp’s top. (The ivory peanut-butter-cup knobs are a nice touch.) The only ornamentation is a simple Fender logo.
The control panel includes a gain control, three pushbutton tone presets (bright, contour, and vintage) and an overdrive section with drive and level controls. There’s 4-band EQ (with low-mid and high-mid controls) and master volume. The rear panel hosts inputs and outputs and the power switch. There’s effect send/return, a pair of 1/8" inputs (aux in and headphones), a jack for the optional footswitch, and an XLR out with ground-lift.
Ratings
Pros:
Super portable. Great tones. XLR output.
Cons:
No tilt-back option.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$299
Fender Rumble 100
fender.com
No Tumble, Just Rumble
The Rumble 100 is remarkably light—I could lift the 22-pound amp with a single finger. It earns top marks for portability.
Plugging in a ’78 Fender P immediately yielded great tones. I started with the EQ flat, where the amp gave the truest representation of my bass. The EQ provides excellent tone shaping, and I really dug the low-mid control, because some rooms need more of these frequencies for the bass to cut through. Meanwhile, the single 12" Eminence speaker can handle everything the 100-watt amp can throw its way without loss of punch.
The real fun, though, was cycling through the pushbutton options. The vintage setting does the amp justice with a bottom-end bump that eases up the tone’s warmth. It doesn’t necessarily cop the sound of a particular vintage model, but such tones are always welcome from a combo. The contour setting provides modern slap-friendly tones that lent my passive P an active feel. The bright setting is akin to a clarity switch, bringing my bass to life with just the right dose of added highs. You can use the voicing buttons alone or in combination, which can be very effective with the overdrive.
Fender didn’t equip the Rumble 100 with heavy overdrive, so you need a pedal for extreme tones. But the onboard overdrive breaks up the sound in just the right way, maintaining the integrity of the native bass tone. There’s a perfect amount of grit, and when paired with the tone switches, it can work wonders for such a compact amp. Engaging the bright switch with the overdrive dimed lends a cool, shiny guitar-like presence. (Given the current trend of two-member bands, who needs a guitarist?)
The Verdict
Fender’s Rumble 100 is a loud, smart combo that will make a nice fit in many a working bassist’s arsenal. Such a wide range of tones is refreshing, as is the simple layout and modest overall weight. Yes, this combo is definitely ready to rumble.
Watch the Review Demo
Ampeg BA-112
Ashdown Rootmaster RM-C112-220
Hartke HD75
Hartke HD75
In 1985, Back to the Future was a box-office hit, the Live Aid concerts were huge successes, and Larry Hartke introduced aluminum-cone speakers to unsuspecting bassists shortly after building a cab with the drivers for Jaco. Hartke’s new HD-series combo amps sport an even more radical speaker design. Let’s look at the compact HD75.Hartke the Herald Angels Sing
The HD75 is a straight-ahead 75-watt amp with a single 12" HyDrive speaker. The HyDrive isn’t all-aluminum, but part metal and part paper cone. The goal is a speaker with the snap of aluminum and the warmth of paper.
Without effects, a tuner, or superfluous functions, the HD75 does one simple job: amplifying your bass. Some players prefer built-in extras, but I’d rather have an amp that sounds great with no distractions than a mediocre rig with clutter.
At a little over 48 pounds, the HD75 it is a touch heavy for a smaller amp. With little on the back panel beside a power plug and on/off switch, a balanced DI out would have taken the amp one step further, and a top-panel power indicator would be more convenient than having to look around back. But on a $250 amp, these are small-beans issues.
Ratings
Pros:
Flexible EQ. Attractive vintage-meets-modern tones.
Cons:
No DI. A bit heavy. Power-indicator light on rear only.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$249
Hartke HD75
samsontech.com
The top-panel controls are straightforward: There’s a master volume control, and then two EQ sections: a modified tone-stack design with bass, mid, and treble pots, and 7-band graphic EQ with a +/-12 dB slider for each frequency. Next come an 1/8" auxiliary input, 1/4" effect send (which can also serve as a line out) and return jacks, and a 1/4" headphone jack that mutes the speaker for private practicing.
Rock and a Hartke Place
I plugged in a stock Fender Squier Precision Bass and started with the bass, mid, and treble controls at noon and the graphic EQ zeroed out. The first tones out of the HD75 did not disappoint. I happen to be a paper-cone guy, so hearing the sound as advertised with no EQ was impressive. Tones have nice attack, and while there’s a little more bite than I’m used to, the wide-ranging EQ section helps tremendously. Just turning the bass pot up to +3 (1 o’clock) made the combo feel warm and familiar.
The HD75’s EQ controls are fun and effective, but they may be a bit daunting for the untrained. Boosting too much of any one thing can quickly make the amp too harsh or too boomy, and novices might mix themselves right out of rehearsal if not careful. But even with the high-frequency EQ controls pushed way up, the feared shrillness of an aluminum speaker never appears—just über-crisp tones.
Despite its size, the HD75 shouldn’t be relegated to the bedroom. It’s got enough oomph for jazz-brunch and coffeehouse gigs or small rock rehearsals. (I did try pushing the HD75 to the edge, but its built-in limiter ensures safe levels, protecting the gear.)
The Verdict
I like this sharp-looking, no-nonsense combo. Its blend of modern and vintage sounds via the hybrid speaker gives the amp a unique identity. It’s a great option for beginning players, who can practice, rehearse, and play small gigs without needing to upgrade.
Watch the Review Demo
Classic counterpoint techniques that work for surf.
Intermediate
Intermediate
• Learn some time-honored guidelines of classical composition.
• Apply revered rules to more modern styles.
• Create interesting and complex surf lines.The term counterpoint scares many people who think it is a carefully devised process that strips you of creative freedom. This is partly true, because some individuals have pushed the practice of counterpoint as strict rules at some point without explaining its purpose. I disagree with the view that music theory is a rule. Counterpoint, like serialism or any other principle of harmony, is simply a recipe for an expected result. These music theory recipes are not baking recipes where exact measurements must be made; music theory is more like cooking, which is more malleable and open to in-the-moment modifications.
Species Counterpoint
Why was counterpoint invented? Counterpoint has two primary goals: first, to ensure parts are singable, and second, to keep each “voice” independent. Let’s discuss the intervals aspect first. Some intervals are challenging to sing. Tritones, for instance, are not easy for even professional singers to hear and sing when sight reading. Even when time is spent with a piece, getting used to tritones takes a bit of digestion. (This is the main reason tritones were avoided for so long in music. Music was primarily vocal-based for quite some time, such as in 16th century Italian composer Giovanni Palestrina’s music. Carelessly placing tritones would make the music very difficult to sing.) With guitar, we don’t have to hear the notes before we play. We should, but it’s not required (and sometimes that’s what gets us in trouble). The species counterpoint recipe is designed to avoid certain dissonant intervals that are not approached by step. In other words, we don’t jump to or from a dissonance.
When music changed and new instruments became available, the recipes of species counterpoint changed, which makes sense as the limitations of hearing a note weren’t as much of an issue. As baroque composer and theorist Johann Joseph Fuchs proposed, the series counterpoint method is a recipe that places us in a particular time in history. By understanding and using the recipe of series counterpoint, we can connect with the rich musical tradition of the past.
Independence
During this same period, one of the main ingredients of music was that each “voice” (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) was to remain independent. You should be able to hear the journey of each voice on its own. The recipes for counterpoint ensure we maintain independence. Playing two 5ths in succession or two octaves in succession sounds unified and thus makes us lose independence. Using counterpoint, we can ensure that we don’t weave in and out of independent and unified sounds. In the era of early counterpoint, say the Palestrina era, composers didn’t think in terms of a predetermined chord progression. They thought about each line and made sure they merged in harmony. The music was written horizontally to ensure the lines didn’t crash or lose independence. This is considerably different from how we often make music in the rock genres of the 20th century. Bach started incorporating the thought of a “vertical” chord progression. Even before the 20th century, the recipes for counterpoint had evolved. But the evolution didn’t make the earlier recipes irrelevant; it added more options to our recipe book.
Voice Leading
Another critical thing about counterpoint is the movement from one note to another. This is similar to the earlier discussion about intervals that are hard to sing. Voice leading is a crucial aspect of counterpoint. It’s the art of connecting one note to another, whether in a single line or with chords. It ensures that our musical lines flow smoothly, guiding the listener’s ear through the composition. Writing a herky-jerky line that jumps all over the place makes it hard to sing. The art of voice leading is writing lines to feel and sound like they unfold and take us on a ride, but not a ride on a road ridden with potholes—think of a newly paved road on a highway. Counterpoint instills in us how to create even motion. So, when you want to create unrest and a feeling of a jerky experience, you’re applying intentionally.
Power of Suggestion
Counterpoint rules are not strict guidelines but rather flexible recipes or suggestions. Composers have always been free to write what they wanted (well, aside from political and religious oppression), using counterpoint to enhance their compositions, and many composers have experimented with expanding the counterpoint recipes. There are times when we need an expected result. This is when you can use tools to help you achieve that outcome. Although counterpoint was most popular in eras that have long since passed, it still holds significant value in our modern music industry. Its recipes, while evolving, continue to provide a solid foundation for contemporary music composition.
Broken Traditions
At some point, composers grew weary of the sounds they had heard for many years and started expanding. They stopped caring about losing the independence of voices and used parallel 5ths and octaves. Sometimes, they stopped caring about voice leading and wrote pointillistic music. Composers even started composing with noise (such as John Cage), or experimenting with electronic means of composition (Delia Derbyshire and Karlheinz Stockhausen). However, counterpoint still existed, and many of these composers, even though they strayed from some of the recipes, still deeply understood its structure, such as Arnold Schoenberg, who invented a system to avoid tonal harmony.
Lesson
I will give you more than just a dry recipe for species counterpoint in this lesson. Instead, I’ll focus on key elements that can be directly applied to your rock and pop compositions, making your music more dynamic and interesting. For each of these examples, I will live in the land of surf music, one of my favorite genres.
Imitation
In fugues, which are species counterpoint-based, we use something called imitation. Imagine we have two guitarists. Guitarist 1 plays a riff or melodic phrase, and then Guitarist 2 plays that same riff right after Guitarist 1 finishes. Guitar 2 is imitating Guitar 1. However, we can adjust the octave and pitches on which the imitation starts to add more variety to its performance.
For Ex. 1, I created a three-measure phrase for guitar 1 that I will imitate in measure two with Guitar 2. Guitar 2 is an exact copycat of Guitar 1, but they don’t play the part at the same time.
Ex. 2: For this example, I will drop the imitation for Guitar 2 an octave lower.
Ex. 3 is where the fun begins. As I mentioned earlier, we can start on different pitches for our imitation. If the theme (measures one through three) implies a key signature (we’re using the key of E minor for each of these examples to keep it simple), we can imply another key for the imitation but keep the same interval relationship and shape of the theme. We will outline the V chord (Bm) for measures four through six. The result is a conversation between two instruments that can move through a chord progression in a song or a couple of key centers for variety. We can use the same idea with guitar and bass or any other combination of instruments.
In counterpoint, we call the first riff or melodic phrase the “theme.” You may wonder what Guitar 1 is supposed to do while Guitar 2 (or in my recorded examples, bass) imitates the first riff. We have two options: One is to play free—you devise a harmony that works on top of the riff, but you don’t have to play this harmony on every imitation. It’s just an accompaniment that happens at that given time, as in Ex. 4a. Ex. 4b uses the same free accompaniment but moves bars four through six to B minor.
The second option is a countertheme. You can write a second riff that plays every time the imitation plays. The theme and countertheme are interconnected. They swap parts back and forth, as we see in Ex. 5a. Ex. 5b uses the same free accompaniment but moves bars four, five, and six to the key of B minor.
We already have a fruit-bearing tree. This technique prolongs material, using the same parts to lengthen and ornament the music you’re making. Johann Sebastian Bach was a master of this, and I highly recommend studying his music if you like imitation, canons, and fugues.
Consonance and Dissonance
Okay, now that you understand the basic concepts of imitation, theme, and countertheme, it’s time to start digging deeper into the concepts of harmony and voice leading. For counterpoint, we have two categories for interval organization. Consonant intervals are unisons, 3rds, 5ths, 6ths, and octaves. We also have dissonant intervals, such as 2nds, 4ths, and 7ths. Ex. 6 features consonant intervals, Ex. 7, dissonant.
In counterpoint, we only use dissonant intervals step by step. We never jump into them or leave them by leap. Jumping into dissonances can be off-putting. Yes, there are times when you want that sound, but there is a difference between knowing how to use dissonance and using dissonance that isn’t working. Ex. 8 is an example of jumping into dissonance. Many guitarists don’t know how to deal with dissonance when soloing, and songwriters sometimes can’t hear poorly approached dissonance when writing melodies. I know … it sure sounds like I’m talking about rules here! But really, it’s about using tools to achieve a desired result or fixing issues rather than strict regulations.
Strong Beats
In classical music, beat 1 is the strongest in the bar, followed by beat 3, the second strongest. Beats 2 and 4 are the strong beats in jazz. We will focus on beat 1 as the strong beat right now. It’s generally essential that beat 1 of each measure is consonant. The recipe states not to use dissonance on strong beats. There is more tolerance for dissonance on weak beats (2 and 4).
This means we must have an overview of our lines and how they meet at each bar on beat 1 (and beat 3). Beats 1 and 3 should be consonant using a unison, 3rd, 5th, 6th, or octave. Using species counterpoint allows us to tell a functional harmony story more clearly, making the story more apparent to the listener.
The Dreaded Parallel Perfect Intervals
If your head isn’t already spinning, get ready. Earlier, I mentioned that we want to maintain independence with each line in the counterpoint. We don’t want to hear them collapse into each other. Unisons, perfect 5ths, and octaves are perfect intervals. They are the most unified-sounding intervals, which means you lose the most independence when using them. Using two back-to-back octaves is a parallel motion of a perfect interval. This means the line’s independence is wholly lost, which we want to avoid in counterpoint. For this reason, we avoid placing parallel perfect 5ths and octaves successive to each other and adjacent strong beats. Check out Ex. 9 to hear parallel octaves and Ex. 10 for parallel 5ths. Bear in mind, of course, that some genres and periods completely disregard this, such as minimalism.
Shapes of Things
We have most of the basics laid out, except one more topic regarding the independence of lines. We want to maintain the independence of the line with interval choice rather than the direction of each line. When we think of musical lines, we want each line to have its own journey but not unfavorably crash into the other. To achieve this, we want each line to have a different shape and follow each other in parallel motion. We have options for variety.
1. Parallel motion: Each line moves in the same direction with perfect intervals (Ex. 11).
2. Similar motion: Each line moves in the same direction with constant intervals (Ex. 12).
3. Oblique motion: When one voice stays in the same position, the other voice moves (Ex. 13).
4. Contrary motion: When both lines move in opposite directions, offering the most independence (Ex. 14).
The idea is to have a variety of shapes to maintain independence of direction.
Final Thoughts
I know this is a lot to take in. Studying counterpoint is no small task. But I hope that this introductory lesson into the concepts of counterpoint illuminates its power as both a creative tool and a troubleshooting device for composing and building solos. Understanding counterpoint means only sometimes considering it in the composition process. You can write as you always do, but if something doesn’t sound right, it’s much easier and faster to diagnose and fix the problem. There are times when composing with counterpoint in mind can be a fantastic tool. It’s up to you to decide when to use the creative recipe.
See and hear Taylor’s Legacy Collection guitars played by his successor, Andy Powers.
Last year, Taylor Guitars capped its 50th Anniversary by introducing a new guitar collection celebrating the contributions of co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug to the guitar world. The Legacy Collection revives five of Bob Taylor’s classic acoustic models, curated by the legendary luthier and innovator himself. “To imagine that we’re doing guitars that harken to our past, our present and our future all at the same time,” Bob says, “I really like that.”
In developing the collection, Bob preserved the essence of his originals while integrating performance and playability upgrades introduced during his tenure as designer-in-chief. “It’s an up-to-date version of what those guitars would be,” Bob explains, “but with the same sound.”
Visually, these guitars feel classic—clean, understated and unmistakably Taylor. While Bob’s original aesthetic preferences are showcased in his Legacy models, the nod to the past runs deeper than trade dress.
From his earliest builds, Bob favored slim-profile necks because he found them easier to play. That preference set a design precedent that established Taylor’s reputation for smooth-playing, comfortable necks. Legacy models feature slim mahogany necks built with Taylor's patented New Technology (NT) design. “My first neck was a bolted-on neck but not an NT neck,” Bob says. “These are NT necks because it’s a better neck.” Introduced in 1999, the NT neck allowed for unprecedented micro-adjustability while offering a consistent, hand-friendly Taylor playing experience.
What makes this collection unique within the Taylor line is Bob’s use of his X-bracing architecture, favoring his time-tested internal voicing framework over more recent Taylor bracing innovations to evoke a distinctive tone profile. Since Andy Powers—Taylor’s current Chief Guitar Designer, President and CEO—debuted his patented V-Class bracing in 2018, V-Class has become a staple in Taylor’s premium-performance guitars. Still, Bob’s X-bracing pattern produces a richly textured sound with pleasing volume, balance and clarity that long defined the Taylor voice. All Legacy models feature LR Baggs VTC Element electronics, which Bob says “harkens back to those days.”
The team at Taylor thought the best way to demonstrate the sound of the Legacy guitars was to ask Andy Powers, Bob’s successor, to play them. A world-class luthier and musician, Andy has spent the past 14 years leading Taylor’s guitar innovation. In addition to V-Class bracing, his contributions include the Grand Pacific body style, the ultra-refined Builder’s Edition Collection, and most recently, the stunning Gold Label Collection.
Below you’ll find a series of videos that feature Powers playing each Legacy model along with information about the guitars.
Legacy 800 Series Models
First launched in 1975, the 800 Series was Taylor’s first official guitar series. Today, it remains home to some of the brand’s most acclaimed instruments, including the flagship 814ce, Builder’s Edition 814ce and new Gold Label 814e.
The Legacy 800 Series features the 810e Dreadnought and two Jumbos: the 6-string 815e and 12-string 855e. Each model serves up a refined version of the Dreadnought and Jumbo body shapes Bob inherited from Sam Radding—the original owner of the American Dream music shop where Bob and Kurt first met. “I was making my guitars in the molds that Sam had made at American Dream,” Bob recalls. “There was a Jumbo and a Dreadnought. That’s all we had.”
All three Legacy 800 Series guitars feature one of Bob’s favorite tonewood combos. Solid Indian rosewood back and sides are paired with a Sitka spruce top, yielding warm lows, clear trebles and a scooped midrange.
Aesthetic appointments include a three-ring abalone rosette, mother-of-pearl Large Diamond inlays, white binding around the body and fretboard, and Bob’s “straight-ear” peghead design. Both Jumbo models also showcase a mustache-style ebony bridge—a nod to Bob’s early Jumbo builds.
Legacy 810e
The 810 Dreadnought holds a special place in Bob Taylor’s heart. “My first 810, the one I made for myself, was a thrilling guitar for me to make,” he says. “It’s the one and only guitar I played. It didn’t matter how many guitars we made at Taylor, that’s the one I took out and played.” The Legacy 810e brings back that bold, room-filling Dreadnought voice along with the easy playability expected from a Taylor.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 810e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 855e
Taylor’s first 12-strings found an audience in 1970s Los Angeles. “I was making guitars that would find their way to McCabe’s in Santa Monica and Westwood Music,” Bob says, “and these guitars were easy to play. Twelve-strings were a popular sound in that music. It was a modern country/folk/rock music genre that was accepting our guitars because they were easy to play. They also liked the sound of them because our guitars were easier to record.” The Legacy 855e, with its resonant Jumbo body, slim neck and gorgeous octave sparkle, carries that tradition forward.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 855e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 815e
The Legacy 815e revives Taylor’s original Jumbo 6-string, delivering a big, lush sound with beautifully blooming overtones.
Legacy Grand Auditoriums
In the early 1990s, Bob Taylor heard a consistent refrain from dealers: “Not everybody wants a dreadnought guitar anymore.” Players were asking for something with comparable volume but different proportions—something more comfortable, yet still powerful. This feedback inspired Bob to design a new body style with more elegant curves, more accommodating proportions and a balanced tonal response. The result was the Grand Auditorium, which Taylor introduced in 1994 to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Thanks to its musical versatility and easy playability, Bob’s Grand Auditorium attracted a wide variety of players. “We came into our own with our Grand Auditorium,” he says. “People were describing it as ‘all around.’ It’s a good strummer and good for fingerstyle, but it’s not totally geared toward strumming or totally geared toward fingerstyle.” Also referred to as the “Swiss-Army Knife” of guitars or the “Goldilocks” guitar, the GA quickly became a favorite among guitarists across playing styles, musical genres and different playing applications including recording and live performance. “That guitar made studio work successful,” Bob says. It gained a wider fanbase with the debut of the “ce” version, which introduced a Venetian cutaway and onboard electronics. “That became one of our hallmarks,” says Bob. “If you want to plug in your guitar, buy a Taylor.”
Today, the Grand Auditorium is Taylor’s best-selling body shape.
The Legacy Collection features two cedar-top Grand Auditoriums inspired by past favorites: the mahogany/cedar 514ce and rosewood/cedar 714ce. Both models incorporate Bob’s original X-bracing pattern for a tonal character reminiscent of their 1990s and 2000s counterparts. Shared aesthetic details include a green abalone three-ring rosette, ebony bridge pins with green abalone dots, a faux-tortoiseshell pickguard and Taylor gold tuning machines.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 815e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 514ce
The Legacy 514ce features solid mahogany back and sides paired with a Western Red cedar top, yielding a punchy midrange and dry, woody sonic personality that pairs beautifully with cedar’s soft-touch sensitivity and warmth. It’s a standout choice for fingerstyle players and light strummers who crave nuance and depth. Distinct visual details include faux-tortoise body and fretboard binding, black-and-white top trim, and mother-of-pearl small diamond fretboard inlays.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 514ce | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 714ce
The Legacy 714ce also features a cedar top, this time matched with solid Indian rosewood back and sides. The result is a richly textured sound with deep lows, clear trebles and a warm, mellow response. Inspiring as it is, this specific wood pairing isn’t currently offered in any other standard Taylor model. Additional aesthetic details include green abalone dot fretboard inlays, black body and fretboard binding, and black-and-white “pinstripe” body purfling.
While the Legacy Collection spotlights Taylor’s past, newer models from the Gold Label, Builder’s Edition and Somos Collections show the company’s legacy is always evolving. Explore the Legacy Collection at taylorguitars.com or visit your local authorized Taylor dealer.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 714ce | Playthrough Demo
The Oceans Abyss expands on Electro-Harmonix’s highly acclaimed reverb technology to deliver a truly immersive effects workstation. The pedal is centered around dual reverb engines that are independently programmable with full-stereo algorithms including Hall, Spring, Shimmer and more. Place these reverbs into a customizable signal path with additional FX blocks like Delay, Chorus, Tremolo, or Bit Crusher for a completely unique soundscape building experience.
Electro-Harmonix has paved the way for powerful, accessible reverbs since the release of the original Holy Grail and now we’ve pushed the envelope deeper with the fully-equipped Oceans Abyss. Featuring a customizable signal path with up to 8 effects blocks, the Oceans Abyss can be configured as individual reverb, modulation, EQ, delay, bit crusher, saturation or volume effects, or as countless combinations for incredibly creative effect shaping. From a simple Spring reverb to a lush stereo field featuring stereo hall and shimmer reverbs, chorus, delay, overdrive, and tremolo, you can go from surf to shoegaze instantly, without breaking a sweat.
Deep parameter editing is accessible via the high-visibility OLED display with multiple graphical views and easy-to-read designs. Expression/CV control over nearly every parameter gives artful control of your effects and dynamics. Fully-stereo I/O plus an FX Loop allows for use with any instrument, recording set up, or live rig. 128 programmable presets via onboard footswitching or MIDI ensure perfect recall in all performance situations. MIDI IN/OUT ports with MIDI IN support of PC, CC, and Tempo Clock expand the already immense talents of the Oceans Abyss. Connect with UBS-C to Windows or Mac for effects editing, preset management, and more with the free EHXport™ app (coming soon).
- Two Stereo Reverbs available at once, each fully pannable in the stereo field
- 10 reverb types to choose from: Room, Hall, Spring, Plate, Reverse, Dynamic, Auto-Infinite, Shimmer, Polyphonic, Resonant
- Additional FX blocks: Delay (Digital, Analog and Tape emulations), Tremolo, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Graphic EQ, Saturation, Bit Crusher, External FX Loop, Volume
- Create custom signal path routing with up to 8 effects blocks. Two blocks may be re-verb, the rest may be any of the additional FX blocks.
- Infinite reverb sustain with the press of a footswitch
- Stereo Audio I/O
- Stereo FX Loop routing on TRS Jacks
- Dual action footswitches allow for momentary or latching use
- Easily enable or disable tails
- 128 fully customizable presets
- All controls can be saved to presets
- Dive deep into global and preset settings to set up Oceans Abyss for your specific needs
- Illuminated slide pots and buttons
- High-visibility OLED graphical display
- Multiple graphical views: Signal Path, Performance, Settings, Physical, Explorer
- Easy-to-navigate menu system
- Ergonomic NavCoder knob allows rotary and directional navigation through menus
- EXPRESSION / CV input to control nearly any parameter in any FX block
- Footswitch input allows for adding up to three external footswitches, each assigna-ble to a number of functions
- MIDI In and Out. MIDI IN supports PC, CC (over nearly every available parameter), and Tempo Clock
- USB-C port to connect to Windows or Mac and interface with EHXport™ app (coming soon)
- 96kHz / 24-bit sample rate conversion
- Supplied with 9.6VDC / 500mA power supply
Our columnist’s silver-panel Fender Bandmaster.
How this longstanding, classic tube amp design evolved from its introduction in 1953.
I have a silver-panel Bandmaster Reverb that I don’t think I’ve talked about enough in this column. It’s one of the most versatile and flexible amps I own, so I use it for everything. It’s portable, has tube-driven reverb and tremolo, and has a full set of EQ knobs including the critical bright switch, which we discussed the importance of earlier this year (“How to ‘Trebleshoot’ a Vintage Fender Amp,” March 2025). The amp is not only pedal-friendly; the flexible 4-ohm output impedance will handle almost all speaker configurations and sound any way you’d like. Let’s take a deeper look at the Fender Bandmaster amp and walk through its development through the years.
The first Bandmaster was introduced in 1953 as a wide-panel tweed amp with Fender’s 5C7 circuit. This rare combo was loaded with a single 15" Jensen P15N and powered by dual 6L6GC tubes in push-pull configuration to produce a modest 25 watts. The 6L6GCs were cathode biased and along with the 5U4GB rectifier tube contributed to a forgiving sag, early breakup, and a midrange-y voice.
Fender made several changes when they launched that amp’s successor in 1955, the more widely known 5E7 narrow-panel Bandmaster, a well-proven amp that has come back as a reissue model. It was still a dual-channel amp—instrument and microphone—but the newer 5E7 model had a fixed bias and a negative feedback loop, providing a louder, firmer, and cleaner tone. Most importantly, the single 15" speaker was replaced by three 10" speakers, making it very similar to the narrow-panel tweed Bassman, the granddaddy of all Marshall amps. This Bandmaster had three speakers instead of the Bassman’s four, and it delivered 25–30 watts instead of 40. It offered early breakup with a midrange-y, big and full tone.
For those not acquainted with tweed amps, the volume and EQ knobs behave differently than on silver- and black-panel Fender amps. The volume pot can act like a distortion control, while the EQ knobs control the volume, and many players I’ve talked to have not really unlocked this secret. This works because, in these circuits, the volume pot sits right before the preamp tube, which allows it to push the tube into full distortion. Since the EQ pots are located right after and are capable of reducing the volume, you’re able to distort the preamp at low volume settings.
“Things became more standardized in 1964 with the arrival of the black-panel AB763 Bandmaster, an amp I have worked on a lot and appreciate for its robustness, simplicity, and versatility.”
In 1960, a short-lived and rare Bandmaster dressed in brown tolex and a black faceplate appeared with the 5G7 circuit. From here on, all Bandmasters had the modern top-mounted chassis. With this circuit, the Bandmaster started to both look and sound more like a black-panel amp. It kept the 3x10" speakers but got a diode rectifier and bigger transformers resulting in a 45-watt output. Tremolo was introduced for the first time, and both channels were now intended for guitar.
The following year, a blonde 6G7 Bandmaster followed as a smaller amp head paired with a 1x12 extension cabinet. It had the timeless early blonde looks with cream tolex, brown faceplate, oxblood grill cloth, large Fender logo, and white knobs. But halfway into the blonde era, towards 1964, things turned strange and rather confusing. There were suddenly two 12" speakers, black knobs, a wheat-colored grill cloth, a more slim black-panel-style Fender logo, a black faceplate, and all in various combinations close to the transition into ’64.
Things became more standardized in 1964 with the arrival of the black-panel AB763 Bandmaster, an amp I have worked on a lot and appreciate for its robustness, simplicity, and versatility. It offers a pure, clean, scooped black-panel tone that’s somewhere between a Vibrolux Reverb and Pro Reverb, which share the medium-sized 125A6A output transformer and dual 6L6GC tubes. With its medium/high power and flexible 4-ohm output impedance, it can drive all kinds of speaker cabinets—as long as you stay between 2 and 8 ohms, you are safe.
For a short time in 1967–68, there was a transitional Bandmaster with aluminum trim and black-panel innards before the all-new silver-panel Bandmaster Reverb replaced it in 1968. The small-head cabinet had grown in size and, unfortunately, weight to accommodate the reverb tank. The amp got a 5U4GB rectifier tube along with a few general silver-panel changes to the circuit. Several silver-panel models existed with minor differences until a 70-watt beast version came along in 1977 with master volume.
To my own 1968 Bandmaster Reverb, I have done a few adjustments. First, I made a custom baffle to hold two 8" speakers. I installed a pair of WGS G8C speakers that fit perfectly on the baffle board without colliding with the reverb tank or transformers. Sometimes, I use only one of the 8" speakers for bedroom volume levels. Second, I reversed the bias circuitry to standard AB763 specs, making it easier to adjust bias correctly on both power tubes. If you are into sparkling clean and funky Strat sounds, you would love this little 2x8" combo.