Aguilar AG 500SC Bass Amplifier

Price — $1,099 at BassNW and online retailers

The Good Stuff:

If you’re a bass player or know a bass player, you’ve likely heard the name Aguilar Amplification.  The company has a well-deserved reputation for making professional quality (and quite expensive) amplifiers and cabinets.  While most of their early amps and preamps were tube-driven (such as the venerable DB 359, which I recently added to my personal stable), Aguilar has ventured into the solid state realm with its AG 500 and AG 500SC amps.  With a much lower price point and the classic Aguilar tone, this is great news for bass players.

The Geeks tested the AG 500SC amp, a compact single channel amp that pushes a respectable 500 watts at 4 ohms and 250 watts at 8 ohms.  Aguilar builds its products in the good ol’ US of A, and the build quality on the AG 500SC that was tested is on par with any amplifier that I’ve ever seen.  Removing the lid to look at the innards, I was shocked (figuratively, of course) to see just how tidy and organized it was.  Not a wire out of place; not a square inch of wasted space.  It was like looking at airplane components:

The AG 500SC is also compact and relatively lightweight at around 18 pounds.  Given that Aguilar’s flagship amp, the DB 751, weighs in at a beefy 42 pounds (close to the weight of my 1972 Ampeg V4-B!), 18 pounds is an easy haul to just about any gig.  The AG 500SC can also be rack-mounted or can be transported in one of Aguilar’s handy bags.

So, the big question is “Does it sound like a DB 751?”  Well, yes and no.  The best way that I’ve found to describe the “Aguilar tone” is “clear.”  Really, really clear — think “glassy” —  but not harsh.  The AG 500SC definitely has the clarity from its big brothers like the DB 359 and DB 751, but it isn’t quite as warm as Aguilar’s tube driven amps.  I doubt this comes as much of a surprise to you that a solid state amp is not as warm as a tube amp…

Anyhow, I was able to coax some pretty warm, clear tones out of the AG 500SC with some eq and some patience.  While it certainly still sounds like a solid state amp, the tone warmed up noticeably when powering the AG 500SC with an E.S.P. power cable.  The AG 500SC has a robust eq (more robust than the DB 751, actually), with individual controls for Low- and High-Mids, and Bright & Deep switches, along with standard Bass and Treble controls.  It also has a footswitch-controlled mute and effects loop.  I’m pleased that the AG 500SC has two Speakon outputs, as it bugs me that Aguilar cabinets only have a single Speakon connection (which makes daisy-chaining difficult without multiple Speakon outputs on the amp).  There’s also a Tuner Out on the back, which is a “must-have” output in modern rack-mountable amps.

The Bad Stuff:

The only possible gripe that I can find with the AG 500SC is that it can handle only down to a 4 ohm minimum load.  It would be great if it could handle 2 ohms, but I’m sure that there’s a reason why Aguilar chose to have it bottom out at 4 ohms.

Some may say that $1,100 is a steep price for a solid state amp that pushes 500 watts.  To me, getting an Aguilar for $1,100 is a steal (the DB 751 is over twice the price of the AG 500SC).

Overall:

The AG 500SC is great amp!  Classic Aguilar tone at a more affordable price, and in a more portable package.