Which Amp?

[Bigblue]

Hi Guys, I haven't seen any threads about bass amps anywhere so I thought this would be the best place to post a question as any bassists who are members of this forum must surely come here, even if they don't visit any other sections of the forum.

I play a fretless US P bass, which is currently off with the tech having an ebony board put onto it. I'm quite sure I'll be really happy with the mod when it returns however the same cannot be said of my amp, it's terrible!

What I'm looking for is something small but loud enough to compete with a loud drummer, something that doesn't have a 15" speaker and that's fairly cheap, but that will do smooth jazz/funk/fusion sort of stuff. I was looking at the Ashdown Electric Blues but I know they're bring out a better range of those in September, I was also wondering about Ampeg.

Any opinions on these amps or any others that you think might suit me would be appreciated.

Cheers,

BB.

[Cheesy]

Hey BB.

You should check out the Harkte combo's. Their B-series seem an alrite price. The B60 is 60 watt 12" driver and just under £200. The kickback 12 looks quite nice too. I'm not sure of a price for it, but it's 120w through a 12" driver.

I'm not sure whether 60 watt would be enough to be heard over a drummer, but really once you start to hit 100w most companies like to stick a 15" driver in.

Good luck with it. I;m sure Dawsons could sort you out a good price?

[greentone]

A big one!!!! With lots of speakers and knobs!!! Don't forget tweeters!!!

[Cheesy]

tweeters ay? For the extreme top end that an 100w bass amp is going to produce. hmmm.

Bass ports yes. Tweeters, not really.

Also if you read the message, BB acctually tells you that he doesn't want a big one, he wants one speaker, and i'm pretty sure he doesn't want lot's of knobs. IF your gonig to post please post sensibly.

[Telebluesfan]

Originally posted by Bigblue
What I'm looking for is something small but loud enough to compete with a loud drummer, something that doesn't have a 15" speaker and that's fairly cheap, but that will do smooth jazz/funk/fusion sort of stuff.........

Hmmm - jazz/funk/fusion sort of stuff, eh? Sounds like SWR to my ears. Maybe a Workingman 12 - or a WM 10 with an ext cab?

I have the WM 10 with the matching 10" ext cab - essentially a mini-stack. Neither weighs more than 32 lbs., it puts out 100W of full, clean tone and it has a balanced-out XLR to send the pre-amp signal to the PA board. I play a MIA Jazz V strung with TI flats through it and I've been extremely pleased with it and get compliments on my tone quite often. Plenty of horses to compete with a drummer - even a loud one (though ours is not, our previous one was.......which is one of the reasons he's GONE - LOL!) - and I'd think it would suit your funk/fusion criteria particularly well.

BTW - each section (combo and ext cab) has a switchable tweeter that you can use to tailor your cabinet(s) sound. IMO, the 'sweet spot' for this neat little mini-stack rig is achieved by leaving my top cab tweeter on and the bottom cab tweeter off. FWIW, I use a bit of a mid-scoop eq; bass full-on, mid neutral, high varies - depending on the amount of hard surfaces located onstage and throughout the venue - but usually somewhere between 70-85% of full-on.

Best regards,

Mark

[Joe]

Hartkes are nice but you're paying for the name.
SWR IS where it's at!
Great amps, and still a hidden jewel, but growing popular fast.

My bassist has a SWR head, with a traynor cabbie.

[Bigblue]

Telebluesfan, thanks very much, that sounds like all the recommendation I need, though I don't argue with Joe's opinion either so it's a good thing you've both come to the same conclusion. :)

BB.