Designed to offer both warm, rich tube tones in a compact combo, the Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp is a tribute to the U2 bassist's achievements, as well as his sound and harmonic style.
“I’ve worked very hard with Fender on the Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp and I’m immensely proud of our creation,” said Adam Clayton. “I always found when I was starting out that it was very hard to find an amp that offered the mid-range distorted sound that I liked. This amp offers it in spades. It’s also very versatile, and if you’re moving around a lot or if you don’t have much space where you practice, then this is the amp for you.”
Featuring two distinctly different channels – a classic Fender sound and a more modern hi-fi, flat EQ tone, the Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp achieves all the sounds needed in any musical situation and is the perfect companion for any bassist, whether they’re playing in a studio, a club or on an arena stage. Classic Fender cosmetics: black textured vinyl, chrome panel, chicken head knobs and an aged silver grille cloth give the Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp a look that players around the world have come to love. The Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp includes a lightweight Eminence Neo 15” speaker that helps accentuate its fat, powerful sound and features an XLR line out to send that great tone to your home recording rig or front-of-house.
Exploring The Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp | Fender Artist Signature | Fender
“Adam Clayton is a true icon and working with him on the Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp has been an absolute privilege,” said Justin Norvell, Executive Vice President of Products at FMIC. “This is the first signature bass amp we’ve ever done and the first all-tube bass combo Fender has produced for over 40 years. We are extremely excited by the project and we’ve worked tirelessly to make it extra special. Designed for the pros, by the pros, the amp has a unique combination of that classic Fender look with contemporary style and features like the dual channels and the lightweight Eminence speaker that we’re sure are going to make it incredibly popular with bassists.”
ADAM CLAYTON ACB 50 BASS AMP ($2199.99 USD, £1,999.00 GBP, €2,399.00 EUR, $2,199 AUD, ¥253,000 JPY) Inspired by Adam Clayton, the Fender Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp offers warm, harmonically rich tube tones that are perfect for the studio, club or arena stage. Featuring two distinctly different channels – a classic Fender sound and a more modern hi-fi, flat EQ tone, the Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp achieves all the sounds you need in any musical situation. Classic cosmetics: black textured vinyl, chrome panel, chicken head knobs and an aged silver grille cloth give the Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp a classic Fender look that players around the world have come to love. The Adam Clayton ACB 50 Bass Amp includes a lightweight Eminence Neo 15” speaker that helps accentuate its fat, powerful sound and features an XLR line out to send that great tone to your home recording rig or front-of-house.
For more information, please visit fender.com.
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Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud
True to the Diamond design ethos of our dBBD’s hybrid analog architecture, Dark Cloud unlocks a new frontier in delay technology which was once deemed unobtainable by standard BBD circuit.
Powered by an embedded system, the Dark Cloud seamlessly blends input and output signals, crafting Tape, Harmonic, and Reverse delays with the organic warmth of analog companding and the meticulous precision of digital control.
Where analog warmth meets digital precision, the Dark Cloud redefines delay effects to create a pedal like no other
But by gosh, if delay—and its sister effect, reverb—haven’t always been perfect for the music I like to write and play. Which brings us to the Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay. The EchoBack, along with the standard delay controls of level, time, and repeats—as well as a tap tempo—has a toggle to alternate between analog, tape, and digital-delay voices.
I hooked up my Washburn Bella Tono Elegante to my Blues Junior to give the EchoBack a test run. We love a medium delay—my usual preference for delay settings is to have both level and repeats at 1 o’clock, and time at 11 o’clock. With the analog voice switched on, I heard some pillowy warmth in the processed signal, as well as a familiar degradation with each repeat—until their wake gave way to a gentle, distant, crinkly ticking. Staying on analog and adjusting delay time down to 8 o’clock and repeats to about 11:30, some cozy slapback enveloped my rendition of Johnny Marr’s part to “Back to the Old House,” conjuring up thoughts of Elvis trapped in a small chamber, but in a good way. It sounded indubitably authentic. The one drawback of analog delay for me, generally, is that its roundness can feel a bit under water at times.
Switching over to tape, that pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top. With the settings at the medium-length mode listed above, I could see the empty, glass hall the pedal sent my sound bouncing down. I heard several pronounced pings of repeats before the signal fully faded out. On slapback settings (time at 8 o’clock, repeats at 11:30), rather than Elvis, I heard something more along the lines of a honky-tonk mic in a glass bottle. Still relatively crystalline, which actually was not my favorite. I like a bit more crinkle—so maybe analog is my bag....“That pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear, pristine replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top.”
Next up, digital. Here we have the brightest voice, and as expected, the most faithful repeats. They ping just a few times before shifting to a smooth, single undulating wave. When putting its slapback hat on, I found that the effect was a bit less alluring than I’d observed for the analog and tape voices. This is where the digital delay felt a little too sterile, with the cleanly preserved signal feeling a bit unnatural.
All in all, I dig the EchoBack for its replications of analog and tape voices, and ultimately, lean towards tape. While it’s nice having the digital delay there as an option, it feels a bit too clean when meddling with time of any given length. Nonetheless, this is surely a handy stomp for any acoustic player looking to venture into the land of live effects, or for those who are already there.
