It does what you need a practice amp to do. It's great for practicing by yourself or with others playing acoustic. If they're playing electric, they'll need to keep the volume down or the bass will disappear. But that's true of any low wattage bass amp. It could have a bit more low end, but not a lot more at this wattage.
There's plenty of clean headroom; I can run a booster and get double the normal max volume and it's still clean. The transformers are more than adequate.
The wiring is simpler than on the models with the flip-top controls; this is only an issue if you replace the power cord.
If it's what's available, or you just love tubes (I do), it's a great practice amp, but it's no frills. There's no DI or speaker output, and it's fairly heavy, so it's not what you want for a small gigging amp.
Recent Reviews
-
Simple, clean, old-school practice amp for bass
- 4/5, 4 out of 5, reviewed Jan 10, 2018
- Sound:
- 4.00/5,
- Build Quality:
- 5.00/5,
- Features:
- 3.00/5,
- Feel:
- 3.00/5,
- Value:
- 4.00/5,
Pros- + Pretty good tonal range.
- + Surprising bass for a 50 year old 2x10 cab and small amp.
- + Simple, well thought out circuit.
- + Built like a tank.
Cons- - Two wire power cord; you should have it replaced with a three wire cord and grounded plug.
- - Less common tubes (6EU7 and 7591).
- - Heavy for a 30W amp.
- - Loses volume on a B string
- Price Paid:
- $125 (used)
Item Details
-
- Power:
- 30 watts into 16 ohms
- Speakers:
- 2 8 ohm Jensen C10P or C10Q (10" ceramic) in series
- Weight:
- 46 lbs
- Size:
- 31.5x16x10 (inches)
- Inputs:
- 2 (identical, not high/lo)
- Outputs:
- none
- EQ / Controls:
- Left to Right: loudness, treble, bass, power/polarity
- Features:
- A very basic combo.
- Other Specs:
- 10 foot power cord, 2 prong plug
Earlier versions included horizontal speaker layouts and flip top controls in either 30W or 50W .
Kalamazoo was a budget line for Gibson, including basses, guitars, and amps.
Sound is OK, not great. Response is tapering off by the low E; don't expect much below that.Miles_ONeal · Jan 10, 2018 · Updated Jul 7, 2022
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