testing small amps at music stores

[jam.majors]

Just buy something @Dark Horse designed and you'll be good to go.

 

[Fender_Bender]

I’d be mighty tempted by one of the sub 100 watt rumbles. Cheap, light, good reviews. I don’t think you’d get substantially better tone without spending 3-4x the $$. Just make sure what you buy has a headphone jack etc (whatever is a must have for you).

 

[2strings2frets]

so i'm still on the lookout for a small, lower priced combo. the problem is that our local stores seem to be set up to make sure everything sounds its worst or at least nothing like it will sound played at home or anywhere else.

the bass room at west l.a. guitar center, which is our closest store, has amazing properties to make almost everything sound like mud. amps i'm familiar with sound 50% worse, amps i'm not as familiar with i can't get familiar due to the poor room acoustics. the only combo that sounds good there to me is the TC BG250 2x8, and it's above my budget; besides, i know that not one amp there sounds the way it will sound either at other stores OR where i play.

hollywood guitar center, with their crappy new layout, always has guitar players pounding away, and it's worse than before. the only way to hear an amp is to put it at ear level, and last time i did that, i ended up with ear pain for a couple weeks. hollywood sam ash's open room seems to suck up the sound, and at ear level without turning way up makes everything sound better than it sounds where i use them; torrance sam ash has a huge open room with a high ceiling, guaranteed to give no idea of how things will sound unless you play in a huge open room with a high ceiling.

and so it goes. we live by 7 guitar centers and 3 sam ash stores, and not one of them is going to give a decent idea of how amps sound.

so i'm wondering how you choose a combo or amp and cab when you know that what you hear at the store isn't the sound you'll hear from the combo or amp once you play it anywhere else. is it the luck of the draw? do you figure you can always return it? inquiring minds want to know!

I am not that picky about a practice amp,I read reviews. After ranking them I will try to play some of my choices,Larger speaker is a plus,size,weight,ease of control use and where it will be stored and used. Power is not a factor as 10 watts will fill a small room so more is optional but not a deal breaker. I have an acoustic B 15 with a 10” driver that I have to be careful of the volume because it will rattle the livening room picture window. That is a $79.00 amp that could break a $600.00 window. I also have a max126 with a 6.5” driver that I use a lot because of the window problem,it won’t break glass but I can hear it just fine. Enjoy the day!

 

[BigBear77]

Order and ship to the house from Guitar Center. You can test out in the environment you’ll be using the amp in. Don’t like it just drop it off at the nearest GC.

 

[tjh]

I will counter that with- Use your best rig, with angelic tone, and Godlike frequency response at home, cause you will spent 200x more time practicing than on stage, and life is far too short for crappy tone.

… I am definitely more thinking on the line of the JGBassman approach … when it comes to at home practice amps, the last thing I want is a nice, deep, rich tone … but that doesn't mean it has to be 'crappy' tone … set it flat and work for audible clarity at all times ...

I have gone through probably half dozen small at home practice units over the years, and some have sounded incredible, with deep/rich tone at low volumes .. problem I have learned, is that it also hid a lot of little flaws in my playing, little nuances that I should be correcting during the time I spent woodshedding at home … I prefer a nice clear, fundamental in my home practice gear, not something 'full, deep and round' … playing low volumes, often times along with YouTube or recorded music, it is far too easy 'blend in' and not hear clearly what you are playing … yes, it does sound great, but then I step out at stage volume in a live setting, and I find little fretting or muting issues that I should have noticed, and been addressing before I hit the stage …

I guess it depends what you are after, I want my home practice amplification to be the most exposing of my playing flaws as possible, nobody is there to hear it but me anyhow, that's the time to fix things ...

 

[Michedelic]

so i'm still on the lookout for a small, lower priced combo. the problem is that our local stores seem to be set up to make sure everything sounds its worst or at least nothing like it will sound played at home or anywhere else.

the bass room at west l.a. guitar center, which is our closest store, has amazing properties to make almost everything sound like mud. amps i'm familiar with sound 50% worse, amps i'm not as familiar with i can't get familiar due to the poor room acoustics. the only combo that sounds good there to me is the TC BG250 2x8, and it's above my budget; besides, i know that not one amp there sounds the way it will sound either at other stores OR where i play.

hollywood guitar center, with their crappy new layout, always has guitar players pounding away, and it's worse than before. the only way to hear an amp is to put it at ear level, and last time i did that, i ended up with ear pain for a couple weeks. hollywood sam ash's open room seems to suck up the sound, and at ear level without turning way up makes everything sound better than it sounds where i use them; torrance sam ash has a huge open room with a high ceiling, guaranteed to give no idea of how things will sound unless you play in a huge open room with a high ceiling.

and so it goes. we live by 7 guitar centers and 3 sam ash stores, and not one of them is going to give a decent idea of how amps sound.

so i'm wondering how you choose a combo or amp and cab when you know that what you hear at the store isn't the sound you'll hear from the combo or amp once you play it anywhere else. is it the luck of the draw? do you figure you can always return it? inquiring minds want to know!

Was anything going on across the street at Sam Ash(H’wood)?

 

[Hounddog409]

so i'm still on the lookout for a small, lower priced combo. the problem is that our local stores seem to be set up to make sure everything sounds its worst or at least nothing like it will sound played at home or anywhere else.

the bass room at west l.a. guitar center, which is our closest store, has amazing properties to make almost everything sound like mud. amps i'm familiar with sound 50% worse, amps i'm not as familiar with i can't get familiar due to the poor room acoustics. the only combo that sounds good there to me is the TC BG250 2x8, and it's above my budget; besides, i know that not one amp there sounds the way it will sound either at other stores OR where i play.

hollywood guitar center, with their crappy new layout, always has guitar players pounding away, and it's worse than before. the only way to hear an amp is to put it at ear level, and last time i did that, i ended up with ear pain for a couple weeks. hollywood sam ash's open room seems to suck up the sound, and at ear level without turning way up makes everything sound better than it sounds where i use them; torrance sam ash has a huge open room with a high ceiling, guaranteed to give no idea of how things will sound unless you play in a huge open room with a high ceiling.

and so it goes. we live by 7 guitar centers and 3 sam ash stores, and not one of them is going to give a decent idea of how amps sound.

so i'm wondering how you choose a combo or amp and cab when you know that what you hear at the store isn't the sound you'll hear from the combo or amp once you play it anywhere else. is it the luck of the draw? do you figure you can always return it? inquiring minds want to know!

I'm in much smaller urban area than LA, but I have used a practice room, the acoustic room, and stage in the GC and SamAsh near me.

I just tell the person there I want to buy the amp, but want to hear it better first.

Never had an issue.

 

[JGbassman]

your store experiences sound different than mine. i can't tell if i like the initial tone of an amp in a room that makes even the weakest amp sound boomy or crappy or washes it out or is full of guitar players playing at concert level and usually a bass player or two who are trying to be flea at full volume. even amps i know i like sound really crappy at our local GC and the unique voices are inaudible at other stores. ergo this thread

btw, my favorite "i can't hear anything i'm trying out" experience was at our local store a few months ago. a GC teacher had a guitar player AND a bass player in the bass room, and was teaching them a metal song at 3/4 volume. and believe me, the players needed those lessons

Ugh. That would be so annoying. Yes, I'm pretty lucky regarding music stores and the amount of jammers when I'm looking at gear. most of the time I frequent the guitar center in the town I live in, there are very few playing instruments, if any. Of course I don't have the selection of gear you do in LA, but I also don't have the chaos as well. I can generally dial up a bass or rig easily and get a feel pretty quickly.

 

[pcake]

Just buy something @Dark Horse designed and you'll be good to go.

not in the budget at this point. after i sell my GK, that could change...

I’d be mighty tempted by one of the sub 100 watt rumbles. Cheap, light, good reviews. I don’t think you’d get substantially better tone without spending 3-4x the $$. Just make sure what you buy has a headphone jack etc (whatever is a must have for you).

i am tempted, very tempted. i can't use headphones, btw.

Ugh. That would be so annoying. Yes, I'm pretty lucky regarding music stores and the amount of jammers when I'm looking at gear. most of the time I frequent the guitar center in the town I live in, there are very few playing instruments, if any. Of course I don't have the selection of gear you do in LA, but I also don't have the chaos as well. I can generally dial up a bass or rig easily and get a feel pretty quickly.

we don't have the selection any more. in the last year or so, the powers that be - bain or ares - decided to start removing a lot of stuff and replacing it with acoustic, their own brand. they've also been removing stacks and half stacks and some brands are barely there any longer.

 

[BAG]

we live by 7 guitar centers and 3 sam ash stores, and not one of them is going to give a decent idea of how amps sound.

Dude....stop your whinging! Until recently I had to drive over 2 hours to get to any guitar store. Now I at least have 3 of them within 20mins drive..... but they are small with crap service and very little stock.

 

[JGbassman]

@pcake

Another thought would be the Fender studio 40, with the amp modeling software. I've heard some pretty good reviews, enough I'm interested in the studio series myself.

You might do a little research into them. They seem pretty interesting to me at least.

 

[bassfran]

+1 to showing up soon after they open. Speak with a manager and tell him/her what you're looking for. Ask to demo a couple at bedroom levels in the acoustic guitar room, so's you can actually hear them.

If they decline say "thank you" and try another store. Rinse, repeat as necessary.

(Or, just get a Rumble 40.)

 

[oldskoolskatedad]

i am tempted, very tempted. i can't use headphones, btw.

That's a bummer, I love using headphones

 

[BobDeRosa]

Doesn't GC have a fairly liberal return policy, where you can buy the amp, try it in whatever acoustic environment you'd like, and return it for a full refund if you don't like it? Or did I dream that?

If you have a good business relationship with a small, independent retailer, they're often willing to do the same thing. A couple of my local favorites even allow me to borrow an amp, tray at home or at gigs, and return it when I'm ready.

I would definitely recommend a Rumble 100 v3. For the money, they're unbelievable amps -- loud and light and nice sounding, as long as you're not expecting $1000 worth of sound for $299. I use mine on just about every gig and have never been disappointed.

 

[moogieotter]

The Sam Ash in Torrance had some SWR Henry 8x8’s Last time I was there. Those will always sound clear.

 

[macmanlou]

Musician's Friend has started taking pre-orders for the little new 15 lb Phil Jones 50 watt Micro-7. For $279 it looks very promising. I'm glad to see that it has a Level control for the Aux Input, which is a nice feature on a practice amp. I have the PJB Bass Cub and Double 4. They are great amps.

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[Doublesixes]

One simple suggestion would be to search YouTube for a review of the brand/model you are looking for. It will not provide an exact sample of the sound you may have on your particular environment but at least you may be able to figure out the tone and perhaps other characteristics of the amp in question.

Wattage, volume and power in general would remain basically unknown and you may have to go by the numbers provided by the manufacturer.

 

[fdeck]

I will counter that with- Use your best rig, with angelic tone, and Godlike frequency response at home, cause you will spent 200x more time practicing than on stage, and life is far too short for crappy tone.

+1. That's what convinced me to get a better upright bass than I really "needed" at the time.

 

[TNCreature]

so i'm still on the lookout for a small, lower priced combo. the problem is that our local stores seem to be set up to make sure everything sounds its worst or at least nothing like it will sound played at home or anywhere else.

the bass room at west l.a. guitar center, which is our closest store, has amazing properties to make almost everything sound like mud. amps i'm familiar with sound 50% worse, amps i'm not as familiar with i can't get familiar due to the poor room acoustics. the only combo that sounds good there to me is the TC BG250 2x8, and it's above my budget; besides, i know that not one amp there sounds the way it will sound either at other stores OR where i play.

hollywood guitar center, with their crappy new layout, always has guitar players pounding away, and it's worse than before. the only way to hear an amp is to put it at ear level, and last time i did that, i ended up with ear pain for a couple weeks. hollywood sam ash's open room seems to suck up the sound, and at ear level without turning way up makes everything sound better than it sounds where i use them; torrance sam ash has a huge open room with a high ceiling, guaranteed to give no idea of how things will sound unless you play in a huge open room with a high ceiling.

and so it goes. we live by 7 guitar centers and 3 sam ash stores, and not one of them is going to give a decent idea of how amps sound.

so i'm wondering how you choose a combo or amp and cab when you know that what you hear at the store isn't the sound you'll hear from the combo or amp once you play it anywhere else. is it the luck of the draw? do you figure you can always return it? inquiring minds want to know!

I always ask for a private room at GC.

 

[QweziRider]

inquiring minds want to know!

The last time I bought an amp from GC, I made sure to be there at opening of the doors on a day when kids are in school. I don't know if that's even possible with the mass of population where you are, but it worked like a charm for me (Vegas, at the time). I got to spend an entire hour A/B'ing amps in silence from the rest of the store until I was satisfied with one.