Amp:Bass/Guitar price ratio?

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fftcfftc Frets: 559
Is there an ideal ratio for the cost of your bass guitar versus the cost of your amp?

Let's imagine someone is starting out and has a budget to get an amp and bass. It could be £500, £1000, £2000. Would you advise 1:1, 2:1, 3:2, 1:10, something else?

Is it different for guitars?
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  • guitarfishbayguitarfishbay Frets: 7953
    edited August 2017
    Not really.

    If anything it's possibly cheaper to get a really good gigging sound with bass because larger and heavier cabinets and amps are quite out of fashion (so cheaper used) but still sound great.

    If someone is starting out then it's probably going to be a little bit more beneficial to get a nicer instrument and a smaller usable home amp (which will likely make it cheaper than the instrument).  A gig ready amp isn't really a requirement for a beginner to learn to play.

    When first starting out it is important to have a usable, and well set up instrument, otherwise it makes the first hurdles a lot harder than necessary.  Beginner (especially younger) players don't have the necessary hand strength and dexterity to play the instrument properly to start with, and having a poor setup can really make it that much harder, meaning they're probably more likely to quit out of frustration.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71956
    If you're on a limited budget, buy the best bass you can and don't worry too much about the amp yet. You can get a loud, reliable and reasonably decent-sounding amp surprisingly cheaply nowadays, if you don't mind something secondhand and heavy. When you're starting out, a better bass will be more rewarding and let you learn faster, and it's quite likely there will be provided amps in many places you'll play - practice studios and even many venues have provided backline these days, and if that's not available then you can usually DI the bass into the PA with far better results than you can with a guitar.

    It's also different from guitars in that the amp is far less critical to the sound of a bass - most even half-decent bass amps can produce a wider range of tones, and any that they can't are really something you need a pedal for.

    That said I probably wouldn't go as high as 10:1, that would imply spending something like a grand on a bass and a hundred on an amp. Unless it's specifically an amp to play just at home, then you should probably get something a bit better if you do have that sort of money, or more. It's more a decision you have to think about if you have only a few hundred to spend.

    But there are really no hard and fast rules. If you find a great bass that isn't expensive, don't feel that you need to spend less on an amp.

    In my opinion, obviously…

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    My ratio has stuck at about 5:1 bass to amp 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71956
    My ratio has stuck at about 5:1 bass to amp 
    Same here - or higher, but that's partly because I do like those old Peavey bass amps which are really cheap. (Or did, before the weight became more of an issue.) Even now I'm resisting the idea of actually paying serious money for a better cab, partly because the lightweight head I'm using wasn't expensive either.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    ICBM said:
    My ratio has stuck at about 5:1 bass to amp 
    Same here - or higher, but that's partly because I do like those old Peavey bass amps which are really cheap. (Or did, before the weight became more of an issue.) Even now I'm resisting the idea of actually paying serious money for a better cab, partly because the lightweight head I'm using wasn't expensive either.
    I have a fairly expensive head and cab, but the 64P knocked my ratio well out of kilter ;)
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  • John_PJohn_P Frets: 2744
    I gig a Geddy Lee jazz and GK 212 combo so not far off a similar price from both.   

    I could get away with something from the cheaper end of the market though - say s squier vm and an old trace or peavey head and cab, probably around 200 each with s bit of shopping around.  So is say 50:50 is doable until you start spending serious money when the cost of an upmarket bass is probably more than an upmarket amp.  
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  • fftcfftc Frets: 559
    edited August 2017
    Interesting.
    I'd actually have thought that more folk would plump for a slightly higher value amp than bass.
    Talking in new prices only, you can buy a perfectly useable bass for £250 or less, but you would struggle to play anywhere other than your house with £250 worth of amp. Obviously when you start looking at old, heavy, s/h amps things are different. Also vintage instrument prices throw things out of kilter too. (Yes, I'm looking at you mr @Bridgehouse !)

    I've been at 1:3.5, but that's with a non-gigable amp.
    Will shortly be at 1:1 when the new stuff arrives. I think that's quite sensible.

    What got me thinking was the £3K P-bass that I played through £1.5K of amp sounded ace, but then so it should! if the £3K P-bass was played through a £300 amp would it be the same? Doubtful. But I'd bet a £300 Squier would sound awesome through the same £1.5K of amp.

    So 1:2 works.
    1:10 wouldn't, but 5:1 would.
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    fftc said:
    Interesting.
    I'd actually have thought that more folk would plump for a slightly higher value amp than bass.
    Talking in new prices only, you can buy a perfectly useable bass for £250 or less, but you would struggle to play anywhere other than your house with £250 worth of amp. Obviously when you start looking at old, heavy, s/h amps things are different. Also vintage instrument prices throw things out of kilter too. (Yes, I'm looking at you mr @Bridgehouse !)

    I've been at 1:3.5, but that's with a non-gigable amp.
    Will shortly be at 1:1 when the new stuff arrives. I think that's quite sensible.

    What got me thinking was the £3K P-bass that I played through £1.5K of amp sounded ace, but then so it should! if the £3K P-bass was played through a £300 amp would it be the same? Doubtful. But I'd bet a £300 Squier would sound awesome through the same £1.5K of amp.

    So 1:2 works.
    1:10 wouldn't, but 5:1 would.
    Average price of my gigging basses = £500

    Average price of my gigging rigs = £1500

    Average vintage collection price = The missus might be reading...
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  • fftcfftc Frets: 559
    fftc said:
    Interesting.
    I'd actually have thought that more folk would plump for a slightly higher value amp than bass.
    Talking in new prices only, you can buy a perfectly useable bass for £250 or less, but you would struggle to play anywhere other than your house with £250 worth of amp. Obviously when you start looking at old, heavy, s/h amps things are different. Also vintage instrument prices throw things out of kilter too. (Yes, I'm looking at you mr @Bridgehouse !)

    I've been at 1:3.5, but that's with a non-gigable amp.
    Will shortly be at 1:1 when the new stuff arrives. I think that's quite sensible.

    What got me thinking was the £3K P-bass that I played through £1.5K of amp sounded ace, but then so it should! if the £3K P-bass was played through a £300 amp would it be the same? Doubtful. But I'd bet a £300 Squier would sound awesome through the same £1.5K of amp.

    So 1:2 works.
    1:10 wouldn't, but 5:1 would.
    Average price of my gigging basses = £500

    Average price of my gigging rigs = £1500

    Average vintage collection price = The missus might be reading...
    So ignoring the vintage stuff your at 3:1.

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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    fftc said:
    fftc said:
    Interesting.
    I'd actually have thought that more folk would plump for a slightly higher value amp than bass.
    Talking in new prices only, you can buy a perfectly useable bass for £250 or less, but you would struggle to play anywhere other than your house with £250 worth of amp. Obviously when you start looking at old, heavy, s/h amps things are different. Also vintage instrument prices throw things out of kilter too. (Yes, I'm looking at you mr @Bridgehouse !)

    I've been at 1:3.5, but that's with a non-gigable amp.
    Will shortly be at 1:1 when the new stuff arrives. I think that's quite sensible.

    What got me thinking was the £3K P-bass that I played through £1.5K of amp sounded ace, but then so it should! if the £3K P-bass was played through a £300 amp would it be the same? Doubtful. But I'd bet a £300 Squier would sound awesome through the same £1.5K of amp.

    So 1:2 works.
    1:10 wouldn't, but 5:1 would.
    Average price of my gigging basses = £500

    Average price of my gigging rigs = £1500

    Average vintage collection price = The missus might be reading...
    So ignoring the vintage stuff your at 3:1.

    Yep. About right I reckon.

    The vintage stuff doesn't get gigged so sort of a mute point. However, it's used exclusively for recording, practice and writing, so my ratio would be very different in those circumstances.
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    Oh, @fftc re your cheaper amp comment - mostly, yes it's not as good, but my 64P through a £200 Ampeg SCR-DI and into pretty much anything sounds spectacular.
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  • I've honestly never considered my equipment in ratios like this.

    Though, if I had to start from a clean slate, I reckon I'd probably spend more on basses than on guitars - mostly because there are genuine spec differences on basses at a certain price point you can't easily find on lower priced instruments.  For example, re-enforced necks on Fenders (US only), and certain MusicMan type instruments are only available built in the US and not by the cheaper overseas brands.

    With guitars there is a lot of choice for instruments with broadly similar spec to higher priced instruments at a moderate price.  While the more expensive ones are generally nicer, they're not actually nicer in a practical way - as in there's nothing you can do on the expensive one you couldn't do on the cheaper one.  If that makes sense..
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27574
    I think my bass/cello amp cost about half what the bass did, and about a fifth of what the cello did.
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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  • This normally isn't a very popular view but personally speaking I don't own a gigable bassamp so my own personal ratio is pretty high! 

    Everywhere I ever gig has bass backline provided and the places that don't I just use a decent DI box. So I don't see the point in having hundreds of pounds and space in my house tied up in a Bass amp that would get turned on about once a year. 

    Even if you're really particular with your bass sound and insist on your own amp on stage with you in my experience the sound engineer will take a DI from before your amp anyway and that's what will be heard out front---so even in those scenarios your amp will basically just be your monitor. Not worth the hassle in my opinion. 
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71956

    Even if you're really particular with your bass sound and insist on your own amp on stage with you in my experience the sound engineer will take a DI from before your amp anyway and that's what will be heard out front---so even in those scenarios your amp will basically just be your monitor. Not worth the hassle in my opinion. 
    I've had a couple of arguments in the past with soundmen about that - they want control, and they don't like the bassist having the ability to change the sound from the stage. So the amp is completely irrelevant to the FOH. Of course, you can easily get round that by using your choice of preamp pedal between the bass and their DI box ;).

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    ICBM said:

    Even if you're really particular with your bass sound and insist on your own amp on stage with you in my experience the sound engineer will take a DI from before your amp anyway and that's what will be heard out front---so even in those scenarios your amp will basically just be your monitor. Not worth the hassle in my opinion. 
    I've had a couple of arguments in the past with soundmen about that - they want control, and they don't like the bassist having the ability to change the sound from the stage. So the amp is completely irrelevant to the FOH. Of course, you can easily get round that by using your choice of preamp pedal between the bass and their DI box ;).
    Which is exactly why I've just built this:


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  • teradaterada Frets: 5113
    My sg faded bass cost £600, my micro mark 801 cost me £300. Perfect for home and can di out into pa and use as a monitor for live. 

    2:1 for me
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  • MattBansheeMattBanshee Frets: 1498
    Band practice today was:

    Cort Curbow - £92 on eBay

    Ashdown Little Giant 350w head - £130 on eBay (going back though because the fan doesn't work and it overheated and shut down!)

    Ashdown Nate Mendel drive pedal - £55 ebay

    Mini compressor - £15 from here

    Less than £300 for a fully giggable rig (faulty head notwithstanding) and a huge variety of decent sounds. I also have a 1x15 Marshall bass cab that I picked up for £50 a good few years ago, but it did absolutely fine in every venue I ever took it to.

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  • crunchmancrunchman Frets: 11413
    As others have said, you can get an older bass amp very cheaply second hand.  I picked up a 250W Warwick amp on Ebay that ended up costing about £140 once I had fixed a couple of minor issues.  (Was originally about £700 new). It's a 15" speaker but it's not a stupid weight (around 26kg I think).  I have used 1 x 15 combos in the past that were around 35kg though.  That is getting too heavy.

    The Warwick is big enough for anything I've needed so far.  Anything that 250W won't cope with is likely to be big enough to have a good PA.
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  • BridgehouseBridgehouse Frets: 24578
    My Markbass LMIII was £250 - brilliant lightweight head and plenty of power for what you need.

    There's normally plenty of them for sale S/H
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