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Trying to decide Hartke or Fender

#21
i have the ba112, it works well as a modest volume amp. It works as a church amp, with no crunchy guitars or a banging drummer. What type of musicians you'll be playing with dictates a lot here. I am not an ampeg guy normally, but this is one area where they're a decent choice. Carvin has great bang for the buck as well.
 
#23
Lots of good suggestions, and the Hartke and Fenders you mention would be fine. But the Nemesis recommendation is good. I've been very impressed with the tone of the newer N series models, which are reasonably priced. The 200 watt N15 goes for about $400 new, and it provides solid, thick, old-school tone. For your purposes the N12 might be enough, but the fifteen is really satisfying.

If you want a little more portability, the Roland Cube 100 is excellent, and might provide enough volume for you. I've been happy with mine, and IMO it blows away the Fender Bassman 150, which I also considered.
 
#24
chunkyg said:
I've just found an Ampeg BA115HPT that was a store demo, they're asking $480. From the post I've read so far, there's a common complaint about a constant buzzing or hissing.
Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

I have a BA115, not that model but the 100 watt, and it does put out quite a bit of hiss. It's not terrible if you aren't right next to it, but it is loud compared to my other amps and most amps I've tried.
 
#25
After searching through the threads and the postings here, I'm leaning toward
Ampeg 115HP
Ampeg 115HPT - the T has a 12AU7 preamp tube) I'm not sure if I need or want this but the price would be identical.
Invalid Link Removed

All three amps are around $500 and would be store demos. The only one I would be able to try before buying would be the Ampeg 115hpt, the others would have to brought in from another store.

I haven't found many reviews or posts about the HD210c and most of the ones I've read on the Ampeg praise the sound but complain about a buzzing and hissing. So I'm still not locked in.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I'm fairly new to all this and I haven't heard or thought about a lot of things or brands you've mentioned. Happy Thanksgiving!
 
#27
Happy Tday to you too, Chunky. Yeah, Ampeg's BA series combos have a reputation for noisy tweeters. I think it's a bunch of silliness myself. All inexpensive tweeters make a little hiss. Can't hear it when you play. You can turn it down, though.

I don't dig the 210 combo, though. I'm not a fan of the diagonal mounting they use. I like speakers straight in a column.
 
#28
chunkyg said:
I've just found an Ampeg BA115HPT that was a store demo, they're asking $480. From the post I've read so far, there's a common complaint about a constant buzzing or hissing.
Any recommendations?
Click to expand...


Tested yesterday (i wanted to change my Fender Bassman 250/115 with it): very terrible hissing.
Not only: the sound i like (very dark) is more easy obtainable from Bassman 250/115 than BA115 HPT.
BA115 HPT has only a 6-position switch to select the "style" (i like only the first) and a 3-band equalizer. I had to pump basses to 75%.
Moreover the typical vintage sound strangely is not reproduced in the headphones (unlike Fender)... maybe the tube preamp is bypassed.
Probably for the Ampeg SVT series all this is not valid, but regarding the vintage sound combos IMO Fender Bassman does not have rivals, not even Ampeg.
Result: i hold my Fender :smug:
 
#29
A friend of mine uses an Ashdown Electric Blue 15. Really sounds great, loud enough and also has a extension speaker jack. I personally would not own a combo without the extension jack. this allows for future expansion. He also has a 2x10 cab which he sometimes brings to jam sessions when he knows the guitarists are going to be loud. You can pick these up regularly on ebay....

http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend...Electric-Blue-15180-Bass-Combo-Amp?sku=485037
 

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