Bass Amps

If you could let us know what sort of thing your looking for it would help. What situations are you looking for an amp for, bedroom playing or in a band etc. How much do you have to spend? What type of music do you play? Do you require one with and FX Loop?

Ok firstly
there's the bass combo
it is one piece of kit and has amplifier and speaker combined (hence combo)

Then there is the option of separate components
amplifier (AKA head includes a combined preamplifier and poweramplifier)
speaker cab

Then there is the fancy option of entirely separate parts
Preamp- to shape the sound of the bass
Poweramp- to make the signal powerful enough to drive speakers
Speaker cab- to make the noise

The amplifier and preamp all have common controls
input gain
EQ(bass middle and treble)
Output gain

They may also have some extra features which come in handy
Mute switch-Good for unplugging or changing instruments
Effects loop- an alternative to connecting any pedals or whatever directly to the guitar.
Lineout- Useful for plugging into mixing desks so that you don't have to put a microphone infront of the speaker at a gig.

Gigging and bedroom bashing-how to do both without pi*&ing people off.At Home
Amps come with volume controls so not really a big deal but for added benefit some amps have headphone jacks so you can deafen yourself only
if that's what floats yer boat

Gigging or jamming with a drummer and or guitars
Drum kits don't come with volume controls apart from those new digidrum things so you'll need volume to compete with it.
there are two ways to do this

1. buy a reasonably big amp- say 100-150 watts with a 15 inch speaker
(a 25W bass amp with an 8 inch speaker will struggle and possibly expire because it will and up at full volume against a drumkit.)

2. use a p.a. and plug your bass amp Lineout(mentioned previously) into the P.A. using it to make more noise.

Most bass players have a large amp because sometimes P.A. ain't available and also they like to have more control of their sound.
For example I use a bass amplifier and either 1 or 2 cabs depending on the situation

With all that in mind now you have to consider moving the stuff
A combo is more portable than a full bass stack obviously, so now everything is a balance of easy to move vs useability.


And finally cost
Generally speaking the combo is the least expensive option although there are some reasonably priced separates available.


hope this helps
:cool:

I've used or am using
Trace Elliott
Ampeg SVT
Peavey
Ashdown ABM and MAG
Fender
Laney
and I've tried loads more

If I was on a budget,
Behringer
Ashdown Mag
Peavey

If I had a little more
Ashdown ABM
Ampeg
SWR
Eden

You should check out harmony central for equipment reviews
I also find it useful to look at BGRA.net

Have you a budget for your setup?
also
How much time playing at home vs out with drummers and the rest?
Oh and lastly have you got transport?

That's a pretty low budget tbh.

To give you an idea of whats around your budget as is I've checked thomann

Behringer BX1800 €286
Behringer BX4500H €222 you'd need a cab can be got for about another €150+
Fender Rumble 100 €339
Warwick sweet 15 €339
Hughes&Kettner BassKick BK100 €359
Ashdown Five Fifteen €200-€300

personally I'm a fan of separate amp and cab, I have little experience of combos, so best to check the web and groups for reviews of all of th above.
If you can try any of these out it would help you no end.


If you check out the usual suspects Thomann etc you'll get a better idea.
For Behringer gear, have a chat with Audiocity. their warranty will be hard to beat.

the adverts.ie site has some stuff at the moment.