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Double-Duty Mini Rig?

R. Laevinus

R. Laevinus

Jun 16, 2009
964
9
Toronto, Canada
#1
All right folks, I'm calling on you again to mine your stores of accumulated wisdom.

I'm looking for a small rig/combo that I can use primarily for practicing, but ideally would be light and small enough to carry around with me when I need to.

I also want it to also be my guitar amp, as I do play some six-string on occasion and find that most guitar amps are lacking in bottom end to my taste. The problem of course is that most bass amps are lacking in top-end for the guitar.

So here's what I need: A compact rig that I can use for practice and small jams, as well as for a six-string guitar. I'd also like to keep it under $600, 'cause the American Standard I just bought sort of depleted my disposable cash stores.

I'm thinking something along the following lines:
Ampeg 210AV and Micro VR head - a bit more than I'd like to spend, but I hear it's surprisingly capable. I'm guessing that the sealed cab would also do fairly well for guitar.
Ampeg 210AV and GK MB200 head - looks to be right up my alley, except that the head won't be available for another month or so (as per Musician's Friend), and it may not hit stores around me until later than that, and I'm really uncomfortable with buying gear untested.
Traynor TC112 and GK MB200 head - again, the head won't be available for a while. I hear that the cab has some great midrange and treble response though, which would make it very suitable for a guitar.
SWR LA-12 combo - seems great, but I've heard nasty things about the LA series crapping out often and loudly.
Traynor DB300T combo - about double what I'd like to spend, and also heavier than I'd like.

These are the options I'm looking at and will be testing when I can, but I'd like to know if there are other units I should add to my list of rigs to test, and also if any of these items are misadvised for one reason or another.

Thanks!
 
#2
To find a amp that will do all that you need, I would try used high end equipment. You will exceed your budget I think. I use AI Contra, and it works well for Bass, Guitar, Keys, and Vocals. It's light 20lbs or so and loud when you need it to be. The other choice for me was a small keyboard amp. Carvin, Roland, or something like that.
 
#4
The needs of the guitar player and those of the bass player are miles apart. I really don't think that there is a harmonious melding of the two. Same amp, tube, could be used but through different cabinets. A 50W amp would be really loud on guitar but barely audible on bass. A 200W amp would do for bass but it would be overpowering on guitar.

I'd suggest two amps. One optimized for bass, the other smaller amp for guitar.

Paul
 
#5
I hear you, Bassman Paul, but I'm still hopeful.

I recognize of course that they're different animals, but my playing style on both is very similar, and I don't currently or plan to play guitar in a band - it's just for me and my own independent projects, and I usually DI the guitar when I record it anyway. I really just need to make it audible, although, of course, if I can get a decent tone out of it, so much the better.

Primarily I'm looking for a bass practice rig, but I'd love to save myself some cash by getting one with a reasonably usable guitar tone too. I'm kind of surprised that more folks haven't been chiming in with their experiences - maybe I'm just a strange one, but I figured guitar through a bass amp would be a lot more common than it appears to be.
 
#8
I have used a couple of my amps for double duty. My mesa walkabout and my GK MB150.

I would not recommend trying to get any gain out of it, like some guitar amps are made to do, but if you go for a clean sound or get your "sound" from a preamp or floorboard, it works fine.
 
#10
OP - what kind of guitar ?
If acoustic - Then something like the SWR California blonde would be pretty interesting. It won't be the loudest bass rig on the planet and it isn't real light but it sounds great.

I've had a lot of experience with Roland's Acoustic guitar amps (AC-60, AC-90) they aren't bass amps by a long shot but around here they are super popular for 1 guitar and 1 mic... lots of the solo guys use 'em that way. The Roland KB series would definately be worth a look. Yorkville makes nice KB amps as well. I've been rehearsing through a KB-200 that I'm buying as a result. (We've been putting a Roland v-drum kit, Yamaha electric Grand and bass through it. Pretty dang'ed impressive.)

Another possibility os something like a Mackie 450 and a couple of preamp boxes / mixer. You won't get real deep low's but I've done duo gig's with one running bass (through a Sans AMp Para Driver), acoustic guitar, mando and 3 voices - it works fine for Wine bar, coffee house, lounge gig's. The speaker has a built in Hi pass filter so it's pretty tough to kill one of those though probably not impossible...
 
#11
How about a small PA setup with amp modelling. There's a few amp modelling gizmos that can handle both bass and guitar tones in the same unit. The Line 6 X3 Live for instance is surprisingly good.

I once tried using my old Trace BLX 80 combo with a primitive Zoom amp modeller years ago. I wasn't over the moon with the sound. With all the eq'ing possibilities, I just couldn't get around the hifi, scooped TE sound. A PA however is designed to put out exactly what you put into it, neutral you might say. So you may have more luck.
 
#12
R. Laevinus said:
I've gotta admit, I'm kinda leery of the Roland stuff. Have you ever tried a guitar with it? How did it sound?
Click to expand...

Guitar? I play bass, piano & hand percussion. Enough is enough. :D
Seriously, Roland has a very good rep for bass and guitar combos. Their Jazz Chorus is a long time industry standard, in fact. The Cube 100 has great modeling as well as foot-controllable effects. To my ears, it's great sounding, flexible yet simple/straightforward...which just helps with the fun factor.
 
#16
4Mal said:
The K8 is smokin' To my ear it's smoother than the 10 and makes the 12 sound boomy. I'd love a pair for PA!

Sm450's are turning for $400 used in good condition around here...
Click to expand...

Right now I have a K8 and K10 that I use as mains for a small PA. I prefer the K8, but the K10 can be used as a floor monitor without any mods, so having one of each gives a lot of flexibility. I'll likely add another K8 and use those as mains and the K10 as the monitor.

The K8 is all that and a bag of chips - great multipurpose amp/speaker setup. You also have 2 channels input built in so if you're just using 2 mics or an instrument and mic you don't need anything else. Plus is it small and light. No interest in Bose or lugging around an SM450...
 
#18
Thanks very much for all the replies guys, some very useful info in here!

For what it's worth, I play an electric (somebody asked about that), and typically generate my guitar tone through pedals - usually a Fulltone OCD and a Boss reverb.

I'm still hoping to find a bass amp solution, but will definitely look into PAs and keyboard amps as well. I'm hoping to find something without a tweeter, or at least, with a bypassable one, as I find that playing guitar through a bass cab with tweeter results in ear-bleedingly shrill high-end.
 
#20
...so I ended up exceeding my budget by about 400. I ended up springing for a Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout.

It's a helluva amp, gents, a helluva amp. Hamdles guitar surprisingly well, too - very clean, as one might expect, but that's nothing a dirt pedal or two won't resolve.
 

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