Best bass amps for small/medium gigs?

[JKowareta]

My friend and I have been working on a Bass & Drums project and I'm looking into a few amps. I have a Fender Rumble 15 I've been using as a practice amp for the last year or so. I really like the fact that it's a combo amp and the rumble's tone. I've been doing some research and I've been thinking about the Fender Rumble 200 to start off with and get a 115 cabinet or two down the line. I'm still a novice so I'd like some other people opinions. Thank you friends.

 

[JakobT]

If you like Rumbles, the 200c gets a lot of love here on TB. Keep in mind that the 200c only puts out 140 watts as is, to get the full 200 watts you need an extension cab, but that might be all you need.

Alternatively, you could get the 500c for an output of 350 watts without extension cab, and the full 500 with an extra 210. It all comes down to how much power you need and what drivers you like, as the preamp is the same.

Hop on over to the Fender Rumble Club for the skinny from seasoned Rumblers. We’re a pretty friendly bunch.

 

[Linnin]

I've been thinking about the Fender Rumble 200 to start off

That's good thinking! Love my Rumble 200 combo. It does everything I need and sounds fabulous doing it too. Christmas time is the best time to get a great deal.

 

[hrodbert696]

Watts are important, but speaker surface area is more important when it comes to volume. I generally say you want a 1x15 or 2x10, or more. My only bass amp is a GK MB210-ii, about equivalent to a Fender Rumble 500, and it's pretty much all I ever need. It's plenty on its own for small to medium venues, and if you're playing bigger venues you would usually have more PA support.

 

[Djadja]

My friend and I have been working on a Bass & Drums project and I'm looking into a few amps. I have a Fender Rumble 15 I've been using as a practice amp for the last year or so. I really like the fact that it's a combo amp and the rumble's tone. I've been doing some research and I've been thinking about the Fender Rumble 200 to start off with and get a 115 cabinet or two down the line. I'm still a novice so I'd like some other people opinions. Thank you friends.

If you like the Rumble, a higher model Rumble will likely work for you. It won't sound exactly like your practice amp only louder, but it will certainly reflect the same family of tone.

When buying an amp for gigging, overkill is almost always a good thing so if you can swing the 500, go that way even if you aren't sure you'll need the additional watts. As a general rule, you will at some point ;-)

Also, there are good reasons to consider a separate head/cab vs. a combo, not the least of which is additional flexibility. Think about that direction too as you move forward. There are a couple of companies that market a "combo" where the head slides into some kind of saddle in/on the speaker cab which gives you the advantages of both if you're sold on a combo format.