Cheap giggable bass amp

MrT

It looks like I might be about to be dragged back into playing bass in a new project starting up. I sold my last bass amp a while back when I started playing more guitar again but any recommendations on a good cheap bass amp (combo or head) that would stand up to pub gigs? Small and light get bonus points but as I'm not sure how long this project will last I'd like to try and keep budget as low as possible. 

What's the lowest wattage I should be looking at?

Winny_Pooh

Get one of the tc electronic combos secondhand.

John_P

If you don't have a super loud drummer to keep up with then for light and small I'd agree with the tc combo's.   I rehearsed with a chap using a bc250 1x15 a few weeks ago and it was pretty good.   
I've seen a few deal recently on Eden amps so they might be worth a look. 
but if you want really cheap then at the cost of increasing weight then used old school peavey and trace would work - check all is fine and you can lift them first though. 

MrT

Cheers - I'll keep an eye out for the BC250 although from what I've seen the newer ones don't seem to have an external speaker out to hook it up to another cab if needed which does put me off a little.

John_P

That put me off them as well but his was loud enough and if you can do to the PA as well then it would be fine unless the drummer is super loud.  

KKJale

I'd be looking at the Fender Rumbles, though you'd need to go to the 200 to get an ext. out.

ICBM

Cheap as possible, loud and bombproof - old Peavey, combo or head and cab. Disadvantage - heavy, and mostly awkward to carry due to their shape and often not having side handles.

I wouldn't usually consider anything under about 150W with a single 15" or 4x10" for a pub gig, although you can sometimes get away with less power and more speakers, or more power and less speakers.

JezWynd

Fender Rumble 200. V lightweight. 15" Speaker.

pintspiller

The Laney RB in a local rehearsal room (now closed) really impressed me

bigdawg

theres a tiny terror 1000 head for sale on facebooks bass players page for sale at £350...

Not mine or anythnig to do with me, but it will stop me buying it!

MrT

Thanks for the heads up but I think if I go down the micro head route at that price I'd probably take a look at the MarkBass or Tecamp Puma heads. 

I also saw a Mesa Walkabout combo which although pushing my budget looked pretty interesting. 

Cheers for all the suggestions though - I won't be making a purchase until I know the project is def. going to happen. The thing I can't decide is whether get something cheap to start with or spend a little more on something that might be easier to flip if things don't work out.

wrinkleygit

Pm sent sorry for delay, mike

speshul91

I think the rb2 has di out. 

LooseMoose

Serious bargains over on basschat.co.uk forums. Particularly the old and heavy stuff. TE FTW!

octatonic

LooseMoose said:

Serious bargains over on basschat.co.uk forums. Particularly the old and heavy stuff. TE FTW!

Incredible bargains on Basschat but I bought a new Mark Bass CMD102P instead.
I didn't fancy carrying around a heavy rig- very much been there done that.
Also the smaller wattage combos don't always get over a drummer.

I particularly liked that it works like a floor wedge and a regular cab.
With a extension 2x12 or 1x15 it puts out 500 watts.

LooseMoose

Boom! Literally! Enjoy...amazing amps.

ICBM

LooseMoose said:

TE FTW!

Trace Failalot .

I used to really like these and used several AH150/200/250s from MkIII to Series 6 for many years, but they're getting old and unreliable now. Some of the parts are hard to get too. I wouldn't get anything later than a 6 either, the build quality really went down after that.

MrT

Still waiting to hear if the projects going to go ahead but does anyone have opinions on the SWR workingman 10? Looks very appealing to me on paper at the moment - but would it be loud enough with the extension cab?

octatonic

ICBM said:

LooseMoose said:

TE FTW!

Trace Failalot .

I used to really like these and used several AH150/200/250s from MkIII to Series 6 for many years, but they're getting old and unreliable now. Some of the parts are hard to get too. I wouldn't get anything later than a 6 either, the build quality really went down after that.

I've also never heard a Trace Elliot that sounded better than 'Ok, I guess'.

ICBM

octatonic said:

I've also never heard a Trace Elliot that sounded better than 'Ok, I guess'.

I really liked the earlier AH250s (MkIII to MkV in particular), they had a fantastic clear deep punch that was a revelation in its day. They were stupidly heavy for such a relatively modest solid-state power output, but they sounded much louder than it, too.

After the Series 6 they became bland and ordinary-sounding as well as badly-made. This is when they introduced the power stage design which has been carried on by Ashdown - it's unreliable and lacks the same authority. I once compared an Ashdown "600W" Evo to one of my old AH150s and although the Ashdown was slightly louder in continuous power it didn't have the same punch and presence at all.

Another problem with the old Traces was that I got a slight bit of "welder's eye" from the UV front panel light once. Standing too close to it on stage for a long time with tube in my line of sight. Not kidding...

crunchman

You can get incredible bargains with older heavier stuff.  I picked up a 250W 1 x 15 Warwick combo on Ebay for peanuts.  It had one or two issues but after fixing the issues it cost me around £140.  That one isn't even too heavy.  It's around 25kg.  I've used 1 x 15 combos in the past that were well over 30kg.

If you don't mind extreme weight then older Trace or Ashdown 4 x 10 combos fetch very little money at all.