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Amps on a budget

Astre

Astre

Nov 20, 2021
88
69
Boston
#1
Edit: All the amps I'm talking about would be bought used.
I need a bass amp, but the problem is that I know almost nothing about amps. I went to my local Guitar Center to test some amps out, and I've narrowed it down to a few.
I love the Ampeg Rocket Bass RB-108 and its tone, but my biggest problem with it is speaker size. It has an 8" speaker, which I know is not supposed to be able to produce as good of a bass frequency as its larger counterparts. I didn't notice much of a problem with producing bass... until I turned the amp up a little bit. At around 1/4 of the volume with the bass dial in the middle, I noticed the speaker struggling to produce bass. A rattle started emanating from the amp. Upon trying the 10", 50W version of the amp, this problem was not present. Unfortunately, the larger speaker model rocket amp is out of my price range.
The other biggest competitor is the Acoustic B50C, a 10" 50W amp at around the same price as the Rocket 8" 30W mentioned previously. While this amp has more power and doesn't suffer from the rattling problem the Rocket does, its tone is far inferior. There was much less versatility in the sound I could get, and somehow I felt that it was less full of bass than the Rocket. Again, I have no idea what I'm doing.
Just for context, I don't need to turn up either amp really at all for practicing - it's just that I like to jam with some people, and being able to turn the volume up a bit would be great.
What do you guys think I should choose, and am I missing out on any other great-value amps? Thanks.
 
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#5
Watch yourself buying used these days. It's not like in the 70s-80s-90s,
where a tech could suss out any problems with your used gear and fix them at nominal cost. Nowadays, a lot of amps are throwaways - it can cost more to fix than the amp is worth. This is because everything is smaller & lighter, and individual components aren't serviceable. In some cases an entire circuit board has to be replaced due to one bad resistor or whatever.
You didn't mention what your budget was...
 
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#8
lowend1 said:
Watch yourself buying used these days. It's not like in the 70s-80s-90s,
where a tech could suss out any problems with your used gear and fix them at nominal cost. Nowadays, a lot of amps are throwaways - it can cost more to fix than the amp is worth. This is because everything is smaller & lighter, and individual components aren't serviceable. In some cases an entire circuit board has to be replaced due to one bad resistor or whatever.
You didn't mention what your budget was...
Click to expand...
I'm trying to spend around $200 or less for a used amp. As for the problem with used quality, I'd be buying through GC with an amp in "great" condition. Generally, most used items that GC specifies as "great" or above are pretty good. My bass was bought used in "great" condition and it works well.
 
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#10
Shipping and tax could eat up that budget pretty quickly.

Could you use that whole budget on a head from GC and spring up some cash beyond that locally? That would put you in the ~$170 range at GC. Decent heads like a BAM, ELF or Gnome etc probably show up around there and won't cost much to ship.
 
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#11
basscooker said:
Shipping and tax could eat up that budget pretty quickly.

Could you use that whole budget on a head from GC and spring up some cash beyond that locally? That would put you in the ~$170 range at GC. Decent heads like a BAM, ELF or Gnome etc probably show up around there and won't cost much to ship.
Click to expand...

I'm looking for a combo and won't be able to transport a head/speaker in most cases. I don't need an enormous amount of power, either... just a 1x10 speaker combo or something. At GC I turned up some 50W amps like halfway and almost blew my eardrums out, and the amp seemed to handle it fine. The 8" speaker amps would rattle though, which is why I'm looking for a 10".

There are some older Acoustic 100W 1x15s I've seen being sold used for around $140, but that seems like too good a deal to be a good amp.
 
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#12
joel406 said:
There is no amp I would consider at that price point.

I get it...Budget...

If you buy cheap, you get cheap results. If you want to "jam" with your buddies you better be headed down the Fender Rumble road. Not a pro caliber amp but it's good for some fun.

That being said.

If you wanna ever gig. Buy quality.
Click to expand...

I'm not looking to gig, just jam really - nothing serious. As for Fenders, I've tried the Rumble 40 and I thought it was okay, but I still liked the Rocket RB110's tone more.
 
#16
I get it. The amps I mentioned would probably fit in your gig bag or bass case, tho.

You'd be very surprised how different 125 or so watts though a 110 vs 30-40 watts through the same 10 are in fullness. As well, a stand-alone 110 or 112 will in most cases be a better cab than that in a combo.

Plus, again shipping. The concern for the price on the Acoustic cab is understood, but they aren't very expensive new. That's probably a fair price, not too low to be true.
 
#17
Astre said:
What settings do you use to get variable tone? I felt that the sound wasn't that versatile with the Acoustic amps.
Click to expand...

On the B100C, in addition to low-mid and high-mid knobs (both cut and boost), there is a knob called "frequency notch", which provides a variable-frequency notch filter. There is also a "shape button".



Ampegs can be quite good too. Trust your ears. I personally just like the extra mid-range control, since each room has its own acoustics, and being able to compensate is a good thing.
 
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#19
OldSchoolFlats said:
On the B100C, in addition to low-mid and high-mid knobs (both cut and boost), there is a knob called "frequency notch", which provides a variable-frequency notch filter. There is also a "shape button".



Ampegs can be quite good too. Trust your ears. I personally just like the extra mid-range control, since each room has its own acoustics, and being able to compensate is a good thing.
Click to expand...


BTW, back in the '70s when I started, both Ampeg and Acoustic were quite popular (along with Sunn). Acoustic went out of business years ago, and only recently started-up again.

Ampeg was the first, starting with double-bass, in the earlyish 1900s. They had a "peg" that fit into/on a double bass, that was amplified: hence the name.

At least years back, some amps would "hiss" if you have the volume up, but are not playing. I would check that too on any amp. Set the volume and gain to maybe 8, and compare hiss between amps. Hiss sounds like white/pink noise. I ruled-out Ampeg 15 years ago due to hiss, but a LOT has changed in 15 years, so don't go by that.
 
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#20
OldSchoolFlats said:
On the B100C, in addition to low-mid and high-mid knobs (both cut and boost), there is a knob called "frequency notch", which provides a variable-frequency notch filter. There is also a "shape button".



Ampegs can be quite good too. Trust your ears. I personally just like the extra mid-range control, since each room has its own acoustics, and being able to compensate is a good thing.
Click to expand...

Almost bought one of these. Much more impressed with it than many others at its price
 
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