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The only ones I can think of that actually run off DC are the Phil Jones Bass Briefcase amps, which have an excellent reputation (I've never personally played through one), but are also pretty expensive. A much cheaper option would be to buy a small second-hand bass combo and a separate DC-AC converter, and run that off a car battery. Some of those converters will deliver >100W, but the higher the power pulled, the faster the battery will be drained, so you want to keep the amp small and efficient. None of your battery powered options are going to be spectacularly loud, and I would not expect to be able to keep up with a rock drummer in the open air with one. If you want to do that, you almost certainly need a small generator (e.g. Honda), to power a conventional bass amp (and PA, etc.).
An excellent option if you can play one (and it's not that damned hard to learn if you already play bass guitar), though a decent one will cost you more than the amp+converter+battery!
Maybe upfront, but how long are you planning on making that set up work? This lets you play for a lot longer too.
I have a Mackie Freeplay with the LiOn battery. I can get a solid 5 hours out of it playing bass through it.
In other words, +1 on CL400Peavey's suggestion?Why not just make a bass that produces energy from your hand/finger movement. C'mon guys this ain't rocket science.
Well no but I like his suggestion. I am sure that my fingers generate enough energy while playing to produce enough power to power a small amp. It's just matter of tapping into it.
Well, bicyclists using their leg muscles to the max put out a theoretical output in the hundreds of watts, and a practical output sufficient to power an outdoor PA with a couple of pedalers (I've seen it done), but the waste energy from your fingers probably wouldn't give you a heck of a lot of volume.
+1 on the Roland Microcube. Not the greatest sounding amp but runs for hours on AA batteries. Sounds pretty good with my Goldtone Microbass or a U-Bass. Not as good with my G&L. I would not hesitate to busk with it.
I have a roland micro cube rx. The one with the 4, 4 inch speakers. It lasts a good 12 hours on 6 aa batteries. It sounds great with whatever bass i plug into it.
what sort of volume does it put out? Could it hang with a couple acoustic guitars?
I also have a bass microcube. It has 5w+5w and that's sufficient for quiet environments. But the bad news is that it seems quieter from the batteries than it does from the power outlet. On a noisy street that won't be enough to cut the noise, but in a quiet place it may work for you as well.
