JOYO Amp! How does it compare to other name brands?

I've not heard of Joyo amps but if for your dorm room, there are many compact 8" combos available on MF, Sweetwater etc. Figure on spending $100 to $150 and getting something that satisfies.
Start with the usual subjects: Ampeg, Fender and Peavey. They and others offer good value and good performance for your needs. Good luck in College!

 

The Joyo portable “bass” amp was a joke. I had to return it. It might have made an ok guitar amp but for bass it wasn’t worth the sale price of $30 that I paid and still sent it back.

 

I can’t speak to the quality of Joyo products (thankfully we’ve already heard from someone who can). But if you would like, I can speak to what might work in your situation (and many others here can speak with greater authority than me). If you want more than just a specific answer to “how does Joyo compare?” I suggest starting a thread titled something like “what amp works best in a dorm room?” If that’s what you really want to know, I have two thoughts to start:

•Which amp did you just sell? How did you like that one? We can make better recommendations if we know more about what you like.

•Bass frequencies travel through walls almost like they’re not even there, and you’ll have a lot of very close neighbors. Dorm residents shouldn’t expect a super quiet living situation, but playing bass through even a small setup will, ahem, get you noticed. (Ask me how I know, haha!) I strongly encourage you to look into either a dedicated headphone amp or a conventional amp with a quality headphone out. A good DI pedal (I use a Tech 21 NYC SansAmp Para Driver, for example, but you’ve got A LOT of options) into a recording interface with a headphone out would also work.

 

The most flexible option I see is a small combo with an aux in and a headphone out. You can practice on phones without disturbing anyone else and many are decent enough for small coffee house / bookshop gigs. I have a Laney RB2 that I've used numerous time to accompany 2 girls on acoustics and it was fine, and still had headroom. There will be many similar and secondhand is the best way for value. I bought the Laney new for about $US200 but I also wanted similar for guitar and picked up a Peavey Rage 158 mint for a little under $US40.
Another suggestion is the Positive Grid Spark. I've seen the reviews and I have one coming as a bedroom unit as I like to noodle on bass and guitar sometimes at night to YT or music off the server. Built in bluetooth, FX etc as well for a small price.

 

I bet many of us could write a book on this. For me, by the time I went away to college (after a couple of gap years), I had already been a professional touring bassist. I just took my little combo, which was a Hartke 120 combo. I still have it, but it needs a speaker and I haven't been bothered to replace it. Then I got in another band. Ugh. Bigger stuff came along.

IMO consider your budget. Get the most you can with aux in and headphone out. Get a volume pedal for really fine control so you can play super quiet if needed. But get enough to fit in with a drummer and a band if you think that is something you want to do. You'll be glad you did so you don't have to figure out how to pay for it later when the budget is super small.

You didn't mention your budget, so I'm not going to make specific suggestions. But a 150 to 200 watt combo will cover, especially with a volume pedal, headphone out.

My daughter is a dummer. She's starting her senior year of HS next month. She has a great accoustic kit that was given to us by a friend. But I bought her a nice electronic kit and a powered PA speaker so that she's got something small and quiet enough (with headphones) to work in a dorm, and she can still play with a band.

Shop to keep your options open. You don't want to be limited by gear if a fun situation arises.

 

$100 isn't much. You might be able to find a used combo. Or save up for something bigger. I'm way out of touch with the used market, so someone else may have some good suggestions.

At $100, just a headphone amp would be enough for a dorm. If you can hold off and save up for something bigger, you may be better off.

As far as joining a band goes, just do it. At least for me, it provides way more motivation to practice. And it's a surprisingly safe space to improve. Don't be intimidated. You'll be amazed at how much better you'll get quickly with the work that it takes. It's totally worth it.

 

I had a JOYO amp for a total of one day before I returned it. The sound was dismal and if I recall it was distorted at all volume levels. I had tempered my expectations given the size and price, but this amp performed far below acceptable standards.

You'll be much happier with a used $100 amp from Guitar Center, Craigslist, Music Go Round. Quite easy to find.

 

Bigger as in Quality, sound, volume. Size will be dependent on the speaker configuration. I don't know where you're going to college, but the music school may be able to help you out too. I'll go way out on a limb here, but if you're going to UC Davis in CA, which isn't far from me, I'll give you my old Hartke and help with the cost of getting the speaker replaced. Otherwise, the cost of shipping and repair will be well over your budget (and just doesn't make financial sense for either of us).

Where will you be going to school? Maybe someone can help you out. Pay it forward and all that

 

My experience was as a nearly-40-year-old when I moved to a new neighborhood last fall click here for way more than you want to know about how bass frequencies can easily invade your neighbors’ homes. That’s also a good example of how threads in here can go, since it would appear you’re new both to bass and this forum: a few jerks, a few jokesters, a few well-meaning but misinformed or tone-deaf people, but mostly people who love to talk bass and do know a thing or two—or music and equipment inside and out, in many cases. Read critically and you’ll figure out who’s who pretty quickly. Welcome!

More wattage is more power, but a 1,000 watt amp is not ten times louder than a 100 watt amp with the same speaker(s), if they can even use the same speakers. Speaker area has a lot to do with volume, too, and we’ll very quickly get over my head if we go much further. It only took 200 watts through 1x15 at what I thought was a reasonable volume to disturb my neighbors so the short answer to your wattage-weight-power question is that wattage alone doesn’t tell you much. Anyway, those 1,000 watt amps do have volume knobs

$100 can get you a lot in either a dedicated headphone amp or an older combo amp. Older gear weighs A LOT more than newer gear, and older people with older backs continue to happily sell that stuff cheaply as they move to newer lightweight gear. If you don’t mind hefting it and you can fit it in your room (they make great seats! ) an ‘80s or ‘90s Peavey TKO with a headphone out would serve you well, and that’s just one of the more ubiquitous options among the many perfectly serviceable amps from that time period still floating around.

 

Do it. They may have a combo you can borrow for a few years or some contacts to get one at a reduced cost.