A good 50 or 60 Watt Bass Amp

[Tone2TheBone]

I guess its time I break down and buy a bass amp. I don't need an Ampeg amp...but I would like one of those monitor looking things with a 12" Eminence speaker in it or something. Something small enough to haul around and yet have enough power for rehearsal volumes. And something around $200.00 Anyone know of a good one near these specs?

[Tone2TheBone]

Come on doesn't anyone dabble in cheap bass amps?

[marnold***]

Many, many moons ago (~1987?), I bought a Peavey Basic 50 that I was very happy with. It had pre- and post-amp controls so you could even get it to overdrive pretty nicely. It had an effects loop too. I sold that when I stupidly sold my bass. I wish I had them both again. *sniff*

[Tone2TheBone]

*writes that down in case he sees it at a Pawn Shop*....

B a s i c......5 0....

Ok thanks Marnold. Having said that...how much would you personally pay for a pawn shop bass amp if you found one? Well yeah depending on what it was of course...but how much would you dish out?

[SuperSwede]

If you can find a C A R L S B R O (write that one down as well) at a low price, then buy it. One of the best bass amps I have heard.

[marnold***]

Ok thanks Marnold. Having said that...how much would you personally pay for a pawn shop bass amp if you found one? Well yeah depending on what it was of course...but how much would you dish out?

Unless I was looking for something rare or valuable (either to me or to everyone), I probably wouldn't look at a pawn shop at all. I would probably just plug into the new Peavey combos and see what I could find. The Basic 50 was a low-end amp and probably wouldn't be worth much anymore. It's been many moons since I played bass, to say nothing of actually shopping for a bass amp.

[r_a_smith3530]

T2TB, there are three manufacturer's that I would look at. I've always loved Hartley's stuff, so I would have to say check out Peavey. You can't go too wrong with them. Great "bang for the buck." The MAX115 is a 50 watt amp with a 15" speaker and cool features like a headphone jack and CD input.

My first bass amp was a 35 watt Ibanez SoundWave. It was a great little amp with a lot of features. I do know that it has a 65 watt bigger brother, and I believe that they are available at Sam Ash (that's where mine came from) among others.

When I found my little Ibanez, I was actually looking at a Hartke. You know, the ones with the aluminum speaker cones. Both they, and the Ibanez, have that "lean-back" feature. The Hartke is available in a 65 watt version too.

Now, just a piece of advice, from someone who's been there. If you're going to be playing out within the next year, you may want to skip the 65 and go for a 100 watt amp. Remember, the bass wave is bigger, and therefore takes a stronger amp to push as effectively as a guitar pushes a guitar amp. Within a year of buying my 35 watt'r, I was selling it to help fund my 220 watt head and cab.

Good luck!

[marnold***]

Now, just a piece of advice, from someone who's been there. If you're going to be playing out within the next year, you may want to skip the 65 and go for a 100 watt amp. Remember, the bass wave is bigger, and therefore takes a stronger amp to push as effectively as a guitar pushes a guitar amp. Within a year of buying my 35 watt'r, I was selling it to help fund my 220 watt head and cab.

Also, the human ear doesn't hear low frequencies as well as mid or high ones (relative to the human hearing range [which sounds like a great name for a band]). If you do get a combo, get one with the biggest speaker you can afford for that same reason. Bigger speaker (generally speaking) = more bass.

My first band was a bluegrass band. I was the only one playing an electrified instrument, so I didn't need a ton of power. I attempted to get a metal band together too. If that had worked out (instead of my lead singer and lead guitarist being kicked out of college) I would have needed a much bigger amp. The guitarist had this HUGE Peavey combo with the biggest speaker I've ever seen in my life.

Later, I played in a little jam band. We never played in front of huge amounts of people, so my Basic 50 did the job well. I had a Peavey Fury P-bass copy. I also had a DOD Bass Chorus, a DOD Equalizer (which was a desperate attempt to make my original, cheap bass sound like it wasn't a cheap bass--I failed; later I used the equalizer as basically an overdrive pedal), and a Dunlop bass wah. Now I'm getting sad again over all my former gear . . .

As an aside, I saw a Peavey Fury just like mine in a store recently. If it wasn't so beaten up (and off-white) I would seriously have considered getting it.

[Tone2TheBone]

Perhaps I can find a 100 watt Peavey amp in a pawn shop. I still would like a small unit though. I guess it's a trade off.

[Tim]

FYI. The human ear can hear from 20 Hz to 120 kHz, or 20 Hz – 120,000 Hz. That’s a large spectrum. 20 Hz is pretty low and 120 kHz is getting pretty high.

Don’t under estimate you r ears. They hear more than you think. Also protect them from loud music, both on stage and with MP3 players. I have worked around jet engines all my life and have lost some of the higher frequency range. Music just does not sound the same to me. But I can feel the lower frequencies, which is still cool

[Tone2TheBone]

Tim - I work at an airport which is next to a military air base. Those F-16s can push some air! I bet your ears are shot! j/k

I would think that since a body can FEEL lower frequencies that you wouldn't need too loud of a bass amp. Thats why I was thinking about the 50 or 60 watters. I would want a bass amp loud enough to hear and feel over a drummer in a room about 14' x 14'. For the most part the amp will be used in my daughter's room...she wants to play bass now. But I want to be able to take it to my neighbors house across the street for impromptu jam sessions.

[Tim]

Tone – Yep I know about those F-16s. I spent 4 years in Ft. Worth, Texas at the old General Dynamics facility where the F-16 was manufactured. I was a Government representative for DoD. I have been on a lot of other military aircraft, to include the B-2. I too am located next to the St. Augustine Florida airport. I am assigned to the Northrop Grumman facility where they manufacture the new E-2C Advance Hawkeye and perform modification on the older E-2C, A-6B, A-10, F-5 airctaft.

It is good that you are thinking ahead on a good base amp for your use, just in case your daughter decides to give up playing the base. You and duh VooDoo man must come from the same mold. LOL. You both have reviewed all possibilities for optimal use on all guitars and associated equipment. I don’t want to be around when you daughter decides to play her base and you have her amph over at the neighbor’s house. Fair play my friend will allow her to use one of your amphs while you’re away. It will most likely be the biggest and loudest amph in your inventory. I hope your wife is a good referee. RLOL

[Spudman***]

I'd go with a 100 watt at minimum. It takes more watts to produce bass notes. To have any clarity or headroom you need the power. If you are only playing in a bed room or recording don't worry about the power thing. If you are going to play out or with a drummer then get the wattage. The power thing is why concert venues have 20,000 watts of power. It takes that much to clearly produce transient bass notes at a loud enough listening level in a big room. That much is not being used all the time just for the hits and low notes.

[Tone2TheBone]

Tim - You know your aircraft sir. I think she'd stick with the bass. She really wants to start a band and once I'm done with my future "music room" addition at home I'll probably be posting a "what drum kit should I get" thread!

Spud - I generally put a lot of faith in what the monkey tells me. I'll start looking for some wattage on a bass amph.

Now are we saying amph like ampffff? I don't wanna butcher amph.

[Tim]

I would say we need "phonic lessons" from the man who stumbled across this new word. Webster would most likely add this expressionable word to the new 2007 dictionary. I presume it would apply to musicians who would use high-pitched amplification of any sort. Flutist, saxophonist, harmonicas, and of course guitar players.

[r_a_smith3530]

FYI. The human ear can hear from 20 Hz to 120 kHz, or 20 Hz – 120,000 Hz. That’s a large spectrum. 20 Hz is pretty low and 120 kHz is getting pretty high.

Just as a reference, the low E on a bass guitar rings out at about 40Hz, and if you've got a 5 string bass, that low B comes in somewhere around 31Hz. I kind of chuckle when people talk about de-tuning their five string basses a step!

[r_a_smith3530]

I would think that since a body can FEEL lower frequencies that you wouldn't need too loud of a bass amp. Thats why I was thinking about the 50 or 60 watters. I would want a bass amp loud enough to hear and feel over a drummer in a room about 14' x 14'. For the most part the amp will be used in my daughter's room...she wants to play bass now. But I want to be able to take it to my neighbors house across the street for impromptu jam sessions.

The body can feel most any frequencies, even those we cannot hear. That said, we are talking about hearing a sound, and not about feeling it, and unfortunately (at least for us bass players), folks hear higher frequencies better than they do lower ones. Also, since a bass wave is so huge, it requires more oomph to push it at satisfactory levels.

A 14' x 14' room isn't very large, and as long as your drummer doesn't play too loud and the guitarist isn't trying to wring all the sound he can out of a 50 watt or larger amp, you should be OK.

I just bought an old 45 watt Peavey TNT100 (built in the late 70's) to keep at my friend's house, so he doesn't have to drag three guitars to my place (an acoustic, a 335 clone, and a solid-bodied classical electric) all the time. His Samick 335 clone plugged in to his 30 watt Peavey Delta Blues amp has no problem running all over my 45 watt bass amp with my 'Hog L2K. BTW, that's in a room just slightly larger than what you're talking about.

Oh yeah, at those levels (mind you, we were just fooling around), hearing protection is a MUST!

[LowEndWonder]

Crate BT-50, Rocktron 60.
If you're just using it for practice or a coffee house gig, a 50 or 60 Watter is a good thing to have. I tried the Fender Rumble 60 and it sucked! No bottom or punch.
The BT-50 is much better and 3 times as loud.

[LowEndWonder]

If you want a good 1X12 combo go with the Fender bassman 150.
It's 150 watts, tilt back feature, and suprisingly a low B string rings through with clarity and authority. My five strings sound better on this amp than they did with my SWR Workingmans 15 1X15 combo. Probably due to the Eminence speaker in the Fender. I do like 15's don't get me wrong but a good quality amp with a {good} 12 inch speaker sounds tighter, punchy, and still with good lows.
My ultimate rig would be a 300 to 400 watt amp with both 1X15 and 1X12 speakers.
Gallien Krueger makes a Combo with a 2X12 configuration, but im not looking to spending $1300 on an amp. Im even thinking that the GK 400RB combo at 240 watts is plenty for what im gonna need.