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Practice combo, head or other?


fftc
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Hi folks. Needing some advice if you please about amplification.

[b]Background:[/b] I have just started playing bass (again, sort of) and I'm really enjoying it so far. I dabble or have dabbled in other instruments most of my life but I have decided to make more of an effort playing music generally and right now bass is top of the pile. This is purely for personal pleasure and I can't see me gigging any time soon, but I wouldn't put my house on it never happening. I'm playing mostly blues, rock and soul stuff.

[b]Needs:[/b] The vast majority of my practising will be silent with headphones. I need an aux in for backing tracks/drum machine etc. That doesn't seem like a massive list but I've looked at a number of things that don't have the aux in.
I have a budget right now of £2-300 with the option to expand later if needs be. What I don't want to do is buy something that I will need to completely replace in a years time, so that's why I've not looked at the cheap small practice amps, but I could be persuaded if that is the best option.

[b]Options:[/b] What I've looked at so far is Orange Crush Bass 50 combo, Ampeg PF 350, and Ampeg SCR-DI. My thinking is the Orange will give a decent sound on the rare occasion I get to unplug the headphones without any further purchase, but I'm worried that it will be a bit limited if I end up jamming with others or gigging. I also like the fact that it is full analogue. The PF 350 will allow me to use it purely as a head and I can get some form of cab later if I either need or want one. The DI I'm not sure about but it seemed like a good option when I first saw it. I've ruled out the TC Electronic BH250 as I'm not mad on the Tone Print side of things.

So what else is out there that I've missed? Any thoughts on what I've posted? Cheers. ;)

Oh, and I'd probably prefer to buy new than s/h unless it was local, and I have a MIM Precision. I don't see anything active or with more than 4 strings in my future in case that makes a difference.

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[quote name='colleya' timestamp='1485807266' post='3226898']
I think there's still a Phil Jones double four on the for sale board here. Superb for what you need, great sound through headphones or speakers. Won't keep up with a band at all but if that isn't a possibility I'd start there.
[/quote]

This is a very good option for a practice and something you're likely to hang on to when you buy something bigger. Don't rule out the TC though, especially if you'd rather go new. Load up a tube overdrive and/or a compressor toneprint and set and forget.

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Thanks for the responses.

I had another look at the TC. About 1 minute 45 into this video is the nail in the coffin for me though! Did I mention I play a P bass with flats? :lol:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WFrPr_40d8"]https://www.youtube....h?v=3WFrPr_40d8[/url]

The mention of Phil Jones Bass had me looking at the range. Wow! Lots of lovely stuff. Found the Big Head and the Bass Buddy interesting but it's really just a bit rich for my blood. The Big Head in particular would just be a boutique version of what I'm using right now, and I can't imagine it being £200 better.

I also had a look at the GK MB200 and Peavey MiniMax but I keep coming back to the PF-350. I'm thinking maybe pair it with a Barefaced One10 when the time comes and then all basses are covered, and if I need a bit more oomph in future then another One10 would boost the output.

Happy to hear any further thoughts or options.

Edited by fftc
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For home practice with headphones and an aux in I always use a little mixer. I have a soundcraft compact and a brhinger xenyx, both of which are brilliant. That would be around £30 used or £70 new, so loads left later when you need a proper amp.

Edited by Jack
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For what it's worth I'd highly recommend the GK MB200. You could add a cab later?

I use my MB200 with a Barefaced one10. It's easily loud enough for pub gigs and rehearsals. Sounds lovely. :)

I had a gig on both Friday and Saturday last weekend. On Saturday night when I went to plug into my EBS Reidmar 750 I realised that the jack socket retaining nut had came off and the socket was inside the amp!! (Found the nut and will fix it tomorrow.)

Out came the MB200, used through a Barefaced BB2. It was easily loud enough - these are great little compact and well featured amps and not too expensive.

Frank.

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[quote name='fftc' timestamp='1486383144' post='3231228']
I'm using a Behringer Micromix 4 channel powered mixer just now if I want to play along with something. And I have one of the early Vox Amplugs as another option.
I'm just looking for the next step up really.
[/quote]

Fair enough. Then count me as a +1 for the GK MB200. I have two GK heads and three barefaced cabs, something along those lines would do you well.

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For home use i use a Barefaced One10 with Mark Bass LM3. It gives loads more than enough volume. No headphone use or auxiliary in capability though.

If I want auxiliary input I have a Roland Cube. Mines a 30w. It gives good sound and all you're looking for, for not much money.

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[quote name='Jack' timestamp='1486425156' post='3231759']
I have two GK heads and three barefaced cabs,
[/quote]

That's just greedy! :lol:

I've looked at the MarkBass heads but none of them have an aux in so they are out of the running.

The GK MB200 is definitely in the frame and has been joined by the Eden WTX264, which is well priced at Andertons just now. So between those two and the PF-350, which will be best at reproducing the kind of vintage tone I'm after? Playing a P with flats it might be tricky anyway but I'm not looking for a 'modern' tone. Old school all the way. ;)

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[quote name='fftc' timestamp='1486454433' post='3231821']
I've looked at the MarkBass heads but none of them have an aux in so they are out of the running.
[/quote]

The Big Bang does have headphones and aux in

http://www.markbass.it/product_detail.php?id=207

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Provided your budget will stand it, I agree with others who suggest a small head and separate cab. The advantage of that over a combo is that it will be scalable. You can add extra cabs (and even a power amp) if you do need a gigging rig. An all in one small combo is not flexible in that way. You'd most likely have to sell it if you needed something larger.

I'd steer clear of the small Phil Jones combo for that reason (it's also an expensive option). I had a PJ Flightcase, which I used to scale up with a power amp and a couple of extra PJ cabs. Sounded fine, but a bit of a faff. In the end, I sold the Flightcase and bought a separate mini head, keeping the PJ cabs. I still have a small, light rig - I just use one cab and the head.

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Another vote for a separate mixer. That enables you to buy a practice/small gig amp without any restrictions so you can get the sound you want from that.

Most bass amps sound pretty poor with an aux input because they are designed for bass not hi-fi. You can feed a mixer into your bass amp if you want to mix bass and an aux and hear it without phones anyway.

Like quite a few people here I use a Zoom B1ON for practice. It is sold as a multi fx box but it has a tuner/metronome/drum machine and aux input built in and a good quality headphone output. It runs for a week on rechargeable batteries which I find useful for practising in any space I can grab. £45 new. It has extensive speaker and amp emulations built in too so the headphone sound of your bass can be what you want within reason. That leaves you with £150-250 for an amp with you free to buy what you want without being restricted to the few with an aux in.

Edited by Phil Starr
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I own a PJB BigHead and while it is truly excellent at what it does there are more feature-rich (and cheaper) options out there. I havent personally tried the B1ON but owned a B3 for a while and it was great. Serious Swiss Army knife for a bassist and completely gig-worthy too. The fact it is specifically designed for bass makes it hands down a better choice than a small mixer IMO. It's an apples vs oranges comparison though really.

Phil Starr speaks the truth - as a general rule the aux in on most bass amps won't sound good at all but I guess that is pretty heavily dependent on how "full range" or "transparent" your amp/cabs are.

Edited by CameronJ
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I have an Eden WTX264 - not noticed it being underpowered when I've used it for rehearsals or gigs. It's not my "loud" amp but it does the job in a pop-rock band I play with (used with a 112); has the features you want & I think is hard to beat for £200.

I'm sure any of the small amps will do for your purposes though - I've found you generally only need big power amps & lots of speakers when you're playing pub-size gigs in heavy bands with only the vox going through the PA which it doesn't sound like you're doing at the moment.

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[quote name='fftc' timestamp='1486372485' post='3231097']
I had another look at the TC. About 1 minute 45 into this video is the nail in the coffin for me though! Did I mention I play a P bass with flats? :lol:
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WFrPr_40d8"]https://www.youtube....h?v=3WFrPr_40d8[/url]
[/quote]
Not sure what the nail in the coffin was? If you're saying that you're a one sound man, then I don't see the problem - just because the amp has TonePrint doesn't mean you have to use it! Though you just might find a good sound from it...

I'll confess to liking the TC bass heads, with a couple of RH450 heads. The BH250 is a great tiny amp - and don't discount the benefit of the built in tuner - remember, the best tuner is the one you always have with you, and which doesn't have flat batteries...

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[quote name='Alec' timestamp='1486568943' post='3232871']
Not sure what the nail in the coffin was? If you're saying that you're a one sound man, then I don't see the problem - just because the amp has TonePrint doesn't mean you have to use it!
[/quote]

It was the mobile phone what did it! :lol:

I'm not saying I'm a Luddite, but that is just too modern for me.

Lots more to think about. I want an aux in for headphone practice, so I'm not worried about the sound through a cab. I know the Ampeg won't even play the aux through the speaker out. Not sure about the others. But perhaps from what folk are saying I should widen my search to amps without an aux and either use what I currently have, or get another similar thing that is separate from the amp. I was hoping to get something that will be a bit better for my silent practice,[i] and [/i]do the loud thing. I'm not in any real rush (apart from GAS) so I'll keep mulling over the options. Thanks for all the input folks. B)

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[quote name='fftc' timestamp='1486570058' post='3232886']
It was the mobile phone what did it! :lol:

I'm not saying I'm a Luddite, but that is just too modern for me.

Lots more to think about. I want an aux in for headphone practice, so I'm not worried about the sound through a cab. I know the Ampeg won't even play the aux through the speaker out. Not sure about the others. But perhaps from what folk are saying I should widen my search to amps without an aux and either use what I currently have, or get another similar thing that is separate from the amp. I was hoping to get something that will be a bit better for my silent practice,[i] and [/i]do the loud thing. I'm not in any real rush (apart from GAS) so I'll keep mulling over the options. Thanks for all the input folks. B)
[/quote]
let's face it GAS is fun, get the silent practice sorted then the real search and associated GAS can start. You can be practical, practiced and still dream :)

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