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  It could be argued that enough has already been said about Gregg Burman's extraordinary rise through the amplification market, and that it might be better to leave well alone. Surely, the man cannot continue producing excellence after excellence, and therefore, rather than be disappointed, one should now leave his products alone to make their own way. That could be true, if I hadn't stumbled over Gregg's stand during my rounds at the recent Frankfurt Fair, and had the opportunity to look at every model in the range, from the beautiful hand-crafted hide-covered limited edition which Gregg builds primarily for himself, to the massive PRO- 4000 HD bass amp - the largest one currently manufactured at the Newcastle Handyside Works.

In a recent profile of the Burman company in Beat, we concentrated on the care and attention which was said to go into each and every amplifier manufactured there. At Frankfurt I was able to witness it.

So, the PRO-4000D is the largest single unit in the Burman Pro-Series range and one of the first things that must be said about it is that it ought to carry a medical warning! The 4000 is a heavy top -comparable with many a good sized combo in fact! Still, the carrying handles snap out at each end and one person could hump it along all right, but the provision of two handles implies that two roadies ought to be involved if you're contemplating a lengthy walk with the beast!

The amp head is attractively finished in black vynide, with only the silver and black Burman logo for decoration, it  looks purposeful and like the rest of the company's products, there's no attempt to dress it up cosmetically.

This amplifier can be judged on performance, not on it's pretty face.

There are more than the usual number of controls: reading from left to right: jack socket for Channel; a very small up / down switch LF (Low frequency)a section of three rotary controls handling bass, middle and treble. Next comes another jack socket input for Channel 2, followed by a second LF control. The bass, middle and treble and controls for the second channel are laid out as for the first. The gain section has three controls: Channel 1, Channel 2, and Master. Beyond the master control comes a Presence rotary, and at the right hand end of the amp, the large red lit power switch. Inside there's more good news: 4 KT77 and 4ECC83 valves ready for lift-off.

I would say at this point that it's a bit of a shame I couldn't try the amp with a keyboard - my bass playing isn't in the Alfonso Johnson class - but within the confines of a trade fair this would have been impossible. However, aid was at hand, first in the form of a Fender Fretless,and secondly, thanks to Barratts of Manchester, the short-term (unfortunately) loan of an incredible Wal bass guitar which we hope we’ll be able to review sometime in the not too distant future. It turned out that because both the Wal and the Burman amp had such an incredible range of sounds each, time became almost too short and I decided to restrict my comments on the amp's performance to its dealing with the Fender, and then the Wal without making adjustments to the latter's sound.

The 412B speaker cab is as massive as its accompanying amplifier - in proportion - and would definitely be a multi-person moving job. Speakers are Burman's own XP5O12 loudspeakers specifically designed to withstand extreme input power (and, as it turned out. output power as well). The cabinet is pressurised, and the speakers reproduction quality is extended to match the wide frequency range of the amp itself.

Right, first plug in a dual lead, one into each channel, into the footswitch, and then a straight jack from the guitar to the footswitch and turn the beast on, and wait. Wait? Yes, of course, those valves don't warm up immediately. I think an overall impression of the sound is now required: firstly, the speakers seemed able to cope with anything the amplifier's 100 watts demanded over them without complaining at all. Secondly, the Burman - apart from its inherent valve sound (i.e. warmth with clarity) - is capable of producing a wider range of tones than any amplifier I've yet tried. With too many amplifiers nowadays there's a tendency for tone circuitry to be very vague, and to notate a range 0-10 and then provide just a slight variation between them - a sort of slowly changing slide. With the Burman you can detect the difference between each gradient on each tone control, and with 6 available you can begin to get the picture. In addition, Channel 2 has an extra built-in bass pre-amplifier  which enhances the bass frequencies which other amplifiers normally just cannot cope with. With these variations in sound comes the added advantage of being able to select two different tones. and switch at will between them by stamping on the floor pedal.

It' s impossible to say the Burman sounds like anything else, because it will, in fact, sound like everything else and more besides. It's tonal variations are amazing -so start fiddling around with the guitar controls as well and you' re even better off.

The Burman will happily cover the range from most muted, indistinct, muddy rumble (all bass, no middle and treble) to the clickiest, trebliest, singing, clipped top end (all treble and presence.) Now, I agree, those two examples may ward off potential customers. The importance is that the Burman will handle the entire range in between, and I repeat my disappointment at not being able to try an electronic piano because I'm convinced that it would perform incredibly well.

So, yet again yet another Burman amplifier receives the hearty thumbs up -that's not meant to sound facetious at all. I mean it. I cannot fault the PRO-4000'sdesign, construction, appearance or performance.

What more can I say? With VAT it'll cost in the region of £340 which isn't cheap. Neither is a Rolls Royce.