combo amp

RonChase · #1 12-01-2011, 10:06 PM

I play bass and guitar,I have 4 decent bass amps but only one is a combo.My problem is not a big one but I like when you ask a question on talkbass you get a variety of good ideas.I as mentioned already have only 1 combo amp that a friend gave me on a trade(it was actually mine 25 years ago)It is a Fender Sidekick.It is a decent sounding amp.My wife took up bass about 2 years ago and has a Pink Hofner.Now for the problem.She gets flustered at the idea of a head and cabinet and wont even try.Like I said the amp is good but she drives a Mitsubishi Spyder and the amp is heavy( for her) and I was looking at Behringer combo amps.I myself have had a few of the Behringer products and I am OK with my guitar amp it is 64 watts with a 24 bit chip or whatever.The amp has good features,the few combo amps I have had I would say my Trace Elliot was my personal favorite but most other Behringer amps I owned I was only Luke warm for them but as mentioned on my being pleased with this amp I wanted opinions on this amp the Behringer combo It runs around 200 bills and I have plenty of amps I want to give her a final X-mas gift and this seems good from the ads I read but most ads only talk non truths,I want to hear if anyone uses one or can suggest a reasonable alternative because sometimes you guys come up with stuff I over looked,sorry for my style of typing, run on sentences but Im in the dark.Merry Christmas and I will check this thread over the weekend.Thanx guys

Joe Louvar · #2 12-01-2011, 10:48 PM

You lost me - what is the question?

neebs · #3 12-01-2011, 11:44 PM

What amp do you recommend other than this behringer combo amp that is listed at $200, and is this a decent amp? I believe is his question. I have no clue.

I'm sure she'd be totally pist for you doing this, but if you could get away with it. Give her your 'good' combo amp, and buy yourself a new cabinet, for these 3 other amp heads you're talking about. But if you meant you have 3 cabinents... buy a head.

Excuse my useless information.

klokker · #4 12-01-2011, 11:58 PM

Hey wife.....I have 4 good amps, but I decided to buy you this piece of doo-doo for Christmas. Doesn't work for me.

I'd get a her a nice Shuttle 6.0 12t combo and then ask her if you can borrow it once in a while.

BigDaddyMick · #5 12-02-2011, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neebs

What amp do you recommend other than this behringer combo amp that is listed at $200, and is this a decent amp? I believe is his question. I have no clue.

I'm sure she'd be totally pist for you doing this, but if you could get away with it. Give her your 'good' combo amp, and buy yourself a new cabinet, for these 3 other amp heads you're talking about. But if you meant you have 3 cabinents... buy a head.

Excuse my useless information.

+1.

If the Sidekick is light enough for her, and will meet her needs (tonally, will fit in a vehicle, etc.), then it sounds like a GREAT opportunity for you to upgrade.

Everything I've read about the Behringer combo amps are hit and miss as far as reliability and tone.

neebs · #6 12-02-2011, 01:36 AM

How much does this sidekick weigh? You should beat into her head, "head+cab > combo" I have a acoustic b100 combo amp.. and that thing weighs about 50 lbs, but its only $150 right now at musiciansfriend. I think that's a damn fine price for it. I also own a behringer bt108, I'm not gonna lie the tone isn't very great.. but it gets the job done. If I had to choose between a b100 and that behringer bxl900... I would choose the acoustic.

edit: is this the behringer.. I'm guessing this thing weighs atleast 40lbs. And I'm assuming your other amp is around the same weight. If that's too heavy, I guess you could get a smaller amp..

I've owned an ibanez sw35
I liked the tone I was able to get out of it, and it wasn't too heavy.. I want to say it was 30 lbs.

I just honestly can't give sound advice, considering i've not used that many rigs before. But it sounds like she wants a tiny thing that she can carry easy peasy, and tone/volume is second. and is NOT a stack.... Get her out of her shell force her to learn how to use a stack. If I had one available.. you'll be sure i'm going to learn.

RonChase · #7 12-02-2011, 04:00 AM

I was'nt thinking of the amp being doodoo as I was pleased with my behringer,besides Santa has alredy pretty nice,She needs something that is easy and straightforward.Besides when I help her band out she does pretty well.It was late and I been tired and overwelmed and the question looks rambling which it is.I was wondering if I could spark a debate on cheepo amps that performed well.I know a guy up the road and I thought the Behringer was OK.I never weighed the Fender SideKick but its got some weight,and also dimensionally the Behringer sits better in her frontseat.I once myself owned a Crate it was easy to use and sounded good it had 12 inch speaker.But again it was heavy,See the thing is that I cant go to all her shows so she needs something easy to use and carry,She has full access to everything in the house.Oh and the Ibanez did have an amp that might work,Oh for clarity I guess my question was a little longwinded like I said I was curious to hear about good amps in that range.and yeh the Fender does work very well but I was going to trade it and a couple of dinky guitar amps and a few older guitars laying around for a Mexican strat or P-bass.

JimmyM · #8 12-02-2011, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klokker

Hey wife.....I have 4 good amps, but I decided to buy you this piece of doo-doo for Christmas.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

neebs · #9 12-02-2011, 02:08 PM

Teach her how to do a bear hug+deep squat. She should be able to lift that amp. =p

will33 · #10 12-02-2011, 02:40 PM

My head hurts. It still hurts.

Isntthatmucheasiertoreadthanthis?

Genz and Markbass have light weight combo's that get loud enough for small gigs. They're not the only ones. Search combo amps and check out the dimensions and weight. Tell your wife if she wants to be a bass player she is going to have to carry some gear heavier than a purse but there are some light weight options out there these days. I'd stay away from behringer.

RickenBoogie · #11 12-02-2011, 05:27 PM

Yeah, I'm with Will33 on this. If she's actually gigging with this amp, you don't want no pos (B) amp- look at Shuttles, MarkBass, even the GK MB combo's. ANYTHING but what was mentioned.

will33 · #12 12-02-2011, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

Yeah, I'm with Will33 on this. If she's actually gigging with this amp, you don't want no pos (B) amp- look at Shuttles, MarkBass, even the GK MB combo's. ANYTHING but what was mentioned.

+1

Disposable, unreliable garbage IMO. (refering to the aformentioned "b-word", notice they're not even worthy of a capital letter).

will33 · #13 12-02-2011, 06:16 PM

They alledgedly have some decent DSP/EQ units out now but still, I could never be comfortable with one of those in my PA rig without having 2 of them for when the first one fails. It'd be worth it to me to carry multiple separate 31band eq's, compressors, etc. just for peace of mind. Not to mention tone.

dog1 · #14 12-02-2011, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonChase

I play bass and guitar,I have 4 decent bass amps but only one is a combo.My problem is not a big one but I like when you ask a question on talkbass you get a variety of good ideas.I as mentioned already have only 1 combo amp that a friend gave me on a trade(it was actually mine 25 years ago)It is a Fender Sidekick.It is a decent sounding amp.My wife took up bass about 2 years ago and has a Pink Hofner.Now for the problem.She gets flustered at the idea of a head and cabinet and wont even try.Like I said the amp is good but she drives a Mitsubishi Spyder and the amp is heavy( for her) and I was looking at Behringer combo amps.I myself have had a few of the Behringer products and I am OK with my guitar amp it is 64 watts with a 24 bit chip or whatever.The amp has good features,the few combo amps I have had I would say my Trace Elliot was my personal favorite but most other Behringer amps I owned I was only Luke warm for them but as mentioned on my being pleased with this amp I wanted opinions on this amp the Behringer combo It runs around 200 bills and I have plenty of amps I want to give her a final X-mas gift and this seems good from the ads I read but most ads only talk non truths,I want to hear if anyone uses one or can suggest a reasonable alternative because sometimes you guys come up with stuff I over looked,sorry for my style of typing, run on sentences but Im in the dark.Merry Christmas and I will check this thread over the weekend.Thanx guys

Let's face it. Behringer is heavy crap.

A GB neo 112 (Shuttle head attached) is just the ticket. Screw the head down and tell her it's a combo.

dog1 · #15 12-02-2011, 06:32 PM

BTW. My wife is (has been for three years) a beginner at playing skinny strings. She wanted first rate amplification. She now has a Marshall head with a vintage Dual Showman (2-15" JBL D-130's) cab. She can't move it. It won't fit in her Pontiac. But, it look's great on her Facebook page. What a waste. She is 52. Maybe someday, her (and I) will grow up.

To satisfy a woman will require getting into her brain. Can any of us do that?

will33 · #16 12-02-2011, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dog1

To satisfy a woman will require getting into her brain. Can any of us do that?

No.

**JdoubleH** · #17 12-02-2011, 09:37 PM

+1 for every mention of the Genz Shuttle 6 12t combo. 30lbs, 375 watts @ 8 ohms, 600 into 4.

I just played a gig with a 5 piece with no PA support and a loud drummer in a mid sized club to a room of about 200. With the added 12t extension cab and a fender jazz bass, I was able to run with the eq flat and the gain at about 50% and it absolutely KILLED! I got several compliments afterwards on how solid and how good the bass tone was. In fact, at sound check, the club owner was concerned I'd be too loud for the room.

I paid $684 for the combo on Amazon. They come up pretty often used here too. Awesome bang for the buck.

The best part? The amp head is removable (4lbs) and can be used with any cab, so you can ease her into the separates concept.

**JdoubleH** · #18 12-02-2011, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

Yeah, I'm with Will33 on this. If she's actually gigging with this amp, you don't want no pos (B) amp- look at Shuttles, MarkBass, even the GK MB combo's. ANYTHING but what was mentioned.

Agreed- i've heard good things about the GK mb combos for the money. At a quick glance on Amazon:

GK mb115 200w 15" 33lb combo $399
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001R23G1A

GK mb210 33lb 500w 2x10 combo $599
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001R23G1K

Either would be far better than what the op mentioned, and with GK, you've got a solid respected company backing the product.