Practice amp for ~$100

[sound2man]

Greetings All!

I am in the market for a smallish practice amp, mostly for livingroom gigs with my friends. Will be playing a 4 string bass - probably a turser beatle bass, or archtop - my friend generally play acoustic instuments, so I won't neet too much power.

I am thinking about getting either a TURSER CLASSIC 30B (because they look so good) or a Behringer Thunderbird BX108 (because it's so cheap) or a Behringer's Ultrabass BXL450A (because it looks so practical).

I haven't heard enough amps to really be able to tell if it's got good tone or not - my area of expertice is more in PA speakers. If you have any better suggestions, please bring them on.

 

[nemo]

The used Roland Bass Cube 30. The price will probably be a bit more than $100, but IMO totally worth it.
Very happy user here, big clean sound, small size, even amp modeling, compressor and effects, headphone out.
Big clean, quality sound, you would think it is 100W, not 30W. For coffeehouses or rehearsals without drums it is more than enough.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Roland-Cube30-Bass-Combo-1X10-Amp?sku=480178&src=3SOSWXXA

 

[jumbosilverette]

Peavey Microbass is good but not on ebay at the moment. This newer Peavey would also be good Invalid Link Removed
While I agree the Behringer Thunderbird is cool looking it's a little anemic sounding.

 

[sound2man]

The used Roland Bass Cube 30. The price will probably be a bit more than $100, but IMO totally worth it.
Very happy user here, big clean sound, small size, even amp modeling, compressor and effects, headphone out.
Big clean, quality sound, you would think it is 100W, not 30W. For coffeehouses or rehearsals without drums it is more than enough.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Roland-Cube30-Bass-Combo-1X10-Amp?sku=480178&src=3SOSWXXA

going for about $120 used, so not bad. Will definatly consider.

I do have some reservations with roland though - a buddy of mine has a small guitar amp from them. For some odd reason roland decided to throw 4x4" speakers into the cab of the thing instead of one 8". Ot sound terrible. That is a guitar amp, so a completly different story.

 

[sound2man]

Peavey Microbass is good but not on ebay at the moment. This newer Peavey would also be good Invalid Link Removed
While I agree the Behringer Thunderbird is cool looking it's a little anemic sounding.

The t-bird does look neat, but have you seen the turser? http://tinyurl.com/ymye37 Really neat. I can't seem to find anyone that has heard it though. If it sounds half as good as it looks, my shopping would be done. They genarally go for around $150.

I shall look into the peavey amp you suggest - the big pluss is that there is no fuss and bother as to getting it. I have yet to find a good turser dealer. I tried Link Removed, but they don't know what the term "customer service" means. Never dealt with a dealer that rude . May have had a bad day though.

 

[AudioOUTRAGE]

The used Roland Bass Cube 30. The price will probably be a bit more than $100, but IMO totally worth it.
Very happy user here, big clean sound, small size, even amp modeling, compressor and effects, headphone out.
Big clean, quality sound, you would think it is 100W, not 30W. For coffeehouses or rehearsals without drums it is more than enough.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Roland-Cube30-Bass-Combo-1X10-Amp?sku=480178&src=3SOSWXXA

roland cubes are amazing. theyre small, relatively price friendly, and still comes with nice sound! (also some effects with it!)

 

[jumbosilverette]

The t-bird does look neat, but have you seen the turser? http://tinyurl.com/ymye37 Really neat. I can't seem to find anyone that has heard it though. If it sounds half as good as it looks, my shopping would be done. They genarally go for around $150.

I shall look into the peavey amp you suggest - the big pluss is that there is no fuss and bother as to getting it. I have yet to find a good turser dealer. I tried Link Removed, but they don't know what the term "customer service" means. Never dealt with a dealer that rude . May have had a bad day though.

Yes, I can see why you would like it -- it looks great. And I actually have seen one of these, though I don't remember where. The Peavey certainly doesn't have the looks of the Turser but it's a solid sounding amp which will do well for you in your given enviroment. If you really like the vintage-looking amps -- which you obviously do -- buy the Peavey for now and save some money for this. http://cgi.ebay.com/Ampeg-ROCKET-BA...yZ121156QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Not only does it look great but it sounds good too. Ampegs makes a 50watt version of this which is also sweet, less expensive too. Good luck.