Cheap bass amps, are they any good?

[andrewdosborne]

+1 for the TC Electronic. I recently acquired (from Santa) a BH250 - enough punch for use with guitarist & drummer and Ok for home use..

[filthyPierre]

Hey guys, thanks for the tips.

Waz - no hadn't considered Hartke, not for any reason they just hadn't shown up on the radar, but those two look pretty good. The lack of wedge shape is not a deal breaker, I can always find something to lean it back on if I need that effect.

Simon - I had thought about modding the cabinet, but the rear of the box is not screwed on, it looks like it is glued and would need cutting or at best some sort of levering to get the back off. Not sure I want to hack into it. But it may be an option down the track. I replaced speakers in my first amp (a 1975 Coronet) back when I was about 18, swapped two blown 10s for two 12s and had to enlarge the holes. It lasted for years until the amp finally blew up spectacularly one day. Got my money's worth for sure out of that one. Bought the TKO to replace it.

But I digress. The TC head looks interesting, as does the BG250 cabinet thanks billb, especially with the phone app that can change the sound. Not sure how easy that would be to do mid-gig. Still, at 16 kilos it's moving itself up the list.

One thing I didn't like about the TKO was it always seemed bottom heavy, even with the EQ it was hard to get crisp highs. I figured it was the 15-inch Black Widow, too big for the higher frequencies. My preference was to go for 10s for that reason, but a 12 is probably a good compromise. I suppose amp technology has progressed a fair way in the last 30 years.

So now I have a lot more to think about :-) thanks again, will report back once I have made a decision.

Cheers,

Pete

[Simon Barden]

The TC FX changing app works pretty well, and only takes a few seconds to implement once you've got the hang of it, but you do need to hold the phone over the bass pickup with the phone's speaker on for a couple of seconds, so it's more a mid-gig break task rather than in-between song type of thing. But in all honesty, unless you wanted chorus, flanging or distortion on your bass, I'd stick with one of their compressor programs, Their multi-band one is very nice indeed.

[wazkelly]

[QUOTE=filthyPierre;132601One thing I didn't like about the TKO was it always seemed bottom heavy, even with the EQ it was hard to get crisp highs. I figured it was the 15-inch Black Widow, too big for the higher frequencies. My preference was to go for 10s for that reason, but a 12 is probably a good compromise.[/QUOTE]

Hi Pete, the hybrid speaker in the Hartke has a broad sound spectrum and I chose the 12" combo as it came with EQ for only $100 bucks extra. Had 15's for a brief period more than 30 years ago and always found them lacking the sound I wanted. Mainly used a 4 x 12" quad box with Celestions and for Rock based stuff it was punchy with lots of mids and upper highs, which figures as I bought the cab when playing guitar through a 100w Marshall Bass Amp Head. Seems a lot of Bass players are using 10's these days and with noise restrictions in venues that makes a lot more sense as you should still be able to hear yourself without being too loud. Not so easy with 15's at the same low db levels.

The TC's look & sound good but come at twice the price. As mentioned before I was hunting for a decent used TKO and couldn't find one and other than Peavey using a 15" speaker Hartke was the closest match and at a very affordable price.

[Simon Barden]

The Hartkes do sound good, though I've only heard their older 120W Kickback 12 model a mate had. Looks like they've revamped this model and it's now 500W. But the 120W one put out a fair amount of noise whilst sounding good at the same time.

[billb]

You probably wouldn't use the Toneprint app on the fly but you can store 2 separate tones and footswitch between either of them and a clean sound as you like. As Simon posted the compressor is really good.
If you want 10s there's also a 210 in the range and a 115.
I can't comment on Hartke but i think your comment that amp tech has moved on a lot is spot on, you'll probably find that any of those sort of solid basic amp/ combo set ups do exactly what you want these days.

[dingobass]

Do yourself a massive favour and get a Hartke.
I have the HA3500 head with an AK410 cab.

They do have some very nice fold back combo types as well.

[Hobastard]

You guys are making me feel like a Dinosaur. I have barely even heard of most of these amps. I still have my old Peavy Megabass from the early 90s.

[filthyPierre]

Hey fellas,

Just wanted to update you all on what I finally decided on. Ended up spending waaay more than I'd anticipated, but isn't that the way it always goes?

So, here's the new rig:



and another shot:



So, I really liked the BH250, small, light, and portable with plenty of grunt and the Tone Print capability. I also liked the Hartke hybrid speakers, so ended up with the HX210 cabinet. It's a little low to the ground but that's easy to overcome. And it gives me the versatility to add or remove cabinets as I wish. Cost of amp - $465, cabinet $699 both from ebay sellers here in Oz. The Loopi switch box is a knock-off of the TC Elec Switch-3, which allows you to mute, switch Tone Print on and off, and toggle between the two TPs. It cost $50, about 1/3rd the cost of the TCE swtich box and uses a standard TRS cable.

Only problem is, I haven't heard it all together yet LOL - the amp only has a Speakon connector for the speaker, and I am currently waiting on an order from Swamp to arrive with the cable. Getting here tomorrow according to the tracking info.

So there you have it. The only thing I was surprised about was that the HX210 only has one handle, on the right hand side. What genius thought that was a good idea? I guess it's only light (~17kg) but two would make it a lot easier to load/unload into the back of a car/van/wagon. Oh well.

Cheers and thanks for all the advice!

Pete

[Simon Barden]

With the single cab, you can always stand it on end for a bit more height. Also makes it easier to use the handle if it's always facing upwards.

Jack connectors aren't really designed for reliable high power operation. They are only really any good for up to 100W. Above that and you're much better off with a good Speakon lead.

I'll have a look for a Loopi switch for my BH250. I must rebuild my bass cab though to something more like the size of the Hartke. My 2x10 Bill Fitzmaurice 'Jack' cab is loud, but about twice the size of your cab.

Really hope you're happy with the sound once you get it all together. It will certainly be loud enough for rehearsals!