Small Bass amp choice ( advice needed )

[Greenguitarman]

Hello everyone,

 

Newbie here. 

 

Can anybody recommend a nice-sounding bass practice amp? Or a small portable amp (for small venues) with the ability to carry around ( that also doesn't take much space in the room ).

 

I know that there are plenty out there and so many choices, however, I'm a bit lost with so many bass amp choices and wanted to know your opinion and how practical they are?

 

Thanks in advance.

[itu]

GK 200MB, or MB150

PJB

Warwick, TE... check their tiny amps and consider buying a small cab.

[Martin E]

I would suggest a Barefaced One10 cabinet and small amp head of your choice. A Trace Elliot Gnome for example will fit in your gig bag pocket.

You can tackle anything from a quiet practice to a small  gig with this. I use a One10 myself, astonishing loud and capable and smaller and  lighter than most small combos. Checkout the second hand gear on here for both items.

[Greenguitarman]

16 minutes ago, Martin E said:

I would suggest a Barefaced One10 cabinet and small amp head of your choice. A Trace Elliot Gnome for example will fit in your gig bag pocket.

You can tackle anything from a quiet practice to a small  gig with this. I use a One10 myself, astonishing loud and capable and smaller and  lighter than most small combos. Checkout the second hand gear on here for both items.

 

Thank you so much for the advice. Never heard of the Barefaced One10. Are they as good as trace elliot / ampeg etc? I've just googled them, they look like a budget combo's ( by the style/looks). 

[casapete]

Fender Rumble 100v3 combo. Fabulous sounding amp for home or small gigs, and light as

a feather (OK - 22lbs). Has a good XLR DI output too. New currently around £330, s/h

circa £200. Had mine a couple of years and love it! 

[Martin E]

OK  Greenguitarman, appreciate maybe you are not too familiar with bass combos amps etc, there is a bewildering selection of stuff available out there.

Perhaps you could tell us a bit about your situation? How important is weight and portability vs. the volume you need. Just practicing or hoping to compete with a drummer in a band for example. Carrying stuff on public transport or  using the car?

[ossyrocks]

43 minutes ago, casapete said:

Fender Rumble 100v3 combo. Fabulous sounding amp for home or small gigs, and light as

a feather (OK - 22lbs). Has a good XLR DI output too. New currently around £330, s/h

circa £200. Had mine a couple of years and love it! 

I picked one of these up off Facebook recently, just for ease of rehearsal/jams etc. I must say I'm quite impressed by it! I paid £150 for mine too which is an absolute bargain.

 

Rob

[StingRayBoy42]

I like my Markbass 802 - sounds great, small enough for home practice, I also use mine for a 5 piece jazz band, a 20 piece jazz orchestra and 'proper' band gigging (with PA support).
Small and light, good for Double Bass as well as electric, handles a low B, I paid £250 used for mine.
 

[gjones]

4 hours ago, Greenguitarman said:

 

Thank you so much for the advice. Never heard of the Barefaced One10. Are they as good as trace elliot / ampeg etc? I've just googled them, they look like a budget combo's ( by the style/looks). 

 

Barefaced are very good but also very expensive. I would suggest you look to less boutique type combos. The Fender Rumble V3 100 watt combo is a great little practice amp, which is very light and is also loud enough for small gigs (with a quietish drummer). I own one and use it as a practice amp and have played quite a few smallish gigs with it as well. I have another more powerful combo for louder gigs.

 

My Fender rumble cost me under £200 secondhand.

[Chienmortbb]

I think we do need a little more info before we start posting recommendations.

[PaulThePlug]

£?.. If you are thinking general rather than specific, I'd see what bargains are local on faceache and gumtree, match them to your requirements and then put up a shortlist...

Edited January 27 by PaulThePlug

[SamIAm]

Hi @Greenguitarman

 

Some terms that might be of use.

Amp: The electronics that amplify the sound.

Cab: Simply a speaker in its housing box.

Combo: Both the above combined in a single unit.

 

Using an amp+cab (Say a TE Elf + Barefaced One10) gives you the flex to mix and match to suit your taste/budget and change one or the other in the future, but it is not a 'grab that one thing and go' approach. You will need an Amp->Cab cable.

 

Using a Combo (Like the Markbass 802) means you've just the one unit (And the amp in the combo is generally well matched to the speakers).

 

For my two cents, I'm a huge fan of Phil Jones Bass (PJB) gear.

They do a range of Combos that sound really nice (Even with my 5 string) and are very compact (PJB do some sort of black magic with 5 inch speakers).  Downsides are that they might not be as loud as other choices and cost more ... but they are quality (Think Apple).

 

My current rig is a PJB Bass Cub Pro ('BG-120 Ultra Compact').

The Amp portion has a great selection of tone shaping with aux in and DI out.  It pushes 120w RMS into its pair of 5 inch speakers (With, so they say and so I hear great transient attack from improved loudspeaker cone acceleration, great dynamic range, and low harmonic distortion).

It is light at 7.6Kg and very portable.  Perfect for home practice or small gigs (I used it at a recent 7 player jam and it kept up fine at vol of about 40% ... no drummer mind)

For thos 'Rattle Their Teeth' situations, it will allow you to plug in a seperate cab (A PJB C4 in my case) at which point it will push out about 200W RMS.  Of course this setup does require shifting two boxes (And the C4 is about 13Kg) as well as needing a Combo->Cab cable, but it adds the flex of more bass!

 

 

This is worth checking out, the PJB double four is not so flexible but is fab!

 

Sam x

 

Edited January 27 by SamIAm

[msb]

I use a PhilJones C2 cab for practice but it’s really only suitable for low volume practice. It is very good for that. I recently picked up a Barefaced One10 and it will get surprisingly loud. I picked it up for rehearsals , with a moderately loud drummer. And it does that wonderfully. 
They both are pricey , but good. 

[Dan Dare]

When anyone posts along the lines of "Newbie here. Please recommend a small combo for practice, etc that sounds good", many recommend kit costing between £500 and a grand (Barefaced, Markbass, PJB and similar). Yes, they may be of good quality, but a lot of beginners don't have anything like that kind of budget. I'd go used and get something like the 100w Rumble combo mentioned above. They work well and are easy to sell on when/if you wish to upgrade.

 

 

[TrevorG]

While their cabs are pricey the Trace Elliot ELFs are great. Fan's a little noisey but it's 200 watts that can go in your pocket! There are 2X8 cabs and single cone versions. Very nice but as I say, not cheap. Good luck.

[casapete]

9 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

When anyone posts along the lines of "Newbie here. Please recommend a small combo for practice, etc that sounds good", many recommend kit costing between £500 and a grand (Barefaced, Markbass, PJB and similar). Yes, they may be of good quality, but a lot of beginners don't have anything like that kind of budget. I'd go used and get something like the 100w Rumble combo mentioned above. They work well and are easy to sell on when/if you wish to upgrade.

 

 

Exactly this ^^^^

Can’t see the need to spend any more for a starter / practice amp.

 

 

[Downunderwonder]

I reckon a drummer would have to be fair smashing his kit to drown out a late model Rumble 100. So it's a bit more than a practice amp.

[ossyrocks]

45 minutes ago, TrevorG said:

While their cabs are pricey the Trace Elliot ELFs are great. Fan's a little noisey but it's 200 watts that can go in your pocket! There are 2X8 cabs and single cone versions. Very nice but as I say, not cheap. Good luck.

 

The Elf is a great little amp, I have one, but the fan is more than a little noisy. I would say it's fine at rehearsals and gigs, but at home in the lounge for practice, I can't tolerate the fan noise.

[TrevorG]

25 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

 

The Elf is a great little amp, I have one, but the fan is more than a little noisy. I would say it's fine at rehearsals and gigs, but at home in the lounge for practice, I can't tolerate the fan noise.

To be fair I have today swapped one of my ELFs for a Tonehammer 500 which is way quieter. The OP only mentioned size and small gigs. No mentioned of noise so I still think it's possibly a good offer for them.

Edited January 27 by TrevorG

[asingardenof]

9 hours ago, Martin E said:

I would suggest a Barefaced One10 cabinet and small amp head of your choice. A Trace Elliot Gnome for example will fit in your gig bag pocket.

You can tackle anything from a quiet practice to a small  gig with this. I use a One10 myself, astonishing loud and capable and smaller and  lighter than most small combos. Checkout the second hand gear on here for both items.

I think you've mixed up the TE Elf (excellent, my one's glitches notwithstanding) and Warwick Gnome (also excellent I believe) 😀.

 

My Elf sounds amazing with my Barefaced Two10S, and I definitely plan on adding a One10 for rehearsals and smaller gigs, as well as the rare occasion I want to play out loud at home.

[Martin E]

You're right, my mistake, wrong gnomenclature

[msb]

You can sometimes find a GK MB200 for a good used price. Another great little amp. I used one with an Ampeg 210AV for some years. 
edit … bought both used and found them at good prices.

Edited January 28 by msb

[Linus27]

Warwick Gnome IPro 280 and a TC Electronic 208. Light and portable and can be used for practice and gigs. It's my small combo option.

 

[casapete]

10 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

I reckon a drummer would have to be fair smashing his kit to drown out a late model Rumble 100. So it's a bit more than a practice amp.

Agreed, hence my recommendation. The OP is looking for - 

 

20 hours ago, Greenguitarman said:

Or a small portable amp (for small venues) with the ability to carry around ( that also doesn't take much space in the room ).

 

[Phil Starr]

20 hours ago, Greenguitarman said:

Hello everyone,

 

Newbie here. 

 

Can anybody recommend a nice-sounding bass practice amp? Or a small portable amp (for small venues) with the ability to carry around ( that also doesn't take much space in the room ).

 

I know that there are plenty out there and so many choices, however, I'm a bit lost with so many bass amp choices and wanted to know your opinion and how practical they are?

 

Thanks in advance.

Wellcome to BassChat. I'm guessing from your name you play guitar as well as bass so may have some experience? I think the first thing which would help us all to home in on suggestions is your budget. The AER Amp One in the video would solve all your problems but at £1939 is beyond most of our budgets.

 

No 2. on the list would be how you intend using your new amp. There are a few really nice sounding practice amps like the PJB's but they sacrifice sound levels for sound quality and if you intended jamming along with a drummer won't quite cut it. If you intend playing acoustic music something like that willbe really portable and room friendly at home.

 

No 3. Combo's are great, grab and go and nice and tidy with fewer leads and boxes to trip over if space is limited. Separate amps and speakers are a lot more flexible and the Micro amps like the Elf and Gnome are tiny enough to fit in a gig bag leaving your hands free to carry a speaker.

 

If you narrow it down a little then you'll get more relevant suggestions.