What would you guys said would be a decent amp for commuting to college by train? Most days the train isn't crowded and only really heading home Thursday I would say it's slightly crowded. For a little bit about myself, I'm not sure how many watts I'll need, I'll say it's safe to say roughly 40 watts or 100 since most of the school players are using acoustic instruments un-amp as some live there and with some brass and reed instruments. Is there anything smaller that can maybe handle those type of just hang out jams I plan to do? Some students also may bring a PA system, what's y'all thoughts on this? I was honestly thinking maybe even getting an ukulele bass with some tiny Blackstar amp, but not sure, thinking to get something a little bit more powerful
Thanks for any info and help, have a great day everyone!
Here's a really nice sounding set-up that I use at small venues.
It's an Eden TN-226 amp (225-watts rms into 4Ω, weighs 4.7-lbs.) into an Eden EX-112 cab. I would suggest getting the TN-501 amp (500-watts rms into 4Ω, weighs 5.3-lbs) instead of the one I have because the 500-watt version is so much more versatile. It will put out 250-watts into one 8 ohm cab or 500-watts into two 8Ω cabs. One of the EX-112 cabs is all you need for the acoustic groups or a group jam in a small venue. Add second one for medium to large venues. The Eden EX-112 cab handles 300-watts rms; has a Neo 12" speaker with whizzer cone for high-mids and highs; and weighs 30-lbs.
Street price on the TN-501 500-watt class D amp is $549 to $649 but can often be found Used for quite a bit less. Street price on the EX-112 in 8Ω is $279, but it's discontinued so once stock is gone, there won't be anymore.
Notice how nicely everything fits in the chair. I put my gig bag under the chair along with the shoulder bag for the amp. I can put the amp in its shoulder bag over one shoulder, my green gig-bag over the other shoulder; grab my bass in one hand; grab the cab by its handle (center back edge) with the other hand; and away I go. Load in/out is done.
The sound is really clear, clean, articulate, warm, and full with a very nice bottom end. When you run two of them together the bottom end is even better because of sonic coupling (true for virtually all 112's). It has two semi-parametric controls besides the normal bass and treble EQ's, an Enhance control (Shape) that boosts bass and treble ansd scoops out mids which is nice for bedroom practice or for playing with an acoustic group without a drummer.
I turn that Enhance off when playing in a group though because it scoops out the low-mids and you need those for presence and definition when playing in a group. With my passive Jazz, I run the bass and treble flat (straight up) and use one of the two semi-parametric controls to select ~250Hz and boost it to about 1:30. If you want more bottom end, just push in the bass boost button and that will boost the lower frequencies without scooping out the mids or boosting the treble. It's really a great sounding set-up and certainly light enough to take on the train.
