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Interesting Small but Gigable Amp?

#23
peterpalmieri said:
Personally I have an old polytone for that purpose, it's not the greatest amp but it's super easy to carry around not being very deep and with the controls on top makes for a nice seat too.
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A bit heavy to fit the OP's "carry it with one hand" requirement, but yeah, a PolyTone Mini Brute III is probably the tiniest combo amp under $500 that's still legitimately gigable. I've had one for almost 35 years and it still gets used fairly often (although admittedly my go-to small/lightweight gig rig for the past decade has been an Acoustic Image head with FliteSound cabinets...but that was way more than $500).

Does Roland still make the Cube series amps? They had a bass combo that was almost as compact as a PolyTone.
 
#25
Bob_Ross said:
A bit heavy to fit the OP's "carry it with one hand" requirement, but yeah, a PolyTone Mini Brute III is probably the tiniest combo amp under $500 that's still legitimately gigable. I've had one for almost 35 years and it still gets used fairly often (although admittedly my go-to small/lightweight gig rig for the past decade has been an Acoustic Image head with FliteSound cabinets...but that was way more than $500).

Does Roland still make the Cube series amps? They had a bass combo that was almost as compact as a PolyTone.
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Is that a typo? "a bit heavy to carry with one hand"
 
#26
I like my Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 a lot. I use it with an Extension 110 for the full 300 watts, but even at 175 that little 10 sounds pretty good. Small, light, and used as GB has been assimilated by a large corporation.

I played an AER a couple years ago and it was the best combo I have ever heard. I played it alongside an Aguilar 751/410 as a tone comparison. Not bad all things considered. My gigs are almost all DI/IEM these days, but if I was doing small venue, jazz/acoustic gigs I'd think long and hard about an AER.
 
#27
peterpalmieri said:
Is that a typo? "a bit heavy to carry with one hand"
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No, I meant that. But I guess I should qualify: A MiniBrute III can easily be carried by one hand...for about 100 yards. After that it starts to get annoying. (YMMV; weightlifters especially!) It's over 30lbs iirc. If you're only carrying it 20' from the van to the stage door, it's fine.

And admittedly my FliteSound/Acoustic Image rig has spoiled me. I've actually walked over a mile from the train station to the venue carrying one Flite speaker cabinet in each hand, with a bass and the amp slung over my shoulder. Trying that with the MiniBrute probably would've destroyed my hand such that I couldn't play the gig!
 
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#28
There is a fellow that posts here about gigging with a Traynor SB115 and really liking it. I went the separates route and got the 1.5 LB SB200H 200 watt amp so I can use a single 12, a single 15, or both. The combo SB115 MAP is 499 and the SB112 is 50 bucks cheaper.
 
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#30
Mr. Sound said:
The bowls club (do you have those in the US?)
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Bowling or bowler hats? :D

Laurel & Hardy 001.jpg
 
#31
The fender rumble combos sound very good but some people talk about a baked in old school sound and complain about the xlr out. Still for 500 bucks or less if you find a discount or coupon from gc or mf etc... the eden 2x10 combo is also a great sounding amp and available for loss than 500. Then there is also the option of getting a good di like a vt bass or the eden world traveler and plugging it into a powered pa monitor. Then there is always the used market where anything can be had for any price if you look hard enough. Check out gc used.
 
#33
nagelfoundation said:
Ok, I'll clarify: I have an Aguilar AG500 2x12 Combo (that's actually for sale here: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/aguilar-ag500-2x12-combo.1074773/#post-16434600), a still bigger H&K/Crown 1500w rig, and a Peavey TKO 1x15 (also for sale at the moment: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/peavey-tko-1x15-400w-newer-model-250.998120/) pardon the shameless plugs. What I am looking for is a practice amp more or less that could be gigged in a pinch that sounds good. My bigger amp needs are covered. I understand that I could spend $1000+ and get an amazing sounding little amp but I don't want to have that much invested in an amp that's primary application will be practicing at home. I guess I could rephrase to ask are there any amps at or around $500 new or used that sound pleasing and are at all inspiring to play through?
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How about DIY? I just snagged a pair of 8pr200 to put in a tiny cab, powered with a used mb200, all off TB classifieds and probably under your budget even with nice hardware.
 
#39
#40
PortlandBass77 said:
The sound's not for everyone, but the Pignose Hog 20? It's also battery powered.
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I was going to mention small tube guitar amp. Even running it with guitar speakers is cool as long as the cab is sealed and you're not looking for teeth-rattling lowend.

My P-bass into my ValveJr. Into a pair of Emi. Legend 10516's can do some pretty righteous Jackson5 if you're good at making tones with your hands. :)
 

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