bass amplifier question

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i need a new bass amp i think the one i have now is 10 watts, my main problem is that i currently have 50 dollars with which to buy it i can borrow some cash but i want it to be a minimal amount

although the reason for this thread is that i have no idea what im looking at .......... my current ida is a Behringer BXL900, 90 watt combo for $400 .... my friend says they are pretty crap but i just need something loud and cheep

note my bass is also a piece of crap and ill be replacing it as soon as possible so im really not trying to find an amp to go with it


any help or advice would be much appreciated

I'm new to the bass also.
I have a Peavey Patriot and for my amp, I have a Kustom KBA16.

The amp does all I need it to for the moment. It cost me around $99 at a local store.

My first amp for my guitar was a Roland MicroCube and that fit the bill really well. I don't know if they make anything comparable for a bass.

I happened upon a Crate 4x12 cab and a Crate G130 head for $100 at a thrift store and both items are in great shape!
I snatched that up and now that's what I use for my guitar. I suppose I could drive my bass amp through the cab?

If I didn't blow the speakers, I would probably break the windows in this old house

FLAGG plays bass also. Perhaps he'll speak up here.

Any other bass players?

Avoid the Behringer, it's cheap s**t that will be obsolete in a couple of years. On only a couple of occaisions I have bought brand new musical gear. Nearly all of the gear that I own, or have owned in the past has been purchased second hand. The reason for this is that you can get quality gear at a discount price.

One amp that I suggest that you consider would be an Acoustic Control Corp. ( AKA 'Acoustic') 450, not unlike this one.

These have been around for well over 30 years, and are pretty much an industry standard bass amp. They output 300 watts RMS, so you should have no problems with it in a really loud band situation as well.

The problem that you would have using a guitar cabinet for bass is that you would kill the speakers via overexcursion of the cones from Low frequencies rather than outright burning out the voice coils. I've seen what can happen when a voice coil clears the magnet gap and hangs on the motor structure of a speaker, and it's NOT a pretty sight.

Besides, most guitar speakers have an LF rolloff around 70-80Hz, whereas a proper Bass speaker usually rolls off around 20-30Hz. There are also fundamental differances in cabinet construction as well. Guitar cabs are usually either an infinate baffle ( IE, Sealed Box) or open back in construction, whereas many Bass cabinets are usually a Bass Reflex (ported, like a stereo speaker) design. Whilst there are a number of sealed cabinets used with Bass, (EX, Ampeg 8x10" SVT) these are usually older designs meant to be used with tube amplification.

I don't play bass btw, I play guitar, but I know a bit about bass playing due to the fact that I'm fairly good with running Sound Reinforcement systems.

DON'T GET THE BEHRINGER! GOOD GOD NO!

Get THIS instead:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/ ... index.html

It's relatively cheap, it sounds incredible, they sell it at Guitar Center, and it has pretty ballsy distortion built in. I may get one of these if I ever need to play bass in a band (my current amp is 15 watts with no effects.) I know the website says it costs $540 but I've seen them for closer to $460.

More on GK amps, here's an old RB400 for sale

I knew a guy who could pack one of these in a small suitcase with his effects and cabling and with the addition of a 1x15" cab and his Bass he's be ready for a gig. I believe the 400RB outputs 200 watts RMS.

Eden amps are also excellent bass amps on par with SWR's. This Amp outputs 300 watts in a very small package and one of the early ones that I played through said that the tube preamp was designed by James Demeter, of Demeter Amplification.

Thanks for the info Fogman!

I did learn about the differences between bass and guitar amps and their cabinets recently, but you provided more info.

Since my cab is closed in back, I thought it might handle a bass.
I wasn't going to run the bass through the head since it definitely IS a guitar amp.

Anyway, the Kustom amp I have for my Bass is loud enough for me at the moment.

The old Kustom/Kasino's weren't bad for bass. I played around with an old 8x10" Kasino combo years ago, and it didn't sound that bad at all. The problem that you'd have running Bass through the cabinet that you have isn't the cabinet itself, the cabinet would work decently provided that you have speakers that can handle LF information at high volume. --It should be ok if you're practicing in your bedroom, but if you crank it up, you will start to have problems.

Understood

Thanks!

thanks ....... im really happy now ........... i was hoping something might offset my really crappy week

i probably should have pointed out i live in Australia, but thanks for the suggestions .... so i should mainly be looking on ebay and other second hand type of things? .... and i should be looking at something bigger? cus im a fair way from playing anywhere other than my mates garage

Yes, always look for quality second hand gear.The reason for this being that sombody has already paid for it new, and new gear always depreciates in value. Uside gear is a bit more static in value, and if you get tired of the amp, you can usually get about the same amount for it should you decide to sell it as you have aready paid. Also, I have no idea of where you live in Australia, however, If you're in Adelaide, you may want to look at one of these.



A guy that posts on another forum that I frequent lives there, and uses one for bass. It appears to be a copy of a Mesa Boogie Mk1, made in Adelaide by a guy named Frank who either owns or works at a music shop there called Custom Music. Allegedly the quality is high, and costs a quarter of what a Mesa Boogie costs. --It should be an all tube amp, though I have no idea of the output wattage, though if it's a faithful reproduction of a Mk1, it should output either 50-60 watts RMS, or 100-120 watts RMS with either a duet or a quad ( respectively) of 6L6GC output tubes.

Tube amps are usually good for either guitar or bass. Old Marshall guitar amps are almost a direct copy of a 50's Fender Bassman Circuit. Many other guitar amps also utilise variations of the same circuit.

If you decide to go with any of the amps that I mentioned in previous posts, you would do well in a Garage with any of those amps, as you could keep the amp turned down, most of the power would be available in the form of headroom for increased dynamic range. --Not too many people completely dime all volume controls on their amps these days.