combo amps vs seperate amps and cabiets

[superheavyfunk]

I started on combos, moved to separates and then back to combos.

I’ve stuck with combos for the last 11 years or so for portability considerations. I like the sound of my combo and it does everything I need it to, being my only amplification on small stages or acting like my personal monitor on large stages which have PA support.

 

[JRA]

i feel im missing something by not having amps and cabinets seperate is it better sound ? more versatility? .. is it just easier having a combo and thats why manufacturers sell them? is a combo amp considered entry level equipment? thoughts and comments please!

Pick your poison. Hopefully you will end up with both.

if having both is an affordable option for you, OP, you'd have a lot of bases covered! both can provide advantages, depending on your gig/rehearsal situations, and either one could easily be a hassle in some scenarios.

good luck exploring all of the options!

 

[tothemax]

I'm leaning toward combos, one because we play fairly small gigs so I don't need to a big rig. I have 2 combos, an Ampeg BA115v2 and a BA210v2. I like that they are a pretty compact package to use and can choose the amp to use depending on the venue. Should I ever need more sound I have the option to pick up an extension cab or use both the amps together. They actually look pretty cool stacked. I don't see needing much more than this for now. They are not going to shake the walls, but they do perform pretty well.
It's a matter of choice - there are times when I'd love to have a big stack, but at 65 I'm not into hauling any more gear than I need to.

 

[FunkHead]

I believe Combos will become more and more popular now. With Companies like Barefaced making small and light cabs that can carry large rooms it's just a matter of time before a class D head is mated to one of them.

A Mesa TT800 mated to a Bareface BB3 would be a Combo for the Masses.

 

[Killing Floor]

Easiest way to tell is a separate amp doesn’t make any noise unless it’s connected to a speaker.

 

[Bluesrock]

For my situation, a head and cab work best. I gig in both small and larger venues and thus, the power required varies quite a bit. I can elect to take a long one or two cabs and can pack them in my Civic hatchback easily.

 

[Al Rivera]

I prefer the modular concept of speaker Cabinets and heads. I can mix and match accordingly. I own a 4x10,2x10 and a 1x12 Cabinets and a mesa 800 watt head and a gk 200 watt head. For small gigs the 1x12 and small head can be carried with one hand. Also ,I like to have a spare head when playing. So I always have my micro head in my gig bag,just in case!
I guess I'm sort of paranoid just using a combo with no back up. I always like to have a plan B.

 

[Matty Koff]

The only things that matter are, do you like the sound and does it keep up with the drummer you play or might play with. Also can you move it without hurting yourself.

With 3 cabs and one head, I can leave the cheapo cab somewhere and only have to carry my 7lb head and a bass. I can choose one cab for a small room..second for bigger room. 3rd cab if I just want to show off.

My only combo is the fender 15w I bought with my bass.. and I mostly use my pg and headphones at home these days. Rumble 100w isnt a horrible Amp having played thru one. Other people's combos have never gotten. A scoff from me. Some have been pretty impressive.

 

[brianrost]

The combo controls pointing upwards must be a new design thing...my old SWR 210 Combo has them facing outwards like a normal bass head.

It's an old idea coming back. The original Fender Bassman combos of the 50s had control panels in the rear facing up, as did the guitar amps until about 1960. Fender started making "piggybacks" in 1960, heads and cabs, to make more powerful amps more portable. You would not want something like a Fender Dual Showman to be a combo amp.

1959 Bassman

Dual Showman (that's 2-15") compare size with the guitar to the right

 

[scottfeldstein]

I have a combo and a couple of heads and a few cabs. Separate heads and cabs just gives you modularity when you're deciding how much rig you need for a certain venue. Also, it lets you swap out pieces of your rig to try out other things without having to replace the whole thing in one go. Combos are great to me for one reason: easy to carry and set up. That's it. There's no other reason to use one IMO. Although that can be a pretty compelling reason.

I have both. If I can get away with using my 112 combo, I will do so. If I need more rig than that, I turn to my modular rig components and create exactly what I need.

 

[pie_man_25]

When I started, people tended to say that a combo was portable compared to a head and cab, but a combo usually weighed about half of what I weighed at the time... if not more. So I went with a head/cab because even if I was carrying everything in two or three trips instead of one or two, at least each trip I was carrying a bit less weight at the time.

That being said, today is a whole new day, I remember way back in "the day" seeing a guy bragging about his markbass head and 210 cabinet and thinking, "I'll never be able to afford anything like that." Lo and behold, nowadays people think the Ampeg PF500 is HEAVY for its wattage, and it put out twice as much wattage as my first head and weighs half as much give or take. A new, cheapish head and cab will weigh nowhere near what the stuff I was looking at when I wanted my first amp. Honestly, you can get a big combo like the rumble 200 or 500 and an extension cab, it'll weigh maybe at most a hundred pounds (and I'm overestimating there, I'd be surprised if that would all be seventy-five pounds in weight) and half the time your extension cab would be collecting dust. I still like my current head and cab rig, but if I had to start with nothing today? I'd feel pretty comfortable with a combo.

 

[BazzaBass]

You can also have 2 Combos. One at home and one at practice. Join them together if needed at the gig. Ie 2 connected 500C Fender Rumbles will give you 700W. And you have a built in redundancy. (2x800 Rumbles would be more awesome).

 

[Marc valero]

Waiting right now to setup at a VFW, but a one man/backing tracks act is playing, so I hooked up my stuff and just have to move the Rumble 100 in place and plug in a couple of things.

 

[JakobT]

The disadvantages are:
-you're stuck with what you got.
-Controls often in the rear, facing upwards

Upward-facing controls aren’t necessarily a disadvantage. Combos are often smaller than a head/cab combination, and upward-facing controls are usually easier to see. My Rumble 500 combo is a case in point, large upward-facing white knobs on a black background, and I can see my settings at a glance.

 

[el murdoque]

Upward-facing controls aren’t necessarily a disadvantage. Combos are often smaller than a head/cab combination, and upward-facing controls are usually easier to see. My Rumble 500 combo is a case in point, large upward-facing white knobs on a black background, and I can see my settings at a glance.

Well, on my head+cabinet rig, I can see the controls from ten feet off.

With class D heads that weigh next to nothing, you can have knobs protruding out of the chassis that can easily be seen from multiple angles.

With a super heavy head or a combo, you need to protect them so they don't get damaged during transport, so they need to be some kind of 'hidden'.

 

[JakobT]

Well, on my head+cabinet rig, I can see the controls from ten feet off.

With class D heads that weigh next to nothing, you can have knobs protruding out of the chassis that can easily be seen from multiple angles.

With a super heavy head or a combo, you need to protect them so they don't get damaged during transport, so they need to be some kind of 'hidden'.

I’m just saying upward-facing controls aren’t necessarily a disadvantage. There are many different factors to consider, and good and bad examples of both.

 

[Analogeezer]

I went with a head/cab for portability. Also, many combo amps rear mount the amp on the cab so the controls are facing up instead of forward, and I just don't like that style.

At the end of the day, buy what you like. Anyone who cares what you play, and not how you sound, isn't really worth your time.

I read a thing many years ago about really old Fender amps and the legending on the top mounted knobs supposedly faced the other way - read correctly from BEHIND the amp (I don't know this for a fact, just heard it was this way).

The concept was you put your amp at the FRONT of the state for the audience to hear it and you heard the output of the open backed cabinet but if you wanted to adjust the knobs the legending on the knobs was facing you.

Again I read this somewhere, but don't recall ever seeing people putting their amps at the front of the stage but maybe it was an actual thing.

I don't like the look of top mounted controls on a combo either but if it's a small/low combo it makes sense really for them to be on the top.

Analogeezer

 

[dalahorse]

Just for old times sake, here's a pic of my first combo amp, an Acoustic 136,which I purchased as a 17 yo in 1974. Worked my ass of that summer to buy it - $499.00. It was a beast, weighed 75 lbs., but a bit underpowered at 110 RMS. It was just too heavy to lug between home and practice, so I ended up saving and buying a used Acoustic 140 head along with a 4-12" bottom for the practice place. Combined the 136 and the 140 set-up live, which was fairly potent for the time. Now fast forward to today, I'm 64, not playing in bands anymore, will occasionally get together with buddies to jam, so, decided to unload my older Ampeg combo this past spring and bought a new Rumble 500, which I absolutely love. I don't need to talk about the 500, you're all familiar with it, but for me, at 36 lobs, I can easily lug it to a friends house with ease. Even at my age, I'm 6'2, 195 lbs, and in good shape (it's the NC BBQ), so at 36 lbs, and triple the power of my older Acoustic, it's a great amp for me. I know a lot of you "old timers" out there are in the same position as me. However, I will say I'm alsoView attachment 4468944 amazed at the new lighter heads and cabs that have come out in recent years, certainly one of the smartest moves by these companies. Recently saw a killer Steely Dan tribute band, and the bassist had a Bergantino set-up that just killed - couldn't see the amp model, but he had 2 separate cabs with 2-12" each. One of the best sounding set-ups I've heard in a long time - he was playing a Fedora 5 string Monarch as well. Yes, that is a Roland Juno 106 on top of the Acoustic, I've been a long time synth player as well. Peace out.

I dig your Juno, man! I'm never getting rid of mine. I, too, play keys and bass. Because I was on keys first, I already had a big ol' Roland KC-550 (180W, 15", plenty of lows) combo amp. I have a VT Bass as the last pedal on my bass pedalboard. I just plug that straight into one of the line in's on the amp. It sounds great and has plenty of volume to keep up with acoustic drums. One of these days I'd like to have an SVT. But my large combo keeps up with my keys and bass all in one package.

 

[tgriley62]

Just to throw a wringle in the versatility department. You could go with a power amp and a seperate preamp into one or two cabs. Preamps can be found fairly cheap to allow different ones for different taste

 

[pingvuiini]

I currently have two modular rigs, but I am having a custom made combo made for me by GR Bass mating an Aerotech 212 Slim cabinet (the one on the right) with a GR Bass One800 amplifier. The total weight of the combo should be around 33-34lbs. I previously had a Markbass 1x12 combo with 1x12 extension cabinet, which was nice when I just wanted to bring the combo for light rehearsal or small rooms. But the GR Bass 212 Slim is so very light that I figgered I might as well take the extra 12" speaker, so to speak. I will be able to hand carry everything in one trip and set it all up very quickly. Due to parts/supply/shipping issues I was told I won't get the combo until the end of the year or early next year.