Metal Bass amp on budget.

[Scopey]

Hi. I am new to bass and want to get a amp for Old School Heavy Metal, NWOBH and Thrash Metal.

I have searched the forums abit but the information around seems either old or too expensive for my budget.

I mainly plan to play at home to practice so I don't need something huge but I want something with good sound. Being able to carry it around would be a plus.

Budget: 400 USD (I know not much)
Preferable a combo
Style: Finger
Is it okay to buy 2nd hands?

Thanks

[CL400Peavey]

Originally Posted by Scopey

Hi. I am new to bass and want to get a amp for Old School Heavy Metal, NWOBH and Thrash Metal.

I have searched the forums abit but the information around seems either old or too expensive for my budget.

I mainly plan to play at home to practice so I don't need something huge but I want something with good sound. Being able to carry it around would be a plus.

Budget: 400 USD (I know not much)
Preferable a combo
Style: Finger
Is it okay to buy 2nd hands?

Thanks

With that budget, you need to shop used.

Combo's are for weenies, go find a used head 300-500 watts used, and find an 8 ohm 410. Then when budget allows go find a second matching cab.

[Scopey]

Originally Posted by CL400Peavey

With that budget, you need to shop used.

Combo's are for weenies, go find a used head 300-500 watts used, and find an 8 ohm 410. Then when budget allows go find a second matching cab.

From what I understand the watt is the power of the amp right? I am not sure if I need something that powerful since I just play at home and most of the time I will be using headphones not to distrupt neighbours (very thin walls). So i just need something with good sound quality. The 8 ohm 410 bit is like a foreign language (beginner here ) I have to read on it.

But thank for the comment

[KodyAudette]

Are you planning to play with a band at any point, or are you planning to just play at home by yourself? If you are solely planning to play by yourself with headphones, buy a Zoom B3 effects pedal with amp and cab modeling and figure out what you like. If you do ever plan to play with a band, I highly recommend looking into Hybrid amps. They have a tube pre-amp so you get a good dose of that full, warm tube sound and they have a solid-state power amp which means A)they're lighter B)You can get a lot more power for the money. I love my SWR 750x for metal. That's a separate head and cabinet setupo but I know they do make combos if you're really set on that. SVTs are generally considered one of the mainstays of the Rock/Metal world. I don't know if they're offered in combo form though.

8 Ohms is the Impedance rating of a speaker cabinet and 410 means four ten inch speakers. It's generally a great speaker set up to start with because most amps will allow you to add another one later on when you need more volume/want to look cooler on stage/want to get in a good back workout before every show.

[Count Bassie]

You can find a used GK combo for that bread. Not for weenies, it'll sound good, deliver volume if you need it, and you can carry it.

[Count Bassie]

Of course, the modeling thing is a pretty good idea for auditioning sounds, in a general way. Get the combo and a modeling pedal... probably can still do
that for $400.

[KodyAudette]

Yeah, that's probably a great way to go. That way you have a good little bit of thump that's easy to carry when you want to start playing with other people, and when it's not quite loud enough you can add another cab to that as well.

[Scopey]

Originally Posted by KodyAudette

Are you planning to play with a band at any point, or are you planning to just play at home by yourself? If you are solely planning to play by yourself with headphones, buy a Zoom B3 effects pedal with amp and cab modeling and figure out what you like. If you do ever plan to play with a band, I highly recommend looking into Hybrid amps. They have a tube pre-amp so you get a good dose of that full, warm tube sound and they have a solid-state power amp which means A)they're lighter B)You can get a lot more power for the money. I love my SWR 750x for metal. That's a separate head and cabinet setupo but I know they do make combos if you're really set on that. SVTs are generally considered one of the mainstays of the Rock/Metal world. I don't know if they're offered in combo form though.

8 Ohms is the Impedance rating of a speaker cabinet and 410 means four ten inch speakers. It's generally a great speaker set up to start with because most amps will allow you to add another one later on when you need more volume/want to look cooler on stage/want to get in a good back workout before every show.

I guess I would eventually play in a band when I feel like I am good enough but I set kind of high standards for my self so it can be a long way ahead.

I checked some of the items mentioned here online (ebay-amazon). The problem with 2 piece amps seems to be the budget since I have to buy 2 pieces. 400 USD doesn't seem to be able to afford that unfortunetly. Or I am not looking at the right places

[mystic38]

For metal you need an amp with controls that go to 11

[franksgbass]

Your not gonna be playing in a band for a while. So just get this. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/deta...FUVN4AodkAIAFA
Orange make great sounding heads, for the type of music your going for.
They also make a 50 watt version which will be a little bigger and louder.
This will sound very good, and will have some re-sale value if you decide to sell it to buy a head and a cabinet. Which you will prob want to play metal in a band.
Good luck

[InternetAlias]

Originally Posted by mystic38

For metal you need an amp with controls that go to 11

You mean, like old Dynacord bass amps?

[franksgbass]

This will prob do the trick as well. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BA110/
Watch a few demos on youtube and see which one you like better

[tooley]

My advice is to buy a small amp and learn from buying that amp(ohms etc). As you say you want to wait until you feel like you're up to playing the music you want to. franksqbass suggested an orange or ampeg both should suffice.

now as you say you love nwobhm (my favourite genre) Id suggest learning about full tube amps in the mean time. Especially in the 100watt range. As i find they sound best for this genre imo. There more then powerfull enough with the right speakers(more for you to learn about). some people will tell you about hybrids and how there as good as tubes. But my opinion on the matter is why buy something that is simulating something, when you can just buy the real thing.

But at the end of the day you might hate tube amps. Or be put off by the weight or find hybrids good enough. Im just giving you the advice I would have liked to have had when i started out playing. Also you can't beat old gear for playing nwobhm.

[InternetAlias]

Get a cheap interface and play to headphones. You can get some ultra cheap interfaces for like 10$ and they will have low latency, you can play and practice that way. Also, listening by headphones usually reveals more mistakes so it's good for practice, I do it all the time. Buy the amp only once you really need it, by that time you may be able to accumulate more $ to get a quality product, when it comes to amps, buying cheap (as in, bad) is ALWAYS going to cost you. Avoid combos if you can, though you can get better deals on combos than separate head/cabs, but that's because people usually want to get rid of them. You're more likely to score a good combo for something like 500$ then a good head and cab, buying divided will always cost more. However, combos are not as handy as separate head/cabs so you might hate it and regret it (like many people who are selling them used). You need a good sized combo for metal so it's going to be large and heavy, and thus very impractical.

[IPYF]

Everyone here is dead right about separates. Take in the following if you are planning on joining a band at some stage, otherwise you can probably safely ignore it and go shopping for combos.

If you're playing in a metal act you're statistically about 789% more likely to run afoul of loud drummers and/or zealous guitar players with large tube stacks that they saw in music videos. If you run up against a Marshall JCM or a Peavey 5150 with a halfstack even top end bass combos are going to get blown clean through the opposing wall. They're not designed to compete with that kind of thing.

A good metal player needs to have extra speakers up their sleeve to deal with situations like this. You don't want or need to stress about this right now. You just need to set yourself up for the possibility later on down the track because if you have to learn the hard way you're going to lose out financially and end up spending much more than you need to. This necessitates a head unit with at least 300w of power at 4 ohm. The first thing to understand is that amp power doesn't equal volume. The loudness is all about the speaker cabinet.

Unfortunately your budget doesn't provide you with a lot of options. I would urge you to reconsider the combo thing and maybe save up another $100-200 for a total of $600. The reason for this is not to push you over your budget, but the extra spend will almost definitely save you more money in the long run. If I had been given this advice when I was a kid I'd have saved about $2000 by this point.

I would recommend a second hand Hartke HA3500. You can get a used one of those for 200-400US. They're snappy as a fox, have a tube preamp, and plenty of graphic options in the eq. You also get 350w at 4 and 250 at 8, so this amp is no slouch for any style at any level. Next, get yourself a VX410. It's an 8ohm cab with 400w of handling. It's essentially made for the HA3500. If you can find one used I reckon you're looking at about 200-300. The maximum you would pay for this setup second hand is $700 if you were truly unlucky. This would set you up for anything short of a stadium gig.

Take all the advice in and decide what you want to do. I understand that the above doesn't fit your criteria even slightly and seems like vast overkill, but if you're thinking about the possibility of joining a band in the future it might be worth thinking about this. Nobody bothered to pitch me this information when I was starting out and I ended up so far out of pocket. If you can't exceed your budget I'd think about a Peavey TNT. Used you could pick up the 150w combo for a couple hundred bucks. They've got a good tone and could survive a nuclear war.

[socialleper]

Originally Posted by Scopey

Hi. I am new to bass and want to get a amp for Old School Heavy Metal, NWOBH and Thrash Metal.

I have searched the forums abit but the information around seems either old or too expensive for my budget.

I mainly plan to play at home to practice so I don't need something huge but I want something with good sound. Being able to carry it around would be a plus.

Budget: 400 USD (I know not much)
Preferable a combo
Style: Finger
Is it okay to buy 2nd hands?

Thanks

I really like my Ampeg BA115HP. 220w with a 1x15 plus a tweeter, three band eq with a 5 position switch for selecting the mids, separate gain & volume, DI out and built in tuner. It is a little heavy, but it comes with removable casters. For practicing at home, light practice or small clubs it does really well. Nice smooth lows, but the highs aren't too crisp. $499 new, but you might be able to find it on sale or a used one.

[socialleper]

Originally Posted by IPYF

If you're playing in a metal act you're statistically about 789% more likely to run afoul of loud drummers and/or zealous guitar players with large tube stacks that they saw in music videos. If you run up against a Marshall JCM or a Peavey 5150 with a halfstack even top end bass combos are going to get blown clean through the opposing wall. They're not designed to compete with that kind of thing.

TRUTH! Guitarists always think bigger is better. They all think you should have a 8X10 fridge to go with their full stack. My Shuttle + GK mini rig of doom keeps up with a full stack, but the guitarist in my band thinks it looks funny. Oh well.

That said, a separate head/cab combo of any real volume is going to go WAY over your budget. I did mine with clearance and used items but it still cost around $1200.

[KodyAudette]

Originally Posted by socialleper

TRUTH! Guitarists always think bigger is better. They all think you should have a 8X10 fridge to go with their full stack. My Shuttle + GK mini rig of doom keeps up with a full stack, but the guitarist in my band thinks it looks funny. Oh well.

That said, a separate head/cab combo of any real volume is going to go WAY over your budget. I did mine with clearance and used items but it still cost around $1200.

When the guitarist in my metal band decides to get too loud, I teach him about volume with my SWR 750x. It'll put out 850w into 2.6 Ohms which means I can run 3 cabs. When I feel like proving something, I'll stack up my two 410s and a 115 plus my rack unit for a 7.5 foot tall bass monster that puts my guitarist's 6505+ full stack in the corner for a timeout. Then I unplug all but a 410 and we play at human levels. Haha.

OP -

There are tons of options out there, you just have to decide where you plan to go. For a metal band, you'll almost certainly need a separate Amp and Head combo someday, but for now, maybe keep saving up your money and playing all the amps you can until you are ready to play with others, then reassess.

[BassManMike73]

Get a Gallien Krueger head like the Backline 600 for cheap second hand, then a 410 cab, and eventually add a sansamp pedal. And upgrade the amp and cab when the budget allows.

[Mushroo]

You aren't going to sound very good at first as a beginner (no offense ) so get a cheap $100 used practice amp (Peavey, Crate, etc.... and make sure it has a headphone jack!) at your local music store. As you improve your skills and consider joining a band, that's the time to drop $$$ on a rig, IMHO.

A $100 amp and $300 of lessons with a good teacher will be a much better investment in your future than a $400 bedroom amp.