Amp / combo advice please..

[phil.mcglassup]

After a break of about ten years or so from playing bass I have now picked it up again and am in the very early stages of forming a new covers band. I imagine things have maybe changed a bit since I last gigged i.e. lighter and more powerful gear..... so which secondhand combos or head/cab units can you suggest for small and medium sized pubs ? I have no idea at this stage what the proposed PA system is going to be, also I won't start looking seriously for a bass amp for some time. I last had a Trace Elliott stack but it was very heavy to lug about and now that I'm older,  lighter and smaller gear would be appreciated !! I play a Hofner violin bass so am not looking for any particular sound, nor am I bothered about expensive brand names....as long as it is reliable enough and loud enough for gigging. Any thoughts appreciated.

Edited yesterday at 20:25 by phil.mcglassup

[Lozz196]

Fender Rumble combo. The 800 watt 210 can be picked up around £600. It weighs 13kg, and it sounds good. Bizarrely the 800 is lighter than the 500 version. 

[Norris]

Fender Rumble v3 500 combo. End thread 😀

[chris_b]

Check out a Markbass 112 combo. They are small, light and you can get a good sound out of them. Add a 112 extension cab if you feel the need when the band gets going.

[lemmywinks]

What type of music will you be playing and what's the budget?

[Bankai]

Either one of the larger Fender Rumbles or I’d also suggest you have a look at Laney’s Digbeth range, perhaps their DBF200 combo.

Edited 1 hour ago by Bankai

[phil.mcglassup]

 

4 hours ago, lemmywinks said:

What type of music will you be playing and what's the budget?

We will be playing anything from old school metal / rock to popular songs of the seventies onwards. The budget will be a few hundred quid ....towards a grand if I have to buy new. Would depend on secondhand values and what's about at the time.

 

Also, do all the combos suggested come with a good and sensibly priced spares back up ? And are they repairable ? I'm just thinking that other non-musical electrical equipment that I've bought recently have no spares availability..or repairs are too expensive to justify !!

[Lozz196]

If you want repairable then look at Ashdown. Being UK based it’s easy enough to either send the items there or even take them yourself. They purposely make gear that can be repaired at reasonable/little cost as opposed to to other brands which pretty much either can’t be fixed or cost too much to make it worthwhile. 
 

[jezzaboy]

23 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Fender Rumble combo. The 800 watt 210 can be picked up around £600. It weighs 13kg, and it sounds good. Bizarrely the 800 is lighter than the 500 version. 

I had the 500, sold it stupidly and bought an 800 as it was cheaper than the 500 at Andertons for a while. Used it in the studio last nigh and had to crank the master volume which was most unusual as with the 500 I had it around 11 o`clock. Had a look then realised I had the switch that controls the output set to low, flicked it up and whey hey back in business.

 

As @Lozz196 says it weighs 13 kg due to the neo speakers and if you need extra oomph get the ext cab for full power although even with the 500 on it`s own it would fill any decent size pub.

Edited 28 minutes ago by jezzaboy