Okay, I have two Fender practice amps, 15W each. Been there, done that. What I’m looking for is a portable practice amp with rechargeable batteries (4-8 hours of play time fully charged) so that when I gig with a room full of acoustic stringed instruments and want to “mimick” a full size upright bass AND have no power outlet, I can whip out this battery amp, plug in my wireless transmitter, adjust volume accordingly and play.
Bottom line: I have seen rechargeable 10-15A practice amps that meet this need, but I have not seen one that appears to be bass-oriented. They appear to be focused on analog and 6-string instruments. Has anyone tested a rechargeable amp for bass and had success? Does not have to be CRAZY loud, just comfortable small group setting levels. Appreciate ideas…
@Barney - your Boss amp comes to mind, but not rechargable - could buy rechargable batteries for it though @N4797S. I forget which one you have.
The real cool one that comes to mind is the Phil Jones Briefcase (only used now, but are amazing). They have 12V sealed batteries that can be recharged, and also runs on power cord. Fantastic sound, probably louder and more than you want to spend but this thing is the real deal.
They can be had for around $500-$600 if you are patient and troll GC used and reverb, etc. They come up often. I have almost pulled the trigger on one many times this year.
PS ignore the $1000 plus listings, that is insanity
Good stuff, appreciate honest feedback on sound quality. I agree the 5" speakers concerned me a little, but this would be for small settings, relatively quiet levels of play, just enough to “replicate” the sound output of an upright bass.
Forgot to mention - I have a 500W portable PA with with 8-channel mixer, plenty to run a full gig in a small venue. I could use it as a bass amp, severe overkill! But only stating that to emphasize my point that I don’t need a “portable PA system…” I already have a PA system. The main driver is (1) size and portability, (2) battery for outdoor middle of nowhere jam sessions, and (3) designed for bass versus “guitar.” Again, thanks for the great feedback thus far. Looks like there are several options in the $500 - $800 range.
Just a footnote here: I edited my review of the Boss Dual Cube Bass LX in the GAS thread after realizing the sound quality problems were not actually due to speaker size or the amp in general but mainly caused by bass setup (neck pick-up height, to be precise).
I thought it would be appropriate to correct my wrong impressions, and probably this thread is where people would search for it in the future.
