newb needs advice

[Mikey-t1994]

as some of you may remember i purchased a bass in a silent auction from my favourite band pitchshifter, anyway since then me and the girlfriend have cleaned it up she has put down her 9 guitars for a while and picked up my bass.

anyway she auditioned for a band spot the other day and got it, playing modern style punk locally, issue is we have no form of amplification. we have borrowed and rented up until now, but don't want to lay out a fat load of cash until we know what she likes,

point being she has just been offered a HH 115 piezo + vs head.

i have no idea about any of the above names and my limited google research lets me know they are fairly old and started doing some of the first solid state stuff.

question is are they any good, would they suit her in this territory would 100w be enough and is £50 a good price.

quick replies needed please and excuse my ignorance on the subject

[chris_b]

How much? How soon? If you've got nothing then, i guess anything is worth a thought.

It would have to be very cheap to get me to buy HH. If you've got the time then I'd suggest a look through the For Sale section and you'll find better gear at a better price.

[Mikey-t1994]

they want £50

[chris_b]

Ha ha. OK, that might be cheap enough!!

[Mikey-t1994]

thats what i thought, i know i paid nearly £2000 for her guitar cab and head so £50 is almost disposable,
if the band doesn't take off or it isn't suited hardly lost money is it!

what would you guys recommend for this kind of thing though, she will be playing my ibanez, and will always be real dirty low end clubs with idiots on the board.
oh and there a modern punk band.

not bothered about new or second hand, just want to work our way up, cheap to expensive as we explore our needs,
if i get this £50 set what should we progress to next,. say with a £200 - £300 budget

[xgsjx]

I'd get it if I was in the same position. Then if things are taking off, I'd skip past the £2-300 gear if you can afford it & get a decent rig that's gonna suit your needs for the future.

[stingrayPete1977]

Will the £50 cover the petrol to collect it? Oh hang on they want you to give them £50

In all honesty it's got to be worth £50 hasn't it.

[rOB]

Hmm, its very tricky to recommend amps to other musicians. Most people will recommend either 1) what they use or 2) what they started out with.

To fall foul of the first of these I used an Ashdown EB12-180 in my first band. It totally did the job and even the new models would be within your price range.

If I were you I'd browse the for sale section here, loads of cheap rigs that'll do the job. Another option is to go along to a shop with a decent selection of amps, try everything and see what takes her fancy.

[rOB]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1341425072' post='1718848']
Will the £50 cover the petrol to collect it? Oh hang on they want you to give them £50

In all honesty it's got to be worth £50 hasn't it.
[/quote]
This is also a very good point.

[Mikey-t1994]

to be honest for £50 for a cab and amp i think i would be stupid not too. doesn't matter if it sounds utter sh*te, for the first few shows, its got her out of a predicament, i will keep an eye on the classifieds on here also but if you see something suitable, let us know please

[Jack]

Pffft, someone here will probably give you your £50 back when she's done with it.

[Mr. Foxen]

Spend £100 or so on a Sansamp and you'll be good to go for ages, they tend to make rough amps sound better and give a DI that will do you well into professional levels.

[chrismuzz]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1341435720' post='1719152']
Spend £100 or so on a Sansamp and you'll be good to go for ages, they tend to make rough amps sound better and give a DI that will do you well into professional levels.
[/quote]

Couldn't agree more with this

[jackers]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1341435720' post='1719152']
Spend £100 or so on a Sansamp and you'll be good to go for ages, they tend to make rough amps sound better and give a DI that will do you well into professional levels.
[/quote]

This is exactly what I did for a couple of years with my old Ashdown EB-180 combo. It turned it from a wooly mess to a really nice sounding small amp.

[Musky]

Or go for the cheaper option and pickup a BDI-21.

[BassBunny]

£50 for Vintage HH gear is a steal. Their stuff is built like tanks and you will always get that back if you sell.
Funniy enough our K/B player has 2 HH Amps and the rehearstal studio we use has shed loads of them.
I can always get a great sound out of them and this from someone who gigs using a TC Electronics RH and an EAD Cab, not cheap by any means.
Don't worry about the perceived 100W output, they are bloody loud. As long as it is working nick, I would go for it.

[Mikey-t1994]

<p>thankyou for all the advice, these sansamps look interesting, we already have a boat load of DI boxes from her guitaring.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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[JTUK]

[quote name='Mikey-t1994' timestamp='1341421911' post='1718788']
thats what i thought, i know i paid nearly £2000 for her guitar cab and head so £50 is almost disposable,
if the band doesn't take off or it isn't suited hardly lost money is it!

what would you guys recommend for this kind of thing though, she will be playing my ibanez, and will always be real dirty low end clubs with idiots on the board.
oh and there a modern punk band.

not bothered about new or second hand, just want to work our way up, cheap to expensive as we explore our needs,
if i get this £50 set what should we progress to next,. say with a £200 - £300 budget
[/quote]
As long as it works well enough. You should plug it in and turn it up quite loud.
For your next stage of amplification, think £300 plus for amp and cab

[ThomBassmonkey]

I'd take a punt at £50, even if she only uses it for 3 gigs and you can't sell it, you're probably doing better than renting an amp for those 3 gigs, not to mention petrol picking them up etc.

When she's in a situation where she knows she wants to upgrade and has some spending money for it, get to a shop, try as many amps as possible then come here and ask for suggestions based on what she likes and her budget.