• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Affordable bass amp (head or combo) with two inputs?

F

Fractal20

Feb 8, 2011
15
0
#1
Hello all, I have spent a fair amount of time browsing through the FAQ posts at the top and haven't had much lucking finding threads specifically about amps with two inputs that are on the cheaper side of things. I recently started playing double bass. I play both bass and guitar in my band and before I just played both through my little Polytone minibrute. It works okay, but is annoying since while it does have two inputs they work on the same volume so it always was problematic relying on the sound guy to compensate when I switch from one to the other.

Anyway, now that I have a double bass to add to the picture my polytone is definitely not going to work, and besides it has a hard time being very lard when I am playing the double bass through it. So, I am looking to get a dedicated bass amp that would facilitate switching from electric and double bass easily. I know the Acoustic Image and the EA head have two inputs but they are out of my price range being around $1000. I am not too picky, since I have been content going through my little polytone. Do any of you have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
 
#3
Fractal20 said:
Hello all, I have spent a fair amount of time browsing through the FAQ posts at the top and haven't had much lucking finding threads specifically about amps with two inputs that are on the cheaper side of things. I recently started playing double bass.

Anyway, now that I have a double bass to add to the picture my polytone is definitely not going to work, and besides it has a hard time being very lard when I am playing the double bass through it. So, I am looking to get a dedicated bass amp that would facilitate switching from electric and double bass easily. I know the Acoustic Image and the EA head have two inputs but they are out of my price range being around $1000. I am not too picky, since I have been content going through my little polytone. Do any of you have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Fractal 20,

I assume that that you are looking for is a two channel amplifier. The Gentz Benz is a very nice amp, there was a thread on it not to long ago. A rep from GB replied that it would take an additional cabinet to handle the low frequency response of a Double Bass so it will add to the cost. My suggestion would be to try and purchase the EA Doubler or AI Focus used, since they are now starting to appear in the Talk Bass Classified section. Two channel amplifiers used to be the order of the day, but since EB players don't usually need them
they are not as common as they once were.

Ric
 
#5
powerbass said:
The GB Compact 300 amp can be purchased separately and paired with any cab
Click to expand...

Since it's available for under $600.00 that puts it under the price of the Doubler and the AI. It will also function as a three channel amplifier with the mic plugged into Channel 2 "COMBINING XLR & ¼” INPUTS – A unique feature of the Shenandoah Compak 300 is the ability to mix the XLR balanced and ¼” unbalanced inputs. In many situations, this effectively makes the amplifier function as a 3 channel
amplifier. The most effective way to use this feature is to set the volume on the channel using the XLR microphone input and then adjust the level control on the instrument itself (assuming that it has one) to blend levels between the 2 inputs. Equalization will be common to both inputs on the channel."

Ric
 
#8
I found my Ampeg B15 for 800 bucks... it's a golden gem of an amp. It works perfectly for DB and EB. It also includes two inputs as well. No one will argue that it is one of the best sounding EB amps of all time, and it sounds equally as great for DB. Only issue is that they're reaaaaaalllly hard to find sometimes
 
#9
dkziemann said:
I found my Ampeg B15 for 800 bucks... it's a golden gem of an amp. It works perfectly for DB and EB. It also includes two inputs as well. No one will argue that it is one of the best sounding EB amps of all time, and it sounds equally as great for DB. Only issue is that they're reaaaaaalllly hard to find sometimes
Click to expand...

dkziemann,
Congratulations, you found your dream amp. I still have mine used it for quite a while in the 1970's and bought my first Walter Woods and never looked back. I did use the Woods MI-100-8 to drive a pair of B-15 cabinets and it sounded great. A great deal of the magic in a B-15 is the way the Portaflex Cabinet is designed.

Ric
 
#10
So it seemed like GB Compact 300 is technically designed for guitars. Y'all don't think it makes a real difference? I assume that is why you mentioned that it work better using it with a different cab?

As for the ampeg B15, they made a remake right? Are these of lower quality? I have to say that I usually feel that the whole re-makes always being worse has a bit to do with the psychology of rare and expensive = good...

Thanks for the info!
 
#11
Ric Vice said:
dkziemann,
Congratulations, you found your dream amp. I still have mine used it for quite a while in the 1970's and bought my first Walter Woods and never looked back. I did use the Woods MI-100-8 to drive a pair of B-15 cabinets and it sounded great. A great deal of the magic in a B-15 is the way the Portaflex Cabinet is designed.

Ric
Click to expand...

Thanks! The cabinet is a real gem. I've heard of other people using only the cabinet and driving it with another head. The design of the box, plus the quality of the 15" speaker makes it very hard to beat.
 
#12
Fractal20 said:
So it seemed like GB Compact 300 is technically designed for guitars. Y'all don't think it makes a real difference? I assume that is why you mentioned that it work better using it with a different cab?

As for the ampeg B15, they made a remake right? Are these of lower quality? I have to say that I usually feel that the whole re-makes always being worse has a bit to do with the psychology of rare and expensive = good...

Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...

There is a remake of the B15--I'm not sure how the quality compares to the new ones, but I can tell you that they're probably a lot more expensive than a used "old" one. Instead of getting a remake, why not just buy the original thing? You can search for the B15 on ebay (which are sometimes pretty overpriced), or just search high and low on craigslist. There's probably 2 or 3 on average per week that go up for sale, and if you don't mind driving, you can get a decent deal (a bit over $1000) on one. I had to pay about 200 bucks to John Nau (who by the way is probably the BEST amp tech I've ever worked with), and he got my amp in tip top condition. It's unbelievable the power that these things have!
 
#13
dkziemann said:
No one will argue that it is one of the best sounding EB amps of all time, and it sounds equally as great for DB.
Click to expand...

Sorry, never liked that amp, did many sessions with it back in the day. Tubby, undefined sound to me.
It's been a while, maybe I'd like it now...

The EA micro and doubler are really nice. I'd sure rather transport one of those and small cab than a B15.
 
#14
To the OP, have you considered using something like a Radial Engineering BigShot to manage the two inputs? It's an extra (but small) piece of equipment to carry and adds cost to your solution, but it frees you from your current two-input amp constraint. One input of the BigShot has a volume control so its level can be brought down to match that of the second input.
 
#15
dkziemann said:
Thanks! The cabinet is a real gem. I've heard of other people using only the cabinet and driving it with another head. The design of the box, plus the quality of the 15" speaker makes it very hard to beat.
Click to expand...

dkziemann,
Actually, back in the day most of us replaced the original speaker with either a JBL D-130 or an Altec 421 H II which sounded way better than the original CTS and Jensen speakers IMHO. Ampeg actually offered these speakers as a option at a higher price point, so you should look inside the cabinet to see which one you have. I now prefer the newer speakers built by various folks like EA and Bergantino that are lighter and frankly sound better, at least to my ears.

Ric
 
#16
If your budget is around $1k, you can sometimes find Ampeg SVT-VR heads for that. All tube, 300 watts, and two separate channels. There are of course also vintage B15's that have separate channels - and those can usually be found under your budget as well.

A "sleeper" option Ampeg that you can usually find really cheap (at or well under $500) are the old solid state BT-15 Portaflex / Fliptops from the '60's. They are 100 watts, and have two seperate channels. I just acquired a BT-15C and used it on it's maiden voyage at an oldies gig last night. In a live setting, it worked very well - right on par with my B-100R and louder than my '63 B-15. Plenty of clean volume and nice round tone. These '60's solid state amps get a bad rap by tube purists, but I think it's a great amp- especially considering it's got some cool vintage vibe going for it. Plus, they have the electroluminescent panel which lights up and is helpful on dimly lit stages.

bt-15c-electro7777.jpg
 
#17
Actually, I used my B-15 for upright very little, because the pickups available in the 1970's (Polytone and Barcus Berry) were very primitive. I tried them both out for a while, but the sound of those pickups simply wasn't any good. By the time the Underwood, Fishman, and Realist were available I'd moved to a Walter Woods or GK. Personally, I wouldn't go searching for either a B-15 or BT15 for that matter because they are vintage amplifiers with their own set of issues, ( the BT 15 was discontinued by Ampeg because there were reliability issues) The last B-15's were tube amplifiers.

Ric
 
#18
Fractal20 said:
So it seemed like GB Compact 300 is technically designed for guitars. Y'all don't think it makes a real difference? I assume that is why you mentioned that it work better using it with a different cab?

Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...

The cabinet is the limiting factor in reproduciing low frequencies of the bass at high levels. Think of the amp as a pair of studio type preamps and a power amp.
 
#19
So I just came across the swr california blonde for $500 and it has two channels. Have any of you had experience with this amp? Again it looks likes it is technically a guitar amp but I have seen it mentioned on here for bass. I think I might at least try it out. Thanks again for all the info everybody
 
#20
+1 to Baer's solution. I use the Boss LS 2 to achieve the same thing with my MarkBass CMD 121P when playing both upright & bass guitar. It allows you to balance the two volumes & is probably cheaper & easier to find second hand than the Radial.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back