Affordable upgrade suggestions
 

Hello, I am brand new to the site and am enjoying it thoroughly.

I would like some suggestions as to upgrading my amp. I currently own a really cheap acoustic solid state combo which I run a beautiful American p bass through. I've always played guitar and have a sizeable guitar rig, but fell deeply in love with bass and want to pursue it instead.

I need something with enough presence to be heard in a mix (at a club or practice) but won't destroy my bank account!

Well what is your budget, what kind of music are you playing, and do you have any size and weight restrictions? Shopping used will get you more for your money.

Look at Peavey and Hartke.

Downscale the guitar rig? Most geetarists have too much rig for the gig!

You'll have to give some more information on style and gigging environment, as well as budget, to get good recommendations. Otherwise you get 20 random rigs thrown at you. What's affordable to you may be far out of my range or vice versa.

I'm playing laid back, groovy alternative music kind of like warpaint, autolux and Radiohead.

And my max budget right now would probably be $600. I know that's not a lot for a live rig but it's what I've got to work with

Also weight is somewhat of an issue as I have a history of tendinitis

Also, I play finger style if that's important? (I'm very new)

And enough power to be heard in practice setting and small-medium club

PF350 or 500 and a PF cab isn't too bad weight-wise...would run about $700 or $800 depending on which head you get, a little less if you can find a sale. Micro VR stack is quite cool as well and would probably be enough for what you want to do. There are others by different companies you may want to look at, but I don't endorse them ;)

Well, my current rig (i play finger style too) is a Hartke LH500 head with a Peavey 410TVX it cost $600 (bought the head new, cab was used) and when I turn up past 12 the drummers kit starts falling apart :p (not literally, but it shakes everything in the practice room. And this is on a passive p-bass)

Sorry for the double post. That Peavey 410 weighs a metric **** ton. So probably not the best advice if you're concerned about weight. I'm actually waiting right now to switch over to an ampeg pf800 rig so long as there aren't crazy horror stories about them when lots of people start buying them.
So, yeah. Ampeg portaflex rig definitely meets your requirements.

Thanks everyone, I was at a store messing with some PF gear and couldn't seem to get a great sound out of it.

Then again some guy wouldn't let me hear it as he dazzled himself with his awful, overwhelming noise

I'll go back on a weekday and spend some time on it,

Thanks again guys!!

You can pick up a fine gigging rig in the classifieds or craigslist for $600.

Give the controls a good workout. There are a lot of different tones in them, and it's real intuitive to find them once you figure out what they do.

Update: Thanks for the help guys, I went to my local guitar store and spent a couple hours trying out amps

I tried out the Portaflex but found it really stale sounding... Ended up with a Hartke LH500 and AK410 cabinet for less than $400 w/ trade in and couldn't be happier

Thanks again!

That's a great rig that will serve you well. And you got a great deal. Congrats! :)

Cheers,
Liam

Aha! Yet another guitar player who has finally realized where the real power of the band lies!!! :)

That's the pro. The con is that you might not pull any girls! :)

Unless one asks to play with your G string! :hyper:

I started playing brass, picked up guitar, enjoyed playing bass more but found out I was two strings short for the groupies. Make your own jokes from there :D.