Source
r/Bass•
christortion

portable, gig-worthy bass amps around £300?

Hey! I'm new to this sub but not new to bass. I'm usually a guitarist but I've been doing more and more work on bass and it's time to get my own amp.

I'm looking for a portable, nice-sounding bass amp that's capable of keeping up with a medium-volume drummer without being DI'd. Does anyone have any suggestions? It's mostly being used for the odd cover gig with just a vocal PA, but it may be used for bigger stuff in future.

I tried the TC Electronic BG250 and thought it sounded OK, but I'd prefer something that's a bit more aggressive-sounding if needs be.

Has anyone tried the Ashdown EB Lite 15-220 or the 12-220? I always thought Ashdown were very versatile but I have never tried these amps in a show situation.

Any other suggestions are welcome - I would rather not spend any more than about £300.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Posted Sep 19, 2013, 8:43 AM UTC

510
petenu•

I had an Ashdown Electric Blue, basically the equivalent of the EB Lite 12-220. I'd say that it will probably just about fit your needs, but I ended up upgrading because I was running it pretty much flat out and I wanted some more headroom.

£300 won't really get you very far when it comes to bass amps. For a decent gigging setup, brand new, you'd want to budget at least £500. I'd suggest looking second hand, because then if it doesn't work out then you can resell it for the same price you bought it for.

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christortionOP•

Yeah, I know the budget is rather low, but it's not going to be getting that much use - just the occasional gig here and there. In an ideal world I'd have a nice SVT or Eden head with a 1x15 but they're both too heavy and expensive for my needs at the moment.

Thanks for your help!

1
mrowensdls•

I have a MarkBass Little Mark 250. Cost about 300 and the VLE is a Sansamp without the drive.

I really do like it for its EQ, portability and power.

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LightningGeek•

I have an Ashdown EB series amp, can't remember the exact model but it's got the single 15" speaker. It keeps up quite well volume wise, with my loud drummer and guitarist with a Bogner stack. It could do with a bit more volume though, but that could be fixed by me adding a cab.

My problem is reliability. It has yet to fail me completely, but the tone controls are all dead. No change at all tone wise, although the one will occasionally act as another volume control. This means I an stuck with one tone from the amp, and it lacks a lot of mids and does mean I can get lost in the mix. However I have still received compliments on my tone before, so it cant be completely terrible.

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christortionOP•

Ha! Good to know.

I'll be mostly playing with a drummer and an acoustic guitarist so I don't need massive volume, and I don't mind it getting a bit crunchy when cranked. I'll have to check that one out.

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10tothe24th•

Orange's Crush amps seem to be pretty popular, as are Ampeg's lower-priced combos. I have an Ampeg BA-108 practice amp. Probably not loud enough for above-average volume small gigs (unless you're going into a PA), but it is ridiculously well-built and roadworthy for a $100 amp. FX loop, line-out, heavy-duty construction. You should look into one of its bigger, louder, more full-featured brothers, like the BA-115 or the BA-112. The 115 will be stretching your budget but the 112 should leave you enough left over to buy a pedal or two.

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Leg-ironFuzzy Bunny•

Carvin.

Good stuff!

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[deleted]•

The Fender Rumble series is decent, I've got the 25(the combo amp with the lights on the bottom...pretty) and I've been using it for practice and 2 gigs over the last 5 years, it hasn't failed in any way yet. I'd say get something bigger for gigging, I think some of the bigger models in the series have overdrive buttons and wheels and shit too, so that'd also be cool.

Anyways, check them out, the 25 is definitely pretty cool.

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christortionOP•

I tried the 150 today - it's a nice sounding amp but physically it's far too big. I think I will go for the ashdown eb 12 or 15.

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counselorsteve•

I actually really like my Fender Rumble 100 I got it at around $200 ~5 years ago.

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