NAAD - New Amp Audition Day: Henriksen The Bud

[Methos1979]

As promised in the previous NAD for The Bud, I've received my try-before-you-buy Henriksen The Bud amp and spent the day playing around with it. To those that weren't following that thread, here's a little background:

I'm a fingerstyle player, and I play with the meat of my fingers. Current set up is one of the three guitars in my sig line, currently played through a Fire-Eye Red-Eye pre-amp and into either a Fishman SA220 or a Fishman Artist. I have an acoustic duo gig with my wife on vocals.

The Bud caught my eye after seeing here and elsewhere. I loved its tiny size for portability and after reading all the rave reviews I wondered if it might be able to replace BOTH my Fishman amps. That is key, it needs to cover both as I would sell those off to cover the cost of the Bud.

I took advantage of Sound Pure's try-before-you-buy program. Robinson has been great to deal with. So anyway, I got the amp today and it's a neat little unit. Very small at 9x9x9 and 17.4 lbs. It's got two channels with 4-band EQ, and a host of features. Despite its small size and light weight as compared to other amps it feels very solid and it is.

I spent a good three or four hours this morning before work trying to dial in some good tone. I finally got a decent tone but it's far from blowing me away at this point. Many others have raved about it. It sounds pretty good for it's size but I'm just not sure it's realistic that it can replace the SA220.

I've got the weekend to decide. I need to get my wife's vocals going through it along with the guitar to see if it will work. I think part of the problem is with my style of playing which tends to be a 'muffled' sound because of the finger tips. If I was playing with a pick or fingernails I think it might be easier to get a better tone.

Even with the tweeter on and the bright switch engaged it was a struggle to dial in great tone. As many noted, the reverb is really pretty bad on this amp. I also think a notch filter or feedback dial would be a critical addition to this little amp but there's only so much you can fit in that tiny box!

If I could keep both the SA220 and The Bud I most likely would. I'll update as I go. If anyone wants to share their tips or EQ settings, please do. I'm finding I need to dial both mids nearly all the way out with the high dialed way up and the low just under noon. Then again, that's pretty much what all my amps get dialed into. I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't invest in a much wider band EQ for my style of playing. Something WITH a notch filter built in.

[El Conquistador]

Good review! Thanks! I have been intrigued by this amp, so, I am glad to hear what you have to say.

Steve

[Gbross]

Do you have the newer Bud? The original version did not have a separate gain control on each channel.

Just wondering. My Bud shows up today. I'll post my thoughts in a few days.

I will be using it on gigs to amplify a tenor uke on channel one and a lap steel on channel two. I plan on using it on stage as a monitor and feed the signal to the house via the line-out.

[tadol]

It sounds like you are trying to have the amp create the attack that you aren't getting from your fingertips - Is it possible that theres an effect that you could put inline that might help?

[Paultergeist]

Thank you for the review.

Without having played through the Bud, my opinion is that there may be a simple matter of physics involved in comparing the Bud against the SA220. If the size of the venue is such that the SA220 is really "working," I simply don't expect it to be fair to expect the Bud to be able to cover the same amount of territory as well as the SA220. Sound quality is, of course, an entirely different matter. I just don't think any single amp/PA is going to suit all venues equally well. I suggest you consider what works best for the venues you typically play.

[Methos1979]

After spending a fair amount of time over the weekend with The But I have decided to return it. I was eventually able to get a very good tone out of the amp for my guitar. I did this by recording a verse and chorus to a song on my looper and then just playing it back while I started flat on the amp and then without looking at the dials just started dialing in on all four knobs until I had a tone I liked. Not surprisingly, when all was said and done, the EQ knob positions were in almost the exact same location as the EQ settings on my SA220.

The I set about to do the same thing with my wife's vocals. I was able to get an okay sound but it became very clear pretty quickly that the small speaker on The Bud was just not going to give me what I needed for both guitar and vocals. To make sure I was not being totally biased and unrealistic I put The Bud up against the Fishman Artist (which is already dialed in) and as a standalone amp for both guitar and vocals combined, I found the Artist to be much better at giving me what I want and need.

I'll admit that I was somewhat doubtful going in that such a little box could give me what I needed for both the guitar and vocals but I was hopeful after reading many good reviews. I still think the amp is a great little amp and if only needed it for the guitar then I might keep it but at just over a grand it's too much money for not enough amp for my needs. I'm glad I was able to try it out and working with Robinson at Sound Pure has been great. I will definitely do business with them in the future. Great outfit, for sure.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by Paultergeist

Thank you for the review.

Without having played through the Bud, my opinion is that there may be a simple matter of physics involved in comparing the Bud against the SA220. If the size of the venue is such that the SA220 is really "working," I simply don't expect it to be fair to expect the Bud to be able to cover the same amount of territory as well as the SA220. Sound quality is, of course, an entirely different matter. I just don't think any single amp/PA is going to suit all venues equally well. I suggest you consider what works best for the venues you typically play.

I couldn't agree with you more. Part of my initial hesitation was exactly that - the physics of speaker size and air movement. But I had to try.

For the most part, the 'room' at this point is just our living room. All the gigs we currently play are with house PA. So The Bud only had to be as good in that small room. There was never an expectation for it to cover any sort of venue on it's own.

[Gbross]

Just got my Bud today and I put in about two hours playing with it.

I tested it on the following instruments:
Custom Hive Hornet Tenor Uke - MI-SI active pickup - LR Baggs UST
1954 Fender Champion Lap Steel - Jason Lollar re-issue single coil.
Cordoba Fusion Nylon String - Fishman active piezo/mic
Martin 000-28H - K&K Pure Mini - passive.

I love it. I was able to dial in a pleasant tone easily. Mostly flat except for two instruments. The lap steel - typically you crank the bass, cut the treble, crank the gain a bit for some dirt and add copious reverb. The uke... a uke cannot produce tones in the 80 hz range, if you don't cut this frequency you get non-musical thumpiness when you pluck. For the uke I set the 80 hz to zero.

To me the Bud does what it promises - makes your instrument louder without adding too much coloration to the tone.

I don't intend on using it for vocals.

I'm keeping the amp.

[Gbross]

More EQ'ing for the uke.

80 hz - set at about 8 o'clock
430 hz - 10-11 o'clock
1.6 kHz - 10-11 o'clock
3.5 kHz - flat to 12:30
7.6 kHz - flat to 12:30

With these settings I get a good tone from the speaker. The line-out and headphone are a different story. At these settings both the line-out and headphone have a bit of thumpiness when plucking. I am not worried about this because if I use the line-out in a live setting I'll tell the sound person to cut up to about 150 hz. That will let me have a nice on stage tone through the Bud speaker and the house will get good tone as well.

I ran the line-out into ProTools with these settings and the thumpiness was there. No problem. After recording I just cut up to 150 hz. Thump gone, tone remained.

[jseth]

Well, it sounds as though you know what you're going to do with The Bud... nonetheless, I would offer a couple thoughts to anyone using a really good smallish amplifier...

You simply HAVE to get the thing away from where you are with your instrument; at least 10 feet if not more. I have an AER Compact 60, which I love, but in close proximity to the body of the guitar there is a LOT of feedback insubordination...

Not only will some distance between you and the amp help immensely with any feedback concerns, it also allows you to really HEAR the amplifier. My Compact can sound boxy and "foreign" (for lack of a better term) to my ears, and nothing like my guitars with their pickups (Anthem SL in both my 6 and 12 string guitars). With just a bit of distance, the amp "blooms' in a very lovely sense, and the sound spreads throughout the room very well... to the point where it's not really "directional" at all; just sounds as though it's coming from all over.

I've played rooms with my AER (vocals and guitar) that were very big rooms for that little amp; the first time I used it that way, I was fully prepared to run the DI out to the main PA in the room... the Compact did so well that I knew I wouldn't have to have anything else in my next gig with it, which is a large room, maybe 40' x 60' with 30' ceilings... I've never had the amp up over 40% on the Master volume control, either...

Another point is that WHERE you place the little amp has a lot to do with what sort of tone you get from it... in my current venue where I use the AER, I actually WANT more bass, so I have it on the floor of the stage, about 15' from me, and the bass response is exceptional (especially considering the Compact has ONE 8" speaker!).

Elevated to chair height, the bass response goes down by over half; the higher you have it, the less bass it produces. An important aspect to consider in "everyday" applications.

Sorry you weren't happy with The Bud; I've been looking for reviews on that amp, and yours is a good one... just not all that positive for "overall" performance.

Like many, I need equipment that does more than ONE thing well... between my AER Compact and my Bose L1 Model II system, I've got things pretty well covered.

Hope you find a good solution for your live performances, if it's not the Fishman SA220...

[Methos1979]

Jseth,

I agree and confirmed most of what you said during my testing. When I first started messing around with the amp I had it up on a stool near the SA220 because I felt that since the SA220's speakers are up high that would give me the best A/B. But up there The Bud sounded really awful. So I put it on the floor and it sounded much better.

Then after finally dialing in some nice guitar tone with it I started playing and walking around the room and found that the sound was really good about 15' away from it. In fact, I found I actually liked the tone of the Bud out there better than the SA220. With the SA220 the high's seem to wash out the farther I get from the amp and the low end takes over. But out far with the Bud and it was still nice and even.

Sadly, it was the vocals that just didn't keep up. Unlike the guitar, I could not dial in good vocals at all. No matter what I did it sounded very boxy. Whereas I am able to dial in both very good guitar and vocal tones with the Fishman Artist. Most likely (I assume) due to the 8" speaker vs the 6" speaker on The Bud.

I really wanted to love the Bud. I could just see myself walking into gigs with a gig bag and The Bud in it's bag and have everything I need. Of course, I still can do that with the Artist as well.

Gbross - I'm really glad it worked out for you as well. In fact, I'm jealous. If wasn't such a mediocre guitar player, I'd fire my vocalist and just go solo and then I could get by with just The Bud. But they all come to see her anyway. She's got the talent. I'm just the support. Also, since I'm married to her, 'firing' her would not go well for me!!!