Bass amp?

rwiegand · Post by **rwiegand** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:23 pm

My son has decided to play bass guitar and has made pretty good progress on a borrowed instrument. Since the borrowed instrument needs to go home soon we decided (of course) to build a guitar (been looking for a while for a woodworking project that would capture his attention). For some reason building an amp and speaker from scratch doesn't have the same appeal, so we need to buy one. I'm out of my depth when attempting to distinguish what's available or deciding where the right price point is, so I'm seeking advice.

He's just gone off to college, living in a dorm, so he'll need to haul it around without benefit of a car. Apparently he's found a nascent blues band desperate for a bass player. He has also really gotten in to ancient metal bands. The guitar is a solid body with through neck and passive P and J pickups.

Is there a small, cheap setup that will work well (I'm unimpressed with the little Yamaha practice amp he's borrowed)? How much do you need to pay for a reasonable quality amp/speaker (think quality like that of a $2000 used tuba)? Are there meaningful differences among brands at a price point?

I'm sure that over time he'll develop opinions and eventually get something that pleases him musically if he continues with this, but I'd like to provide a starter setup that will maximize the likelihood that he will enjoy playing and continue without breaking the bank.

Thanks for your esteemed wisdom.

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:58 pm

Carvin combos are about the best bang for the buck, if you can't find something like an Ampeg used. They have a good solid clean sound and are durable. I've used my Carvin head for everything from Friday night to Sunday morning for over a dozen years, and it still keeps taking abuse.

trseaman · Post by **trseaman** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:00 pm

I second the recommendation for the Carvin gear!! Mine has also worked great for many years! Hopefully more to follow...

Tim

ArnoldGottlieb · Post by **ArnoldGottlieb** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:29 pm

I'm no fan of carvin amps, as a general rule I've not found them reliable, mostly I haven't dug the tone and I think they play a lot softer in volume than they are rated.
Bang for buck to me is a used Peavey TNT 115 or the Combo 300. You can find them on Craigslist where I live for less than 300 bucks. In the "search for more tone" bang for the buck, I really like the SWR workingmans 12 and workingmans 15. Old series are pretty cheap right now since a new series has just been released, and finding them used in the big city is a breeze, and pretty reasonably priced too. In the 200-400 range.
None of those amps are on my current gear list, athough they all have been at one time or another.
Good Luck.
Peace.
ASG

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:16 pm

You haven't been to a gig where I played my Carvin 300 head and one SWR Triad speaker cabinet. I can fill anything just short of a stadium gig with it, or tone it all the way down to personal monitor for line out to the house system.

I also used to have one of the Polytones in college and grad school. Mine was the one size larger with a 15 inch speaker and 100 watts in a 16 inch cabinet. Great for a standard jazz band gig. I gave it to my cousin when I needed more and got the Carvin.

ArnoldGottlieb · Post by **ArnoldGottlieb** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:36 am

iiipopes wrote:You haven't been to a gig where I played my Carvin 300 head and one SWR Triad speaker cabinet. I can fill anything just short of a stadium gig with it, or tone it all the way down to personal monitor for line out to the house system.

I also used to have one of the Polytones in college and grad school. Mine was the one size larger with a 15 inch speaker and 100 watts in a 16 inch cabinet. Great for a standard jazz band gig. I gave it to my cousin when I needed more and got the Carvin.

Hey Man, it might be the cat's meow for you and I can dig that, but, for me, not so much. In fact, I just remembered something else I didn't like about the Carvin I owned; the noisegate/compressor, squeezed too much on the soft notes and sometimes cut off beginnings of notes if I didn't attack harder than I wanted too. But hey, there are people that can't stand PT tuba's and I love 'em.
Peace.
ASG

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:04 pm

Yeah, the 12-inch version of the Polytone was also a great little amp.

Also yeah, unless you use it sparingly, the onboard compressor/limiter of a Carvin can get a little squirrelly. I just learned to play with a good technique where I didn't need compression. This later helped greatly in the studio, and most recently with the Welk gig a couple years ago, where after hearing me play the tech would take my bass directly into the board with hardly a touch of processing of any kind, just to suit personal taste.

The problem I have with the old Ampeg pop-up or its reissue is that for its small cabinet, there is exactly one, and I mean only and exactly one, speaker, the original 40+ year old speaker design that is the stock speaker, that has the appropriate compliance to make that amp sound good without the mid-bass muddy hump. Most often, guys try to push that amp too hard, pop the very compliant speaker, then put something in with a stiffer cone and then complain about why it doesn't sound good anymore.

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:24 pm

Allthumbs wrote:I can recommend the Ampeg B100 Blue Diamond combo amp. 100 watts, solid state, nice tone controls, very nice tone, relatively inexpensive, and robust. These sound great with a P-bass.

All of Ampeg's stuff sounds good with a P-bass, from the flip top, through the 50 & 100 watt tube heads, all the way to the SVT, and now the solid state ones. It's because that's the bass they were designed and voiced for. But since for most of my bass playing before I got my fanned fret custom bass I played a Rick 4002 (that's right, 2, not 1 or 3), it didn't necessarily sound the best as a versatile set up when I tried everything out when I was in the market. Not that I'm trying to say Ampeg is a one trick pony. Far from it. If I played a P-bass as my main bass, and gigging a heavier band, I'd be chugging an SVT as well. But I don't, so I don't. This was confirmed this summer when I was invited to a big jam session with a lot of guys I've gigged with through the years, and a guy brought the newest version of the SVT. It sounded great with his P-bass. It didn't necessarily sound the best with the two basses I brought. The speakers "broke up" much sooner on the drive curve than I thought they should have. Next time I'll take my amp and speaker regardless.

rwiegand · Post by **rwiegand** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 11:52 am

Thanks for all your comments-- I think at least you've lowered the number of things we need to try to listen to at the store, and given a good idea of what size system we need.

Thanks!