bmusic - Product News and Reviews

Bass and guitar amplification now available online at bmusic.com.au!

THE LABSYSTEMS STORY - Melbourne, Australia
For many years, prior to the forming of Labsystems, the team maintained a high profile in the electronics service industry, modifying and servicing most of the well known brands of guitar and bass amplification on the market. During this period, a great advantage was obtained. Whilst servicing many other brands of equipment, a real insight into the failings of other products was observed. This insight made them realise that there was a real need for reliability and technical perfection, that didn’t seem to be available from a lot of products being offered. Great care was taken noting the shortfalls of other products, and solutions to these problems. Inspired by their learnings Labsystems was formed, with a dedication to design and manufacture some of the finest guitar and bass amplification in the world.

In 1982, Labsystems (then called Guitarlab electronic developments) began manufacturing an elite bass preamp and power amp for a select group of professional bass players who claimed they simply couldn’t find an adequate bass amplification system to suit their needs.

Now, some 20 years later, Labsystems have expanded their range of specialised bass amplification products to include no less than 2 specialised valve bass preamps, 5 integrated bass amp heads, a high power stereo power amplifier, a range of bass speaker systems, 2 new bass combo's, a range of dedicated effects units, and a new range of guitar amplification and accessory units. Tens of thousands of hours of extensive research and development have gone into the producing what is now the most extensive and respected range of specialised amplification products available anywhere in the world.

Every Labsystems product is still fully hand built and tested by the original inventors of Labsystems, something that in today’s world of mass production and throw away technology must surely be unique.

Each Labsystems product is subject extensive electronic testing and burn in procedures, followed by individual listening tests before being given the final ok. Only this labourious approach can produce an amplifier that has earned Labsystems the name for being the most reliable amplifier on the market today.

PREAMPLIFICATION
After speaking with some of the finest bass players in both Australia and overseas, one point quickly became very evident, bass amplification had to be compact, reliable, but overall had to be simple to operate. It seemed that too many manufacturers were using either graphic or parametric eq to achieve the tonal control on the front panel, and 95% of the players we spoke to found graphic or parametric eq complicated and too hard to drive for bass. Labsystems then set out to design a preamp that was both versatile, rich in tonal quality, and overall simple to use.
Every Labsystems preamp features inbuilt pre shaping eq, giving you a great starting sound with the eq controls set at 12 o’clock. From here the tonal possibilities are endless, with exceptional amounts of cut or boost available on each eq control. Carefully chosen center frequencies of the eq controls provide you with a preamp that has un paralleled sonic performance for bass guitar, even down to a low B on five string.

On board compression is standard on the 250S, SS300&600, and combo's, incorporating Labsystems unique bass detection circuitry; a sophisticated frequency filtration network processes the signal for threshold sensing eliminating over compression of the bottom end, whilst smoothing out the top end, still retaining transient attack. What this means in sonic terms is the ultimate slap and pull sound, without any harshness in the top end. Compression is not fitted on the VP series of bass preamps and heads, as they feature full valve eq; and due to the smoothness of the valve circuitry, the need for on board compression is eliminated. A subtle natural compression of the valve can be obtained by driving the input stage correctly.
Provision for basses with either active or passive pickups has been incorporated into all Labsystems models, allowing the user to always obtain perfect gain structure and optimum tonal and signal to noise response.

Inbuilt effects loops are standard on all Labsystems preamps and amplifiers allowing proper interconnection with all modern aftermarket signal processing devices. A 600 ohm balanced D.I. output is standard on all Labsystems bass preamps and heads which is taken post eq, ensuring that the front of house sound is the same as your stage sound.

Only high quality and military grade components are used in all Labsystems preamps to ensure every Labsystems preamp performs to the original design criteria. All VP series products use high grade silver mica and polypropylene capacitors, to produce a signal of pure sonic integrity. Only 1% resistors are used in all models to minimise variation, so every unit produced will sound identical to the next.

POWER OUTPUT
All Labsystems bass amplification evolved from the company's legendary M4 on mosfet output module. Thousands of M4 output modules are now in service, providing un equaled reliability and effortless delivery of power. All output power ratings quoted by Labsystems tend to be on the conservative side, often amazing people with the awesome delivery of power, and the massive reserves of headroom. Toroidal transformers are used in all Labsystems amplifiers, coupled with massive supply capacitors; providing dynamic power supply both low in noise and weight; with awesome reserves to deliver radical transient voltage swing demanded by the modern bassist.

Many of Australia's finest musicians rely on the reliability and tone of Lab Systems products:

The Player	Their Band	Their Lab Systems Rig
Darren Middleton	Powderfinger	Cage 50 Dual Channel
Jesse Hooper	Killing Heidi	Cage 50 Dual & V212B
Warren Jenkin	Killing Heidi	610HP
Joe Creighton	Farnham, Kylie, Olivia	C112
Paul Dempsey	Something for Kate	Cage 50 Dual & V212
Jake Nicolaison	Another Race	VP600 2 x 410HP
Kevin Mitchell	Jebediah	Cage 50 Dual Channel
Bill McDonald	Paul Kelly	VP400 410HLC
Victor Rounds	Marcia Hines	VP400
Marcel Yammouni	Vanessa Amorosi	SS600 212HLC
Stuart Armstrong		VP300 410HLC
Jim Hilbun	The Angels	400B
Rebecca Johnson		800B
Glenn Lewis	Violetine	VP400 410HLC
Grant Relf	Bodyjar	VP600S 410HLC
Alex Raunjak	bugdust	VP600
Maryke Stapleton	Polyanna	VP400
Kelly Loyd	Screamfeeder	400B
Brett O'Riley	Warped	VP600S 2 x 410HP
Matt Galvin	Eva Trout	Cage 30A
Fred Leduc	Arctic	Cage 30A
Steve Ayton	Off the Leash	Cage 50 V212B
Matt Corcoran	Matt Corcoran Band	Cage 30A

We've added the entire Lab Systems range to bmusic.com.au - 900 watt bass speaker enclosures, 600 watt bass heads with valve preamps, 30 watt pure Class A valve guitar amps, vintage styled guitar cabinets, effects, and power amps. The whole range can be viewed by clicking on a link below:
Lab Systems Bass Amplification
Lab Systems Guitar Amplification
Lab Systems Bass Effects
Lab Systems Valve TrueTube for Bass and Acoustic Guitar
Lab Systems Guitar DuoDrive Overdrive