Small bass amp for home use

ICBM

Rocker said:

How long will it take for my fingers to harden/toughen up. Fifteen minutes playing bass "chords" with a cd and my fingers are sore and tired. And they have big rut marks (which clear away fairly quickly)...…

What strings does it have on it? Some roundwounds - especially cheaper ones, but also stainless steel ones, Rotosound Swing Bass etc - can feel very rough on your fingers, like playing a file .

You can get nickel roundwounds that feel softer, or half-round or rolled-wound strings, or flatwounds - although these sound quite a lot different… but maybe not a bad thing if you're looking for a more vintage tone. You can even get black nylon-covered tapewounds, which were popular in the 1960s and still used by people trying to get an authentic Beatle-type bass sound.

Col_Decker

The new fender rumbles FTW. I've got the '100' and its great for home use and loud enough to gig with my acoustic / folk band in a pub without going thru the PA. Looks good too.

Dave_Mc

erky32 said:

I've got agree with @Dave_Mc , I've had a VIP-2 for about 6 months, basically bought it to satisfy my hybrid needs with a Godin A6. It does a great job, abiet the acoustic channel does lack headroom, but I rarely use that because for acoustic the "Twin" ch is so clean it works great. Latterly I've been pairing it with my Blade-Lev' tele, and its the best amp for that guitar in my amp collection, ....it is really clean but warm sound, but with the guitar boost on and some preamp drive (orange led) on the twin channel it gives a really nice warm valvey sound - certainly for home/studio use, ...and the 12" brings the whole sound spectrum out. I've heard bad vibes on these amps for reliability, so so far no probs, solid sound, versatility , relatively light (much less than FBJ) .....with the Sanpera - everything you need for house/studio/cafe gig ....having said that I dont use the pedal much, round the house etc, prefer to just dial in what I want. It might be a computer with a speaker on it but it does deliver the sounds for small money!

I should probably say I went off the idea of the Vypyr 2 myself- didn't get to try it but was scared it'd be too guitar-orientated to be much use for bass. Could well be wrong, though.

exocet

I quite like the Trace Elliot BLX 150 (also BLX 80 - lower power).

It's a strange looking amp - single 1 x 10 combo, but it works well in my opinion.

You can pick them up on the 'bay for around £150

hobbio

I'll say it again, a 35w Belcat is brilliant for home use. Mine cost less than £50 brand new.

ICBM

exocet said:

I quite like the Trace Elliot BLX 150 (also BLX 80 - lower power).

It's a strange looking amp - single 1 x 10 combo, but it works well in my opinion.

You can pick them up on the 'bay for around £150

They are odd little things! Very loud for their rated power but extremely omni-directional, so they fill a space well but can seem not to project well directly in front, if you're used to getting that from other amps. They're also ludicrously heavy for such a small box due to the large amount of MDF used in the internal acoustic baffling.

I found the one I used was ideal for lower-volume 'non-rock' type gigs, but lacked the punch for rocky stuff and got lost when louder instruments came into the mix. I eventually got fed up of the weight though - it just seemed awkward for an amp that didn't seem that powerful really. (It was the 80, not the 130.)

exocet

I was forced to use one for a gig - plugged a 15 inch cab into the external speaker output to combine the 1 x 10 with a 1 x 15. It was the 130 watt version of the amp, it projected pretty well in that configuration - bags of punch too, but I agree that that wouldn't have been the case without the external speaker.

ICBM

I can imagine it would work very well - some time after that, my gigging bass rig was a Mk6 Trace AH200 (same amp basically, just a bit more powerful) and a 1x15" and 2x10"/2x5" cab pair - fantastic projection and space-filling power, from something so relatively small. The 2x10/2x5 on its own was good for smaller gigs, although the 1x15" was the deep ported one so it was a bit too boomy by itself.

I only moved on from it when I want something dirtier-sounding, the Trace sound is very clean.

Blueingreen

When I played bass (a few years ago now) the standard issue bass practice amp seemed to be the Peavey Microbass, which had a "best in class' reputation although to be fair I didn't personally compare it with others.  It was a solidly built piece of kit that sounded pretty good for its size ie it got the job done.  I even used it for a few drummerless rehearsals.

I owned two and from memory one cost £75 used which was a good price at the time  .  So I thought I was practically giving them away when I advertised them locally at £25 a pop (they are still in excellent nick).  I got no takers.  I gave one to a nephew and still have the other.  

If you're just looking for something functional you might be able to pick up one of those cheap.

Pyroman

  Second the new Fender Rumble series.   I tried one out recently, and loved the sound of it- more so than the old style Rumble 15 I have.  Pretty versatile, and the overdrive feature sounds great.   Very reasonably priced, too.

  My other suggestion would be the MarkBass  Micro Mark.  it's a 60 watt 1x8 combo, and it's literally a 12" cube.  If you plug it into a separate cab, it has more power.   Sounds awesome, and it's dead simple to use- just a volume and a mid filter control.  Surprisingly loud, too!   Imo, it's perfect for a home practice amp- small and lightweight, AND it sounds great.  It is, however, a bit more dear.

speshul91

Laney rb1 50w but plenty loud enough for home use, only £85 so pretty cheap and also has built in compression that works

Fretwired

speshul91 said:

Laney rb1 50w but plenty loud enough for home use, only £85 so pretty cheap and also has built in compression that works

I have a small Laney bass practice amp which is ace .. check this out .. the baby of the range. This is not a pro recorded video as the cabinet isn't mic'd.

speshul91

That's the same amp as me they are awesome little things, that video was one of the reasons I went for the rb1

Rocker

My search for a bass amp for home use had to take a back seat as much more important purchases had to be made.  But it is back and in the immediate future, will happen.

As it is purely for home use, I would prefer to buy new.  At least it will have a warranty.  Two models are suggested by Dublin music shops: Fender Rumble 100 and TC Electronics BG250.

@ICBM has consistently recommended the Fender Rumble so it is definitely in the frame.  Anyone have any experience with the BG250?  For purely home use, these amps are probably overkill but there is the possibility/likelihood that the occasional get together with my musician friends will happen.  I want an amp that will keep up with them [no manic drummer to compete with].

Anything I missed?

Shark_Eyes

The fender rumble (200 watt) version is the only bass amp that I've lifted and nearly punched myself in the chin, it's that light. Honestly it's on top of my list for that reason alone.

Rocker

I have heard that some amps 'fart'.  I know what a fart is, could someone please explain what is happening when a bass amp is described as 'farting'.  Thanks.

ICBM

Rocker said:

I have heard that some amps 'fart'.  I know what a fart is, could someone please explain what is happening when a bass amp is described as 'farting'.  Thanks.

Sounding like a loud, low-frequency one of the sort you might expect from a large animal . Usually caused by the speaker distorting, although sometimes the amp. A lot of small amps have inbuilt limiters to stop this.

I'm not a fan of the TC - I've seen a couple of dead ones, both unrepairable by my type of old-school tech (as are many modern switch-mode-power-supply and/or Class D output amps), certainly economically. There was a recall for safety reasons on the very first ones too, which although swiftly corrected doesn't inspire confidence.

You should probably also look at MarkBass - very small, light and high quality. Not the cheapest, but excellent.

Rocker

Thanks @ICBM, just the kind of info that I was hoping for.

fretmeister

The TC amps have a very hi fi tone. That's great if you want that. They are clear and articulate.

If you want a classic Ampeg type sound then it is not a good choice. But if you want a clean almost piano like tone (depending a lot on the bass you are using) then TC is great.

I do find TC amps to work best with their own cabs.

Mark Bass sound warmer, but still not Ampeg-growl-like. I'm a huge fan of their CMD 102P combo (a big 2x10), and I'd go as far as saying it might just be the best all round bass combo ever built.

Mark Bass are now made in Indonesia. I've not heard about any reliability issues creeping in at all BUT, the local wood must be more dense as the weights have gone up. Quite a lot on some items.

Super clean bass amps can be used with pedals to get an old school sound, but you can't get an Ampeg to sound like a super clean Demeter, no matter what you do with it.

Apart from my wonderful little Roland Bass Cube 30, my small rig is a Tecamp Puma 300 (tiny head, only 2.2 lb / 1.6 kg) and a Barefaced Bass One-10 cab.

Opposite to the TC kit, I find the Tecamp heads to work best with other makers' cabs. Didn't much like it at all with Tecamp cabs, but with the Barefaced or with my big stack of Bergantino cabs it sounds great.

Tecamp are still a bit of a 'secret' brand, so the used prices tend to be artificially low. Bargains can be found if you are patient. Tecamp are proper german engineering. I've never heard of one fail on any bass forum.

And if such things annoy you (they do me) - Tecamp don't have cooling fans on the lower power models. I play a lot with woodwind instruments and fan noise is a complete no-no.

ICBM

fretmeister said:

Tecamp are still a bit of a 'secret' brand, so the used prices tend to be artificially low. Bargains can be found if you are patient. Tecamp are proper german engineering. I've never heard of one fail on any bass forum.

I had to change the power switch on one a year or so ago. Not a big deal really, but it did stop the amp working.

Must admit I didn't like the sound once I'd fixed it, it sounded very 'sterile' to me. I can't remember what cab I used but it certainly wasn't one of theirs! It would have been whatever was to hand in the shop.

On the other hand I like a bit of growl in my bass sound, which is probably why I like MarkBass.