Tiny practice amp advice

[omikin]

I'm thinking of getting a very small practice amp for home use. It doesn't need to be very loud as I will be using it in a room with my son asleep next door. I'm thinking of one of the following:

Fender Rumble 15
Ampeg BA108
Hiwatt B20

Anyone have any advice on the above or indeed other alternatives?

[ezbass]

Given that you want it to be as quiet as possible why not go for a Korg Pandora and headphones?

[omikin]

I will use headphones a bit, but I also want something to use without headphones.

[Guest MoJo]

Peavey 158. The vintage/modern tone switch makes it very versatile. Phono input and headphone out. Love mine

[MrTaff]

None of them, I use a rumble 15 for practicing but even on low volume you can still hear it through the house.

[Lozz196]

All will be plenty enough for home use. I have the Ampeg, and at similar to TV volume, the volume is on maybe 1 or 2. The Ampeg has a great tone to it - typically Ampeg, so if you don`t like Ampeg-type tones it won`t be any use to you. The Fender Rumble has a great sound too - very warm & rich, I found, when trying one. No experience with the Hiwatt.

[jezzaboy]

About 4 years ago, I picked up a Marshall B25 mark 2 secondhand on Gumtree for 25 quid and it has been really good. Decent enough sound and the tone controls actually work! It gets used every day and even has a headphone output.

Of course, now I have said all this, it`s bound to go Pete Tong!!!

[p58]

I use Line6 lowdown Studio 110. It´s bit more powerful (75w) but it is quite decent amp for bedroom and also for small practice room with quiet band. I got it used and it was cheaper than new Ampeg BA108.
I am not very big fan of 8´ speakers, It just sounds too thin to me even for quiet practicing, but it is just my taste. if you need to practice while your son sleeping, I would also ho with some kind of pandora or Vox amplug and headhones (or Apple device with pocketGK app).

[machinehead]

I have a Fender Rumble 15. They are perfectly good for home practice and sound OK at low volume and have a headphone socket. They are of no use for anything else though. They would struggle to keep up even at a moderate volume rehearsal, but that's fine by me.

They are also cheap second-hand. I see no point in putting any significant amount of money into a home practice amp.

I bought mine for little more than the price of a round of beers.

Frank.

[Guest MoJo]

[quote name='p58' timestamp='1357408183' post='1922300']
I use Line6 lowdown Studio 110. It´s bit more powerful (75w) but it is quite decent amp for bedroom and also for small practice room with quiet band. I got it used and it was cheaper than new Ampeg BA108.
I am not very big fan of 8´ speakers, It just sounds too thin to me even for quiet practicing, but it is just my taste. if you need to practice while your son sleeping, I would also ho with some kind of pandora or Vox amplug and headhones (or Apple device with pocketGK app).
[/quote]

If your budget will run to a Lowdown Studio 110, you'll be hard pushed to beat it. I used one as a stage monitor for a while, DI'd into the PA. It sounded fantastic

[Spike Vincent]

I've got a HiWatt B 15.It's tiny and makes the bass louder,which is pretty much all you can expect from this class of combo.

[iconic]

I've a little rumble 15, its not bad really, surprisingly good slap tone!

I also play my phone thru it, very handy.

[Mudpup]

I would recommend this...........

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/195643-roland-bass-cube-20xl-combo-for-sale/page__fromsearch__1

[Musky]

[quote name='p58' timestamp='1357408183' post='1922300']
I am not very big fan of 8´ speakers, It just sounds too thin to me even for quiet practicing, but it is just my taste.
[/quote]
[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1357433621' post='1922725']
I've got a HiWatt B 15.It's tiny and makes the bass louder,which is pretty much all you can expect from this class of combo.
[/quote]

This is my experience as well.

Tiny practice amps are fine if you just want to hear yourself but inevitably they miss out on the low end. Mind you, it's the bass that tends to travel through a house so with your son in the next room perhaps a tiny combo would be just the ticket.

The 20w Peavey Microbass used to be a standard recommendation here until it was discontinued a year of two ago, and seem to be selling for pocket money nowadays. I think they've been superseded by the 158 mentioned above.

[rubis]

Pre owned would be the most value
Sifi2112 was selling an Eden N8 with a 10"
Eminence speaker, he might still have that. Or if your budget goes as far as £170 someone is selling an EBS 60w combo at the minute
Have you thought about a used small Trace or Ashdown combo, they seem to be good value

Good luck
Harry

[sifi2112]

I still have the Eden N8 & it's back as a combo but now you can connect a cab externally. i removed the furry carpet/ plastic corners & replaced with black metal / cream tolex, much nicer .. Will sell for £80 pickup, will post but prob about tender extra .. Let me know if you want pics .....

[Telebass]

Up to now, I've always used a Tascam bass trainer and headphones, but I picked up on eBay for £41 delivered, an old Fender Bassman 25. That would do what you want, as well as headphones/aux also. Will even do to take to an acoustic gig with the Kingman bass.

[fretmeister]

Used Roland Bass Cube

Amazing thing.

[charic]

Line6 Studio 110 is my bet as well. They're unobstrusive aswell, being so "cubey" you can stack stuff on top of it easily

[Bassic]

I use a 25w orange crush
simple vol, low, mid, high and gain controls
Headphone jack and input jack to connect iphone to play backing tracks

great little amp

[Dave Vader]

I have a very old Laney Mighty bass, it's about 15w probably. it makes sound and is handy. It is also of no use to me anymore, as i needed to buy a busking amp, which is also tiny and makes noise, but runs on batteries.
So if you give us 15 quid you can have the laney.

[Urban Bassman]

[quote name='p58' timestamp='1357408183' post='1922300']
I use Line6 lowdown Studio 110. It´s bit more powerful (75w) but it is quite decent amp for bedroom and also for small practice room with quiet band. I got it used and it was cheaper than new Ampeg BA108.
I am not very big fan of 8´ speakers, It just sounds too thin to me even for quiet practicing, but it is just my taste. if you need to practice while your son sleeping, I would also ho with some kind of pandora or Vox amplug and headhones (or Apple device with pocketGK app).
[/quote]


+1 from me on the Line6 110. It has some very usable sounds, got headphones-out and a line-in if you want to play along plus a very usable line-out for recording.
Nuff Sed

[chrisba]

I have a Fender Rumble 15 too, great sound, nice and bassy ( I have a Fender P ) and has an aux input for my mp3 ( Tascam ) and a headphone socket if required ( which it never is in my house, and if it was, I would probably just use the Tascam on it's own )

Loud enough for pub gigs where the rest of the band is playing acoustic, or very lightly amped, but anything more and it's just not powerful enough.

The Roland Bass MicroCube is an amazing bit of kit featurewise, and will run off batteries, which would sometimes be useful, but just has no low end. Fantastic for pure practise though. Not cheap.

[Dr M]

Keep an eye out for a Vox Pathfinder 10B. Light as a feather and 2x5" speakers. Bit of a one-trick pony in terms of tone, but sounds alright, and the 2x5" approaches a 1x10" in terms of bass response, without the additional size and weight.

I picked one up from Gumtree for £30 a few months ago.

[flippyfloop]

Roland bass cube or as Musky recommended, Peavey Micro.
I use a Roland micro cube bass rx. Gets more use at home than my rig & I use it when I do teaching away from home. Quite expensive though & if you don't want the battery option, go for a normal roland cube.