Amp recommendations for portability and power

Gear
21

That goes for anything that is 10W really. This is not ideal for anyone who wants too feel the rumble of the bass. For bedroom musicians like myself these kind of products are usually fine at low volumes.

What I do find annoying is that Boss products for bass tend to be more expensive compared to what is available for guitar. For example the guitar version of the Cube and the Waza-air headphones are cheaper. Altho the Bass Cube has much more functionality with a built in compressor, effects, looper and a drum computer.

Oh well, I’m not in the market anyway.

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22

Anybody know any amp heads, maybe about 200W, that have a rep for really loud fan noise? I’m torn between the Trace Elliott Elf, Markbass 58R and Ampeg micro but they all seem pretty noisy…

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23

The CL version is fanless iirc. The other one has a constant fan running so I would avoid that one.

The TC Bam 200 was in my experience noiseless. Pretty sure the new compact Darkglass 200w heads are noiseless too.

Trace Elliot Elf has some mixed reviews, but I guess a good working unit shouldn’t make that much noise?

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24

Thanks @Paul - the TC looks like a definite possibility! It’s like half the price of some of the other amps, and the reviews are good

I was actually wondering about the Darkglass but I think it’s for more modern metal?

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25

Nah that is a misconception, it’s a really good and clean amp with an awesome drive setting. Iirc Josh is using a bigger version too.

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26

Hmmm this could merit serious attention… I’ll hit up the guitar centre tomorrow and see if they have any in stock :+1:

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27

Good luck! :metal:

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28

There’s also the Gallien-Kruger MB-200

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https://www.gallien-krueger.com/mb-200-specs

and its larger siblings. 4-band EQ is nice. Bummer they are in G-K order with the bass on the right :slight_smile:

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29

I just bought a Vox Pathfinder 10 Bass amp for practice with my band. I know people like to complain that it’s not properly powerful enough, but I find for my situation that it’s perfect. The band has a me, a trumpet, a sax, a uke, some small drums and an accordion, and I can get plenty loud enough at practice without distorting. I walk 1km to get to practice, so portability was paramount. Anything larger or physically heavier would not be an option. The bass goes in a backpack gig bag and the amp fits perfectly into my carry-on wheelie suitcase. I wouldn’t use it for a gig, but at every gig I’ve ever played the bass plugs directly into the mixer anyway.

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30

This was one of my amps that I kinda regret selling. It could go pretty loud, sounded very warm/tubey and was super light weight.

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31

I use a Joyo Bantamp BadAss Bass Amp. This little guy has been terrific. It has enough oomph for a Fender BXR-215 cab as well as others. I can put it, the power supply, speaker and instrument cables in a backpack and just go. I’ve used it at gigs in smaller venues (1500 square feet roughly) and it does the job. I think it was money well spent.

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32

Hey @Paul - success! I have now joined the darkglass club with a new microtubes 200 - I just need the beard and piercings to go with it :slightly_smiling_face::+1:

The build quality feels very good. I don’t know why all the YouTube reviews focus on the extreme metal sounds - the clean signal is actually quite warm and friendly…

I’ll have to figure out what do do with my old Orange crush 100 combo - probably sell it but it’s tempting to pair it up with the darkglass for the Rickosound on my 4003 :grin:

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33

Well, it’s probably a lot about marketing, building a certain reputation. There’s actually one person I’ve seen doing different reviews of DG products, not focusing on the metal sound, Amos Heller.

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34

Nice one! Microtubes would have been my weapon of choice too. Glad you like it :metal:

Good luck with the beard and piercings! :joy:

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35

Whoa that guy is definitely a darkglass man :+1:. I also found this review to be pretty helpful but I had to scroll through a lot of headbangers to get there :slightly_smiling_face:

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36

:grin::grin:

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37

Easy! Growing a beard just takes time, no effort. All you need to do is stop shaving. Piercings, on the other hand, only take a second!

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38

Hah ! I’ve never been able to grow a seriously full beard - it always comes out really scrappy. Maybe a goatee but that’s about it :slightly_smiling_face:

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39

No need to defend yourself. If 10 watts works for you, then go back to practicing your bass more. No need to waste time on G.A.S.

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40

Nope, Rumble series of amps is a good choice.

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