Starter Bass Amp

[bayswater]

Can anyone suggest a bass amp for someone just starting to play? A long time since I’ve used one and I don’t know what’s out there any more.

[stubbsonic]

If you like a little dirt or compression in your sound, ask someone else.

I like a clean sound with all the punch and dynamics.

I have a Hartke KB15 and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!! The sound is fantastic. The power is more than enough for any gig I've ever played, and I've played a bunch. The price is surprisingly affordable. And it's not super heavy, so the shlep is merciful. The XLR direct out sounds great when feeding the house. The 3 band EQ is very effective. I can leave them at noon for a neutral sound, I often turn the bass down a little if I need to be kind of lower volume.

Here are the only cons I've experienced:
1. The shape knob is a sweepable notch-- but at -20 dB!! it's too extreme to be useful.
2. The vinyl covering started to peel after a couple years, so I had to glue it back down along the seems.
3. There is a cooling fan that runs most of the time, it's pretty quiet, so it's fine for most stages-- but could be an issue in a quiet recording situation.

https://www.hartke.com/products/combos/ ... kbackkb15/

The do make a model with a 12", which I might have considered, but I'm really glad I went with the 15". It moves the air, but doesn't feel boomy (unless you want it to), and feels responsive and translates my playing very directly.

[mikehalloran]

Never having owned a starter bass amp. I haven't much of a clue. Upright and electric Bass was my main gig from 1969–2009 when I suffered my stroke. Tapping on the glass of an iPad has been how I play since 2011.

That said, I help many people, schools and churches buy bass amps. I take into account all of the following:

For practice at home? For gigging at small venues? Both? Is playing with a drummer a consideration? Are weight and portability an issue—if so, how much weight can you handle comfortably?

[bayswater]

For practice at home? For gigging at small venues? Both? Is playing with a drummer a consideration? Are weight and portability an issue—if so, how much weight can you handle comfortably?

It’s not for me. I’ve had Garnets and Ampegs and sold them. When I played, the important thing was to have something loud enough to damage a church basement, Didn’t matter how it sounded. I’m hoping someone here has a more sophisticated view.

It’s for a 17 year old who I’m sure can hoist a heavy amp. For gigging and small venues. For practice I’ll give him one of my Radial DIs. Drummers are involved.

[mikehalloran]

…
It’s for a 17 year old who I’m sure can hoist a heavy amp. For gigging and small venues. For practice I’ll give him one of my Radial DIs. Drummers are involved.

I'm recommending the Fender Rumble 200 for a local church where I sometimes play and that would be my first choice given the requirements. The other one I like is the Rumble 800 Combo which I would buy for myself if ever in the market again (doubtful). Sweetwater has more complete descriptions than can be found on the Fender pages.
https://www.sweetwater.com/fender-rumble/series

[daniel.sneed]

Depends on styles involved, and on drum level too (from soft to thunder).

IMOE, in case of rock, or any style approaching, an Ampeg is hard to beat.

[wylie1]

I do a lot of live off the floor and use an older version of this.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... -combo-amp
I use this as a ID a lot as well.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... iver-di-v2

[mikehalloran]

Depends on styles involved, and on drum level too (from soft to thunder).

IMOE, in case of rock, or any style approaching, an Ampeg is hard to beat.

For a large backline, their big iron hard to beat but since being acquired by Yamaha, Ampeg's combo amps have a less than stellar reputation for reliability and ability to be serviced.

[stubbsonic]

A Fender Rumble lives at venue I play at regularly. I think it's the 100 (1X12) It's pretty adjustable, lightweight. I've not cranked it in that situation, so I can say how powerful it is. I don't love it, but it's alright for the money.

I played a small Ampeg combo at a theatre venue for 10 years. I didn't like it very much. It had these preset tone settings-- varying amounts of boominess. EQ was ok. This was rarely a high volume scenario. It had enough muscle, I think. I was able to get an acceptable sound out of it, but didn't love it.

That's the context for why that Hartke KB-15 was such a surprising breath of fresh air.

[bayswater]

The comments about Ampeg are interesting. It was almost compulsory, particularly for R&B, when I was playing live.

[stubbsonic]

Maybe my desire for clean clear sound and proper dynamic response is why Ampeg misses the mark for me.

[mhschmieder]

You can do no better than a Fender Rumble combo amp; even some of the top household name pros use them! They are apparently designed by the former Genz Benz team (of the ones who didn't go off to form that new company after Fender bought them out). Nothing in common with the truly awful previous edition of that amp series, from a few years prior.

I have the 15" version and only use it for outdoor gigs in the rain anymore (and may sell it even though resale value is low), but it got me through the COVID era when I had to put everything in storage and just live on what I could take from place to place in my tine subcompact car during the constant job-hopping during that that era.

The Rumble has a very balanced tone with plenty of tone-shaping control. I don't recommend going below the 12" model, and the 18" version can be somewhat woofy or not appropriate for the size of the rooms you're likely to practice in, but even the 12" model is highly affordable.

I can't get Hartke bass amps to sound remotely organic (my signature style), but maybe they're a better match for active basses (which I no longer play, after decades of only-active basses). Very harsh and bright sound at any setting. I have to suffer them at local open mic jams and may try my J vs. my P next time as P's and J's are complete opposites.

Ampegs weigh a tone. If you want the Ampeg sound, buy a Mesa amp, which is super light even though 100% tube for both the preamp and power amp stages. My Bass Prodigy was taken out of production, unfortunately, and I don't have experience with what replaced it. Many personalities has that amp, and the best DI of any bass amp ever; even superior to Radial.

If you're not sure if you're sticking with bass, you can also shop used for a Phil Jones if the price is right. He mostly uses 8" speakers but makes them work. Even the 10" Rumble is fine for starters, if you just want to test the waters, but the price difference isn't all that great between 8", 10", and 12" -- it's mostly about helping people who carry it on the NYC subway.

[mhschmieder]

Separately, don't be too concerned about tube vs. solid state. For years, I played an amp by a company called A.M.P., similar in sound to the current Fender Rumble series. I got turned down at some auditions because it wasn't a tube amp but when I moved from MA to CA I sold it to one of New England's top players, who had no nose-in-the-air issues about it.

I do prefer the tube sound for the most part, even on upright bass, but a good solid state amp accentuates different aspects of the sound and can have a stronger (as in solid and round, not as in louder or aggressive) attack and transients. Tubes, after all, serve as a compressor of sorts.

Yamaha owns Ampeg now, so maybe they'e come out with a good lightweight solid state bass amp under that moniker, possibly even using modeling technology or more likely a hybrid of modeling and pre-amp tubes.

[mhschmieder]

Whatever you end up buying, make sure to budget for a cover (usually not included, but often available from the vendor as an add-on cost). Trust me, it will be needed! Even with light drizzle and a quick walk from the car to the front door, you will spare yourself unpleasant surprises and have peace of mind. There are some custom makers on eBay and Fender makes them for most models they sell (though theirs are thin, they tend to last fairly well and are definitely waterproof). $20-$60.

[mikehalloran]

I do prefer the tube sound for the most part,

My favorite bass amp was my blackface Fender Showman — 85W of pure Fender tube goodness! Mine went into an EVM-15L single Carvin cabinet that I still own. I liked the wider range and greater efficiency of the guitar versions of EV and JBL 15s as opposed to the narrower frequency band of the bass versions that sounded pinched to me. Easily overpowered by an aggressive drummer, however.