Eden EC210 Combo Bass Amplifier Review by Eric Parsons

Eden EC210 Combo Bass Amplifier Review by Eric Parsons… The EC210 is Eden Bass Amplification’s 180 watt model in their more affordable line of E-Series Bass Combo amplifiers.   The EC210 is badged under the Eden brand logo and is designed, engineered and quality controlled by Eden USA while being manufactured in China.  My initial impression as I pulled it out of the shipping container was that this is a good looking combo style amplifier.  It is covered in black, heavy duty carpet with a corresponding black kick-proof metal speaker grille.  The EC210 weighs 46 pounds and has two 10 inch speakers in a ported cabinet that was reportedly custom designed by Eden for responsiveness and tone as well as being lightweight and compact. There are four large rubber feet on the bottom of the cabinet to keep it safely above any puddles of spilled beer. The EC210 does not have a separate high frequency driver and instead each driver utilizes a supplementary whizzer cone to aid in the reproduction of the higher frequencies.   The amplifier has a high gloss black finish with an illuminated Eden logo that glows cherry red when the amp is switched on.  The control panel on the amplifier sports eight separate control knobs: gain, compressor, Eden’s proprietary enhancer, bass, mid and mid sweep, treble and master volume.  The rear panel also provides a balanced XLR output, effects send and return, tuner out, headphone out, external speaker output and an mp3 player/line input.  The ¼ inch jacks appear to have threads and nuts constructed of black plastic.

Eden EC210

Eden EC210

Eden EC210

Eden EC210

Eden EC210 In Use

I ran this amplifier through its paces using a passive four string bass and active fretted and fretless five strings.  The input gain control allows for the user to adjust for the signal difference between active and passive electronics.  The EC210 tone controls are designed to be in a neutral position when set to twelve o’clock and provide the user with a significant amount of tone sculpting in the bass, middle and treble portions of the audio spectrum.  IMHO, the voicing of this amplifier/speaker cabinet is quite usable with the tone controls set in a neutral position and then using the enhancer to pull out some mids and to add some lows and highs.  I also added a little of the one knob compressor to tame transients when slapping and popping.  The combo has a nice tight sound, with a good amount of midrange punch.  All three of the basses worked well with the Eden, but I must admit that the fretless really stood out from the other two and seemed to benefit the most from the natural voicing of the amp and cabinet.  The clarity and definition of the 2×10’s without a high frequency driver seemed to perfectly compliment the nuances of the fretless bass, without overemphasizing string noise.

Eden is marketing this combo as an amplifier that would be suitable for rehearsals and smaller jam sessions, so with that in mind I packed up the combo and took it out to practice with a classic rock band.  The 180 watt power amp readily kept up with two moderate tube powered guitar amps, an electronic drum set and   a small PA system.

All of the other band members commented favorably on the sound and appearance of the EC210.   I did find that when playing the combo at even higher volumes (much higher than I did at band practice) that the 2×10’s seemed to get pushed a little too hard, which compromised the tone somewhat.  I then plugged in a 4×10 cabinet with an HF driver into the external speaker output jack and the sound quality improved significantly at this much higher volume.  It should be noted that when an external speaker is connected that the internal 2×10 speakers are removed from the signal path, likely as a safety feature to help ensure that the power amp is not overburdened with too low of an impedance load.

If you are in the market for a compact, light weight and affordable combo for rehearsal and jam sessions, do yourself a favor and try out the EC210.  Advertised street price:  $499.00

More information is available on this product at www.eden-electronics.com