Bigger amp desired

[Acorn to Oak]

Hi everyone, Noob here.
I’m learning to play (2 months) and it’s going pretty well, I have a fender rumble 15w practice amp, which tbf served a purpose but I’m now wanting to feel a bit more depth and vibe and have a bit more ‘sound control’.
Now I really want to buy the next amp to last with no regrets on not getting bigger.
Not interested in gigging, mainly play solo but have pals who want to jam. Im not bothered about weight of equipment or buying used.
Any recommendations on head and cabs or should I go combo?
Cheers

 

[Acorn to Oak]

Budget about £1K

 

[el murdoque]

With that kind of budget, you can get a decent head and cab, especially if you shop used - which would limit you to whatever is available at the second hand market in your area.

Depending on how you'd like to sound, I'd recommend a 112, 210, 115, or 212 cabinet - these can be had in reasonable sizes, but the good ones will enable you to jam with a drummer - the more focus you put on that, the more cab you should get. A terrific bedroom sound would be available with your local cabinet builder: The barefaced one10. It's a tiny cab that sounds absolutely huge. For acoustic sessions it's more than enough, but when you're up against a drum kit, you'll need more.

As for heads, there are a myriad to choose from, depending on what you want from them. Popular choices are aguilar, Mesa, Quilter, Ampeg and many others.
A popular second hand choices is Genz Benz.

Maybe you tell a bit more about what you want, how you'd like to sound and what the people you'll jam with play, so the community can narrow down the choices.

 

[Acorn to Oak]

Thanks for your reply. It will be on occasions jamming in a warehouse with a full drum kit and guitarist with a decent sized combo (150w I think). I like the tube amp sound and play rock/pop/punk
cheers

 

[Acorn to Oak]

Ashdown BTA 400 any good?
Can find very little info on it.

 

[Redbrangus]

A couple of observations...apologies if they seem too obvious: a head/cab rig is a lot more versatile than a combo, especially if/when you feel the need to upgrade at a later date. And used gear definitely offers a lot more value-per-$, but as been pointed out already, it does limit your choices to what's available. My personal recommendation would be for a 500-watt, class-D head and 2 x 115s or 112s, but I'm pretty old-school about speakers...a couple of 2x8s would also be a pretty trick rig, IMO. Buying 2 smaller cabs gives you the option of just using one cab when that's all you need. Plus it gives you the option of only buying one cab at first and then adding the second (identical) cab at a later date.

Welcome to the low side.

 

[JRA]

i think your budget gets you almost anything you could possibly want. deciding what you need will be the most difficult. good luck!

 

[Acorn to Oak]

i think your budget gets you almost anything you could possibly want. deciding what you need will be the most difficult. good luck!

yup the ‘want’ and ‘need’ discussion wrestling in my head is the tough one.

 

[Redbrangus]

Ashdown BTA 400 any good?
Can find very little info on it.

IMO, if you're a relatively new player, you're probably not at a point where you're ready to make a 'final' decision that you're going to be happy with forever; your tastes and concepts will change and evolve. And with your limited experience, I'm somewhat mystified how you've come to prefer a 'tube sound'...have you really played and/or heard someone playing a big tube bass head? In a venue you can hear it in, I mean...not from the 40th row in a hockey rink? My recommendation, FWIW, is to keep your aim a bit lower at this stage in your experience...buy a big enough head to get the job done and buy one or two good speaker systems. IMO, the speakers play a bigger role in what you hear than the head does, so if buying a really expensive head means having to scrimp on the speakers, maybe you should re-allocate your resources.

 

[Acorn to Oak]

Ahh maybe the Noob bit was misleading.
I’ve returned to playing after a near 40 year absence. Hence the tube preference.

 

[el murdoque]

A class D head and two halfway decent cabs (210, 112, 115) are a great modular rig.
You can use only one when that's enough, but you have the possibility to bring two for when you need to get loud.

There is an Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 for 400 quid listed in Gumtree at the moment.

When you want to go all tubes, your sizeable budget suddenly gets tight.
A thousand bucks is what a decent tube head will cost you.

 

[Acorn to Oak]

Ahh maybe the Noob bit was misleading.
I’ve returned to playing after a near 40 year absence. Hence the tube preference.

I should’ve said ‘ learning to play again’ in my original post.

 

[dbase]

Hi everyone, Noob here.
I’m learning to play (2 months) and it’s going pretty well, I have a fender rumble 15w practice amp, which tbf served a purpose but I’m now wanting to feel a bit more depth and vibe and have a bit more ‘sound control’.
Now I really want to buy the next amp to last with no regrets on not getting bigger.
Not interested in gigging, mainly play solo but have pals who want to jam. Im not bothered about weight of equipment or buying used.
Any recommendations on head and cabs or should I go combo?
Cheers

Ah! memories of my youth ... I started with playing thru my moms stereo console in the living room and blowing out the speakers. In later years later playing thru a Vox, Ampeg, Standel, Sunn, Peavey, Hartke and now a Mesa. It's begun, you wont be happy with 15 watts, trust me. You are now on a journey thru space and time in the never ending quest for more bass power. Enjoy the ride.

 

[Acorn to Oak]

Ah! memories of my youth ... I started with playing thru my moms stereo console in the living room and blowing out the speakers. In later years later playing thru a Vox, Ampeg, Standel, Sunn, Peavey, Hartke and now a Mesa. It's begun, you wont be happy with 15 watts, trust me. You are now on a journey thru space and time in the never ending quest for more bass power. Enjoy the ride.

Youth has deserted me a while back.

 

[Bassdirty]

Thanks for your reply. It will be on occasions jamming in a warehouse with a full drum kit and guitarist with a decent sized combo (150w I think). I like the tube amp sound and play rock/pop/punk
cheers

Keep in mind that a bass will need a lot more power and more speakers (or speaker surface) to keep up with guitar amps especially in POP/ROCK/PUNK. The LOWER bass frequencies need more power to amplify. Or maybe more speakers to properly move the air, and more power to properly move the speakers. tomato - to-mah-to.

Fact remains. You need more power, and more speakers than the guitarist(s).
Now, how much more? What sizes? well...welcome to TB.

T$

 

[dbase]

Youth has deserted me a while back.

I just noticed you said learning to play after 40 years, for me it's been 50 years but nothing has changed except the amps are lighter and more powerful.. go for the most amp you can afford.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I would look used. Lots of players moving to class D heads and light neo cabs. Assuming you are going to be playing with any drummers, Look for 410s (for years that was the standard). I would be looking more at condition than brand - there should be lots out there. For well under a grand, you will gete you need, as last by as you don't mind it being about 100 pounds.

 

[Redbrangus]

I’ve returned to playing after a near 40 year absence. Hence the tube preference.

Ah...gotcha. Well, things have changed some in 40 years, particularly in the area of solid state amplification. There's certainly nothing wrong with the concept of a big tube amp, but as @el murdoque pointed out, that 1000 pounds doesn't go as far in the valve world. Also, these days, you don't HAVE to have a full tilt tube amp to get a tube sound...you can get all kinds of sounds at the pedal and preamp stage. But if you're jamming with a drummer and a loud guitarist, the subtleties of the tube amp magic get buried in the mix IMO. Anyway, I'm going with my original recommendation: 500-watt (minimum, 800 is better) head and 2 reasonably-sized cabs.

 

[PBassin]

Is saving money for a bit longer an option or do you only feel comfortable spending no more than 1K? On top of that, do you have any weight restrictions?

 

[Acorn to Oak]

Is saving money for a bit longer an option or do you only feel comfortable spending no more than 1K? On top of that, do you have any weight restrictions?

It was a personal limit imposed by my[wife]self.