Cheap bass amps, are they any good?

Just getting back into playing bass, jamming etc, and my old Peavey TKO80 has bitten the dust. It's not really worth repairing.

So looking for a small(ish) bass amp that's reasonably portable but still loud enough for jamming in a band. Have come across these cheapies:

Joyo JBA35 (https://www.artistguitars.com.au/buy...mplifier/12906)

or

Beta Aivin BP80 (http://www.swamp.net.au/bass-amplifier-80w). Swamp also have the Joyo at the same price as Artist.

Both under $300 and similar size but a bit of difference in power output. Wondering if they're any good, or do I go for something a bit better, like a Laney RB3, which is north of $400.

Other thing is at some point I might want to add a cabinet with more speakers, but none of these seem to have speaker outputs (most have DI or line out). Seems that speaker output is something for more expensive combos.

Roland Cube 60XL looks good as well but it's north of $600 and doesn't have a detachable power cable, which sucks, as I don't know how many times my Peavey had power cable damage from transport.

With lots of companies making their products in China and India, a famous brand name amp can be just as crap as a Chinese-branded one. So, anyone had any experience with Joyo or Beta Aivin?

Also open to other suggestions.

Thanks in advance,

FP

Hey Pierre, I've not heard of both those amps. I usually google the amp name/model and add 'review' and see what people on forums and discussion groups are saying about them.
You really need to compare all the features of each amp and warranty is important. Main factor is your budget as you talk about more expensive amps. Out of the 2 cheaper amps I would favour the Beta Alvin being 80 watts and larger speaker but you have to weigh up all the other factors.
I'd also go to a music shop that stocks them and have a good play on both to see which sound you like the best.

I've got an old Peavey TKO 80 Bass amp (the one without the EQ section), and I'm in the process of fixing it, it is loud enough for use as a practice amp at home, but I'm going to see if I can buy something a bit better from my local Cashies shop later on this year, depending on what they have in stock.

There are a few heads about that might fit your budget, usually a few on Gumtree, just use the TKO speaker you have in the Peavy box.....then get a quad box later on....

I'm currently trying to fix up an old 50W Samick Combo so my Peavy Rig doesn't take up, and rattle half the house......

Thanks guys. Wokka, yeah tried that, not a lot about for either brand. A bit of chat about Joyo but nothing that really says if they're any good. Nothing much about Beta Aivin except one for one of their small battery powered amps. Price isn't really an issue, I have to rein myself in from spending a sh!tload and then having it sit in the corner gathering dust - I've done it in the past, bought stuff that never got used due to projects never taking off thanks to others talking and not doing, if you get my point. So while I would love a nice Laney I don't want to spend the money if this band falls through. And don't want to buy something cheap if it's nasty... false economy and all that.

Dr N, the TKO is past its use by I'm afraid. I bought it new in '89 (it has the EQ) and used it fairly regularly. it developed a fault where it would just cut out for anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds, and then crackle and carry on. I've had it in a number of different shops that all claimed to have fixed it, but alas it comes back with monotonous regularity. The last guy replaced most of the transistors, recitifiers, diodes and so on, and it worked for a while but the problem came back. At one stage I thought it was my guitar, but it doesn't exhibit the problem on other amps. And not just a dodgy cable either. So figured it was better to let it retire to the garage.

As for using the speaker, at 28 years old it's probably getting a bit soft but doesn't look too bad. Maybe I could use it. Didn't really want to buy a head and cabinet, as we're getting into heavy territory, but maybe it is an option. One of my mates has this awesome Ampeg flip-top cabinet that feels like it is about 2Kg it is that light. But he doesn't want to sell it. And none on gumtree :-( Ah well, guess I will keep looking.

Thanks again.

Cheers,

FP

Hi Pierre, have you considered Hartke?

I bought this one from this supplier about 8 months ago as I was looking for something similar to Peavey TKO and this looked closest match. Don't be fooled by the 12" speaker, this thing is quite a large cabinet (looks like it houses a 15") and very loud. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hartke-HD...-/391432085202

In hindsight the 50w with 10" speaker may have been adequate... http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hartke-HD...gAAOSw8vZXL~zz

Kick Back styles look good but you pay extra for that feature where this Ampeg one seemed to have the best reviews for the budget you mentioned....http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ampeg-BA-...EAAOSw0vBUaYa4

I had curiously looked at Joyo all valve amps for guitar but the sound clips on YT don't help too much and made them sound less than desirable.

Hopes this helps somewhat.

Joyo make a lot of guitar pedals, I've got a couple. Great sounds but relatively noisy. 35W and a 10" speaker doesn't sound like it will compete well in a band situation. The Beta Aivin looks better on paper with the 80W and 12" speaker. The Beta is outputting 80W into a 4 ohm speaker to maximise the output from the amp, which is why there is no extension speaker socket.

But you could probably use a small bass head as suggested with your old cabinet. You could strip out the amp to make it lighter, and swap the speaker for a new one with a neodymium magnet. I've just replaced a 13lb/5.9kg 12" Eminence speaker in a guitar amp with a 4lb/1.8kg Celestion Neo speaker and it's made a huge difference to the overall weight. Something like the Eminence Deltalite II 5212 would be a good match for that

I've got a small (well more like micro) TC BH250 bass head for my bass amp duties £240/A$380 new but you can find them on eBay for less. There are several other small class D heads available that put out a lot of power in a very small lightweight package. So you could put together a head/cab combo that weight a lot less than the TKO does at the moment. A neo speaker like the Eminence Deltalite II 5212 would be a good match for that TC bass head. Plus I doubt that you'd really need an extension speaker once you had that pair.

I like the wedge design of the Ampeg...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hobastard

I like the wedge design of the Ampeg...

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Doesn't sound as good as the Hartke's - more dark and muddy which is typical of Ampeg anyways.

Hartke do make a wedge but for the price difference you could almost buy 2 of the combos. Their cheapest one at this supplier starts at $669 but is rated at 500w and has XLR line out.

If you're playing bass with someone else then i personally wouldn't go below a 200W setup. Because of the frequencies you're putting out you'll need it to cut through a 50w guitar amp. Also, guitarists generally have zero idea of the importance of volume control... ;)
If you don't want to have to mess about cutting up your old combo id suggest something like the TC Electronics BG250-112 which can be had for around $600. More than you wanted to spend (and you can't run a second cabinet) but will do what you want and sound pretty good.
Enjoy :)

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

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

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.

[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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

Attachment 18626

and another shot:

Attachment 18627

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? :confused: 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

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!

Looks like an awesome rig Pete.

Can't wait for the next instalment once you have had a chance to fire it up.