I was wrecked by a tube amp...

[Luthiferian]

When I got into bass back in the 90's, I was working at a thrift store and some guy brought in a MESA/Boogie .50 Caliber combo amp. It didn't have a power cable, and 2 of the sliding eq tabs were missing, but the metal prong was still exposed so you could still use the equalizer...

It rocked my apartment. I loved that amp...

I sold it fairly quickly after learning how much it was worth (and having bought it for $10 'as is' since it couldn't be tested), but have regretted it ever since.

That same amp is no less than $750 these days, and I'm considering getting another.

My question has been asked a lot here, I'm sure, and I look into a lot of these posts, but, there are many, many of you smarter and wiser than me in this hobby we share, so I ask: What's a good tube amp for a bassist that doesn't gig, and just wants to do his own thing at home and record a bit? I dont want to spend enough to get the MESA four 88 but that doesn't mean I dont want it!!

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm old school, I want a tube amp head, a decent cab, pedals, and my metal basses. Computers are great for recording, in my opinion, I'm just not interested in these digital packs which still cost a lot of real money.

 

[BGroovy]

if you like Mesa I'd suggest a Walkabout. Killer tone.

Or a B15

 

[gtirard]

I bought myself and hand made 50W tube amp for home practice, but I've find out it was much louder than I expected. I can do small gigs with it, and when I use it at home, I have to keep the master very low.

I had to make the same choice again, I would buy this amp because 5.7 Watt is just the power you need for home practice and not more, it's small, lightweight and affordable:

FMJ Amp | nightowlindustries

FMJ - Class A, 5.7W All-Tube Amplifier

www.nightowl.industries

By comparison I also have a half-watt amp, it's usable but barelly loud enough, so by extrapolation between the 1/2 watt and the overkill 50W, I'm confident that 5.7 Watt would be perfect (for me, practicing at home).

 

[pfschim]

I own and love the Mesa Walkabout, but it is not a full tube amp. Tube pre, Solid State power section. Great sounding, very tubey bass amp for sure.
Ampeg makes the PF20T and the PF50t amps. The PF20t is more-or-less based on the legendary B15, the PF50t I understand to sound more like an SVT (another legendary 300w all tube bass amp). Ashdown makes the CTM 15 and CTM 30 "Little Stubby" tube amps. Old school Fender Bassman's are 50w and can be found. Traynor makes the 50w Bassmaster, and the 100w YBA-100.

plenty to choose from, just got to look around

good luck!

 

[Wasnex]

Sounds like you only need a low powered amp.

These are low powered tube bass amps:
Ashdown CTM30 or LB30.
Ampeg PF50T or PF20T

IME many low gain guitar amps work fine for bass. However, guitar cabs generally do not work well for bass. I actually learned to play through a blackface era Fender Twin Reverb. IMHO the Orange AD200B Mk 3 sounds very similar to blackface era Fenders.

My point is you don't necessarily need a bass specific amp. If you come across a good deal on a guitar amp, plug it into a bass cab and see how it works. I have quite a few vintage guitar amps that sound great with bass. Hiwatt DR103, Matamp GT120, Fender Showman Reverb, Vox AC30. I think my vintage Marshall Lead and Super Lead also sound great with bass, but they are higher gain which tends to result in noise that makes them less usable at low volume.

 

[InnerCityBass]

I'm using a 5 watt 'Mooer Little Monster BM' for my home studio recordings and practice, running it through a 1x15" vintage Fender Bassman speaker. It's plenty loud and sounds amazing both clean and overdriven (I'm using a nice preamp in front of it too). It's loud enough for me to get neighbor complaints when I crank it, in a modern well insulated apartment complex. I highly recommend a 5 watt tube amp for that purpose, personally I'd prefer one with 6v6 or 6L6 tubes.

 

[Kenova]

I have Ampeg pf20t, transformer di is amazing, I have Tung-Sol 6V6GT tubes and is more B15 sounding now.

 

[murphy]

You could pick up an old Traynor tube combo Bass Mate...They sound phenomenal

 

[BowserGriff]

Ive been looking at the same thing. I want tube but it'll just be in my house. I REALLY want a Fender super bassman, but its 300W, so although it sounds amazing, it'll likely never go past 1 or 2 in Master volume.

Wish I could try ashdowns before buying them. The ampeg v4b was nice, and not too loud. But nothing sounds as good as the SB300 to me.

 

[mpdd]

the mesa d180 can do heavy tube od at low volumes, however it can be kind of finicky with dirt pedals, could end up sounding like a hair dryer
it can get really loud, but you aren't going to be able to be clean at high volumes

 

[TOGNA]

Ive been looking at the same thing. I want tube but it'll just be in my house. I REALLY want a Fender super bassman, but its 300W, so although it sounds amazing, it'll likely never go past 1 or 2 in Master volume.

Wish I could try ashdowns before buying them. The ampeg v4b was nice, and not too loud. But nothing sounds as good as the SB300 to me.

Get a Super Bassman. Even if you keep it at 1 or 2, you'll still be satisfied.

 

[andymac]

I am 100% in your situation! I was trying different pedal/preamp options to get a "tube sound", but none were satisfying. But bringing an SVT into the house is likely to shorten my marriage. And I didn't have the money for a serious tube amp.

For me, the solution was an old (1970?) Traynor YBA-1, got with trades and at a good price because beat up. Fifty watts, all tube, big honking transformer. I find that it gets that hard rock tube sound even at relatively low volumes. I am happy as a clam.

I did try a couple of other small tube amps. Tried the Bugera tube guitar amp, 22W, on the logic that I don't want a lot of volume, and I've often had good luck running guitar amps for bass at low volume. That amp sounded good for guitar, but, even at low volume, the bass just wasn't there. I tried the new Ampeg Portaflex 20W in the shop, and it sounded great, but it was much more of a smooth old-school sound, I couldn't get the hard rock sounds that it sounds like you are looking for. (Though I was in the shop, so I couldn't drive it hard.)

I tried a couple of other small tube amps, but also disappointing. I didn't find anything that I liked in the sub $700 or so range.

 

[Water buffalo]

Another vote for Ashdown. I've had an LB30 for ten+ years. It's currently paired with a Ashdown ABM6x10, though I have used it a 1x12 and 2 1x10 cabs.

It's an amzing amp and it can get quite loud.

 

[coreyfyfe]

I bought myself and hand made 50W tube amp for home practice, but I've find out it was much louder than I expected. I can do small gigs with it, and when I use it at home, I have to keep the master very low.

I had to make the same choice again, I would buy this amp because 5.7 Watt is just the power you need for home practice and not more, it's small, lightweight and affordable:

FMJ Amp | nightowlindustries

FMJ - Class A, 5.7W All-Tube Amplifier

www.nightowl.industries

By comparison I also have a half-watt amp, it's usable but barelly loud enough, so by extrapolation between the 1/2 watt and the overkill 50W, I'm confident that 5.7 Watt would be perfect (for me, practicing at home).

I built a micro bassman from the rob robinette pages for a similar reason. It's a 2-3 watt version of the 5F6A with a push-pull power amp using EF80 tubes. Sounded pretty decent and certainly loud enough for home use, though even with this I tend to run everything at home with headphones and load boxes when using my tube amps.

I had the PT, OT, and chassis sitting on my shelf for a while, originally intended for other projects which were never realized. I didn't have to sink much else into this, as I had most of the components. Needed some sockets, the choke, tubes, and a few bits here and there, but not too much extra $$ involved. I would say if you were buying everything now the pricing would probably come in lower than the FMJ, but not much much.



There are a few different versions, some using a 12AU7 for a 1 watt output, some micro jcm800 and slo clones, etc., on his website

Bassman Micro

Bassman Micro Amplifier

robrobinette.com

 

[Mark Karwan]

Ashdown little stubby is super fab.

 

[rickdog]

Another Ashdown fan here! I've been using my CTM-30 and a single 8" speaker for living room playing. When I turn it up to match acoustic instruments in a largish room it sounds sweet, not distorted, but definitely some of that indefinable tube amp sound.

 

[vvvmmm]

I have and love that .50 Cal. for guitar, rank it up there with the Silver Jubilee and Blackstar Soloist and Pathfinder 50, etc. that I own.

That is not necessarily a guitar amp I would use on bass, tho', not least because the speaker is expensive and the combo open-backed.

I have liked a Pro,Jr. combo on low volume bass, a Tiny Terror into a bass cab ...

My fave tube guitar combo for bass is a VT60; my fave small bass amp is the PF50t.

 

[BowserGriff]

There's an Ashdown LB30-v2 for sale near me. I wish I could try before buying. Ive had really bad experiences with the reliability of Ashdown amps, but that was 15 years ago. Don't know how great their cabs are. Being a Brit, id like to like them but its an expensive gamble! Its great to see other people liking them on here!

 

[wintremute]

What's a good tube amp for a bassist that doesn't gig, and just wants to do his own thing at home and record a bit?

Consider the Hotone Thunder Bass for $99.

Hotone Nano Legacy Thunder Bass 5-watt Micro Bass Head | Sweetwater

Only at Sweetwater! ✅ Easy Payments and ✅ FREE Shipping for your Hotone Nano Legacy Thunder Bass 5-watt Micro Bass Head!

www.sweetwater.com

$79 at Wal-Mart

Hotone Nano Legacy Thunder Bass 5 Watt Compact Guitar Amp Head 3 Band EQ NLA-4 - Walmart.com

Buy Hotone Nano Legacy Thunder Bass 5 Watt Compact Guitar Amp Head 3 Band EQ NLA-4 at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

$69 from Hotone itself

Thunder Bass

Available in the US warehouse for fast shipping. Thunder Bass, which we all guessed, is an amp head for bassists.Based on the Ampeg SVT*, Hotone somehow got all the big thunderous sound into a mini-sized amp.Whether you are the bassist in the spotlight or the one keeping the pulse in the...

shop.hotoneaudio.com

I don't know what the shipping is for these places, though.

 

[Luthiferian]

Thank you everyone for years of experience in a single thread. I have many selections to look at now, and with my brain, that means hours of youtube research ahead of me, which only tells me so much, then it will be off to a few local music shops to see what they have that I can test there, as hearing it in real life is vastly different from hearing it on a record/cd/what have you...

This is just a 'I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it' problem I have, and so my brain is telling me it's stupid to buy a bunch of smaller amps, when I should just be focusing my time, energy, and money on the one I really want. Sure, that may be expensive, but if I only need to buy one once and maintain it well, rather than several cheap ones that may add up to the one I really wanted...

I respect Orange, Ashdown, Traynor, I even had an Orange crush for a hot minute there... I just dont feel like that is the sound I'm after. I am definitely interested in the portaflex's, the super bassman looks nice but damn that price tag!! I think I will probably be happy with the PF20t or the PF50t, but something says holding out for a 300 watt tube head will rock my weird little world!!

Thank you all for your suggestions, and insights. I dont post much, but this just sped up my decision making process, and that's invaluable time not wasted to me! Keep kicking ass everyone, I appreciate it!!