REALLY cheap beginner amp

Hi everyone, I’m a total bass noob, just bought my first bass (my first musical instrument whatsoever) and now it’s time for an amp. I know, that Josh recomended Fender Rumble 40 as a good starter amp, but for me it’s too expensive, it’s about half my monthly salary (I don’t live in the US) :frowning: I’m living in an aparament, with roommates, so I need something that can play well on low volume. I have my eye on Ibanez 10B V2, Peavey Max 126, Harley Benton HB-20B 40W or Tenson 35 W. Which one would you recomend? I don’t plan on playing with a band anytime soon or ever, just for practising and playing in my room for me.

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It’s hard to find a cheap bass amp that’s worth buying. I don’t have any experience with the ones you listed but I’m sure others have some solid recommendations. You might want to check out the Vox Bass Headphone Amp to start. There is also the NUX headphone amp with some extra features (and rechargeable battery) that costs a little more.

Welcome to the forums and good luck on your bass journey!

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Welcome @vermilionthenegative.

I must concur with @bjams. With you living in an apartment with roomies, you will get a lot of complaints if you get an amp that’s decent enough to emit good quality bass tones. The headphone solution is the best for you in your situation.

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Welcome @vermilionthenegative

100% agree with my other two learned colleagues. Headphone amps are the way to go.
I bought an 80w Peavey amp when I started my bass journey and I can honestly say it’s never been home higher than between the 0 and 1 mark on the volume! And I have my own practice space lol

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Headphone amps are a great option.

As another option, something like a Zoom B1 four pedal gives you a tuner, headphone out, and a bunch of “pedals” to play with, plus an aux in so that you can listen to B2B while you practice!

You don’t need an actual amp unless you want/need others to hear you…

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+1 to the Zoom pedal recommendation.

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Have you checked out a Rumble 15? It’s what I started with. I don’t have any experience with the ones you list so can’t offer an opinion. But for a small amp Rumble 15 is solid

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It seems as if most people are in agreement about cheaper amps… they aren’t worth buying?

The little amp I use is a very old Ibanez Sound Wave 20. I’m pretty sure it was about $80 when I bough it, but it doesn’t look like they make it anymore. It isn’t the best I’m sure, but I can hear what I’m playing. My suggestion would be to buy what ever you can afford to start with, but get something from a reputable company, Fender, Peavey, or Ibanez. You definitely should have an amp so you can hear what you are playing.

Welcome to the site!!

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Welcome @vermilionthenegative!

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Another +1 on the Zoom recommendations. A multi-effects processor like the Zoom B1 Four has everything you need: it’s a headphone amp, so great for silent practicing; it has an AUX in, so you can connect your laptop, phone, MP3 player or any other media device and play along with that, plus it has a tuner, a drum machine, a looper, a couple of amp and cab sims and a lot of other effects to have fun with. You could try finding an older model used. I started out with a Zoom B1on that I bought used for 25 Euros, and sold for 20 Euros when I wanted to buy the B1 Four.

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Yeah, same here (though I went B3n instead of B1four). B1on is a nice device too and if you can’t afford a B1four it would make an excellent practice choice.

Don’t let the plastic fool you, they are very very solid.

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I just started using my B3 today and I am impressed with it and I don’t even know what I’m doing!

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really great device.

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My son and I both started learning bass recently. So i’m a beginner too. Some of my experience might be relevant to you too.

We bought from Thomann.de and used their free returns policy. We weren’t sure what to get and my son is left handed so not much in the local shops. We bought 3 Harley Benton basses so we could test and decide, and then returned one we didn’t like.

We got the ZoomB1-Four multi-effects pedal. It is great for quiet practice and discovering sound effect. It has aux in from laptop or phone to play along with, built in tuner, and powered by battery, usb or plug. Outputs include headphone or line out. Also includes a looper and metronome/drum machine. Very versatile and fun.

We also got the HB-40B amp (40W). The HB-20B is the smaller 20W amp. The HB-40B sounds good do us, and has plenty of power to shake the windows. Also has DI out, headphone out and aux in. Works for us, but I’m not sure your roommates would appreciate it!

So in summary: if you are looking at Harley Benton and purchasing from Thomann then checkout their returns policy. Buy and testing at home worked well for us. And I agree with the others here the the Zoom B1 would be useful and versatile for you.

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I would go for the HB-20B which cost around 75 euro. Great cheap starting amp and not too loud either. I think 20W is loud enough for any small room and you can also plug-in your headphones in the amp if you want to play silent.

The zoom is a very good buy, but personally I would start with an amp first because imo it’s a better starting point and it is also kinda cool to hear your first tunes coming out of a speaker. From there you can save up for a better amp (the Fender rumble 40 is a solid step up) or even buy a zoom to get introduced in the multi-effect world. You can’t go wrong with any of the suggestions in here.

Good luck with your decision!

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Yes, didn’t even think about the Zoom B1 Four. That is about the same price as the NUX headphone amp, and I think it’s much better value considering what you need to get started. The Vox headphone amp is about half the price, but you could probably find a used B1 Four for about the same amount as a new Vox.

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That’s the setup I’ve been using for B2B. Works great!

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Here is the one I use to keep my wife happy. Allows for headphone use and has many neat features built in that will make learning the bass a lot of fun.

Search for the Roland Micro Cube Bass RX.

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Thanks everyone for your insight and suggestions and thank you for a warm welcome! :slight_smile: Especially thank you @pauls1024, I checked out Thomann’s site and was pleasantly surprised that they offer shipment all over Europe AND they offer a Harley Benton bundle, so I went with that, it was considerably cheap option (even tho I had to pay in euros) for me and just a great deal. My packed should be delivered on Monday, I’m so excited, yay! :smiley:

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Hi @vermilionthenegative I’m glad I could help. Let us know how you get on. I find this forum great for advice and support… I hope you enjoy learning bass as much as I do!

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