good small amp to use as on stage monitor for DB?

hi all

I am looking for a portable bass amp to use as an on stage monitor with my acoustic upright bass.

Does anyone have an recommendations?

I use a realist pickup which usually goes straight into the PA. I currently use my old bass guitar amp (a laney linebacker) for onstage sound only - but its a pain in the neck lugging it round

So I am looking for something easily portable, not too expensive with decent sound rather but does not have to be killer quality

the band has guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle & accordian - so no drums to compete with

any tips would be much appreciated!

thanks

(as a bonus, I'd quite like to get something I could also use to take out busking with other acoustic instruments - i.e. that could be battery powered - that could give the bass a small boost in mostly acoustic set up. But this is secondary to the need for an on stage monitor)

 

thanks for the tip - that GK looks nice - I'll check it out, although its pushing my price range a bit & perhaps more power than I need anyway (I've also been recommended the Phil Jones cub amps and they look great but WAY outside my price range!)

Has anyone had experience of the cheaper end ones - like the Roland mini Cube bass amp (looks a bit gimmicky with all the effects?)

Or the even cheaper amps from Behringer, Hartke etc

I'll get out this weekend and try a few out but good to hear of any positive/negative experiences

thanks again

 

thanks for the info

in reply to how much is my budget - I was trying to spend under £200 (maybe equivalent to $300)

this seems to be just under the threshold at which you get a decent amp!

I tried a few today, comparing a GK MBS 150W to a few cheaper models of various makes and there was quite a lot of difference. The MBS was great but priced at £500 for a second hand model.

However the experience did put me off the cheaper option a bit (getting a small but loud enough amp to hear what I am playing even if the sound qulity is not good) . My old bass guitar amp does this job OK already, it's just cumbersome, so I would be paying for a light - but worse - amp. Seems a bit pointless.

I'll have a look around slightly higher price brackets. The MK MB110 (recommended above) looks interesting, so maybe I'll wait until that comes out over here.

The cheaper option - a small, not-great-sounding but very portable amp - might just do a basic job of beiing able to hear what I am playing but the sound was not great and really I would be paying for having

thanks for the comments

Jim

 

thanks Phil - I'll look up that other thread - have you tried the Mackie with double bass?