Shonky badly made/designed practice combos

[Twincam]

Bit of a rant maybe but I have to say this.
I've been looking for a new little combo to take to my girlfriends and back and jamming with a guitar playing mate. Which I thought would be an easy task.

However many of the new relatively little combos i tested while all sounding very good had horrible internal vibrations and I really wasn't playing them loudly.
I had to return a new orange crush 50 because it had a horrible vibration/resonance thing going on in the higher notes.
I tried an ampeg ba110v2 And the larger 112 version both sounded great but had odd rattling at fairly low volumes, I had the guy pull the grills off just to be sure too. I tried a tc electronics bg250 2x8 and again it sounded great but it rattled badly to a point I felt it must be broken.

So I went to another store and tried out a few small ashdown's the triple a and another one I think was a perfect 10 again on certain notes one had a vibration and the other I think the perfect 10 didn't rattle but hissed badly.
So I tried a hartke hd50 sounded great bar on the open e it sounded broken I thought the speaker must have an issue. Someone working in the shop agreed that one wasn't right.
My girlfriend has a fender rumble 100v3 the back amp plate rattles badly at living room volume levels even though the rest of it seems very well designed.
At that point I gave up. Ended up buying an ancient mag 250 combo which doesn't have any issues even at much higher volumes.

I've had various combos in the past a hartke a25, carlsbro 90bg, Roland cube, trace elliot and more. And they were very solid no issues but older heavier designs, it seems though many of the little practice amps now are really badly made they just don't feel solid and some of them are not cheap either.
Surely you don't need to spend a stupid amount on a combo that can actually handle bass these days without rattling etc.

I know people on here will have these combos mentioned and probably had no issues am I just getting lemons or is it somehow me lol.

[wateroftyne]

IME most affordable small combos are toys. You need to shell out a bit for something decent.

The Ibanez Promethean does it for me. Why they pulled the plug on it is a mystery to me.

[taunton-hobbit]

I think you can scale this up as well - the number of expensive cr*p enclosures (& amps) that I've suffered over the years is simply unreal.
I'll spare the manfacturers blushes (some are deservedly out of business)
- currently I run a split sound between Barefaced & Mackie and the results are pretty-well what I spent 40odd years looking for.............

[TheGreek]

I have a GK Backline 110 which I can highly recommend - has none of the issues you refer to in your post. Hope that you can find one at a reasonable price.

[mrtcat]

Yes I tend to agree that, at the lower end of the scale, many of the compact combos are a bit naff. Like WOT I have a promethian and it's very good. If it dies I'll be getting a little class d head and a bf midget. That would comfortably do most of my gigs too.

[Thunderbird]

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1478176526' post='3167275']
IME most affordable small combos are toys. You need to shell out a bit for something decent.

The Ibanez Promethean does it for me. Why they pulled the plug on it is a mystery to me.
[/quote] This 100% bang on I gave up on combos long ago but I have kept my little Ampeg combo as it is handy at times

[ambient]

My Markbass CMD121 is a brilliant combo.

[Mudpup]

I had a Roland bass cube - think it was a 20XL one - and that was ok. Didn't rattle, had good features and the dsp actually made a bit of difference.
i just use headphones and a Zoom B1ON now though......

[bassfunk]

I don't know what size/budget you're looking at but the GK MB combos are great, I have the 12inch version and it's loud enough for most gigs and can be carried in one hand very easily.

[project_c]

What bass are you trying those combos with?

[paul_5]

I made a 1x12" cabinet using an 8Ω, 50W driver from a guitar combo out of plywood (about 5mm) on a frame made from 20mm square pine; cost less than £20 all in. Glued it together using generic wood glue from the local hardware shop and it performs well at reasonable volume without rattling.

I can't understand how experienced amp manufacturers can get it wrong if I can knock one up in my shed using hand tools.

[Twincam]

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1478176526' post='3167275']
IME most affordable small combos are toys. You need to shell out a bit for something decent.

The Ibanez Promethean does it for me. Why they pulled the plug on it is a mystery to me.
[/quote]

Yeah I guess you are right.

[Twincam]

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1478185005' post='3167374']
What bass are you trying those combos with?
[/quote]

Multiple basses. Nothing imparticular.

[Barking Spiders]

My 15W Marshall keyboard amp is great for both bass and guitar. Had it for 20 years. A solid piece of hardware that's had loads of use and is still going strong

[Twincam]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1478185107' post='3167375']
I made a 1x12" cabinet using an 8Ω, 50W driver from a guitar combo out of plywood (about 5mm) on a frame made from 20mm square pine; cost less than £20 all in. Glued it together using generic wood glue from the local hardware shop and it performs well at reasonable volume without rattling.

I can't understand how experienced amp manufacturers can get it wrong if I can knock one up in my shed using hand tools.
[/quote]

This is exactly how I feel. While not saying designing a little combo at a reasonable cost is easy. I do strongly feel like the manufactures could done more about these issues. Vibrating grills, chuffing ports, components vibrating in sympathy. I wouldn't care but all the combos I tested seemed to sound really good where they were working without issue.

Anyhow my bit of a rant is over.

[landwomble]

I had a TC BG250 208 and it didn't rattle at all... Great little combo

[Twincam]

[quote name='landwomble' timestamp='1478193380' post='3167468']
I had a TC BG250 208 and it didn't rattle at all... Great little combo
[/quote]

The one I tried did while playing on the e string. Sounded like poss the grill but we couldn't get it to stop doing it in the store and I had the guy over helping me out (think he thought i was a right picky git lol but was very helpful). It seemed like a well put together little combo too, compared to others so I was disappointed tbh. If it hadn't of rattled I would of been happy to buy that model.

[mikel]

Perhaps cos bass frequencies are very un forgiving, trying to make a lightweight combo at a low price point is more difficult than it would seem. When you move up the price range to even very small combos like the MB, PJ Cub etc, the problems disappear. Seems if you want small and light, where bass is concerned, you have to pay for it.

Edited November 3, 2016 by mikel

[TrevorR]

I guess the problem will partly be that, at that end of the market the amps are trying to add in whistles and bells to make them look competitive against the competition while building down to a price. That means whatever little cash is available is being spent on marketing features not on core performance.

The sad reality is that a £100 practice amp that has a built in tuner, DSP, iPod input, USB connection, memory presets but poor quality chassis, speaker and cab (and which therefore has huge sound limitations) will sell shed loads more than a well designed and built £100 practice amp that just has a gain, volume and two or three basic tone knobs (but which sounds great and gives reliable performance). Should be the other way round, but it isn't. So manufacturers tend to build the former not the latter.

It's the truism. Every penny spent on a gimmick wasn't spent on a part that really matters.

[Norris]

Most of the ones that I have tried have been crap. However I was quite impressed with the Ampeg BA-108 that I recently got for my lad. It handles the low B on his 5 string admirably, seems full & tight when quiet, but has more to give if you need it. I'm tempted to get myself one now that he's taken it off to uni

[Musicman20]

Anything made by Roland/Boss is usually insanely hardwearing. I'd get a Cube if I were you.

[Johnny Wishbone]

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1478206470' post='3167621']
Most of the ones that I have tried have been crap. However I was quite impressed with the Ampeg BA-108 that I recently got for my lad. It handles the low B on his 5 string admirably, seems full & tight when quiet, but has more to give if you need it. I'm tempted to get myself one now that he's taken it off to uni
[/quote]
Got one of these a while back and can't fault it. Aux input, headphone out, decent 3-band EQ, plenty of volume if you need it but also full-sounding at low volume, and handles a 5-string without issue. Fantastic little amp for just over a ton.

[Twincam]

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1478255220' post='3167877']
Anything made by Roland/Boss is usually insanely hardwearing. I'd get a Cube if I were you.
[/quote]

Had a cube was a good amp I suppose but didn't fully like its tone, just felt a little fake. Very well built though.

[Twincam]

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1478204816' post='3167598']
I guess the problem will partly be that, at that end of the market the amps are trying to add in whistles and bells to make them look competitive against the competition while building down to a price. That means whatever little cash is available is being spent on marketing features not on core performance.

The sad reality is that a £100 practice amp that has a built in tuner, DSP, iPod input, USB connection, memory presets but poor quality chassis, speaker and cab (and which therefore has huge sound limitations) will sell shed loads more than a well designed and built £100 practice amp that just has a gain, volume and two or three basic tone knobs (but which sounds great and gives reliable performance). Should be the other way round, but it isn't. So manufacturers tend to build the former not the latter.

It's the truism. Every penny spent on a gimmick wasn't spent on a part that really matters.
[/quote]

Yes this is probably very true. It seems to also happen on some more expensive stuff too.

[mr zed]

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1478255220' post='3167877']
Anything made by Roland/Boss is usually insanely hardwearing. I'd get a Cube if I were you.
[/quote]

I have the 20XL and it is great little practice amp and built like a tank. No vibration issues whatsoever. Some great built in features as well which is a welcome bonus.