The best mini bass amp.

[ErnieD]

Found mine in its' like new box at a yard sale in Luling Tx last fall while visiting parents. Paid 5 bucks for it, more as a novelty as I did not have a bass or other to run thru it...just thought it was cute.

But once back home, I put in batts, plugged in one of my 5 stringers and it surprised me how well it sounded. Not great at all thru the lil speaker. But the way I've used it a couple times was with good headphones or even earbuds. It works for running thru a tune or two at sit in gigs just to refresh myself of the tunes' bassline right before the gig.

I rarely use the built in speaker as it distorts too easily but sometimes at home in a pinch I'll use it and I can use at least 4 of the 5 strings clearly enough.

 

[bushy]

But aren't these for guitars and not SPECIFIC to bass guitar?

Deleted my prior comment-Try an Orange Micro Crush CR3 or CR6. I have one of the original ones that's 2 watts and it actually puts out some decent low end for its size.

 

[bushy]

Well it's been 6 years since the start of this thread and by now there should be a SPECIFIC mini bass guitar amp that's true to form in being mini (and being under $100). I haven't tried either yet but these 2 seems attractive:

Blackstar fly3 bass amp ($70)

Eden Microtour ($60)

These are like the answer to the Marshall MS-2 guitar amp, but SPECIFIC for bass guitar. Right?

I can't think of anything else that's napsack worthy...

I'm not talking about a 500 watt 4 pounder. I'm not even talking about a 6 watt Roland micro 10 pounder. I'm talking about the almost useless battery powered throw it in your napsack $10 to $40 kind of amp that can't be used for anything much more than hearing yourself... but I want to know which one you can hear yourself best with. Not sure if they even make any of these for bass. Lots of em for guitar. I kinda like this one for it's looks and the fact that it has 2 speakers, but I want to know what you guys know about any and all of these things.

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The goal is to find the smallest, lightest, cheapest amp that will allow me to hear bass notes out of an electric without making it distort like a guitar. Not looking for any that will shake (or even vibrate) the furniture. Just make things audible. Thanks.

Thanks.

 

[micguy]

My smallest rig , which I use for the only gig where I need an amp (I just have to be able to keep up with an acoustic piano) uses a 110 enclosure I built, and a 100 watt head (actually 200 watts, but the speaker is 8 ohms, so it never ends up being used close to its limits). I also bring a spare head. Total weight including both heads is about 45 pounds. The speaker is actually flat down to 40 Hz - sounds great. Any smaller than that, and something suffers sonically, at least the way I look at things.

 

[bushy]

This thread is really about apartment use of a bass amp, not so much getting loud.

My smallest rig , which I use for the only gig where I need an amp (I just have to be able to keep up with an acoustic piano) uses a 110 enclosure I built, and a 100 watt head (actually 200 watts, but the speaker is 8 ohms, so it never ends up being used close to its limits). I also bring a spare head. Total weight including both heads is about 45 pounds. The speaker is actually flat down to 40 Hz - sounds great. Any smaller than that, and something suffers sonically, at least the way I look at things.

 

[micguy]

This thread is really about apartment use of a bass amp, not so much getting loud.

The rig I was talking about won't get loud - it's enough to keep up with an acoustic piano, with some headroom, but not a lot.

 

[bushy]

But it's huge, not napsack worthy.

 

[Joe Nerve]

6 years later, Honeytone sucked, busted after a couple of uses and got thrown away. Best travel/practice bass (and possibly one of my best bass investments ever) is hands down this -

Vox Apache:

And the Blackstar bass amp kicks butt for it's size.

And I bought one of those Vox plug in things too. Used it once, hated it, and don't even know where it is now. I should note that I'm not an earphones guy. Hate playing like that. When I find it, I'll put it in a safe place though cuz I have a feeling it will one day come in handy. If the battery didn't leak.

 

[klejst]

Not sure about the best, but I picked up a Fender Rumble 15 years ago that I would use for practice in my apartment at the time. It was only $30 so hard to bass up, good tone for what it was and got the job done with my fix of being able to play bass in apartment at surprisingly decent volumes of output.

 

[Spectrum]

I almost bought one of those Vox Apaches a while back but I dithered and they discontinued them. Not a big fan of the teardrop shape but despite that the surf green one looked kind of cool and the whole thing looked like a good practice bass for road trips and stuff.

My current favorite small rig is the aforementioned Fender Greta (also sadly discontinued) with an Orange 8" external speaker cab. The little Orange cab is a closed-back guitar cab meant for Orange's Micro Terror line of amps, and it's rated for way more than the Greta's 2W output and sounds great with bass at bedroom levels. Unfortunately the two pieces of gear are a bit cumbersome to transport; I wish there were an equivalent tiny low-wattage tube bass combo with a handle on top for easy carry. But I really love the Greta. Looks cool, and after a re-tube sounds better than it did when it was new, especially through the Orange cab.

 

[cavemanbass]

Well it's been 6 years since the start of this thread and by now there should be a SPECIFIC mini bass guitar amp that's true to form in being mini (and being under $100). I haven't tried either yet but these 2 seems attractive:

Blackstar fly3 bass amp ($70)

Eden Microtour ($60)

These are like the answer to the Marshall MS-2 guitar amp, but SPECIFIC for bass guitar. Right?

I can't think of anything else that's napsack worthy...

Anyone have feedback on either of the above?

I recently bought a Kala bass amp. Two 9v batteries for power, 5” speaker, aux in, headphone out. Unfortunately it’s total crap, distorts and rattles at even the slightest output volume. Also tried a Blackstar guitar mini amp, that was ok. I had hopes for the Kala due to larger speaker compared with Blackstar 3” but was disappointed.

 

[Cazman]

Blackstar Fly Bass works out pretty well for me.

 

[gwangi]

View attachment 2944501 View attachment 2944497 Blackstar Fly Bass works out pretty well for me.

I'm very curious about these, I'd like to get one so I can take it with me when I'm playing in Europe, do you know if it handles a Low B string fairly well or not?

 

[Cazman]

I'm very curious about these, I'd like to get one so I can take it with me when I'm playing in Europe, do you know if it handles a Low B string fairly well or not?

Well I don’t play a 5er but it holds my low E’s just fine, and even sounds fuller when I attach the accompanying extension cab. Both units together don’t take up much space at all.

 

[bushy]

so you have a pair of the Blackstar amp? How do you chain them together? EM. out to mp3 IN? What does the EM stand for in EM. IN?

Well I don’t play a 5er but it holds my low E’s just fine, and even sounds fuller when I attach the accompanying extension cab. Both units together don’t take up much space at all.

 

[2F/2F]

I highly recommend tracking down a Vox Amplug Bass model. It's better sounding than any belt-clip amp, and it makes it so that nobody has to hear you amplified. I love my Twin model for guitar (and with some extreme tonal adjustments, it works fine for bass too).

 

[Cazman]

so you have a pair of the Blackstar amp? How do you chain them together? EM. out to mp3 IN? What does the EM stand for in EM. IN?

Negative. It is an unpowered matching ext cab. Supplied cable for chaining in.

 

[bushy]

I see. I settled with a Blackstar but without the ext cab. It's truly compact than what I was originally considering (Eden Microtour).

Is this usually how chaining is like with those bigger 2x10 cabs (one is unpowered, the other isn't?) or are both usually powered and chained with an instrument cable?

What do you call that cable that chained both your Blackstar amp? Looks like a phone plug or a dial-up cable?

View attachment 2945377
Negative. It is an unpowered matching ext cab. Supplied cable for chaining in.

 

[caledoneus83]

I'm not talking about a 500 watt 4 pounder. I'm not even talking about a 6 watt Roland micro 10 pounder. I'm talking about the almost useless battery powered throw it in your napsack $10 to $40 kind of amp that can't be used for anything much more than hearing yourself... but I want to know which one you can hear yourself best with. Not sure if they even make any of these for bass. Lots of em for guitar. I kinda like this one for it's looks and the fact that it has 2 speakers, but I want to know what you guys know about any and all of these things.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

The goal is to find the smallest, lightest, cheapest amp that will allow me to hear bass notes out of an electric without making it distort like a guitar. Not looking for any that will shake (or even vibrate) the furniture. Just make things audible. Thanks.

Thanks.

THIS qualify? from what I've heard people say, they are actually pretty good for what they are (not something you would gig with except in a super low volume situation) but better than a lot of the other options in that niche (and designed for bass rather than for guitar)

 

[Joe Nerve]

THIS qualify? from what I've heard people say, they are actually pretty good for what they are (not something you would gig with except in a super low volume situation) but better than a lot of the other options in that niche (and designed for bass rather than for guitar)

See post 28 .