The EBS HD350 amp celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. When it was first introduced back in 2001, it immediately caught the attention from legendary bass player Marcus Miller, and became his new favourite amp. Referring to a statement on his website, he was attracted by the natural tone of the amp and that it sounded right with almost no EQ, and he found the midrange on the amp very useful. The release was backed up by an ad campaign featuring Marcus and the slogan, “My Studio Sound Live” – which is a great way to describe what the HD350 amp does. Although he has moved on to another brand today, he still seems to love the sound of the HD350 amp.
Photo: Marcus on stage, 2001. In his rack an EBS HD350 and an EBS Fafner head.
With a start like that, the HD350 became a hit and attracted a lot of bass players inspired by Marcus, especially in the Fusion, R’n b and Gospel scenes. But, Marcus Miller is not the only renowned bass player that fell in love with the HD350. Among the players that has found their favourite amp in the HD350 are LA Session great Alex Al, seen and heard on hundreds of high profile recordings over the last decade, and perhaps most known for featuring in the Michael Jackson DVD, “This is It”. Alex has mentioned the HD350 is ‘his sound’ and he uses it frequently on sessions. A newer fan of the amp is one of the recent years greatest new star on bass heaven, Tal Wilkenfeld! Here’s what she says: “I really like playing my bass with EBS HD350 amps and ProLine 410 speakers. It definitely enhances my sound and gives me everything I need on stage”.
Photo: Tal Wilkenfeld at the classic Crossroad Festival gig with Jeff Beck in 2007.
The original idea behind the HD350 was inspired by the best from the EBS Gorm amp section and the first Fafner amp. The mission was to make a smaller amp, optimized for mid-size stage and studio gigs. After developing and refining the concept to fit into a compact rack unit, suited to drive a stand alone cabinet, the amp was finally ready for release.
The very first edition was limited to a 4 ohm speaker load, but after soon realizing it was capable of handling a lot more than one cabinet, it developed to a 2 ohm amp, to make a setup with the EBS HD350 and two EBS ProLine cabinets (which was the only speaker line available from EBS at that time) possible.
As with all other EBS amps, with the exception of the T90 All Tube head, the HD350 can be used without a speaker load as well, which is very handy in a recording situation – just plug it in to the mixing console using the balanced floating -10 dB XLR output! It is also equipped with the famed EBS built-in compressor, that is a feature on all the high-end amps and combos from EBS, and equipped with a smooth working drive control to add some edge and attack to the sound.
When demands started to come for a similar amp with more power to offer the same features as the HD 350 but suited for large stages and big tours, EBS took the best from the HD350 and created the TD650 amp (recently upgraded to TD660) – which is the standard EBS amp carried by many backline rentals and seen on many major tours including mega stars like Tina Turner and Bon Jovi.
The last couple of years, the HD350 has seen a revival in popularity and is the most sold EBS amp until this day.
Check out all the details about the HD350 amp here.
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