I’m researching to purchase a bass amp to use at smaller venues for open mics (think small pub size). I’m pretty new to bass so I don’t want to make an expensive mistake. Other players are telling me to look for something around 300 watts. Is that a good place to start? What about brand?
Tnx,
Bob
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I’m partial to katana 110.
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If you want more power then the next step up is the
Boss Katana-210 Bass 2 x 10-inch Combo Amp.
However the 110 is without a doubt my favorite amp and
in a small pub the 110 would likely do the job well.
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500 watt minimum. For marketing purposes, you need to make sure even the neighboring venues hear you.
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He’s got a good point! 
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I agree, good point. Related point - “It’s not a good party unless to police show up.”
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Does the venue have a PA system? Or are you bringing all the punch yourself?
Are you expecting to have to play over/with other musicians? What sorts of instruments?
How do you feel about combo amp/speaker vs. separate head and cab?
What sort of weight limit are you comfortable with?
[Edit] What is your budget?
300 watts is a solid amount of power. My amp is roughly 330 watts @ 4ohms. Running through a single 8ohm cab, it pushes 200 watts, and that’s enough for me to keep pace with a relatively loud drummer and two guitars.
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A 100W that has the ability for an extension that can and more watts is what I was looking at.
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This might be some useful contextual information from the always interesting Philip Conrad on the very subject.
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Are you planning to play at open mics, or set one up?
If the former, while I’ve only played at a couple, the venues I’ve been to (pubs) lay on drums, amps and microphones. All you need to do is rock up with your instruments, the drummer and the vocalist…
Edit: It is worth checking through. Some open mics near me are “acoustic”, seemingly aimed at solo artists with an acoustic guitar.
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Very informative video. Thanks for sharing. Nice to know that I have Tier 0 (Fender Rumble Studio 40), Tier 1 (GR Bass AT Cube 500 combo; 250W with no cab), and Tier 2 (combo plus AT Cube 112 cab; 500W total) covered.
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Welcome to the forum.
What kind of a budget have you set? That would help us give you better suggestions.
In my experience 300-500w will cover just about any kind of gig in any kind of venue you’re like to play. For open mic gigs in a smaller venue you won’t even need that but IMHO it always pays to have more power than needed for those times when you may be in a larger venue with a louder band.
Hand in hand with the power of the amp is the efficiency of the speaker cab and it’s ohm rating. If an amp is rated at 300w @ 4 ohms it’s output into an 8 ohm cab will be roughly half that, 150w which for a gig in a smaller venue may also be more than enough if the speaker is efficient.
I have a 350w combo rig that produces 175w through it’s single 10" speaker. If I feel I need the entire 350w I add a second 10" speaker and it will handle most any live gig I would ever play. So having a separate head and cabs allow you more flexibility in being able to use just what you need for that gig.
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You have to be careful with that, because a lot of those aren’t true extensions. They just allow you to power an external speaker cab INSTEAD of the internal speaker. That’s the case with the Katana amps. Connect to another cab, and it shuts off the onboard speakers.
As opposed to like the Rumble 200 and 500. Those actually run ~100 and ~300 watts at 8ohms through the onboard speaker, and can then be connected to an external 8 ohm cab to provide their full power.
However, lots of amps have a balanced line out that can be connected to a PA system for additional amplification.
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I have a Joyo Bantamp BadAss bass head that has worked extremely well for me in small places (1500-2000 square feet). Paired up with an old Fender cab it does the job. Also see what equipment is in the venue before even spending money on that. Electric piano and combo organs use bass amps so it might be possible to share the amplifier. Pays to investigate before dropping the money.
I use an Orange or120 with a 4X12 cabinet. I bought it at an estate sale. It’s a bit heavy, but it really sounds good. I always get positive feedback about the clarity of sound and power.
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If that cab is a 4x12, then the head is the biggest I’ve ever seen. I assume that the 4x12 is to its stage left in the photo?
EDIT: The head is huge! And that cab is a 4x12? Wow.
Here is a picture to put things into prespective.
To be specific, this is a 1973 Orange originally used by Led Zeppelin.
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Love me some butterflies, 
love that Alembic more, 
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The Alembis is such a joy, though the FBass, Warwick & J-bass aren’t to bad. Sorry for showing-off. 
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