An in depth look at the Darkglass Microtubes 500…

Playing on my trusty La Bella Olinto bass to demonstrate the DG 500’s capabilities.

The new Microtubes 500 from Darkglass Electronics is a class D amplifier for bass supplying 500 watts of power into 4 ohm speaker cabinets.

There’s plenty of power for most gigging situations and the all-analog solid state preamp is clean, warm, and punchy. This amp just sounds good.

The preamp has the usual controls to dial in clean and solid bass tone: Gain, Master Volume, Bass, High and Low Mids, and Treble. There’s also a button to choose Passive or Active mode to get the best sound from whatever bass you’re using.

In addition, the Microtubes 500 includes the Microtubes engine which means that two well-known Darkglass Electronics distortion pedals are essentially included in the amp.

You can choose the classic VMT (Vintage Microtubes) sound for warm, vintage, tube-like distortion or B3K for a more defined distortion with a modern edge. Choose the effect you want and adjust the sound to your preference from the bottom row of knobs on the amp. A proprietary footswitch (sold separately) activates the VMT and B3K effects for smooth transitions between your clean and distortion sounds.

At under 4 pounds, this compact little amp is light and portable.

And the housing is a very solid aluminum box that looks like it can take some abuse from gigging musicians. We used this amp as a DI in a live setting and also gigged it through an Aguilar 2×12” cab and loved what we heard.

We really enjoyed gigging and reviewing this amp.

It is solid, light, portable, and sounds great with both clean and distortion settings. The Microtubes 500 sounded great with the preamp settings flat, but there’s plenty of control on this amp to dial in an optimal sound in any environment. Also, the DI sounds really good live, so if you show up to play and decide to go through the PA instead of your bass cabs, you’ll be good to go.

Darkglass Microtubes 500 Available Online

For more information about the Darkglass Microtubes 500, visit darkglass.com.

Find me online at TheBassHang.com and SteveAraujo.com.

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