AER Compact 60 for bass?

[Tim1]

I have read other threads on this, but they are quite old. Briefly, I need a small practice combo amp as daughter and young children have returned home for a few months (husband is chasing the bucks in Doha). This means my practice room is not available! I can easily buy a cheap practice bass amp for the bedroom, but since I own a couple of very nice acoustic-electric guitars I am considering the AER Compact 60 since I could then use it for the occasional acoustic spot. My question being, how does Compact 60 sound/handle a bass guitar - bearing in mind I will not be thrashing it?

 

[Finchops]

Found this thread while searching for my own info. I have a compact 60 . Firstly it is a fantastic acoustic guitar amp. AER says that the amp has multiple uses ie piano ,wind, but I wasn't sure about electric bass. So I decided to plug it in and find out. All I am after is something to do practice with on my own, in my house. I also have the idea for a coffee house gig with another acoustic guitar player. Well it seems to work. The sound is pretty tight but plenty of low end to my unbassed (sic) ears. ( Am a newbie to bass guitar) channel 2 seems to work a bit better. I have pushed the gain and master to 12 o'clock and it seems to be ok. I am going to talk to AER about it. As I said I am not looking to push this very loud but seems perfectly ok (so far).
I also would be very interested if anyone has anything to add.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Silly ability to handle electric piano. Must be highpassed with a subharmonic generator to get that sound.

 

[Finchops]

Hey, downunderwonder. Excuse my ignorance here ...so you think it passes the highs off when it detects very low frequencies or just let's the lows through and then somehow processes the signal via a sub generator..... Do I have that right? And I'm guessing by "silly" you mean good ?

 

[Downunderwonder]

The low fundamental tones can't be produced by such a small unit. I really don't know how it manages to sound so decent with piano, just my best guess how. Take out the fundamentals but add harmonics.

 

[obimark]

There are too many GREAT compact bass amps available to even take a chance with that kind of money. Get a TC, GK, Markbass, Ampeg or ANYTHING else before compromising.

 

[oerk]

It really doesn't sound all that decent compared to a real, flat, fullrange cab. I'm not saying the Compact 60 is a bad amp, it manages to trick your ears into thinking it sounds huge, and that's an accomplishment in itself. It's ridiculous how loud this thing can get with acoustic guitar. No idea how they do it, Downunderwonders' guess could be right.

That said, I wouldn't even try a bass through it, expect for the quietest practice sessions. No real bass = not suitable as a bass amp, IMO.

 

[Finchops]

Thanks for the info everyone. Sounds like might not be a good idea to give it much at all. I' look for a dedicated bass rig.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Fine for practice, even coffeehouse bass. I've done jam band rehearsing through the piano player's spare channel at low volume. I wouldn't feel comfortable rocking out with drums though.

 

[Finchops]

Cool , thanks.

 

[kennym57]

O am interested in following this. I love the idea of a two channel compact amp with phantom power. For acoustic bass, I could then balance a DPA mic and a pickup in each channel. My playing situations are generally pretty low volume jazz gigs. My friend who is primarily a Tango player (lots of arch) loves the AER “Slope” the wedge shaped one