I’ve been reading so many reviews of gear recently but, sadly, I didn’t understand many of them. I didn’t understand much of the terminology that was used (by American writers) and far too often the reviewers went off a tangent to talk about unrelated things. My resolution is to write a review that can be understood by everyone.

“As I removed my new EDEN WTX264 out of the package the first thing that struck me was how light this amp was. I’d say it weighs no more than an average sized bag of sugar. And size wise - it fits in the front pocket of my bass case. That said, I do have the official Eden gig bag for it on order as despite being small, the pocket on my bass case can’t house the amp and the cables and an iPad and.... all the other stuff that I stuff into the pocket. The amp is really solid and well built and the gold front panel that has LED’s set into it looks really cool.

I’m plugging in to an 8ohm cabinet, an EX110, also by Eden. A major part of choosing this amp was the fact that it has 2 outputs wired in parallel which means I can easily connect 2 8ohm speakers to it. Most Micro amps in this price range only have one output and for me, I prefer the flexibility of having the 2 outputs. With the gain set below a level where the clip light comes on and all the settings flat my first impression is that this is a loud amp. It feels much louder than my previous 300w combo and the sound is far crisper and tighter than my previous equipment. The amp has a 3 band EQ, but, as someone who uses the control on the bass to get their sound, I didn’t really feel the need to tweak the EQ at all. With the small speaker I found that pulling out the bass EQ knob, to boost the bass, really added something to the sound that put a huge smile on my face. The EQ does work amazingly well and I was able to get a huge variety of sounds from it. It has a switchable mid band on it, activated by pulling out the Mid knob, which really does work well for me as a slap switch, adding some great higher tones to the sound.

The amp is packed with features that are really useful for day-to-day gigging and recording and practicing. The XLR DI output has it’s own volume control and a post/pre EQ switch. This means that the WTX264 is a great pre-amp in the studio setting, allowing you to ensure you can get your sound when recording. There is a 1/4in jacks on the front panel that allow an FX loop to be plugged in as well as 2 1/4in inputs allowing you to plug your phone, tablet or MP3 player in for practice. There is a headphone output on the back which mean during practice sessions you can play quietly without disturbing the neighbors. It s jam packed with features that are useful in the real world!

So, where am I going to use this? And how? Pretty much this is an amp that is loud enough to use in every situation. When more is needed there will be a PA system and the DI means I can plug straight in. The real world gains between 260W and 500w amps is not that much, and even a 500w rig needs PA reinforcement from time to time. I plan to get an EX115 to go with the EX110, with a combined load of 4ohm means I will get to use every one on the 260w available. With the 8ohm load I have been using around 150w, and feel that that is loud enough - in fact I will continue to use just the EX110 for jazz gigs and practice sessions. It is loud enough! The EX115 will just make things more flexible for those occasions when I need to move more air.

This is the nicest sounding amp I have played in a long time, and with a flat EQ straight out of the box I was really taken with how it sounds for me. I’m recently converted to EDEN and the more I play through this setup the more I love the sound that the amp produces. It’s made me want to re-record some parts on the MAID IN SPAIN album in order to utilize the new sound. In short this amp is great for most bass players and in most situations. Obviously if you are playing stadiums and 2000 seater concert halls you might want something bigger, but from Jazz to Funk and Soul bands this amp really does keep up with the rest of the band.”

I was lucky enough to pick this up from ANDERTONS music in the UK who are currently selling this amp at a huge discount and bearing in mind that EDEN do not make this anymore getting hold of these is going to only get harder. Grab one while you can!