| WT800B - The New King of the Hill |
Over the years, David (Nordschow, Eden founder and still Chief Propellerhead) and his design team made minor improvements in incremental steps, massaging a little more gain here, reducing a little noise there. But, for all intents and purposes, the amp remained unchanged.
Until now.
Enter the new WT800B. For the first time, David and crew upped the ante by upping the power. Now, instead of offering 800 Watts RMS in Mono Bridge mode (at 8 Ohms), it offers 880 Watts. And, for the first time ever, this legendary road warrior can be bridged into a 4 Ohm load, at which it delivers an astounding 1100 Watts RMS! With +3dB headroom, we're talking 2200 Watts peak! Now, that's headroom.
"How did you do it?" you might ask. We did it be redesigning the power section. Now, instead of a 4-device power supply, the WT800B boasts a completely new 6-device board, capable of putting out its rated power for hours on end - not just a few minutes as some other high-rated amps do.
When you're working with massive power like this, cooling is king. Without proper cooling, an amp this size will overheat in just a few minutes. So we redesigned the cooling system as well. Believe it or not, the biggest change was to the ventilation on top of the amp. With that, and a few other adjustments, we've increased the cooling capacity by an amazing 200%. So the WT800B can maintain its cool even under the heaviest loads. Now, that's cool.
Like its unlettered predecessor, the WT800B boasts an impressive feature set. Run it in stereo, dual mono, bi-amp or bridge. No matter how you use it, this powerhouse will deliver tons of power and uncompromising tone.
One of the great things about the WT800B - like all Eden amps - is that you can get a great tone without a lot of knob tweaking. Just set the gain using the Set Level light, and turn up the Master Volume. Then, dial in a touch of Enhance (the so-called Magic Knob). Abbra Cadabra: instant tone. Our proprietary Enhance tone shaping circuit boost the extreme lows, upper midrange and highs while at the same time cutting the low midrange. Just a few clicks and you're on your way to the Garden. (of Eden. Go ahead; take a minute…we'll wait.)
"But I like to twiddle knobs," you say. No problem. We give you more knobs to play with. And they actually do something when you twiddle them. Many have imitated our 5-band semi-parametric tone section, but none have ever equaled it in terms of versatility and musicality. You see, David's a genius with this stuff, and so is our captive rocket scientist. (NOTE: Do not send a rescue team. He's not really a captive, OK?)
Of course, you get your basic Bass and Treble controls. But wait! You also get three semi-parametric control sets, each with Level and Frequency knobs. With these controls, you can focus in on any frequency in the tonal spectrum to boost or cut to your heart's content. And if your heart isn't content with +/-15dB of boost or cut, you really should have your hearing checked.
While it's true that most of our users only need to dial in a little Enhance to get their sound, they also tell us that it's a Really Neat Thing to be able to make minor adjustments in certain areas, either to vary the tone of their instrument slightly or to compensate for room acoustics. (Forum dweller: note correct spelling.) For more on shaping tone, see our article "How to Get a Great Tone from Your Eden Rig."
The Balance Control not only allows you to adjust the stereo spread, it does two other Really Neat Things. You can also use it in Dual Mono mode to adjust between cabinets of different apparent volumes. So, go ahead, use an ultra-efficient cabinet on one side and a less efficient partner. You can tweak the Balance knob to get the same volume out of each. You can also adjust the balance between a low end cabinet and a high end partner in Bi-amp Mode. First, set the crossover to taste, then balance the volume to create a smooth tone across the board.
Now, turn the amp around and look at the back of it. See all those little holes? That's where you hook everything else up. Left and Right speaker outputs feature a pair of ¼" jacks and a Speakon connector. We highly recommend you use the Speakon, as it is more efficient for transferring high power. There's a separate Speakon for Bridge Output connection. There are two Effects Loops: a pre-EQ mono loop, and a Stereo Return Post-EQ loop. There's also a dedicated Tuner out and the coolest D.I. Output in the industry. Featuring Ground Lift and Level control, our D.I. is so quiet and musical that many of our top endorsers pass over those expensive Direct boxes in the studio and use the amp's D.I. instead. We even put an AUX Input back there in case you've got something you'd like to bring into the signal chain. Now, that's versatility.
"What about reliability?" you ask. And we're so glad you did. Take a look at the "Why Eden" page. There you'll find pictures of an amp that was the sole survivor of a home-studio fire. The fire literally melted the knobs to the faceplate. Yet the owner continued to use the amp for months before finally sending it in to be cleaned up. You'll also see on vintage WT600 (like the WT800, but with a touch less power) that was dropped off a semi and then run over by same. Sure, a few knobs were broken, but the thing still worked perfectly! Now, that's Eden Tough.
NOTE: We are exceedingly generous with warranty repair. Still, we're not going to cover fires and semis. Just so you know. . .
The big question, however is: "How does it sound?" As has become the norm for these features, we'll let our users tell you:
Eden Endorser Uriah Duffy is currently touring with Whitesnake using two WT800B amplifiers to power two D610XLT cabinets, with an extra one of each as back-up. Comparing his new rig to his original WT800 and D410XLT, Uriah says, "it gives me everything the original rig did, but more of it. It's the most powerful, best sounding rig I've ever used, easily competing with multiple guitar stacks."
Abe White, another Eden endorser, who currently performs with Keith Anderson (Arista) as well as his own project, Cold Truth, is another avid WT800B user. In most situations, White runs his rig in Bi-amp Mode powering D210XLT and D410XLT cabinets. "I used the original WT800 for several years," White says, "and loved it. Stepping up to the B version has given me even more headroom, which is important to me because I go for such a strong low end. I didn't think Eden could improve the WT800 - it was already so good - but they've really raised the bar with the B version."
Gil Yaron, an Edenite and forum member in good standing has this to say of his new WT800B:
WT800B + D410XST + D210XLT = The most amazing bass rig I have ever heard. Period. It is so good that I literally cried and laughed at the same time. I can not describe this in words, you need to do this yourself at least once in your life.
In addition to the quotes above, which are specific to the new B version, there has been a lot of talk about the WT800 on the forum. Feel free to drop in and ask our community of Edenites about their experience with this legendary amplifier.
The WT800B is the new touring standard. And, like its namesake, it is destined to be the King of the Hill for a long time.