Any rec for a new bass amp?

[TheRandomizer]

For a little background, I am 17 and due to my age and school, I have a limited income. And because I'm living at home, I have limited space to work with.

I got my hands on a Yamaha TRBX305 last year for christmas. The problem is that I still have the Fender Rumble 25 1x8 combo that I started on when I was 10, which was fine for my shortscale Ibanez and even my Spector performer, but it distorts quite heavily with the low frequency of the B string and the hot, high-output nature of active pickups. I know this is putting a 9.0 L v16 in your Honda Odessy, but it's what I have at the moment. I had been looking at the TC Electronics BQ250 and 500 because of the price, as well as looking at smaller cabs to go with it like the Ampeg SVT 15E as I really don't have much space to work with, and I could get both for possibly under $500 if I get the cab used.

But now I'm at a crossroad as I've heard some complaints about the BQ500, which aren't exactly surprising all things considered, but I'm a little disappointed. But because of this, I'm a little lost on what to look into next. I really don't want to spend too much money, as bass isn't my primary instrument.

I know you can make almost any amp, especially in bass, sound like another with something as simple as an EQ pedal in the Effects Loop. I know this isn't a hard or fast rule, but I know some people will reply with that very thing, and others will clutch their Darkglasses and SVT's like pearls and scream heresy. I really don't care about the brand or model, I just want something that works and is loud enough to grow with and keep for a long time so that I might be able to use it as a backup rig or to play live for as few as 50 people, or as many as 5,000+ if mic'd. I also know that about 90%+ of the sound when it comes to tone if all other variables are removed is the speaker, but that is besides the point. I would really prefer something like one of those compact heads over a combo due to ease of recording and the ability to run it through different IR's for a different sound, but I am willing to stay somewhat open minded.

I really like playing too many genres to narrow it down, but some standouts include hard rock, metal, funk, progressive stuff like Floyd, Yes, and Rush, as well as even more obsure stuff like Chevelle. Two of my favorite bassists include Eric Bass of Shinedown, Chris Wolstenholm of Muse, and John Myung of Dream Theater (yes, I know his tone is really just a DI track). I want something that can be clean and smooth when I want it, but dirty up and take pedals well when I need it. I know I can achieve some of that bite and tone shift with pre-amp pedals, like those from Darkglass and Tech 21. But I would idealy like to spend less than $500-$600 for the whole thing, head and cab included, if I can help it, as I also am buying a new guitar amp close to the same time. Willing to buy used as well!

If anyone can help me out, thank you and god bless you.

 

[Timmah]

Pick up just about any solid state 500ish watt head and two 8-ohm cabs off Facebook marketplace. A pair of 210 or 115 cabs will be ideal, but a 410 is gonna get you to band volume for cheaper. I see a lot of Ampeg PF500s for 300-500 bucks (frequently with a can!) and they're plenty good amps. Early runs had some issues but the ones that have survived this long are plenty reliable. I don't love the cabinets but they'll do.

Markbass, GK, and Hartke are also solid options. SWR cabs are also cheap and somewhat plentiful. In a lot of situations you'll get a better price if you can deal with a little weight- micro heads and Neo cabs command a higher used price per watt because they're more convenient for the, uh, more seasoned players. You're young, don't be deterred by a 30-40lb head and heavy cab.


TLDR: buy used

 

[mauerkraut_]

My two cents:

A big shift in the bass world right now is lightweight gear. Class D amps and neodymium (neo) speaker cabinets. That is really what is driving the tech and innovation (and prices) right now. Couple that with the revolution in digital amp modeling and amp-less setups.

However this creates a great opportunity for someone like you.

Echoing a couple people before me, a lot of the quality gear before this is available pretty cheap on the used market. I'd recommend getting a head from a reputable brand: Ampeg, GK, Mesa, Peavey, Fender, Eden, Orange, Markbass (among others) who have a longstanding reputation. Couple that with a 115, 210, 212, 410 or even 810 cab and you will be in business. Head or combo, whatever works.

TLDR; Get yourself a Gallien Krueger RB combo, or something similar.

 

[TheRandomizer]

You're on the right track. There are deals to be had on just about any brand of gear. The issue isn't what to get. It's where to get it. Keep an eye on your local craigslist, and Facebook Market place. IMHO the head is the least important in the sound chain. Your cabinet will have a much bigger effect on sound. A good clean head couple with a good cab and some decent pedals will get you 90% ther

I would start by perusing FB marketplace for bass gear, finding listings in your price range, and reading about them on here to determine if they may meet your needs. That's a good way to learn what's out there.

To help guide you along I'll try to impart some wisdom from my years gigging:

• If you're playing at a venue with a proper PA system then you really only need enough power to hear yourself over the drummer. 250w to 500w is good here.
• If you're playing gigs with no PA support (I once played on a skate ramp in a garage and was thankful to have a powerful rig) you may need more power depending on your tone goals. If you want to blast the audience with 60hz low B then you'll want more power, more drivers, high excursion, etc. As you can imagine this gets expensive fast and I wouldn't recommend this for a beginner and is also really only necessary at a tiny percentage of gigs you may play.
• You'll be thankful for a way to send a DI. This synergizes well with the aforementioned venue PA system. This is much simpler than having to mic your cabinet and cuts out a ton of variables. Many preamp pedals will have this feature.
• If you want flexibility and you want to use preamp pedals then you may consider going with a PA power amp and separate cabinet. Then the amp will be like a blank slate for you to craft your tone on with the pedals.

So that presents several options for you: combo amp, separate amp and cabinet, and pedal preamp with PA power amp and cabinet.

Combo Amp:
Pros:

• Cheap
• Convenient

Cons:

• Minimal flexibility i.e. if you don't like the speakers or the power amp or the preamp oh well - it's all in the same box
• Usually no convenient built-in DI function

Separate Integrated Amp and Cabinet:
Pros:

• Greater flexibility than combo amp since you can change more parts around to fit your sound

Cons:

• Still less flexibility than pedals and PA amp
• More complex to set up than combo amp but not too bad

Pedal Preamp, PA Power Amp, Cabinet
Pros:

• Maximum flexibility - a PA amp will be a blank slate for whatever pedals you put in front of it
• Easy to implement DI
• Great dollar/power ratio

Cons:

• Complicated setup - must be careful with power and impedance matching along with things like input sensitivity

I personally prefer the PA power amp route. I use an analog pedal board, Sansamp RBI preamp, Crown PA power amp, and a standalone cabinet.

For you I would recommend something like a used 4x10 cabinet, a small or medium size solid state power amp like a 2000's Crown/QSC etc, and a pedal preamp like a Sansamp BDDI. That will give you a lot of flexibility for your different styles, should be plenty loud for practice and stage monitoring, and will provide you with convenient and professional DI signal capabilities for live gigs.

Love the ideas! You've opened up a lot of food for thought for me. I would LOVE a 4x10 cab if I had anything close to space. The place I play in is far too small for any cabinet larger than 2x12, really. But you have still given me plenty to research and work with!

 

[TheRandomizer]

My two cents:

A big shift in the bass world right now is lightweight gear. Class D amps and neodymium (neo) speaker cabinets. That is really what is driving the tech and innovation (and prices) right now. Couple that with the revolution in digital amp modeling and amp-less setups.

However this creates a great opportunity for someone like you.

Echoing a couple people before me, a lot of the quality gear before this is available pretty cheap on the used market. I'd recommend getting a head from a reputable brand: Ampeg, GK, Mesa, Peavey, Fender, Eden, Orange, Markbass (among others) who have a longstanding reputation. Couple that with a 115, 210, 212, 410 or even 810 cab and you will be in business. Head or combo, whatever works.

I really do like all the small and lightweight heads coming out now, both for guitar and bass. The amount of power those thing are able to crank out while being thousands cheaper than full-sized heads while also being able to fit in a backpack or small suitcase is truly stunning to me. They sound huge too. They punch well above their weight class, literally and figuratively.

 

[Bassiclees]

if buying new this will last you a long time for $600

MB 115

The original MB combo line with the silver grill. These have the updated MB electronics, but the older/original cabinet, speakers. wood etc. Sounds very similar/almost identical to the newer versions. Brand new off the line, we just found the untouched cabinets in storage. *1-Year Warranty

gallien-krueger.myshopify.com

 

[buldog5151bass]

I would look in Craigslist, pawn shops, etc. for a used 410 cab. There are lots of them out there, as bassists moved to lighter gear. Go back 20 years, and you would see one on every stage.

Look used on the head as well. As long as you get a known brand, you will be OK. Peavey and Fender Rumble are both decent amps for the price.

Probably a little bigger than you want, but the best use of your money, and will be enough for when you start playing with others.

Stop worrying about pedals.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Well, you seem to know a lot so why don't you do your own shopping?

What was the point of this post?

 

[SJan3]

What was the point of this post?

The OP seems to have sufficient knowledge to express his wants/needs clearly. He should go to a musical source like GC and try some gear. Nothing like HEARING as opposed to others opining on what they think is good.
Got it?
P.S. did you read posts #7 and #11?

 

[Riff Ranger]

Well, you seem to know a lot so why don't you do your own shopping?

If @TheRandomizer hadn't gone into such detail, you or someone else would have busted their ball$ for not providing enough information. (I'm frequently that person, though I do try to be kind about it.) I really don't see what good it does to discourage someone from talking bass on TalkBass, especially someone new to the instrument, the forum, and in the grand scheme of things, life on this planet; so I was really glad …

I'm 70 and don't know the half of what you're talking about but you need to go to a music store and try some gear and see what you like. You seem to know enough about gear to explain to a salesperson what you want.
Good luck
P.S. if you can stretch your budget to $700, you can get a NEW Fender Rumble 500 combo that will cover a lot of ground. Go check one out.

… to see you follow up with this

Buy a used lead sled power amp, and a quality used cab. A blank canvas to paint. I recommend borrowing various flavors of pedals to narrow your focus, such as Ampeg Scrambler, for instance. Hell, buy an Ampeg, a GK, an Orange just to have variety. As funds allow, of course. The power amp provides the juice, the pedals provide the flavor, and you provide the shredding.

I really like this approach. I do have EQ on the Traynor SB500H that I use, but I mostly use that to adjust to different spaces; it mostly serves as a power amp. I do my tone shaping on my pedalboard.

My two cents:

A big shift in the bass world right now is lightweight gear. Class D amps and neodymium (neo) speaker cabinets. That is really what is driving the tech and innovation (and prices) right now. Couple that with the revolution in digital amp modeling and amp-less setups.

However this creates a great opportunity for someone like you.

Echoing a couple people before me, a lot of the quality gear before this is available pretty cheap on the used market. I'd recommend getting a head from a reputable brand: Ampeg, GK, Mesa, Peavey, Fender, Eden, Orange, Markbass (among others) who have a longstanding reputation. Couple that with a 115, 210, 212, 410 or even 810 cab and you will be in business. Head or combo, whatever works.

TLDR; Get yourself a Gallien Krueger RB combo, or something similar.

This is the move, in my opinion. You can pick up old 1x15 Peavey combos for under 200 USD just about anywhere in the United States, which would leave you plenty to spend on pedals. Pedals are easy to move along if you end up not liking them, and you can get most of your money back.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

You could do a lot worse than going with a bigger Rumble. I started with a used 100 and bought a second on sale. When I use both I daisy chain them. The Rumbles are great sounding amps, easy to move. I know people who use about every Rumble and combination of amp/combo and cab there is. They love them.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

The OP seems to have sufficient knowledge to express his wants/needs clearly. He should go to a musical source like GC and try some gear. Nothing like HEARING as opposed to others opining on what they think is good.
Got it?

And there's nothing like learning from those with experience, which was the point of his post. There are hundreds of options. Most of us don't have the time to try them all, even if they're all available locally.

P.S. did you read posts #7 and #11?

Not at that point, no. Did you read those before post #3? Of course not. But even if I had, so what? I responded to your response, period.

 

[Core Creek]

For about $270 used I had a Peavey minimax for a couple of years and loved it - the older generation. They're built like tanks, sound good and have a built in tuner.

 

[wjcstp]

At 17, with bass not your primary instrument and the main limitations being money and space i'd stick with a 1x15 or 2x10, combo or separate head + cab as you prefer, around 250-500 watts. Despite all the push for a 410 and bigger or multiple cabs, that simpler setup will take you a long way, in fact many of us are successfully playing bar and club shows with that kind of rig.

I'd also not worry too much about the distant future and possible 5000+ seat venues. The amp and venue landscape has been changing enough that it's pointless to guess what will be best 10 or 20 years from now. You'll find the gear you need for the job at hand when the time comes.

 

[Deloofs]

Love the ideas! You've opened up a lot of food for thought for me. I would LOVE a 4x10 cab if I had anything close to space. The place I play in is far too small for any cabinet larger than 2x12, really. But you have still given me plenty to research and work with!

Can I ask why you're so limited on space? Is it because you don't want to overpower the room with your volume or is it because you literally cannot fit a bigger cabinet into the space? Would a tall skinny cabinet fit better than a short wide cabinet? If that's the case then a 2x10 on its side is probably the move.

At 17, with bass not your primary instrument and the main limitations being money and space i'd stick with a 1x15 or 2x10, combo or separate head + cab as you prefer, around 250-500 watts. Despite all the push for a 410 and bigger or multiple cabs, that simpler setup will take you a long way, in fact many of us are successfully playing bar and club shows with that kind of rig.

I'd also not worry too much about the distant future and possible 5000+ seat venues. The amp and venue landscape has been changing enough that it's pointless to guess what will be best 10 or 20 years from now. You'll find the gear you need for the job at hand when the time comes.

This is good advice although I doubt that the advice to have a DI capability will ever be bad. With the push towards digitization, amp-less rigs, in-ear monitors etc I think a DI will always be a good idea as long as stringed instruments are still on stages and albums.

 

[wjcstp]

This is good advice although I doubt that the advice to have a DI capability will ever be bad. With the push towards digitization, amp-less rigs, in-ear monitors etc I think a DI will always be a good idea as long as stringed instruments are still on stages and albums.

Agreed - pretty much every amp (head or combo) i've seen in the last 20 years over 100 watts has a DI out, but worth checking for anyway, it greatly expands the usability of the amp. Most venues that use a PA will have a DI box anyway but it's good insurance.

 

[SJan3]

And there's nothing like learning from those with experience, which was the point of his post. There are hundreds of options. Most of us don't have the time to try them all, even if they're all available locally.

Not at that point, no. Did you read those before post #3? Of course not. But even if I had, so what? I responded to your response, period.

..and now you're happy. Very good.
Carry on.

 

[Bliff Curton 2]

Class A/B and Class H amps are going real cheap these days now that 2-pound Class D amps are all the rage.
So people are selling their 20-40 pound led sleds for a steal.
I scored a US-made Ampeg SVT3PRO for a few hundred bucks.
Carvin amps are great, if you don't want a baked-in tone like Ampeg and are super cheap on the used market.

60+ pound cabinets are going real cheap now, too, now that super light cabs like Mesa and GR are all the rage.
I scored a top of the line Ampeg PR410HLF for a steal off Guitar center.
I recommend spending a few bucks more for warranty to replace speakers if buying used cabs.

The Ampeg Rocket bass combos are great. I had a RB110 that was a great practice amp and handled the B string well.
The higher models are only better.
I see reports of people using the 2x10 or the 1x15 for live shows no problem.

Old Galien Kreuger amps are great and have great reliability. I recommend the RB series of GK amps.
They will give you all the watts you need for band practice and live shows.