The Hat Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 (edited) As I'm new to the bass can kind sole explain how a bass amp differs to my standard Blackstart amp. What's a good make for a beginner bass amp bearing in mind I like 70's funk, jazz funk, Jamiraqou etc ? Cheers Edited December 4, 2012 by The Hat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Kustom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 A guitar amp is mainly amplifying mid frequencies. A bass amp has to cover lower frequencies as well, and has to cope with much bigger transients, i.e. sudden increases in sound level. If you play bass through a guitar amp, it will sound farty, and you may well ruin the speaker. Most decent bass practice amps should have enough tonal range to cope with the styles you mention. You will probably want 30 watts or more, or you will soon encounter unwanted distortion, as well as horrible sounds from the speaker not being able to cope. A good place to start might be something like the Roland cube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaydentaku Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 There is an Orange bass crush practice amp for sale here for something very very reasonable (i think about 50 quid). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Assuming that you want a budget amp to start with, and that you're gonna use it for practising at home: have a look at a handy amp from Elder Audio that Gear4musc sell: http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/RedSub-BP35-35W-Bass-Guitar-Amplifier/IQM At less than 100 quid, imho it blows several 200 quid amps out of the water, and it has practical line inputs and phones output. Funk and slapping and the like are no problem for it. An (almost?) identical amp can be had from Thomann under the brand name Harley Benton, and it's also available as a (Beta 3) Beta Aivin - though I don't know who sell it under that name. My assumptions may be off the mark of course. If you want a really great amp, or want the amp to work at band rehearsals and while gigging, tell us more about your budget and what you're after in an amp. Someone will know! FWIW, you can't go very wrong with a Genz Benz ShuttleMax 12.2 and lots of huge Barefaced cabs. They don't sell those for 100 quid though. best, bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hat Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 (edited) Cheers for the advice people. It's very much a home practise amp I'm after at the mo. Can't find the Orange Crush in classifieds ? Edited December 5, 2012 by The Hat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conan Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 (edited) It's not in the classifieds... it's here! [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/190272-orange-crush-35b-l50/page__p__1878923__hl__orange%20crush__fromsearch__1#entry1878923"]http://basschat.co.u..._1#entry1878923[/url] BTW, for home practice I use an Ashdown Perfect Ten combo. Now some people on here don't rate them at all, but I've always been happy with it's tone and performance. Easy to pick up cheaply second-hand too! Edited December 5, 2012 by Conan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Vincent Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Small bass practice amps,are by definition,less capable of reproducing low frequencies.I personally wouldn't use anything less than 50/60w RMS for practicing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 (edited) [quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1354789324' post='1890312'] Small bass practice amps,are by definition,less capable of reproducing low frequencies.I personally wouldn't use anything less than 50/60w RMS for practicing. [/quote] I agree - I think while you can get some decent tones out of most low powered combos - a 50 - 100W combo will give you more options - specifically will allow you to play with a fairly quiet drummer and/or an acoustic quitar or an electric player with a working knowledge of the master volume control! Also if you want dub or reggae tones you need lots of power - you can't even practice them on very low powered combos (eg. a 10 - 15w combo). Watts are pretty cheap these days - let your budget and medium term goals factor into your decisions. EDIT: I should add that watts are a pretty inaccurate way to assess loudness and low end capability of a combo - I'm using the above figures as ballpark only - YMMV. Edited December 6, 2012 by PlungerModerno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 If you're anywhere near Glasgow you could do a lot worse than checking out [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/193370-peavey-databass-combo-l40"]this amp[/url]. A gigable combo for the price of a practice amp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 [quote name='Musky' timestamp='1354839663' post='1891238'] If you're anywhere near Glasgow you could do a lot worse than checking out [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/193370-peavey-databass-combo-l40"]this amp[/url]. A gigable combo for the price of a practice amp! [/quote] Aye all of Peavey's stuff is worth looking into - heavy but rock solid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.