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Small Practice Amp?

#5
rzinszer said:
I just purchased a Peavey Cirrus 5 to start playing the Bass and I need Opinions on a good small practice amp I can set up insde the house.
:hyper:
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Dang! Nice starter bass! :cool:

btw while not an amp, you also might want to check out the Tascam bass trainer.
It's like a CD player that is also a headpone amp with alot of cool features, tuner,metronome,effects etc.... That way you can practice though headphones along with CDs and not disturb the neighbors, or your family, or even the family pet!Just a thought.
 
#11
If a heaphone practice amp is in the consideration, I highly reccommend the Cafe Walter HA-1A headphone amp. Besides being the bomb for practicing without bother anybody else, I find it to be one of the best headphone amps out there, especially for the money. Please note this thing has no tone controls, so what you play is what you here. I'll NEVER get rid of mine!!!
 
#12
I was basically in the same boat only two weeks ago. New Bass ( 08 Fender American Standard Jazz purchased right here from a fellow TB'er). So I read too many threads to count on the subject and had some good ideas. I then went to several music stores and played through various amps (I was looking to keep it under $300 for a practice amp) and ended up with a Line 6 Studio 110. Small and light enough to cart around the house, yet loud enough for small jams.

Do I have a good enough ear to know what tone I want in a bass amp? NO!! I'm just starting out, so I picked what sounded good to me at this point in time.
It has a few different amp models (check Line 6 site for details) with no effects so it's good enough to get me going and cheap enough to keep for the long run.

FWIW, I did plug into more expensive amps like the Markbass 121p shown above and they sounded great. I just figured that I really don't know what I want so I'm not going to spend $800+ until I have more experience.

Hope this helps!!!
 
#13
I have a BA112 and find it to be a fine practice amp. It is not the smallest box around, so you need a bit more room than some of the others. It is enough power to practice with if you don't have a heavy hitter drummer or guitar player that thinks amps should only run at 11 on the volume knob. If it only had a DI I probably would not own anything else. The GK Backline 110 is very small for a 70Watt amp if you like that tone, and GC has them cheap. The Line 6's sound remarkably good to me, including the el cheapo LD15, but the control scheme is pretty odd.
 
#15
BA112 is fine, but if you can afford it, the Shuttle 3.0 8T is a better option IMO because later you can get a larger cabinet and the head will be powerful enough to easily get over a drummer and do a moderate sized bar gig without PA support. It's also much smaller, lighter and (IMO) more toneful and versatile than the BA112. Pluss the aux in on the Shuttle is 1/8" jack, not a pair of RCA (which my old BA112 had-not sure about the new ones). It also has a mute switch and speakon out, which the BA 112 lacks. It's also quieter and way more powerful. There's one available used at bassnw.com (not mine-I'm keeping mine for sure).
 
#16
htharp said:
I have a BA112 and find it to be a fine practice amp. It is not the smallest box around, so you need a bit more room than some of the others. It is enough power to practice with if you don't have a heavy hitter drummer or guitar player that thinks amps should only run at 11 on the volume knob. If it only had a DI I probably would not own anything else. The GK Backline 110 is very small for a 70Watt amp if you like that tone, and GC has them cheap. The Line 6's sound remarkably good to me, including the el cheapo LD15, but the control scheme is pretty odd.
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+1




70 watts for a nice price, few or none can beat that.
 
#19
acbert said:
I was basically in the same boat only two weeks ago. New Bass ( 08 Fender American Standard Jazz purchased right here from a fellow TB'er). So I read too many threads to count on the subject and had some good ideas. I then went to several music stores and played through various amps (I was looking to keep it under $300 for a practice amp) and ended up with a Line 6 Studio 110. Small and light enough to cart around the house, yet loud enough for small jams.

Do I have a good enough ear to know what tone I want in a bass amp? NO!! I'm just starting out, so I picked what sounded good to me at this point in time.
It has a few different amp models (check Line 6 site for details) with no effects so it's good enough to get me going and cheap enough to keep for the long run.

Hope this helps!!!
Click to expand...

+1 on the Line 6 Studio 110. I got one of these to start out on. I've used it in coffee houses and loaned it to another bass player who used it at the theater I volunteer at. He had to use the DI to plug it into the PA system. It sounded pretty good.

I really gotta get off this computer so I can get my skills together to sound that good.:D
 
#20
HA1200 Hartke Kickback combo amp with 1-10" speaker and 120 watts solid state.

Perfect practice amp. Good tone, correct volume, small size, not too heavy. It's shape allows you to angle it back to point the sound waves toward your head so you don't rattle the neighbors.

....and it has a line out, so it is also a good stage monitor when you're entire band is playing through a board into the mains.

:)
Dr2Kitties
 

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