Bass amp recommendations please...

[tbof]

Hi folks,

I will be buying my first bass in a few days and I would like a few amps recommendations. I've been mostly playing guitar but I'm new to bass. To be honest, I know nothing about bass amps.

The bass will be a Road Worn 60 Jazz Bass and I'll need a decent amp mainly for practicing at bedroom levels and occasionally jamming with friends at a friends house, no gigging in bars and clubs. So I probably don't need something that loud. My guess is 100-120 Watts would be good enough, right?

Things I'd like:

- reliable as much as possible
- has to be a combo that is easy to carry
- an input to plug in a cd/mp3 player for practice and to jam along
- loud enough to cut through a drummer
- an output (1/4" or XLR) for plugging into a mixer (we play through headphones when the house owner's wife is upstairs!)
- solid state
- can cover many types of music genres but mainly hard/classic rock, prog rock (Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Rush...)
- costs under $500 (would prefer to buy new)

I was thinking Ampeg? Rolland? Fender? Line6? I own a Tech21 guitar amp and I like their products but it seems they don't build bass amps anymore.

That's about it.

Thanks,
tbof

[GrowlerBox]

There are literally hundreds of threads on this. Just for yucks I searched "combo amp recommendation" and got 329 threads. So go nuts!

[BigOldHarry]

If you shop used and are willing to go with brands that aren't quite as popular these days, you can do pretty well with $500. A GK400RB + a good 4x10 (older Hardke or SWR) can be had for that price range. But you have to be patient.

New? You won't get much and it will have squat for resale.

[nickelseye]

Fender Rumble 150? 150 watt, 1x15. Meets all of your requirements...$349.99 new.

[stiles72]

Ampeg BA115 - good tone for the price, 100 watts into 4ohms, well under your budget

[Sartori]

If price is an issue, go used.

[shoot-r]

Originally Posted by tbof

Hi folks,

I will be buying my first bass in a few days and I would like a few amps recommendations. I've been mostly playing guitar but I'm new to bass. To be honest, I know nothing about bass amps.

The bass will be a Road Worn 60 Jazz Bass and I'll need a decent amp mainly for practicing at bedroom levels and occasionally jamming with friends at a friends house, no gigging in bars and clubs. So I probably don't need something that loud. My guess is 100-120 Watts would be good enough, right?

Things I'd like:

- reliable as much as possible
- has to be a combo that is easy to carry
- an input to plug in a cd/mp3 player for practice and to jam along
- loud enough to cut through a drummer
- an output (1/4" or XLR) for plugging into a mixer (we play through headphones when the house owner's wife is upstairs!)
- solid state
- can cover many types of music genres but mainly hard/classic rock, prog rock (Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Rush...)
- costs under $500 (would prefer to buy new)

I was thinking Ampeg? Rolland? Fender? Line6? I own a Tech21 guitar amp and I like their products but it seems they don't build bass amps anymore.

That's about it.

Thanks,
tbof

My R.W. Fender Jazz, (best bass I've ever owned...and I've had some high-dollar basses in the past), sounds "great" through Gallien-Krueger amps.
I'd suggest looking at GK's new MB Combos.
Good sounding, powerful, small, light, at very reasonable prices.
www.gallien-krueger.com

[tbof]

Originally Posted by shoot-r

My R.W. Fender Jazz, (best bass I've ever owned...and I've had some high-dollar basses in the past), sounds "great" through Gallien-Krueger amps.
I'd suggest looking at GK's new MB Combos.
Good sounding, powerful, small, light, at very reasonable prices.
www.gallien-krueger.com

Thanks,

Looks good to me. These are pretty light. I like that.

I also see the MB112 and MB115 are both rated at 200W. What does the MB115 do more than the MB112, besides having a 15" speaker? In other words, is the MB115 louder because it has a larger speaker?

[39-Bassist]

The Fender, Carvin or Line6 would each do fine......Carvin advantages would be diverse tonal settings, Fender would be the "traditional" sounds and the Line6 would be the modeling of different type of amps. Good luck.

[BassMan4Him]

Originally Posted by nickelseye

Fender Rumble 150? 150 watt, 1x15. Meets all of your requirements...$349.99 new.

+1 Thats what I was thinking, too!