Small tube amp?

[ben12390]

is there a small tube amp that is along the same lines of the valve jr. for the bass?

just a small amp to get a good tube tone, for recording, and then to run through a power amp for live situations?

im looking for cheap..

[Staccato]

You'll be challenged in a big way to find one that is lower powered, or meets your pricing criteria.

You'll find a boatload of recommendations in the TB archives for a 'used' Peavey VB2 or a Traynor YBA 200. Neither is close to low power requirements that you mentioned.

[GeneralElectric]

Ampeg B25B

[pasta4lnch]

The VJ is the way!! I use mine all the time for bass recording . . .

[TheBasicBassist]

Originally Posted by GeneralElectric

Ampeg B25B

Ding! I love yours, Andrew.

[recreate.me]

There people that can make custom amps, depending on your location. I almost had one made, and was told if i provided the cabinet, and the speaker i could get a 25W bass tube amp for around 300$ (plus the cab and speaker) So like 500$ for a low powered tube combo....

Save your money and get a Fender TV combo... My b50R is great for low power situations...not tube though

[ben12390]

i live in nebraska.. so custom amps are pretty much out.

[4Mal]

Used, old Fender. Princeton, MusicMaster, Bronco, Bassman, Bandmaster, etc.. And a 1 x 15 cab.

[lookiel]

If you want fairly cheap maybe you can find an old PA tube amp
like this guy:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIn2a..._order&list=UL

[theory028]

Originally Posted by pasta4lnch

The VJ is the way!! I use mine all the time for bass recording . . .

Do you happen to have any recordings on hand of the Valve Jr? I'm curious how it sounds with a bass. There doesn't seem to be very much talk about these little guys.

[fivestringgecko]

I've just recently gotten into the world of tubes and I've wondered about the Valve Jr. for a while too. Just haven't gotten around to it I guess. I've found a couple threads that might be of some interest:

the "Cranked Tube Amp" thread
Valve Jr. Bass Modding thread

The Cranked Tube Amp thread has discussion of smaller tube amps, modding guitar amps into bass amps, Tom Bowlus' Valve Jr. and a possible Bass Jr.

The Valve Jr. Mod thread is self explanatory.

5sg.

[GeneralElectric]

Originally Posted by TheBasicBassist

Ding! I love yours, Andrew.

Thanks John. The B25B is only 55 watts but I play it in bars and restaurants all the time no problem, as well as rehearsals and home practice. You can usually get them pretty cheap as no one remembers this head, or is wary of the 55 watts. If you need to get louder, you should just mic your cabinet anyway.

Who needs overly loud stage volume?

[B'Boom]

Alessandro basset Hound : the best of the best, really.
65Amps Apollo : modern B15 clone.
Ashdown Little Bastard.

[pasta4lnch]

Originally Posted by theory028

Do you happen to have any recordings on hand of the Valve Jr? I'm curious how it sounds with a bass. There doesn't seem to be very much talk about these little guys.

http://www.myspace.com/stevebuonanotte
check out "gone" It was my VJ (through a 12' guitar cab ) w/ a U5 (fender MIA p/j - both pups if I remember correctly). The song was mixed by Jeff Juliano (a magician in my book!) - it's my favorite bass tone on the planet!!

[billoetjen]

This thread prompted me to think about alternatives to the traditional ($$$) route. I have a friend who's got a ratty old low powered all tube Fender guitar amp. What if I scavenged the amp from it and ran that into a single 15" cabinet? I tend to play with flat tone controls so the guitar tone stack would be okay. I just wonder if the power capacitors would back up the lowest notes on an E string....
You might get some nice dirty sound from something like that.

[dlmarquez]

I have a couple possible suggestions
if you want 20-30 watts,
Either the Old School Model One: http://oldschoolamps.com/BassAmps.aspx

or the Ashdown Little Bastard: either of those will run around 8 or 9 bills

or....a good friend of mine uses a Hughes and Kettner tube preamp. It puts out 2 watts, and he runs it thru a EA wizzy 10 for open mic stuff with acoustic guitars...sounds very good

[GeneralElectric]

A used B25B in good shape will cost you under $500, probably under $400.

[theory028]

Originally Posted by pasta4lnch

http://www.myspace.com/stevebuonanotte
check out "gone" It was my VJ (through a 12' guitar cab ) w/ a U5 (fender MIA p/j - both pups if I remember correctly). The song was mixed by Jeff Juliano (a magician in my book!) - it's my favorite bass tone on the planet!!

That sounds really good, especially in that mix. It's crazy that it's coming from a 5 watt head that costs about $130. I'm curious about the Valve Jr Hot Rod and the Valve Senior. For $300, the 18 watt Senior sounds like another interesting option.

[fivestringgecko]

Originally Posted by theory028

That sounds really good, especially in that mix. It's crazy that it's coming from a 5 watt head that costs about $130. I'm curious about the Valve Jr Hot Rod and the Valve Senior. For $300, the 18 watt Senior sounds like another interesting option.

+1, Man, I'm pretty stunned at that tone! Pasta, that's just a Valve Jr., right? Volume knob only, not the Hot Rod? How far can you turn the volume up before it breaks up and distorts? Ever try it with a 5-string?

Besides the Valve Jr./Sr., other low power all-tube guitar amps I've looked at (but never had the chance to play through with a bass) are the Ibanez TSA15h and the Jet City JCA20H. Unfortunately, none of my local stores have them in stock of course.

The Jet City was designed by Mike Soldano, a name I'd heard of even before I knew anything about tube amps. I actually emailed Jet City directly for info on how the amp would handle a bass, and their customer service definitely seems top notch. I got got this reply back within 24 hours:

Originally Posted by Dustin @ Jet City Amplifiers

Great questions, thanks for getting in touch. The 20H can handle a an 8 or 16 ohm load, so your speaker cabinet should be ok as long as it matches one of these ratings. I have to be honest and tell you right off the bat, that I haven't tried the 20H with a bass. I can almost guarantee that the preamp will break up pretty early (probably around 1 or 2) since it's not exactly voiced with a ton of clean headroom. The amp is voiced for guitar, and in circuit design, that often involves using resistors and capacitors to filter out low frequencies. It may sound cool, or you may find low frequencies lacking at the output stage. Either way, I'd say it was worth a try. We just released a JCA20H-BVC, which is a totally clean version of the 20H. It breaks up just a bit when maxed out and has a killer bassman-esque voicing. I would say try this one first and if it doesn't work, at least you'll have a really cool hand-modded guitar amp for your arsenal.
Our friend Ben Verellen: verellenamplifiers.com is a tube bass amp expert and he'd be able to give you some ideas on how to mod a 20H in order to get a cool bass tone. You could probably just buy a 20H and send it to him. Anyway, I hope this helps.

So it sounds like the JCA20H BVC clean version may be the way to go, but it's quite a bit more. I can only find it available through their site for $499.

5sg.

[baldy McBalders]

Subbed to this thread. I had the same idea, and threw down a whopping $99 for a used Bugera V5, arriving next week. Worst case scenario, it will not sound worse than my Crate BX-10 (I think that's the name, as I can't even bear to look at it so it is in the attic).
Anyone else giving this particular amp a go for bass? I like the power attenuator idea; we will see if it works for a little grit at low volume so that I don't drive my wife insane. Well, at least not from bass volume. . .
B.