Aguilar Tone Hammer 500

I bought this as a light portable amp and as a spare. I usually use an Ampeg SVT 4 which I love but is heavy and has had one too many bumps so is off for repair. This tonehammer is fantastic. Using it with an SVT 410HLF cab it has plenty of headroom and sounds great. The sound is tight and punchy and the DI is fantastic (better than the Sansamp Bass DI due mainly, I think, to the Mid control). The drive control is responsive without muddying things. It fits snuggly into my M audio rucksack too so I shall be taking this on abroad gigs. Whilst it's not an SVT, it doesn't quite have the bottom end and funnily enough feels more "efficient" and modern sounding, it's very good. I emailled Aguilar to ask if the amp head could be used just as a DI without a speaker plumbed in and they said yes.

I wanted to change my old (and beloved) Trace Elliot GP12SMX to drive my DB112WH. It was really complicated to choose a new amp. I hesitated between this one, the AG700, the Mesa D800, the Eich T-900 and the Genzler Magellan. I finally decide to take this one for two main reasons: 1. I don't really need a lot of power (like the AG700), 2. I really trust Aguilar in their product quality.

Handling: Perfect, lightweight, one star less because there's no factory way to rack it. Not a big problem for me I don't use a rack. But good to mention.

Features: Two big regrets here; no headphones out like on the Mesa D800. You can't record by the DI with the amp muted. I like this kind of feature. That's OK. the EQ is outstanding, once you get how it works with the drive. I read some critics about the fans (cooling); after using a Trace's fan, I can tell you that is QUIET.

Sound: I expected to be far from my 90's Trace very colorfull sound but no, it can be as neutral as hot. Once again, not disappointed by Aguilar;

Quality : perfect.

When I bought this amp, I was looking for a small and cheap amp, that's stable, loud and awesome in sound at the same time. Well to make it short: This was the only amp, that matched all of these conditions.
The ToneHammer is that small, you can even put it your gig bag and still there'll be enough space to put wires and tuners in it as well.
The handling is very easy as well: There are only a few knobs and buttons on the front but it's still enough to produce a really great sound.
Also Aguilar is really dedicated to quality management and you'll notice that, when your looking at the amp. I think even if it falls down, nothing would happen but still, I won't try that ;-)

The sound this little guy produces is awesome and there's a huge amount of completely different sounds. That comes from the Drive-Knob which influences the EQ. The more you turn up the drive, the more vintage-like the EQ will effect on the sound. So it can take a little while to find your personal sound, but if you found it you'll just be blown away!

This Aguilar is lightweight highly reliable and great sounding class D bass amp. an ideal bass head that helps me dial in sounds from old vintage bass amps, clean and the tube driven sound, as well as having a distinct tone especially when boosting the mids and playing blues or jazz styles.

i believe this should be a staple in a bass players arsenal.
This is one of three bass amps i own and this gets the leading role when playing small venues and bar gigs.

its punchy and has grunt at the same time.
I have been running recently with an 8 ohm cabinet and that limits the output to around 200 watts.

I would have wanted the amp to be equipped with a switch so that it can run full power with both 4 ohms and 8 ohms cabinets.

I do not find the drive knob musically useful beyond 9 o'clock it just becomes a muddy distortion.

I’ve had this piece of gear for quite a few years now and will most likely never sell it. What can I say really… this thing is an absolute work horse of an amp and has never let me down! Cuts through in every scenario you throw at it without the loss of quality sound! Before I bought this product I was the proud (yet perhaps embarrassing) owner of a carlsbro bass bomber that I had acquired second hand in my early days as a bass player! Of course the tradition from the carlsbro to an Aguilar setup is no match. Finally my bass spoke true and I could hear it for the beautiful instrument it truly was. The sound is very defined and very honest. With everything set to 12 o clock more a less minus adjustment for the lows when it was needed this baby sings. A beautifully crafted piece of gear! And a must have for any serious bass player!!

Firstly this is not a straight forward plug and play amp. The EQ takes a bit of getting used to and setting it up will take time in order to find the tone your after. Also if you are looking for a hifi modern high end, it might be an idea to look elsewhere.
What this amp is about is more of an old school tone and this it achieves really well. The secret weapon here is the drive control which offers plenty of grind which for me is a real plus. Also the 500 watt power section offers plenty of headroom.
Most importantly the user will require a bit of patience and a few gigs to experiment with the EQ, but once you find the sweet spot, its old school creamy lows and punchy mids will be get you rocking.