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In praise of practice amps

#81
I like what would be considered a practice amp if you can realistically use it for acoustic jams or coffee house gigs as well, esp if you're using an ABG or double bass.

I recently converted my early 80s Roland Cube 60 Chorus (yes, it's 60 watts) into a "full range" bass cab. Swapped out the 12" guitar driver in there for a Peavey 10" bass driver, added a piezo and crossover from an SWR 4-10 I'm modding, sealed, lined, ported, tuned et voila:

Modded Roland Cube 1.jpg

Modded Roland Cube 2.jpg

Not high fidelity like a fEARLFUL et al but quite serviceable with all my basses. Acoustic guitar and cello also work well. Can stand up to a drummer with brushes/hotrods no problema.

Considering the amp was bought years ago and I had the driver and parts lying around it only cost me a little time and $15 for a roll of polyfill which is needed for another pending project anyway.
 
#82
dhsierra1 said:
I like what would be considered a practice amp if you can realistically use it for acoustic jams or coffee house gigs as well, esp if you're using an ABG or double bass.

I recently converted my early 80s Roland Cube 60 Chorus (yes, it's 60 watts) into a "full range" bass cab. Swapped out the 12" guitar driver in there for a Peavey 10" bass driver, added a piezo and crossover from an SWR 4-10 I'm modding, sealed, lined, ported, tuned et voila:

View attachment 353353

View attachment 353354

Not high fidelity like a fEARLFUL et al but quite serviceable with all my basses. Acoustic guitar and cello also work well. Can stand up to a drummer with brushes/hotrods no problema.

Considering the amp was bought years ago and I had the driver and parts lying around it only cost me a little time and $15 for a roll of polyfill which is needed for another pending project anyway.
Click to expand...


That isn't too far off from how I did our little vocal wedges (Beta10 + 2 piezos each). Definitely not hifi but plenty clear and serve the purpose well.

Thought it was Deltas we put in those but turns out they're not.:eyebrow: I should really sleep more, drink less or somethin'. :)

Anyway, they work well running vox and acoustic guitar through them. Can even give you a little thumpy electric bass in a pinch.

I thought I'd got them fairly close to Eminences .7 cu.ft./65 hz design they publish for the Delta10, but who knows now, seeing as I didn't even know what woofer was in them. :D

They turned out better than expected anyway, so never verified any final build measurements...didn't have to.

Yours should be somewhere in that ballpark and make a great, small general purpose cab, and sound pretty good with a bass.
 
#83
will33 said:
That isn't too far off from how I did our little vocal wedges (Beta10 + 2 piezos each). Definitely not hifi but plenty clear and serve the purpose well.

Thought it was Deltas we put in those but turns out they're not.:eyebrow: I should really sleep more, drink less or somethin'. :)

Anyway, they work well running vox and acoustic guitar through them. Can even give you a little thumpy electric bass in a pinch.

I thought I'd got them fairly close to Eminences .7 cu.ft./65 hz design they publish for the Delta10, but who knows now, seeing as I didn't even know what woofer was in them. :D

They turned out better than expected anyway, so never verified any final build measurements...didn't have to.

Yours should be somewhere in that ballpark and make a great, small general purpose cab, and sound pretty good with a bass.
Click to expand...


That's pretty much what the design is as it turns out, that cab is 0.7 cu and that's pretty much the Fb IIRC.

I remember you mentioning those wedges, always thought I'd try something like that for when I was ready to make some. The Betas are nice drivers, too.

If I were to do wedges on a budget, though I'd look at the Beta 10 or 12 CX with an xover and HF driver. The 10CX is supposed to be a decent bass guitar driver from what I've seen mentioned here. I have a couple of lightweight 1.5 cu ft tuned cabs those Peaveys formerly resided in that just might get those drivers, we'll see :hmm:
 
#84
The CX would be the better choice if designing from scratch.

This is one of those "use what I have/don't spend a dime" builds that turned out pretty nice. We found the 10's living in the top half of an old Peavey 1810 we were gutting......could've sworn they were Deltas. Took one apart a few months ago to chase down some percieved rattle/buzz. Turned out to be no big deal, couple loose screws, but thought to myself "why is there a Beta in here?" :)

Beta in 3/4 - 1 cu.ft. = good bass cab.
Beta in 3/4 cu.ft. + tweeter = good everything cab.

Your Peavey drivers are sturdy units as well, should perform quite nicely.
 
#86
I probably wasn't as clear as i should have been in my post.
A practice amp would be fine for you and me, 40/50 somethings with plenty of actual giggable amps lying around.

My point should have been as follows;

Lets say i wasn't raising kids and had time to give lessons. I would consider it my responsibility to coach these kids not just in chops and theory and Nashville Numbers system- id also consider it necessary to get them
Jamming with a drummer and other musicians.
The kid just dropped $100- $300 on a bass right? Lets say he buys a "practice amp"- a 20 watt thing with a 8 or 10 inch speaker in it- for almost $100.

The first time he plugs in next to a drummer he's gonna realize his little junk amp wont cut it to jam with other people.
Now he goes BACK to GC and the same unscrupulous salesman who sold him the 20 watt amp gives him $15 trade value towards the same 1980s era Peavey head and 115 cab he should have sold the kid in the first place.
All because beginners are too naive to know that a practice amp wont work in a band setting.
The kid loses at least $75 which is a lot of dough when you are 16 and your dad drives a bus for a living.
 
#87
:cool:

I've alway find a good practice amp useful.
Most people practice at lower volume.
They are great for drum-less gigs.
I use a EBS Session 60. It is a very loud 60 watts.
It costs a little more, but well worth in in the long run.
 
#89
I got this on craigslist last friday. I have been looking for a 10" or 12" combo for taking over to "back porch" type stuff or just to practice with my guitar player...and not having to haul 4X10 and an 200RCB or V4....

It is a little bigger than I wanted but 2 hours of cleaning and a solder on the PCB, cause the input jack was crackeling. Not the greatest tone but $25 was a hell of a deal for a Bassman 100.
 

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#92
grey area said:
i guess there should be practice ( with the chance it would be used with a band amps) AND only ever to be used solo in the bedroom amps. two different animals.my gig stuff and my practice amps have never met each other.
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I don't disagree with this approach. My philosophy is simply to minimize having "stuff" if something can do double duty at least reasonably well.

That said, like the poster above, I'm lucky in that both the bands I work in have good quality amps in their respective rehearsal spaces so all I have to do is show up with my bass. Now THATS the best practice amp :D
 
#94
cant argue with that.
my drummer now keeps the pa at his house si i turn up with bass and GK MB 200 in hand, plug the amp into a black widow cab and were good to go. ok the cab aint got the best sound around but its ok for a run through. my little rolands i use while the misses is in front of the TV and i just want to work bits out.its got a cloth over it and doubles as a book stand. my tiny roland battery powered thingy is connected to the computer AND its stereo.my rig dosen't fit in my tiny house and my rigs not that big but it would cause friction if i brought it inside the house.
 
#95
I used have the "big rig" Ampeg head and 4x10 for playing out, and a small-ish Peavey combo amp I'd use for home and rehearsals of reasonable volume. It worked fine.

With the advent of micro heads, lightweight cabs, and now being a married man that needs to keep the amount of bass gear scattered around the house down, I'm down to just one rig.

In my practice room, I have my two 1x12 Genz Benz NeoX cabs with my Streamliner on top. When stacked, this is about the same footprint of my old combo amp. I've got a volume knob for playing at home, and I can bring along one of the two cabs for when I don't need outrageous amounts of volume. The neo loaded 1x12 + 600W micro head is quite a bit lighter than my old combo amp.

And I find schlepping two lightweight 1x12 cabs way easier than moving my old ~100 pound 4x10. I'm lazy, so sue me. :)

I'm assuming modern small/light/high power amps and cabs are allowing others to do something similar. Modern technology is blurring the lines between practice gear and the "big rig", aside from the price tag.
 
#100
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it might not be cheap, but its worthy of praise.

its not the loudest thing in the world, or the best sounding, but its a nice, reliable, 20 LB, very small and portable, amplifier!

and in terms of the sound, it (surprisingly) works well with basic instruments. it sounds awesome with my boutique basses, but i think it really shines with my fenders, and even my beatle bass copy (jay turser)

nice fat lows, from a teeny little amp. very clean sound. aux input for ipod. headphone input and the speaker has an on/off switch. can work with an extension cab to make a very reasonable gig rig.

one of the best purchases i've ever made.
 

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