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Practice Amps

D

Din

Mar 28, 2004
3
0
42
Newcastle, England
#1
I am planning on buying a new bass amp for practicing in my room. I currently have a crappy 10 watt amp and I want a new one. So what do you people recommend? What watt is best?

I was thinking of getting a Hartke 35 watt amp but I'm not sure if I want to pay £189. I am prepared to pay it but I am just wondering if there are any other good quality amps that I should consider before parting with my hard earned cash!

Thanks.
 
#5
Din said:
I am planning on buying a new bass amp for practicing in my room. I currently have a crappy 10 watt amp and I want a new one. So what do you people recommend? What watt is best?

I was thinking of getting a Hartke 35 watt amp but I'm not sure if I want to pay £189. I am prepared to pay it but I am just wondering if there are any other good quality amps that I should consider before parting with my hard earned cash!

Thanks.
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Welcome to the forum!


Just a thought, but I am a huge fan of Ashdown amps, and have noticed that the newest incarnation of the Electric Blue amps is available from Nevada music in the UK pretty cheap.


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If you can go a bit extra on your £189 budget, this would be well worth the investment IMHO!

I myself have on of the earlier Electric Blue 130 amps (15" speaker) and paid much more than that for it!

Happy hunting!
 
#6
I have to agree. The Cubes are insane. They have great sound and make a lot of noise for it's size.

I personally have had a 30 watt Hartke with a basic 3 knob EQ, passive and active jack. I've had it for years now. It's honestly not bad. Hartke isn't on the top of my list when it comes to amps as I got more mature as a player, but for what I paid, it wasn't a bad deal. Actually.... I can't remember what I paid. Actually.... I think I might have gotten ripped off...

Is that why I don't go to that store anymore.... <shrug>

Yep, so make that 2 votes for the Roland cube.
 
#7
I don't know the current Cubes. I played with one of the older incarnation and it was good. I doubt they have gone downhill.

I just had to make my traditional statement to anyone looking for a small amp: Gallien-Krueger MB150!

They go fairly cheap used. They have a good sound. They are wonderful. What are you waiting for? pant pant pant Okay I'm better now.

I have seen them go for about $200 used.(That was a steal. They are usually higher but still reasonable.) I bought mine to be a practice amp, to play at home by myself, or while composing with the guitarist and keyboardist of my old band. I have ended up taking it out to recording sessions, low volume gigs, party jam sessions, several playing environments where my large rig didn't look like a good idea to me. I can get several good useful sounds out of it. And it sounds even better if I patch in an extension cabinet.

Basically it starts as a practice amp and can grow from there. Get one. I just had to say it.
 
#8
I just picked up a Behringer BX300 for $200 (Australian, roughly 82 quid) new and not "on sale". Bought it to use a practice amp, and to accompany a friend who sings and plays an acoustic geetar, unamplified. Plenty of volume, nice tone, looks well made and is easy enough to carry in one hand with a bass in the other.

For the money, it's a huge steal.
 
#12
Bard2dbone said:
I don't know the current Cubes. I played with one of the older incarnation and it was good. I doubt they have gone downhill.

I just had to make my traditional statement to anyone looking for a small amp: Gallien-Krueger MB150!

They go fairly cheap used. They have a good sound. They are wonderful. What are you waiting for? pant pant pant Okay I'm better now.

I have seen them go for about $200 used.(That was a steal. They are usually higher but still reasonable.) I bought mine to be a practice amp, to play at home by myself, or while composing with the guitarist and keyboardist of my old band. I have ended up taking it out to recording sessions, low volume gigs, party jam sessions, several playing environments where my large rig didn't look like a good idea to me. I can get several good useful sounds out of it. And it sounds even better if I patch in an extension cabinet.

Basically it starts as a practice amp and can grow from there. Get one. I just had to say it.
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Yep, I have a MB150 and it is very good. It's 100w so you can use it for small jams like Bard says. It's got a real clean transparent sound. VERY sweet for fretless I would add. They're a bit expensive new, but I got it on a trade (pretty good deal...around $350 US).
 
#16
SMASH said:
Welcome to Talkbass. If you try searching on "practice amp" or "practice combo" or "small combo" you'll get more than enough info and reviews of amps that will suit your needs. Quicker than waiting for responses.

IMO, nothing in the < 100 watt range will beat a Roland Bass Cube 30. Sounds fantastic, has some great classic amp modelling on board, as well as decent sounding effects, and more.
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I completely agree! I just picked up a Cube 30, and it is by far the best sounding practice amp I have played. You could easily use it for small Jazz gigs too.
 

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