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Advice for best small studio amp

B

bassplayerwanab

Jan 7, 2021
27
33
#1
I've been playing guitar for 50+ years but just now getting into playing bass. :-)
I have a small home studio and looking for amp.
Any advice for the best studio amp that nails the classic 60's-70's warm, round, tuddy P-Bass tone. My budget is new or used around $500+-. Thanks in advance.
 
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#2
The Ampeg PF-xxT amps have DI taken from the output transformer. Classic sound and quite a bit of love here on TB.

If you have good monitors, you might be doing well to just pick up a REDDI (or similar high end DI) since really a large portion of the classic stuff was basically direct to console anyway.
 
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#3
Like @basscooker mentioned in the post above, the Ampeg PF20T or PF50T nails the classic sound. The bonus is when recording you can DI out from the head without having a cabinet hooked up to the head. I used to have the Ampeg PF20T and it was great for recording but was not loud enough for band practices in a 20x20 room let alone for playing a gig of any type in my opinion. I used my Ampeg as a preamp going into a 400 watt head. The PF50T could do small venue gigs according to some people on the forum, if you see yourself playing out, once covid it done. There is a lot of love for those heads here on talkbass.
 
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#6
Guitar amps aren't the issue. Guitar speakers are. Even less safe is an open back cab.

Admittedly 20 watts is fairly safe for the most part, but yes it's the speakers at risk, not really the amps.
 
#8
bassplayerwanab said:
Thanks "el jeffe bass" and "PJ Bassthumper"! Dumb question, can I safely run the head through my 1x12 guitar cabinet? I read somewhere that running a bass through a guitar amp is risky although this is just a 1x12 cabinet.
Click to expand...

Most guitar cabs don't cope well with bass. However providing you keep the power level really low, it can be safe. I wouldn't risk any sort of precious or rare driver though.

I have run bass through JBL E120s quite a bit. I learned to play through a blackface Fend Twin Reverb. I installed a pair of E120s and they would take almost the full 85W as long as I kept the bass control under 4. I used that amp to gig in a cover band for a couple of years.

I believe EVM12Ls do pretty well also.

For that matter, your guitar amp may sound really nice with bass. As we have said, the primary concern is don't crank a lot of power and blow your guitar speakers. If you need to crank the amp up into OD, consider getting a real bass cab.
 
#12
Sacrilege I know, but I have an all tube Crate 30 watt guitar amp. (Palomino 32) I run it into a bass 210 cab.
totally gets the old school thump and grind.
I also have the ampeg pf50t. Does it in spades. And it has that nifty direct out . But yea that cost a lot more than the palamino.
 
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#13
bassplayerwanab said:
Any thoughts on the Ampeg BA-115? or 112?
I'm seeing several available for pretty cheap.
Click to expand...

Sorry I can't comment on the Ampeg BA series as I have never played one, though I did play through an Ampeg SVT CL 300 on a couple of occasions and it's the best sounding amp I've ever played through.

What I can recommend is the Fender Rumble series of amps. I played through one last year and it nailed the vintage tone pretty accurately in my opinion. The Rumble 100 is priced around $299 The Fender Rumble 200 is around $499. Both amps have a 4 band EQ, XLR direct out , Aux In, Headphones out. I'd probably go with the 200w for the capabilities of adding an extension cab later on, I don't think the 100 has that function. Lots of love for the Rumbles on Talkbass.
 
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