Bass Amp for Guitarist

  • Thread starter Thread starter VirtualSamana
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VirtualSamana

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One of the many guitarists here who is experimenting with bass.

I would like to buy a bass amp, atleast 50W so I can jam with others. Musicians Friend has reduced their price on the Crate MXB50 from 249 to 189. Sounds like a good deal to me. I went to guitar satan and they offered it to me for 169. I tried the amp and liked the tone but being a guitarist my ears haven't been properly honed for bass and I know what kind of response Crate gets around here. Is this an acceptable amp to start out with or will I want to ditch it in six months for something better? I don't really want to spend a good deal of money on a bass amp since I am not sure how much time I will devote to playing. I just don't want the amp to sound like ass and discourage me from playing in the first place.

Is buying this amp a mistake, should I invest in something better? Tight on cash here but I could wait four or five months to save up for a GK backline 112 100W . It's double the price of the Crate so I would only consider if there is a very noticable improvement over the Crate. I tooled around at guitar center with it but still feel I am too inexperienced to make an informed decision.
 
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50W isn't really enough for jamming with others, particularly if there are acoustic drums involved. Rule of thumb is 3 or 4 times the wattage of the guitar amps - a 50W (or even a good 30W) guitar amp will cut clearly through the drums, but something over 100W will be needed on bass.

The GK backline make a lot of noise for their rated output (I had a 70W 110) and the 112 should just about suffice but you won't have much headroom. They are very much "love them or hate them" amps, so make sure you demo, preferably with your band. They do hold their value quite well and you can expect to resell if you have to without losing too much (I lost about £40 on mine which I bought new).

I've never had a crate, and can't comment directly, but they don't seem very well regarded and buying one may turn out more expensive in the long run.

Have fun:)
 
Like you I play guitar, but a friemd and jammin bud of mine who plays bass has a Crate MXB50. It's a great little amp for jammin with in the living room and does fairly well in the studio but dosent have the power needed for gigging. If you are looking for a practice bass amp the MXB50 should do nicely and they are very clean but for onstage use you should consider something with lots more power, most people like to feel the bass as well as hear it.
 
Thanks guys for the input. Looks like I will buy the Crate for practice/studio applications and later will invest in a more powerful amp for loud jamming and giging.
 
VirtualSamana said:
Musicians Friend...guitar satan
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Want to hear something funny?





Satan
Lucifer
Prince of Darness
Belleezabo-or-something


Q: Guess what these names have in common?



























A: They are all the same thing. :D :D :D
 
Buck

It might rock in a music store - try playing one next to a real live kick drum. It's all gimmicks and no heart.
 
Garry Sharp said:
Buck

It might rock in a music store - try playing one next to a real live kick drum. It's all gimmicks and no heart.
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Tell that to the kid who was shaking the guitars off the walls.

That amp sounded pretty durned powerful to me.... and I've been playing for 30 years.
 
May the good Lord forgive me for recommending a Behringer product!
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No worries Buck. I trust your judgement enough to give it a try.

I am not the type to dis a product just because it is not a popular brand.


Garry, could you eloborate on what you didn't like about it?
 
I tried one in the rehearsal studio, vs. a Gallien Kruger 70W combo. The GK was louder - had none of the gizmo's the Behri has, but cut through much better against a drummer (only just, I'll grant you, that's asking far too much of a 70W amp) whereas at volume the Behri was rather hit and miss - change the tone a bit and it sort of disappeared. I don't know, I just felt that the GK was simpler but had much higher build and component quality, whereas the Behri was - well, classic Behri!

YMMV, as buck pointed out.
 
Just my two cents... I own a Crate BX100, and have used it for everything from outdoors gigging, indoors gigging (both with and without a PA system to DI into), home pc recording and studio tracking, and the amp does pretty alright. I like it a lot for being a lower end amp, really. It's no Trace-Elliot or Ashdown, for damn sure. But it's compact for the most part, powerful, and relatively easy to get a wide range of tones out of if you're good with a graphic eq. :)
 
cool, thanks for the thumbs up on the bx100. It's price/performance ratio does looks good. Glad to hear you can gig wiht it.
 
VirtualSamana said:
cool, thanks for the thumbs up on the bx100. It's price/performance ratio does looks good. Glad to hear you can gig wiht it.
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No problem. Go try it out, see if you like it sonically. Hopefully it suits your needs. :)

There's also a sibling amp to it, called the BFX100. It's the exact same amp, but with some built-in effects like chorus, flange, reverb, etc etc... A bit more spendy, and not necessary if you already have your own effects, but i thought I'd at least mention it. :)
 
the consensus seems to be that, in terms of sound quality, it simply sux...althought "for the money" it's ok.
 
Fender Rumble 100

Very Loud and only $299 out the door at GC. The last Bass Amp you will need to buy.
 
What about the Fender Rumble 60 Bass Combo? I much prefer the sound of 12in speakers rather than 15in for bass. Will the 60watts be loud enough to play with drums, guitar, and pa system? thanks!

-dejacky
 
dejacky said:
What about the Fender Rumble 60 Bass Combo? I much prefer the sound of 12in speakers rather than 15in for bass. Will the 60watts be loud enough to play with drums, guitar, and pa system? thanks!

-dejacky
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No... you need at least a 100-watt bass amp to keep up with a 50-watt guitar amp and drummer.
 
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