Practice amp suggestions

[Gilmourisgod]

Rumble 25 or 30. Inexpensive, line in, headphone out, half decent built in overdrive, tilt back design. Plenty loud enough for bedroom use. Actually WAY louder than you’d need, my son ran his Rumble 30 in high school jazz band with drummer and horns in church size halls with no lack of volume.

 

[Jared Houseman]

Genzler BA110. Hands down the best small cab I've ever heard.

 

[deepestend]

Honestly, I use a mixer out to powered speakers. I have a drum machine plugged into the mixer as well as my phone to play along with stuff. The mixer also has a USB out to record if I want to. It's not cool, but it is super functional.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

As long as it has a Master Volume knob, any amp can be a practice amp!

With a budget of $1k, I'd seriously just get a micro head (300-500w...you can always turn it down) and a quality 1x12 cab. You'll get even more value going used, but there's a bunch of different configs that would meet your requirements. Again, I wouldn't sweat having "too much" wattage...you can always turn down. I would recommend getting a cab that can handle the amp's output though.

 

[Wesley R]

I used a Genz Benz intro 50, it was not trebly, very clean,but not trebly. Worked great, I miss that amp.

Currently use a Phil Jones micro 7. Very small. The first criteria was the dimensions, not sound. It works well in the living room of our 5th wheel trailer.

 

[jallenbass]

Since you have a pretty good budget I recommend this although I know it has knobs on top. It's so small though I can't image fiddling with knobs on the front of it. The reason I like this amp is not only because of its size but the sound is superior to even the very nice sounding Phil Jones small amps.

The Blu SIX - Henriksen Amplifiers

The Blu amp is a single channel version of our popular amp, The Bud, and weighs in at an astonishing 12 pounds while maintaining 120 watts of incredible headroom to cover almost any gig with all the features you need.

www.henriksenamplifiers.com

 

[EliasA]

Barefaced One10 and Quilter Interbass makes a great sounding practice amp.

This is what I came to say.

 

[gtirard]

Since you have a pretty good budget I recommend this although I know it has knobs on top. It's so small though I can't image fiddling with knobs on the front of it. The reason I like this amp is not only because of its size but the sound is superior to even the very nice sounding Phil Jones small amps.

The Blu SIX - Henriksen Amplifiers

The Blu amp is a single channel version of our popular amp, The Bud, and weighs in at an astonishing 12 pounds while maintaining 120 watts of incredible headroom to cover almost any gig with all the features you need.

www.henriksenamplifiers.com

It seems to be guitar bass amp (not bass)?

 

[bassfran]

For around a grand (if you hunt a little for deals) you could get a Phil Jones Bass Cub Pro and their C2 extension cab. 240w into 4x5” speakers.

Or a head into their C4 cab. I use both/either and love them.

 

[gtirard]

Since you have a pretty good budget I recommend this although I know it has knobs on top. It's so small though I can't image fiddling with knobs on the front of it. The reason I like this amp is not only because of its size but the sound is superior to even the very nice sounding Phil Jones small amps.

The Blu SIX - Henriksen Amplifiers

The Blu amp is a single channel version of our popular amp, The Bud, and weighs in at an astonishing 12 pounds while maintaining 120 watts of incredible headroom to cover almost any gig with all the features you need.

www.henriksenamplifiers.com

Speaking of fancy bass combos, I’ve seen that AER has no less than 3 models at arround 2K!!! I wonder how gooder you can expect a combo to be for that budget? And how big is the market segment to justify for 3 models in that price range???

 

[Adjectives]

I recommend Genzler(Genz Benz) gear all the way; you can find some nice deals on the classifieds here. My opinion of the perfect rig is my Magellan800 and an MG212t. 50lb total, can carry the cab one handed and the amp has a great DI for front of house if you're playing live. Louder than needed(so I bought a second 212 lol). Best of luck in your search! The best all around combo amp I've used is the Ampeg BA210. Can't beat it for versatility and being bulletproof.

 

[David De Vos]

I use a Shuttle 3.0/10 in my living room. It sounds and looks great. Has no fan which is perfect for low volumes or recording. I gig with a 3.0 head into a 2x10 cab. Great little amps

I bought ‘m tonight anyway!
And so far so good.
It is really a good amp.

To me, it takes a 12" speaker to hear bass notes at low volume.

I tried many combos and ended up with an Ampeg RB112.

It has a bit of the Ampeg house sound (vintage, mellow and not trebly), it’s feather light, versatile and affordable.

I use it every time a drummer is not involved and works perfectly with a few acoustic guitars or as a practice amp.

If you need a bit more power and resolution, a GK MB 112 would be great.

Unfortunately, all of these don’t have any knobs in front.

it is due to back problems that I like knobs in front

 

[Topkat13]

GK 110 combo…I have one and it kicks!

 

[Bullitt5135]

I like the tone I get out of my Ampeg Rocket50 a little more than my Fender Rumble 40. Both are perfectly fine for living room practice. If I ever buy anything else for the task, it'll be a vintage Ampeg fliptop.

 

[NickoNickoNicko]

The search for a bass amplifier to my liking continues...
It seems to me the search for the holy grail

That's why I want to listen to your experiences and advices with different types of amplifiers.

What I'm looking for:
- not too big or too heavy, after all it will be in the living room
- should not be able to handle gigwith loud drummers, it will not be a gigging amp
- preferably 110, 112 or 210
- combo or head/cab doesn't matter
- no boxy sounding amplifier
- if possible, with knobs in front
(I know that sound is difficult to describe.)

This week I am going to play Genz-Benz 3.0 10”, but I am allready afraid he will be too trebly…

Anyway, thanks for your advice

I have an EICH BC212 that I use for gigs, but the beautiful thing about it I find is that it sounds really beautiful at even the lowest of volumes. Sometimes the character of amps changes when they're louder or quieter, but I've found mine to be even across the board. Thing is, that's a 2x12... might be a bit hefty. Not in terms of weight necessarily, but a bit big. With that in mind I did the world's smallest amount of digging to find this [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] that I can only assume has the same thing I mentioned about the character going on. Pretty much bang on your budget, and 100% giggable if you end up needing to. My apologies if anyone's already suggested this, I must admit I haven't looked.

 

[Gervais Cote]

GK 110 combo…I have one and it kicks!

Looks interesting size wise and weight wise………….

If I may ask, when you play an open E on it, do you have the full sound or mostly just the upper harmonics ?

 

[jallenbass]

It seems to be guitar bass amp (not bass)?

It works for anything. I've had bass players ask me at gigs if it's plugged into an extension cab. Nope! More clean low-end than one would expect.

 

[Charley Umbria]

Buy a Peavey Basic 40 and you’ll have $900 left for another bass!

 

[BassNugget]

Used Ampeg BA108 v1. Less than $100.00. 25 quite loud watts and an 8 inch speaker. Sounds good with 4 or 5 string. Small form factor as well. Sounds great and you can do coffeeshop type gigs with it if you need.

I love this little amp and enjoy the tone more than my Fender Rumble 100 or Eden/SBS system.