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Small Home Practice Amp recommendations ?
- Thread starter Nick22
- Start date
I live in a neighborhood with a HOA. I use my Mesa D-800 with headphones. It’s a pretty simply setup. I connect my phone to the mesas Aux in and it allows me to jam along to my music library or really anything I can find online as I can play stuff from YouTube and stuff as well. Sometimes Ill grab my fender acoustic bass and sit on the couch and jam along to YouTube videos on my tv.
This is my main amp and the one I was going to suggest. Its been my only amp for the past few years, I love it. It's super light, probably the most portable amp I've seen. I do think it has its own unique tone, and I know some people dont love it; But i personally think it sounds awesome. It gets fairly loud too, you could use it for small coffee house type gigs. I highly recommend it, I think theres a reason it costs what it does. Look for a used one if you wanna save some bucks, its pretty sturdy.
I would say, if the purpose is just practice though a lot of those small amps sound fine and they're a lot cheaper. I like the little hartke kickbacks.
Been using a Rumble 100. Found a good used one, light, enough headroom for small venue if needed.
I've held onto my Roland Cube 20XL for a while now and it's decent for home practice sound. The effects and amp sims are some fun features as well. It's somewhere around half price of that MarkBass.
Roland CUBE-20XL Bass 1x8" 20-watt Bass Combo Amp
Roland CUBE-20XL Bass 1x8" 20-watt Bass Combo Amp
The Walkabout isn’t a practice amp - it is a monster tone machine! Honestly, it doesn’t speak with the same authority at home practice levels. Get the gain and volume juiced and it’s a little power house.
I’ve got a little Roland bass cube 100 that I like real well, don’t really use it anymore because I live in apartments and don’t really wanna bother anybody. So I got a little vox headphone bass amp and a good set of headphones, that combined with any type Of music player with some good backing tracks, and the practice just don’t get any better!
Koy
Koy
I just picked up an Acoustic B100C and it sounds much better than the Rumble 100 it is now replacing. Only $300. Review here.
However, might be too big for you--they are bigger and heavier than the Rumbles.
If the smaller Acoustic combos sound like this, though, I'd look into one of those. (B50C and B25C).
However, might be too big for you--they are bigger and heavier than the Rumbles.
If the smaller Acoustic combos sound like this, though, I'd look into one of those. (B50C and B25C).
Older Fender Rumble 15. Perfect for the bedroom and plenty loud for home practice. Cheap as well. I think I paid 45 bucks for it 6 years ago. Custom bottle opener was my own doing.
JeezyMcNuggles
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- Feb 23, 2018
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BA110 ain't bad. I'd go for the 112 If you could afford it. The peavey and fender 110 combos are nice too. Maybe even nicer. The Ampeg's the cheapest though.
The Fender Rumble 100. A 12" Eminence speaker, headphone jack, weighs in at 22 pounds, 100 watts, and has an onboard EQ for tuning in a fine sound. My Epi EB-0 sounds great through it as well.
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Second this suggestion. Sounds great and has headphone out and Aux in. Can’t beat it for the price.
This amp punches way out of its price range and sound quality. Somehow sounds like an ampeg.
Only downside is it's heavy as crap
IMO, stay at home practice amps aren't worth investing much money into. My Rumble 15w has been with me for 7 years or more.. I've left it out in the rain overnight on accident and it still works like a charm.. it does what I need it to do, lets me practice my dynamics and technique and lets me know if I need to adjust something in that regard, or even if something's wrong with the setup of my bass.
Sure, it doesn't sound as yummy as my WD-800 through my 4x10 that lives at my drummer's house currently. But there are still situations where I'd choose the Rumble 15w at home even if my gigworthy rig was here.
If my Rumble 15 died.. I'd replace it with another inexpensive amp capable of comfortable at home volumes. It's not like I'm competing with a drummer or performing in a large room.
But that's me.. personally, I don't need perfection out of a practice amp.. I just need it to hear my amplified signal. And frankly, with a cheap kickdrum mic paired with an sm57, my little Rumble 15 has pleasantly surprised me with home recordings.
Some people want a little more beef for home practice, and there's nothing wrong with that.. but there's nothing wrong with spending a hundred bucks or less on a practice amp either.. either way.. I'm always glad to have it.. lugging my 4x10 around every week would be a pita, and it keeps me smiling whenever I do plug into the big boy.
Sure, it doesn't sound as yummy as my WD-800 through my 4x10 that lives at my drummer's house currently. But there are still situations where I'd choose the Rumble 15w at home even if my gigworthy rig was here.
If my Rumble 15 died.. I'd replace it with another inexpensive amp capable of comfortable at home volumes. It's not like I'm competing with a drummer or performing in a large room.
But that's me.. personally, I don't need perfection out of a practice amp.. I just need it to hear my amplified signal. And frankly, with a cheap kickdrum mic paired with an sm57, my little Rumble 15 has pleasantly surprised me with home recordings.
Some people want a little more beef for home practice, and there's nothing wrong with that.. but there's nothing wrong with spending a hundred bucks or less on a practice amp either.. either way.. I'm always glad to have it.. lugging my 4x10 around every week would be a pita, and it keeps me smiling whenever I do plug into the big boy.
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Sorry, curveball and maybe more than you want to spend...
I like using this with over the ear headphones. Sounds better than most small amps IMO. And I can blend in music from an iPad or stereo real easy and when I play a part of a song 100 times to get it down my family doesn’t suffer.
TC Electronic SpectraDrive Bass Preamp/Overdrive Pedal
I like using this with over the ear headphones. Sounds better than most small amps IMO. And I can blend in music from an iPad or stereo real easy and when I play a part of a song 100 times to get it down my family doesn’t suffer.
TC Electronic SpectraDrive Bass Preamp/Overdrive Pedal
