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Practice amps: What's your choice?

What would you recommend for practice at home for me?

  • Get a little $100-$150 practice amp and call it a day.

    Votes: 75 51.0%

  • Oh, just MAKE 'EM FEEL THE THUNDER and use the rig.

    Votes: 49 33.3%

  • Just order a pizza. (A little homage to the AGF.)

    Votes: 17 11.6%

  • Pack it in and go back to playing guitar primarily.

    Votes: 6 4.1%
  • Total voters
    147
H

HereIGoAgain

Guest
Oct 16, 2011
300
11
#1
My application recently changed. I bough a 200W head w/ 1x15 roomy cab for the application. For a number of reasons, I've begun to either go direct or just use my SS head w/ only the XLR out. My cab's at home.

During this time, I've had no "practice amp." I'm kicking around ideas, and I'd like to know what you guys think.

I could get a little amp and not have all the bells and whistles, or I could just use my 200-watter and attempt to run at low volumes. (Although it sounds best with the pre-gain at 10:00 and the master at 2:00.) I'm also looking for something I can play late at night when everyone else is asleep.

Please advise.
 
#2
find the cheapest one you can on Craigslist. I got that amp to learn bass on because my friends let me borrow their huge bass rig when I would play with them. four months later I've bought a rig of my own and really only play it a) with the band at practice hopefully soon to be shows. b) when I'm dialing in my eq. the ol ibenez 12w really gets the brunt of my use, expecially when I burn the midnight oil.
 
#3
free_Bassd said:
find the cheapest one you can on Craigslist. I got that amp to learn bass on because my friends let me borrow their huge bass rig when I would play with them. four months later I've bought a rig of my own and really only play it a) with the band at practice hopefully soon to be shows. b) when I'm dialing in my eq. the ol ibenez 12w really gets the brunt of my use, expecially when I burn the midnight oil.
Click to expand...

I agree. Plus something with a headphone jack for your late night work. I have a couple of amps I can gig with but I practice at home with a 10 watt guitar amp (6" speaker) most of the time. Works great.

The only problem with it is that it's so small sometimes I can't find it.
 
#4
I see you belong to the Acoustic Club. I have an Acoustic B100 that I paid $110 for on Craigslist that can't be beat for a bedroom amp and it is sure powerful enough for a small to medium gig. I have used it one time already in a band situation and I was really amazed. Acoustic and Ampeg both have great little amps also. My Ampeg PF500 has a great headphone output and you can run it without a speaker being plugged in. Gotta agree with free_Bassd; keep an eye on Craigslist.
 
#5
i actually practice through my focusrite scarlet 2i2 most of the time and just use headphones. I rarely ever (actually never) plug into any amp at home. I use a 1967 b15n for smaller thursday pub gigs (love the tone) I have a glockenklang at the practice space and I use a tecamp puma 500 210 combo for friday saturday gigs. for original gigs i'll use any amp depending on the vibe but my favorite for rock is a traynor yba-3 125 watt all tube.

if I had to get one amp for home use and studio sessions it would be the Phil Jones briefcase without question. great sound quality preamp DI headphones portable affordable etc... great little amp. pure solid tone. budget solution it would be a yorkville 50 watter 1x10. nice tone they can be picked up used for less than 100 arround here.
 
#7
droskobass said:
Carl Martin Rock Bug is also a cool headphones solution with a line in and great sounding cabinet emulation. i take this one to the park and prcatice with my iphone all the time. super fun to play outside
Click to expand...

this is the greatest thing I've ever seen. I'm going to be that weird kid playing an electric bass with no amp in the quad lol. does it matter that it is designed for guitar and not bass?
 
#9
Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 10T

Great tone, headphone and auxillary input, the head is removeable to use with another cabinet if you wish. You can also use the head (with headphones), on its own without the cab. Under 20 lbs :cool:

Or ... buy a larger Shuttle 6.2 12T. Same idea as the 10 but very giggable.

You can add extension cabs to both of the above.

I have three Genz Benz heads and love'em all.
 
#10
I use a 4 channel Mackie mixer with headphones. That allows me to plug in other things like iPod, metronome, etc, and control the volume. You'd also be surprised how useful a little mixer can be - I use it when teaching to plug the student's and my bass into one amp and control our volumes. I've also used it when recording - especially recording drums to give me more channels / flexibility.
 
#11
MostlyBass said:
I use a 4 channel Mackie mixer with headphones. That allows me to plug in other things like iPod, metronome, etc, and control the volume. You'd also be surprised how useful a little mixer can be - I use it when teaching to plug the student's and my bass into one amp and control our volumes. I've also used it when recording - especially recording drums to give me more channels / flexibility.
Click to expand...

+1

... and can turn a good amp/cab into a mini pa
 
#15
At home I plug most of the time into my Alesis mixer/usb 8-track sound interface connected to studio monitors (and headphones). Having the same setup for listening, practicing, recording and mixing is great: nothing to move or reconnect, stable and predictable sound.
 
#18
Roland bass cube used for $150. Aux in, headphones, effects, amp/cab sim, drum machine. Not real loud but sounds decent. Will also run on batteries so you can take it outside with acoustic guitars. Runs several hours on 6 AA's.
 
#20
While you do not necessarily need to set up a full stage rig, it is important to have a good sounding practice amp.

Using cheapest you can find as a criteria is ridiculous.

Presumably, we are working on our tone when we practice. You can not work on tone if the best you can get out of your amp is thin and nasty. I am fortunate enough to have a smoking practice amp. If I did not have that, I would set up my stage gear and use that.

Practice as you play, play as you practice! In other words, you should working on making a beautiful tone.... every time you pick up the instrument. Impossible if the amp sounds like ass.
 

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