testing small amps at music stores

[Davbassdude]

I recently found a Hartke Ha-120 at a pawn shop for $130. If it's still there, I might pick it up this week. I have a (very reasonable priced) Crate KX-15 keyboard amp I received a few years ago, which works as a home practice amp, but is insufficient for playing with others. I don't like taking my ancient Ampeg B18 Portaflex amp out of the house anymore, because I don't want to have to replace anymore tubes!!

 

[fhm555]

Just buy new based on reviews. If it aucks at home, return it and try again.

 

[Razman]

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

I think @pcake wanted a small combo for home practice, and while I agree that a Henry would make an excellent home practice rig, it's not a combo, nor is it small. YMMV

I always ask for a private room at GC.

Perhaps they would let you use it to try a bass amp in there? That's an idea...

I recently found a Hartke Ha-120 at a pawn shop for $130. If it's still there, I might pick it up this week. I have a (very reasonable priced) Crate KX-15 keyboard amp I received a few years ago, which works as a home practice amp, but is insufficient for playing with others. I don't like taking my ancient Ampeg B18 Portaflex amp out of the house anymore, because I don't want to have to replace anymore tubes!!

One of my hobbies is searching for gear at pawn shops. On rare occasion I get a dud, but the majority (>90%) have been diamonds in the rough.

A local music store had a sale a few years ago - basically, they were giving away small practice amps if you bought at least two packs of strings. You know, those little 10 watt Fenders and such with the 4/5/6" speakers in them.

I picked one up when I got some strings one day; tried them all out with my bass, and the best sounding one was an Ibanez 'acoustic' amp. To my surprise it was much fuller sounding than this little Peavey bass amp next to it, and it even had a built-in chorus. I used headphones with it frequently until it died, but while it worked it sounded great.

If you look through my postings you'll see where I'm singing the praise of a Fender Bassman 400 combo I just acquired; while it isn't small, it sounds incredible at any volume.

Dang - with 3000 items on your CL out there, there's got to be something that can work for you for cheap. Good luck!

Raz

 

[byacey]

Maybe you're looking at this all from the wrong perspective. How often do you have an acoustically ideal performance venue or practice space? I would guess seldom, or ever.

Try various amps and see how good you can get them to sound by adjusting the EQ to accommodate the deficiencies of the room. If you can dial in a pleasing setting, or at least one that works under less than ideal conditions, it should be absolutely great under more ideal acoustic conditions.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

Do they still have those?

 

[retslock]

I just bought a small practice combo last month, so I feel my input might be of some value to you.
I walked into the local Guitar Barn here, through the mass of shredding and slapping wannabes. I made it to the corner where the bass gear is and and looked over the offerings. I asked what the return policy was and was told 30 days. I grabbed a Fender Rumble 40, paid, and left. Once I got home I plugged it in and played for a while in the music room. Sounded great, so I kept it. FWIW: a pretty nice little amp for the money, it was on sale for under $200 and is light as a feather.

Yeah the small Rumbles sound pretty damn good to my ears. I tried one of the newer ones in a store and wished I hadn’t spent my hard earned on the old model 350 combo that sounds ok but has been a bit troublesome with fluctuating volume and weird resonances from the cab.

 

[zZippy]

so i'm wondering how you choose a combo or amp and cab

I shop at a local mom&pop store instead of the behemoth stores and get more personalized service.

 

[mikewalker]

I tried to love them, but small amps just don't do it for me... I have a 250W 3-10 stack in my bedroom, with master volume between 2 and 4 - depending on the weather

 

[iagtrplyr]

So many awesome pieces of advice that if you don't find a way to audition an amp then it's a sad day in LA. That being said, going to one of the Big Boxes and buying a combo that is praised here on TB is a pretty safe bet, like the Rumble 40, for example. If you don't like it then return and grab the 100 (my personal fave Rumbler) and so on. Once you're up to the Stage 800 that's as good as it'll get. Don't like that, take up golf.

Or, pcake, you could roll the dice and pre-order the brand-new Rumble LT25. MF/GC is selling it for $179, as it should be the perfect combo for anyone interested in home practice use. Check it out. It'll be here in a few weeks, but if you can't wait then take any one of the ideas given and practice at the perfect volume with your new amp.

Finally, after your purchase, take a pic of it and find the Combo Club here on TB. We'll give ya a membership number, secret decoder ring, and fall all over your combo. It's a fun club with great insight. Good luck!

 

[IamGroot]

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 counter your counter with my preferred practice amp...a Crate 15 watt guitar amp, possibly one of the crappiest sounding amps in the universe. If you can make that sound good , any real bass amp is a breeze. Also, it stands out against the music like pickle juice. Useful when you are transcribing.

 

[IamGroot]

I drag basses and gear into the GC boutique sound isolated room if I am serious.

I also bring my basses when I am serious about amps.

 

[MynameisMe]

I bought the small Ampeg practice amp GC offered because my gig amp is a Rumble 200 and I wanted something different. Wish I had bought the Rumble 40. The Ampeg is constantly clipping the speaker at any medium volume. Buy a Rumble or a different one. Our local GC always has some used ones with a bigger speaker abs that seems to work better for me. Also GC has a 45 day return policy. Wish I had brought the Ampeg back... ymmv.

 

[Ethereal Thorn]

Save some more scratch get a gk mb fusion head or a trace elliot elf and small cab for practice. My solution was getting a preamp pedal and using headphones / in ear monitors bonus is its uber affordable and doubles as my gigging rig too so I get the same sound no matter what I'm doing including going direct to foh.

 

[Andy Daventry]

There's a limited number of low budget small practice amps out there. Fender's good. GK's good. Ampeg's good. Ampeg's heavy, so scrap that. That leaves you GK and Fender. If you like trad, go Fender. If you like more modern go GK.

Problem solved.

 

[CallMeAl]

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!

Last 3 Amps I've been happy with:
Rumble 100, bought it blind on a recommendation from my guitar player.
Vox amplug, bought blind on customer reviews.
Ampeg BA 108, bought at a little family music store. Ya know, the kind that sells trombones. Very civilized.

Have you tried smaller stores? I get the appeal of the big inventory of the box stores, but I prefer the smaller shops for really spending time with items.

But it really sounds like you want something very specific to tickle your fancy, and you wont really know till you get it home. Use that return policy!

 

[DirkP]

have you played any in the bass room at west l.a. GC lately?



i don't keep them that close to my ears or pain. i usually keep my cab 2 feet below and to the side when sitting. if i'm playing louder than 1 am volume, i need it further away. i did try to A/B the rumble 25 and 40 at GC hollywood at ear level due to room noise, and ended up with ear pain and more sensitivity for a couple weeks.

the fun never stops.

This is only to test the sound of the speaker relatively independant from room accoustics. It is rarely mentioned but speaker cabinets are as sensitive to room accoustics as other speakers are.

 

[nilorius]

Test one and quest further.

 

[spvmhc]

I find that it helps to arrive at the store when it opens for the day and their aren’t a lot of distractions such as people making noise.

I appreciated beans-on-toast contributing a helpful suggestion. Let me add that going to a store during the week, when teens are presumably in school, is another way of increasing your chances of having a listenable environment. That said, we all know that it only takes one power-crazed player to ruin the sonic landscape.

 

[el murdoque]

I once tested amp heads in a store and the guy behind the counter literally told me to go home, hop online and order that amp from their website instead of buying it right now. He said that testing in a music store can only give you a rough estimate and will not tell you how it'll sound in band context. He knows me and knows that I live a two hours' drive away so he recommended buying online for the easier return policy.

The only amp heads I bought with some risk attached were an Aguilar TH500 which I could not try beforehand but got so cheap that I just had to buy it and an Ampeg PF-50T where I already had a rough Idea of the sound because I owned a 20T before.
All other amp heads I owned were bought second hand at a price that allowed me to test them and sell them off without loss in the case that we don't get to be friends.

I think that a shop gives you the opportunity to twiddle with the knobs and get a rough feel for the amp - which is better than looking at pictures online and listen to compressed youtube videos. You get a feel for the quality and you get to try it out in a bad room, which can tell you a lot about the character and how the knobs work.
The real testing, however, is done where the amp is meant to be used. A bedroom amp is fairly easy since it only requires you and your bedroom. A stadium rig is a bit harder when you don't have a couple of stadium gigs scheduled for the next few weekends.



On cabinets I was forced to take a lot more risk - luckily, it all played out for me. When I wanted a 412 setup a couple of years ago, I had to have them ordered and wait a long time, because that particular version of 8 ohm 212 was more or less not available in Germany.
The next cab I bought was a barefaced one10, again without any chance of testing.
When I switched to barefaced 12" drivers, I kept my old cabs because of another shot in the dark being committed here - but I was lucky that they more or less met my expectations full on.

 

[GwenOnBass]

... just buy the Double Four ...