I spent a good portion of Bass Player Live chatting with the guys in the Eden booth and playing a lot. Eden has been my amp of choice for over a dozen years. I absolutely love my hand built Eden Metro. I was aware that Eden is producing a new, made in China, E-Series line of combo amps. I was really excited to be able to put these to the test. Would they hold up to my beloved Metro? Would they be a clear improvement over similar combos?
The three amps in the E-Series line that I focused on were the EC210, the EC15, and the EC28.
All of these amps feature the same 180w head section; the differences are all in the cabinets and speaker arrangement. I really, really like these amps. I would happily use one of these for my basses for most rehearsals and would run my synths through them live (where I would have my Metro for the basses).
EC28
The EC28 is quite small and I would best describe it as punchy, due in part to the brilliant front port. If you are looking for a small footprint, this is the way to go. Plus it is horizontally orientated, unlike the vertical Phil Jones Briefcase, which I liked.
EC210
The bigger EC210 just sang. Granted I might be a bit biased as I’m used to my Eden rigs using 10” speakers and this felt very familiar. That’s the main point I want to convey, these might be closer to “entry level” than the World Tour series I’m used to… but they still sound like an Eden. As someone who is quite picky when it comes to gear, and as someone who been a long time player… that’s a big deal.
It was quite tough to pick a favorite. The EC28 was very portable and punchy. The EC210 was larger, seemed louder, and had a fuller sound with more of the bark in the upper-mids that I love. The EC15 was also great, more pronounced in the lows, but the 8’s and 10’s really spoke to me. Honestly, you can’t go wrong. These are quality… for the price (about $500USD street) these all top of the class.
WTDI Preamp/DI
Ultimately, I walked away with what has already turned out to be an essential piece of gear, the WTDI. The WTDI is essentially the front end preamp/EQ section of the World Tour heads and the DI. I’ve been looking at picking one of these up for a while as I do travel for shows and end up using a provided backline. This pedal is small enough to fit in a gigbag or case and is ruggedly built. Most importantly, it sounds like an Eden. I’ve been running this as a DI into my Focusrite ISA One preamp and it is one of the best bass sounds I’ve ever had. My studio monitors sound as full as a bass cabinet. Another great use I’ve found is putting this between my bass and another maker’s combo amp at a regular rehearsal space. The WTDI makes the space’s amp sound like my usual Eden, which saves me needing to transport my amp for rehearsal or suffer through less than stellar tone. It makes a HUGE difference. I also want to commend Eden for splitting the Enhance control and the Compressor to separate knobs. On my amp, these are combined with a push/pull defeat option. Personally, I have the Enhance control off, but I do like a bit of compression, especially on combos or any amp I’m going to be pushing.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at just how good these amps and the WTDI were… and don’t get me started on EGRW264. It just made me want to record and giggle all day.
Pro and Portable… Protable?!
BassDbler 