What bass amp for my son?

daveyh

My son is after a bass practice amp, the biggest stipulation being something that has an output he can use to record with. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance 

stickyfiddle

I love my THR for home stuff. Easy to record with, sounds great, and plenty flexible for bass, guitar, keys etc

ICBM

Fender Rumble 25. Use the headphone output for recording.

It's a genuinely good-sounding small bass amp, not just a bedroom amp. Far better than the slightly cheaper - albeit much smaller, if that matters - Rumble 15.

LionAquaLooper

Phil Jones Bass Cub

Funkfingers

PJB amps are lovely but so they should be for the money! 

dindude

Warwick gnome head is £130 and has a DI out and sounds great. The matching 1x10 cab is c.£150 - probably loud enough to band practice /gig with too. 

daveyh

ICBM said:

Fender Rumble 25. Use the headphone output for recording.

It's a genuinely good-sounding small bass amp, not just a bedroom amp. Far better than the slightly cheaper - albeit much smaller, if that matters - Rumble 15.

I know he’s been looking at the Rumble 15 so that’s brilliant, cheers, shall pass that on

ICBM

daveyh said:

I know he’s been looking at the Rumble 15 so that’s brilliant, cheers, shall pass that on

The difference is astonishing, considering that the 25 even still has an 8" speaker - it's the cabinet being literally about double the size that makes the difference I think. Basically, the 15 is a nice little bedroom amp and sounds good if you try it first - but once you hear the 25, the 15 sounds like a bit of a toy... the 25 is a proper small bass amp, and maybe just loud enough that you could actually use it for an acoustic gig or possibly quiet jazz. (The overdrive mode and contour switches are bonuses.)

Bork

EBS Session 60 or 30.  Wonderfully warm sound for the size of speaker and cabinet.

JayGee

Bork said:

EBS Session 60 or 30.  Wonderfully warm sound for the size of speaker and cabinet.

I was going to say that (I’ve got a Session 30, and it’s great - also makes a better than half decent acoustic amp and is perfectly usable with guitar too), but it looks like they’ve been discontinued… :-(

jamjarman

When you say an output to record with do you mean an audio output i.e. DI or Headphones or a Audi interface output - USB? 

slugelise

No one mentioned mark bass yet,  nice compact,  lightweight and loud combos. 

crunchman

ICBM said:

Fender Rumble 25. Use the headphone output for recording.

It's a genuinely good-sounding small bass amp, not just a bedroom amp. Far better than the slightly cheaper - albeit much smaller, if that matters - Rumble 15.

I got one of these from Gumtree yesterday for my daughter.  It is very good.

ecc83

ICBM is the Rumble "LT" 25 a different amp?

Dave.

ICBM

ecc83 said:

ICBM is the Rumble "LT" 25 a different amp?

Yes. It appears to be programmable and with a USB audio interface built in - I haven't seen one, so I don't know what the full feature set is. It looks like it has the same cabinet and speaker, so probably similar in terms of tone and volume.

ecc83

Cheers IC, I had a brief thought of buying something to bumble about with at home but then reality check! I have enough electronic gear kicking around to build a bass amp IF I get my lazy arse in gear. All I really need is a decent 8" bass G drive unit.

Dave.

ICBM

ecc83 said:

Cheers IC, I had a brief thought of buying something to bumble about with at home but then reality check! I have enough electronic gear kicking around to build a bass amp IF I get my lazy arse in gear. All I really need is a decent 8" bass G drive unit.

What power/impedance? I may have something. Proper bass 8"s aren't that common, and not all that cheap to buy new either!

Actually, having looked into the original question a bit more, if daveyh can spend a bit more than the basic model, the LT25 actually looks like a significantly better choice than the plain Rumble 25 - the USB output can definitely be used for recording directly, and it's far more flexible in terms of sounds too.

https://www.fender.com/en-US/play-home/rumble-lt25/2270100000.html

ecc83

"What power/impedance? I may have something. Proper bass 8"s aren't that common, and not all that cheap to buy new either!"

I have a Maplin 150W* MOSFET module that I built with a very chunky toroidal transformer many years ago. I presently use that with a sealed cab that uses two 8" gash drivers. 'S ok but does not have much low end and needs a pre amp. I don't need window rattling levels so I might just by a cheap EQ pedal?

I found a drive unit online. £19+ shipping, probably ***t but has an fo of 44Hz and a power rating of 200W. No, I don't believe that either! But then, as I say I just want practice levels. Any Z will do.

*Don't think so but probably 80 W or so?

Dave.

ICBM

ecc83 said:

*Don't think so but probably 80 W or so?

I've got nothing close to that in a single speaker unfortunately.  But I do have a pair of Celestion G8L-35s - 15 ohm, so they would make a nice 70W 8-ohm cabinet...

Bod

If you can find one of the smaller Line 6 Lowdown cubes, they're absolutely brilliant

ecc83

ICBM said:

ecc83 said:

*Don't think so but probably 80 W or so?

I've got nothing close to that in a single speaker unfortunately.  But I do have a pair of Celestion G8L-35s - 15 ohm, so they would make a nice 70W 8-ohm cabinet...

No worries mate, save those speakers for a more deserving cause. I really just need something to mess about with at home and I HAVE all the 'bits'!

Just need to get act together and 'king DO IT!

Dave.