Aguilar Tone Hammer 350 - 350-watt Super Light Head Reviews

I was after that warm fat vintage tube tone and the Tone Hammer delivers and then some! Everything from a bit of added warmth to some fat tube-like natural drive into distortion, this amp delivers. If you want pristine and super clean, it can do that as well. Doesn't matter fretted, fretless, round wound, flat wound or tape wound, it delivers the tone! That said, it is particularly perfect with the fretless using the piezo pickup. I have more guitar amps than I'd like to admit, for bass, the Tone Hammer does all I need!

I bought this amp from Sweetwater in 2015, and have been using it for 8 years. Yet I never submitted a review. Better late than never...

I needed a small amp head to be able to shlep into and out of small jazz clubs, as well as to rehearsals. I had been using a Genz Benz Streamliner 600. While I love the GB, it is just too much power for most of my needs. I needed something that could fill a small room or auditorium, fit on a small stage, and hold up in a typical jazz setting: bass, drums, piano, guitar, and 2-3 horns (all of which are not mic'd). I wanted a small head (not a combo) so I had the option of using different speaker cabinets (some of which I already owned).

I had been using an Aguilar GS112 with various amps since 2004. I thought the combination of the TH350+GS112 would give me a good setup. To go even smaller, I bought a DNA DNS110. That combination works really well too! Since I often provide the bass amp for a jam session, I've heard the amp with lots of different types of basses: 4-string and 5-string electrics, uprights, even a 7-string electric. The amp and cabinet handle a low B quite well (no farting), as well as the wonderful overtones of an upright string bass (having adjustable mids worked really well with them). A lot of bass players have not heard of Aguilar. But after playing through it, they get this huge smile. I often get remarks like "What's going on inside there?" I get requests to bring my amp to sessions!

Things I like about this amp: 1) The small size and light weight. 2) The sound. 3) The mute button. 4) The -10dB button (good for basses with hot outputs). 5) The adjustable mid-range (one of the few amps in this price range with both mid-freq and mid-level controls). 6) Gain, drive, and master volume let you find a clean or slightly warm tone. 7) The padded case. It's very padded. Just buy one. It keeps the amp looking new, plus you can just throw it over your shoulder or around your neck, and still have two hands free to carry other stuff. 8) The DI output. If you need to run to a board, it's there and is fairly quiet, no need for a separate DI box.

Things I learned to live with: 1) One speakon output. Not a problem typically since I use one cabinet, but when using two, make sure you can daisy-chain the cabinets. 2) No effects loop. I normally run without effects or a few before the amp. If you need a loop, you'll have to go to the bigger TH500. 3) No headphone output. I use it with a cabinet (always).

After 8 years, this little monster has become my go-to amp. It has seen weekly use, and is still going strong. If it stopped working or was stolen, I would not hesitate to get it fixed or replace it. I'm never selling it! It has become part of my sound, setup, and reputation.

Wow. Where to even start with this little beast?
A couple years ago I got a hartke hd75 combo from sweetwater. This was a good little starter amp and was quite inexpensive for what it is. It lacked a couple things, mainly the ability to really drive the bottom end of my five string bass. It flubbed out and I had to drop the bass on the EQ.
I watched a million reviews on different bass heads, looking for a sound I liked and narrowed it down to a couple. Sweetwater had this Tonehammer 350 in stock so I figured I'd give it a go and holy string of expletive words! Paired it with an Ashdown ABM Evo 210 cab, because I didn't have the cash Aguilar wants for theirs. This thing puts out. It's massive, even at a low volume. That tuned down low A string? Yeah, the neighbors feel that now hehe. There's no low volume shelving and headroom that far surpasses any volume my house will tolerate. All that and I'm only using 175 watts through an 8 ohm cab.
It's a no frills, no gimmicks amp that lives up to its name by hammering out great tone as loud or quiet as you'd like. Clean, transparent tone all the way to ear shredding drive, it's all there. Oh, it's made in the USA too. Buy it.
Many thanks to Mike Arango (and his assistant Jeff) for always being so on top of my musical needs and never letting me regret a purchase.

This is exactly what I was looking for! Finding very rich tones with just enough dirt and grit. Playing through an Ampeg SVT200AV, and it's about as classic and vintage as one could hope for. So happy with this.

This replaced an Ampeg SVT3 Pro for me. The TH350 is louder and sounds more like a full tube amp than the SVT3 to me. As you can guess it is also WAY lighter and more compact. I was debating between the TH350 or TH500, and was concerned this one wouldn't have enough headroom. IT DOES! This amp gets LOUD! I pair it with a Fender Rumble 210 and it sounds massive. I'm quite impressed with this amp and am very pleased with the purchase from Sweetwater. Super fast shipping and my awesome sales rep, Craig Mills, advised on speaker cabs to go with this. Hoping to get the SL115 to pair with this next.

I haven't spent as much personal time with the amp as I would like, but I have already used it for a handful of gigs, and this thing cranks. I've played upright and Fender P-bass through it. The sound is clear and a bit bright, but when EQ'd where you want it, the tone is round and natural. I have an 8ohms speaker, and at just 175watts, this amp cranks!!! The guys in my blues band love it! I recommend this amp to anyone looking for a dependable and conveniently sized amp right out of the box!

P.S. I recommend getting the carrying case with it, protects and is easy for travel.

I read a ton of reviews on all of the lite weight class D amps and a lot of snarky articles how class D amps can not perform like traditional amps. I was totally happy with my old Hartke 3500. It was rack mounted in a 4u rack with a power filter/surge protector and a BBE Sonic maximizer. But it was huge & it weighed close to 50lbs. All I wanted was the same tone and power as i've had for the last 15 years. I built a 2-10 cabinet years ago with eminence speakers @ 4 ohms. Well, I easily got the same sound. I don't get to play out much any more, but it satisfies that need for tone and power. It's my therapy. I will never need the power that this amp has. My wife even likes it. There's more room in the den.

Versatile,gobs of tonal options,and powerful. Using it with a LDS cab equipped w 2x12 +5 and a tweeter(4ohm).
Incredible fun and outshines all the other micro heads for my needs..Thanks once again to Ed Nystrom.
We talked about headroom and possibly going to the TH500....But ,this well engineered dynamo is wall shaking at 9 o'clock w gain at 60%.Plenty of power and easily dials in whatever sound I seek with a PBass or Jazz.

This bass head is an incredible amplifier especially paired with the Aguilar SL 112x12" Cabinet which I purchased from Sweetwater also.

The sound is so clear and round that I can hardly believe that such a compact head could have such incredible output.

Along with the head and cabinet I use a Fender Jazz Bass MIM. My bass sounds so exquisite and the combo is such a fantastic rig.

I would definitely recommend this amplifier head as I learned about it from Alberto Rigoni on YouTube he is such a fine bass player.

I was moved by the fact that each piece [head/cabinet/bass] was so compact but with a sound that was unsurpassed by almost any rig head/cabinet/bass I have played through.

Thanks to Sweetwater for offering this Aguilar Tone Hammer Head as well as the Aguilar SL 112x12" Bass Cabinet.

I am not able to describe the Aguilar Tone Hammer Head in a way that it deserves to be acknowledged. The aesthetics and power of this compact Tone Hammer 350-Watt Head deserves a review that reflects its complex but at the same time so embracing abilities.

The sound as well as its simplicity or its small platform but powerful execution in performance is to me a real winner!

My hats off to Aguilar!

I love the all the different tones you can get tweaking the drive,gain and mid controls. A little bit of fiddling goes a long way.

I am really excited to have this amp. I have been lugging around an Ampeg for 16 years and it was time to lighten the load. I have this head and a SL 112 cab. The speaker is 25lbs and the head fits in my gig bag. Oh yeah and it has the most amazing tone. That's just a bonus

I am a sound eng and always deal with bass players that have to move all the controls in their amps for a long time bejore they seem to be happy. Then I have to adjust many things in my board to get that sound right in the PA.
In two occasions I worked with bass players using Aguilar and it was plug and play and that was my main reason to buy an Aguilar for my self. I am just starting playing bass and I got a tone hammer 350 and the SL112 cabinet. My bass is an Ibanez SR500 and I am very happy with the sound quality of my set up. I love the drive control because is very smooth, also the parametric MID control is very effective and the adjustment for the tweeter in the cabinet is also a big plus!. Very High Quality !

Bought this along with two sl112 cabs . Best rig I have ever owned. There's nothing lacking about it. Norb helped me and did a great job.

For any small venue or home studio use this is a powerful, clean amp head. And, for folks like me that prefer the sound quality comes from the bass and not the amp this is it.

I wanted a big, open, powerful tone, with lots of flexibility and tonal possibilities built in. That's what I got. I play an upright bass with a Fishman Full Circle pickup through this amp and an Aguilar S-112 cabinet. It is a perfect rig for me. I travel quite a bit and these are very easy to travel with and the sound is big and lush, clear, and powerful. I play Pizz and arco and these both handle some very intense and complex vibrations. I tend to push my tone into the beginning of creamy breakup range and these little guys just take it all. Thanks to Jared at Sweetwater for the advice and great service!

Exceeded my expectations! I use the amp for both electric and standup bass, and I'm very pleased with sound of this little amp. I ordered this on a Sunday evening and received it on Monday afternoon, beat that. My thanks to Sweetwater, and Jeff Jent.

Loved the small light weight, and sound. I didn't really rack that many hours on it in the 5 years I had it. I was very disappointed when all of a sudden no sound, no lights, no power. Checked power source, cables, fuse, but no. Now repair people don't sound confident that it's not repairable friendly. Man, loved it but I can't shell out any more cash n it, or another one. tsk, tsk! Would have been five stars but......