Beginners bass amp

relic245

My son who is almost 14 and been playing 6 string for a year is now getting into bass as well.

What is a decent practice amp for beginners? Mostly home use but be good if it has enough poke to play with his mates.

Pref £200 but may be a bit of wiggle room.

JezWynd

The Ampeg combos are good or else a Fender Rumble series. The Fender has a wider range of sounds while the Ampeg is an Ampeg.

The Fenders are considerably lighter in weight if that’s an issue.

mart

Rumble rumble rumble.

pintspiller

Rumble or Cube. Or his guitar amp.

Bridgehouse

Yep. Rumble.

I’ve played the 200, the 500 and the studio 40 modelling ones - all excellent, all very light weight and all really good value for money. 

I imagine the 25 and 40 will be pretty similar and would do the job really well. 

KKJale

The little Rumbles are okay and, as t'others say, light, but consider an Ampeg BA-110 for £170-ish. A friend just nabbed one and it's an impressive-sounding wee beastie. 

Legionreturns

If you want this for £55 it's very useable at home and could definitely cope with smaller gigs 

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/134674/fs-marshall-b65-bass-state-80#latest

dindude

Gallien Krueger MB108 is a step above the riff raff IMO.

prowla

Buy used, of course...

Bridgehouse

dindude said:

Gallien Krueger MB108 is a step above the riff raff IMO.

If you are going to spend a bit more, I’d actually go for an EBS Session 60 - really high quality

thermionic

I have the smallest Ampeg and it’s quite impressive for a shade over £100. I especially like the eq, I can’t seem to get a bad sound out of it (and I’m not really a bass player). I don’t think you can go wrong with an Ampeg BA, Fender Rumble or an Orange.

relic245

pintspiller said:

Rumble or Cube. Or his guitar amp.

Seriously? 

He had a Marshall code. I thought that bass frequencies don't do the speaker any good. 

JezWynd

relic245 said:

pintspiller said:

Rumble or Cube. Or his guitar amp.

Seriously? 

He had a Marshall code. I thought that bass frequencies don't do the speaker any good. 

I regularly used to play bass through my guitar amp at home volume levels without any problem. A combo designed for bass will be better though, esp if player is young and tempted to turn up volume beyond what might be considered safe.

pintspiller

@relic245 should be okay at bedroom level. I used to play out with my 8080 wide open though. No issues. Mind you, I was either missed or stoned so I didn't really care. The speaker is now in a homemade 212 and still 100%

relic245

cool thanks everyone - some good info here. I'm going to take him next week and get him a bass, going to go new for that and then will be looking around for a used amp.

MattBanshee

The Warwick amp in these classifieds is in the price bracket and will do for anything up to small/medium gigs.

Markeebee

I've got an ashdown touring 220. A step up from practice amps, I think. Yours for £150 collected from sunny Brighton, to get it out of the way. 

Snags

<Cough>  Might not be of interest/suitable location, but …

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/136532/fs-laney-hcm30b-practice-beginner-bass-amp-moved#latest

relic245

Ha, thanks for the heads up.

We went to try a few basses today and came home with a fender rumble too. 

I know I could have saved a few quid by going second hand but decided to go new. 

Nice for my son to go out try and bring home. 

Also the music shop were really helpful so nice to be able to support a local business.