New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

Mr. B

Mr. B

New member
I've played guitar for 30 years, and know all the electric guitar and amps brands well. I want to add a bass guitar and amp to my gear, and I know practically zero about bass guitars and amps. I got a really good deal on a Squier Vintage Modified PJ Bass, and now I need an amp.

I will only be using it for practice and jamming at school where I teach a guitar club. We jam for a while after class and usually use backing tracks played through my whiteboard's speakers. I will not be using this to compete with a drummer or play venues.

I have been looking at the Ampeg BA112v2 and the Hartke HD75. I'm guessing that I need a 12" speaker to get a true full bass guitar sound... but I may be wrong????

Would a 10" version of one of these sound authentic and give me enough volume to keep up with low-medium volume guitars?

I'm looking for something basic, but with good tone, and not a gimmick just for beginners. For context, if a bass player asked me the same question in reverse, I would suggest one of the medium sized Vox Valvetronix, or a Fender Mustang amps. Good tone, but not expensive or overly powerful.

Help me out here...
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

I did not find good reviews for the older Fender Rumble series, but it looks like players are liking the new V3 versions better. The 100 watt version is incredibly light.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

I have one of those Hartkes with the half-alu 12" speaker. Best in class I tried. Exact model escapes me right now.

The Ampeg BAs are garbage. A B-100 is a nice amp.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

I looked and don't see the B-100's available, even used on Ebay. The only other current one that is 100 watts is $1300.00, and that is about $1050.00 past my budget for this little project. I will read up on the Hartkes.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

Mr. B said:
I looked and don't see the B-100's available, even used on Ebay. The only other current one that is 100 watts is $1300.00, and that is about $1050.00 past my budget for this little project. I will read up on the Hartkes.
Click to expand...

The watts aren't the point. The problem is that the cheap ones have really bad parts, as in scratchy pots after a minimum of time, and those capacitors Dell lost a class-action suit over. They are made in the same factory as some no-name stuff, with the same parts, anyway. If you want Ampeg it's better to stay safe.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

My SLM-era Ampeg BA-112 took a good beating, but the pots and switches are scratchy. When it works, the sound is decent.

You'll have to keep some contact cleaner on hand, until you can get them swapped out.

You can't go wrong with the TC microbass stuff (if you shop wisely).
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

+1 for tc electronic gear.

I use their Staccato '51 and Classic 450 heads plus an RS210 loudspeaker cabinet. Using the 2x10 in the recommended upright position seems to both throw the sound and couple well with the venue floor for a full amplified sound in the room.

A local musician in my area uses the mk1 BG200 combo with 1x15 'speaker. I find its sound vague and flubby. I have yet to try the mk2 versions with the eights.

In my experience, the most recent Fender Rumble series sounds tidy.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

Floorspace is an issue in my classroom. I already have 6 guitar amps and 6 guitars stored in one corner of the small amount of counter space I have. I cannot fit anything larger that a small single speaker combo and one bass guitar. Multiple speaker cabinets are out of the question.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

TC Electronics makes a combo amp that takes up 1 square foot of floor space (11.5" x 12.6"), that small enough for you? It has two 8" speakers stacked vertically, which gives you about the same amount of speaker surface area as a 12" speaker. It might be a bit over your budget, but it will give you the great tone and clarity, and you'd never have to upgrade.

My favorite bass amplifiers are Phil Jones, which uses 5" speakers. I have learned that good bass tone does not necessarily rely on speaker size. I'd recommend a Phil Jones briefcase amp, but that's quite a bit more expensive.
 
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Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

In the schools I attended, the walls were either cinder block or painted drywall -- straight parallel. Terrible sound.
It probably wouldn't do well to play too loud.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

I am very partial to Yorkville's XM series of bass amps. They're a few years older now so can be had cheap used, are built pretty ruggedly, and sound shockingly good. I use an XM100 with a 15 inch speaker for jams and practice. They're Canadian, so may not pop up as often down in the US, but something to keep an eye out for . . .
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

Peavey and Behringer make good practice amps, especially if you are gonna keep it at a school with no-good beat-niks screwing with it.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

That TC electronics looks nice, but it is a hundred or so over budget. It is important for whatever I get to be fairly bomb proof. 15+ teenagers swinging guitars around for the first time will break anything fragile in ten minutes. I like the little Roland Micro Cube amps because they are tough, sound good, and take up little counter space. I need the equivalent in a bass amp. These kids aren't going to be playing like Billy Sheehan any time soon.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

Mr. B said:
That TC electronics looks nice, but it is a hundred or so over budget. It is important for whatever I get to be fairly bomb proof. 15+ teenagers swinging guitars around for the first time will break anything fragile in ten minutes. I like the little Roland Micro Cube amps because they are tough, sound good, and take up little counter space. I need the equivalent in a bass amp.
Click to expand...
Here ya go...

the Roland Bass Cubes.

Here's a pic of their top-line Cube 120XL, which goes for $599 on the site linked below.
CubeBs120XL-large.jpg



There are others less pricey, which perhaps may be more suitable for your budget.

Sweetwater link
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

Mr. B said:
That TC electronics looks nice, but it is a hundred or so over budget. It is important for whatever I get to be fairly bomb proof. 15+ teenagers swinging guitars around for the first time will break anything fragile in ten minutes. I like the little Roland Micro Cube amps because they are tough, sound good, and take up little counter space. I need the equivalent in a bass amp. These kids aren't going to be playing like Billy Sheehan any time soon.
Click to expand...

In that case, I'd second ehdwuld's suggestion of Carvin. In the link he provided, there are two nice combo amps for $349 and one for $299. If I was looking for a practice amp and that was my budget, that's probably what I would do.

mb15.jpgmb210.jpgmb10.jpg


For what it's worth, I have an old orange Roland Cube 60 bass amp that I bought 30 years ago. It has been to the shop a couple of times, but it's still a little workhorse. I like it so much that I bought another old one off ebay a few years ago. I can't speak to their build quality nowadays, but back then they were little tanks.
 
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Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

I like the looks of the Roland Cube bass. The metal grill is invaluable in a high school guitar club setting. I have had an older metal grill Vox AD30VT that I play through during club meetings, and I don't know how many times something has been banged into the front and been safely repelled.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

FWIW, my school did own various Roland amps. They survived. And it wasn't for lack of stress.
 
Re: New to Bass. Need Amp Advice..

I ended up getting a newer Fender Rumble 40. It isn't bombproof, but it sounds great to me (then again, I don't know what I'm hearing on Bass yet) so I may keep this at home and get another less expensive rough and tumble [something] for the club amp.
 
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