What's a good inexpensive bass amp?

[bugo]

I'm going to be in the market for a bass and a bass amp soon. I have my heart set on the Squier CV '50s P-Bass, but if I find a good used Fender P or J bass for the same price I might jump on that instead. I'll be needing an amp to go with it. I don't need anything fancy, as I'll mostly just be playing in my apartment with the volume on very low. I do want something that can get loud so I can crank it up when my annoying neighbor starts blasting '70s music at 9 am. What amp would you guys recommend? I'll be using this amp mostly to practice in at my apartment, but I might end up using it to gig in the future. I'll also be using this amp as a guitar amp (That won't hurt it, will it?) I have a Digitech RP-5 that has stereo outputs, and I'll be running one output into my Park amp and the other output through the bass amp.

I would prefer the big brand names, namely Fender, but I'm not a brand snob when it comes to amps. Except for Peavey. I've had bad luck with Peaveys, and I can't take Peaveys seriously because of their stupid pointy pop metal logo.

 

[JimmyM]

Ampeg BA115 if you're on a tight budget, or PF350/PF115he if you have a little extra.

 

[Back2Bass]

The Acoustic B200 isnt bad. 1x15 200w. You can find on sale for around 300.00 or lees used. An acoustic B450 is what im using it has 2x10 and 600 wat with ext cab. I use a 1x15 ext cab. new 600 bucks, ext cab 200 more

 

[hail]

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Pretty much any one of these can get pretty loud with the extension cab. I personally enjoy them because of the built-in compressor and parametric EQ, not a lot of combos will give you that for the price.

 

[bugo]

BTW I neglected to mention that I live in a tiny studio apartment, and size is an issue. A small combo amp is what I'll be getting. Can I get something decent for under $200? Like I said, I'm probably not going to gig with it, just play by myself and the occasional jam session.

 

[Russell L]

Maybe look into a Squier amp, for that kind of money. Or Behringer, if ya feel like rolling the dice.

 

[randysmojo]

Maybe you can find something like a Hartke Kickback 1-12 amp for that much. That would be something. Or a used Gallien Krueger 200MB?

 

[cchorney]

Swr WorkingPro 12 - 200 Watts, 1x12 combo. You'll probably want to upgrade if you ever start gigging without a PA but for gigging with a PA and for jamming it will hold its own. About $550 new.

 

[hifibass]

My money would be on a good used Ampeg B-100R. Cheap under-appreciated but very versatile.

 

[ecj_bass]

Peavey Max 110.

This was my first amp. I snagged it for $50. Served it's purpose for two years, and it was great.

Very light and reliable.

 

[Alex1984]

+1 SWR WorkingMan 15, Ampeg B100R, and PF stuff

 

[jad]

I got a 25 watt Crate with a 10 inch speaker as a throw in on a used Pbass. It sounded way better than I expected it to. You don't need a gigable amp if you're playing for fun at home. Something like that would still be loud enough to tick off your neighbors.

 

[Turtlejimmy]

+1 for the Ampeg BA-115 ..... that has to be a nice amp. I have the BA-112, which is 50 watts but also has the 5 position switch for different bass voicings. Great tone with my Fender Precision.

It has a channel that gives you -15dB, and this is great for low volume practicing. Go in the other channel for more neighbor-annoying power.


Turtle

 

[RickenBoogie]

Thing is, you're asking for a small practice amp that could also be used to "jam" with friends. If those friends include a drummer, forget the small combo. Otherwise, an Ampeg BA112 is an awesome little practice amp.

 

[arginator]

Hmm...under $200? Hate to tell you this, but you may want to get over your issue with Peavey. Most of the amps mentioned above will probably run more than that used, unless you get lucky and find a screaming deal on craigslist. Peaveys on the other hand sell for less used. Their quality is usually pretty good, and that logo comes off easily. I know, I took one off a 410tx cab because it ripped my shirt once while I was carrying it. The cab by the way sounded nice, and I got it for 100 bucks on craigslist. It was a heavy beast though.

 

[bugo]

How are the Fender Rumbles? They're pretty reasonably priced.

 

[5port]

"but I might end up using it to gig in the future"



+1 on the Acoustic B200.

 

[will33]

70's music is not annoying unless it's disco, which doesn't qualify as music anyway.

Anything is annoying at 9am but you should never hear it because you're not home, you're at work, or out doing something equally productive.


In a tiny apt. you don't need anything beyond a little beginner combo so grab one and be done with it. You need to step up to at least the bigger combo amps to jam with a drummer.


And a big on all that.

 

[bugo]

The chance of gigging with it is admittedly very small. I'll probably use it to jam with my stepbrother (no drums) so I don't need that much power.

 

[SurferJoe46]

Go as big as you can afford and just turn the VOLUME knob down.

There's no sense in playing an almost max'd-out amp for practice and then not having the ponies to shake the walls later on.

You WILL need more Watts later - trust me. It happens.