Practice Amp
 

I'm looking for a smallish practice amp. Preferably something about the same quality as the Peavey Vypr, Roland, or Vox practice amps you can get for guitar.

Or...do you guys think I'm better off buying a cheap cab and using it with my rocktron velocity 300 + HD500?

The lower end Ampeg combos are worth consideration - BA-108 /110 /112.

Sweet, I'll look into those. Hows the hartke stuff? If i was to buy a cheapish cab to use with my poweramp and preamp what would you recommend?

I dont intend on playing any shows as I cant play standing up due to a few severe back problems so I dont need anything crazy.

I really liked the Genz-Benz Shuttle 6.0 for my practice amp since it had a headphone out. This gave me the option of playing silently (late at night) or hooking it up to a speaker cab.

Im not too worried about silent playing, I can always use my HD500 for that as well.

I like my Acoustic B20. Basic, no frills really, but it sounds better than the other small combos I tried

I'll second the Ampeg reco. My first practice amp was an Ampeg BA-115. I still have it and still love it. It's very rugged and has great sound, plenty loud for cafe band or small venues as well. IIRC it has a headphone adapter for those times when you really have to play slient along with a cd input so you can practice along with some of your favorite music. I think the newer ones also have a built in tuner which is a nice thing to have. They are very reliable so buying one used shouldn't be a worry.

I use a Phil Jones 100 watt with 2X5. Works fine.

Ok i found a BA-115 for $100, yay or nay?

Great price, assuming it's in working order and decent shape. For home use my preference would be a BA-112, lighter and smaller with terrific tone, though again $100 is a good value for a BA-115.

Get a used Ampeg B-100R or B-50R and be done with it.

Indeed.
I like my BA115, and I paid almost full price for it, (it was a scratch and dent item at MF for forty bucks off) and thought it was well worth it, good solid construction, good tone. Not loud enough for a regular band situation, unless you have a decent PA to hook it up to, but a good amp nonetheless.
At $100, in half decent shape, a definite bargain.

I'd totally hop on a $100 BA115.

BA115s rule, however I also have to second the B20. I bought it 6 years ago when I started playing in high school and that thing still growls like a champ. I'm never getting rid of that thing.

My favorite is an old Traynor Bloc 40. It's compact yet very substantial. I've upgraded it over the years. I put in a larger transformer kicking it to 80 watts, and a better speakers. I do plan on changing the tone controls to baxandall types. I added a couple small piezo tweeters. It even got used on the digital piano in the pit at a musical last week. Great little amp.

I put a good 10" bass speaker I had, into a small, sealed, car sub cabinet I had laying around, a speakon jack and handle, and with my PF500 head, it's a great practice amp.

The Ampeg BA-115 is a nice combo amp that could probably handle smaller gigs where volume wars don't come into play. If it's in decent shape, $100 is a killer price.

However, at ~ 62 lbs, it's not really what I'd classify as a "smallish practice amp", if that's what you're looking for. (I see you also mentioned back issues in a follow-up post.)

I recently bought a MarkBass Micro Mark C108 combo - - It puts out 50 watts into a special neo 8 inch driver, is about 10" square, and weighs 11 lbs. Cost is rather steep ($499 at GC), but IMHO there is nothing out there in its size that sounds as well. I replaced my SWR LA-8 with this - - it's not just a great practice amp, but will also work for smallish (or acoustic) gigs. It also has a balanced line out so you can run it into a board for recording (you can switch off the speaker). If cost is not so much of an issue, give it a listen...

I'm VERY happy with my Acoustic B20, got it used at GC for $60. I think the 12" driver really helps the bass response vs. the typical 8" or 10" driver in most practice amps. Sounds nice and warm and bassy at practice volume. Just for grins I lined the cab with polyfill. It doesn't have a whole lot of headroom, but hey, it's a 20 watt practice amp.

I always found it funny that even though it's only 20 watts, it always seemed WAAAAY louder than 20 watts. Another reason why that practice amp rules.

Yay! If it's in good shape that's a great price. Like someone else noted, it does weigh in around 60 pounds but has a top handle so you can carry it with one hand for short distances. Also has a nice tilt back feature. If you're ok with the weight it's a good deal.