This is why I couldn’t do the tubes thing. Because what about the rockerverb and 5150 then?
Oh definitely - also for G-K too of course (I like the sound of the newer Fusions).
You know for solid state the recent PortaFlex might be pretty good.
One thing I know for sure is I won’t be getting a SLO-100 any time soon but that would for sure be my pick given the choice.
I’m imagining the attenuator you’d need to be able to use a 100 watt high gain tube guitar amp in your apartment and it’s really entertaining me.
yeah exactly, I am picturing a big heat sink
I mean on one hand its only 100 watts. But on the other, it’s a mean 100 watts
not a big fan of Orange amps actually but the 5150 is great. and the 6505 is stellar.
Not mandatory for bass amp but honestly for a guitar amp, you need tubes.
Not sure. The recent Portaflex’s sound pretty flat IMO. But the newest Venture series seems really excellent !
Yeah, not the cheapest ones. And the recent low power ones are really not as good. You want the real 100w one.
… and for having a 120w Soldano head, personnally I prefer the dirty Marshall sound. I have 7 Marshall’s currently Big fan of Vox’s (I have 2) and high-end Vox-likes (the best amp that I own is a Bad Cat)
I mean my guitar amp use is for a violin, so not the same thing precisely. That said I’ve been to a few shows at midsize venues recently with no amps in sight and the guitars sound good to me.
Definitely a classic sound.
I also like Orange a lot for guitar but that is mostly because to me they sound like rounded off Marshalls that don’t clean up as well
That’s pretty much it, yeah. I’m fine with my '81 JCM 800 …
It’s just a V4 - not the B version. I was on the fence for a while but I’m glad I scooped it up!
Yeah exactly - once you’re talking about that spending level there’s the dream choices. Of course a SLO-100 is in the dream league, but for its price you could probably get a 5150, a JCM-800/900, and a Rockerverb.

the 5150 is great. and the 6505 is stellar.
I thought the 6505 was a literal rename of the 5150? Is there a difference?
(edit: ahh I guess not, they look quite a bit different, superficially anyway.)
Yeah the 6505 is somewhat more useable. the 5105 has tons of gain, it can be too much even for metal. Also if I remember, the clean channel is better on the 6505.
I must confess that the 6505 is on my amp wishlist
Wow used Backlines ARE really cheap now. Not that they ever were expensive, but wow. I would definitely go for one if I needed an amp. The sound of those and the RB’s are basically my favorite solid state amp sounds for bass.
Just to put a period on the thread…

Very bad amps in my opinion, at least for bass. a Rumble 40 is way better.
I had a Rumble 40 for a long time, and a Rumble 100. Both were too boomy for my current situation.
I did wind up getting a Spark 40. For my current needs, it’s perfect. Yeah, the speakers are small, and they don’t move a lot of air, but that’s not what I was looking for. I was just looking for something I could play through without headphones and not make the other people in the house hate me. And for that, it’s perfect.
Thanks for all the feedback!

Spark 40
I heared, there is an easy way to improve the sound: closing the bass reflex tube.
Like this:
You should be Modding_Dutchman

Modding_Dutchman
My friends call me Mocking_Dutchman
So, just wrapping a bow on this thread, the Spark 40 is a great little amp for bass, across the board, when used with headphones. When used without headphones, it’s pretty good, until you ALSO want to play a backing track (like, maybe a song through the app, or through the aux in). Then it leaves a good deal to be desired.
I went to Guitar Center the other day and did some trade-ins with some basses I wasn’t playing and wound up taking home a Boss Katana 210. Very different from what I wanted in my original post, but it has a built-in DAI over USB, and has a “1 watt” switch where I can cut the power output down to a minimal value, which works great in my small space. With full power output, 160 watts with 2 10" woofers is too much for my little house, LOL.
Anyway, that’s that. I’ll probably end up selling the Spark 40, now that I have the Boss.
I have a Rocket Bass 30 and 50 watt. The 50 is a work horse. Highly recommend.