What amp/ cabs would you buy with £1000-1500

[pete bigmatch]

Looking to buy a new amp and cab to go with my Yamaha trb 1005 (which could be changing)
I will not be gigging as only intend to play at home.
Listening to Nathan watts (stevie wonder) - John deacon (queen)
Will have around the £1000-1500 to spend
So
What would you go for ?

[xgsjx]

What would I go for???

A train ticket to Warwick & try out all what [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Home.html"]Bass Direct[/url] have to offer.

If you're only playing at home, you could walk out with a nice wee combo & plenty change.

[GUI101]

If it's only home practice, I would certainly look at a barefaced midget (or 2) or EA wizzy 10 or 12.
Both will do the lows, and will hold their own should you need to rehearse with others, and they can be added onto later should you need to gig.
Amp wise, I hear a lot of good things about genz benz streamliners with the barefaced cabs (tube pre, class D power stages) but I guess that would really be your own preference in tone etc, as the cabs are really uncoloured giveing a very flat eq, clear sound.

[Doddy]

If you only intend to play at home,you don't need to spend anywhere near that amount of
money. Get a good combo from someone like Ashdown or Roland and you'll be absolutely
fine. If you want something bigger,in case you do want to gig,again you can get amps by
Ashdown or Hartke amongst others for well under your budget,especially if you look at the
secondhand market.
For home playing only,I wouldn't even consider spending anywhere near a £1000

[LawrenceH]

An SWR Marcus Miller pre-amp, some high-end open backed headphones and a little Yamaha mixer.

[BassPimp66]

Why spend GBP 1,500 on something just to play at home? That is, you won't need an (expensive) earthshaking loud bass system.
With that in mind, maybe you should spend more on the preamp, in comparison to the power stage and the big cabs.
Also, you may want to do a bit of recording if it's only for home use.
What about a boutique-ish/fancy preamp like an Jonas Elborg, a small Markbass combo, and audio-interface for home recording?

[skidder652003]

barefaced and thunderfunk, simples!

[onehappybunny]

i loved the tone that I was able to get from the Roland Bass Cube that I bought on BC and only sold it when I got in a band and needed more power. If you can get one second hand (I had the 30w version) it should be just north of £100, leaving plenty of cash for other bass toys. If you want to spend more money then maybe a Phil Jones Bass Briefcase may be a good bet for home use, but even that would leave plenty of change. Quite often the extra cash gets you far more power, lightweight, boutique 'name' but not necessarily better tone at low volumes If you don't need the power then I'd agree with Doddy

[RandomBass]

Yep those Roland Bass Cubes are brilliant. i have the 30w version and it is seriously loud with a great consistent tone. The newer XL versions are even better. You wont need anything more for bedroom bass.
I'd spend the money on lessons if it were me...

[RichF]

Yeah, assuming you will be doing a reasonable amount of headphone playing, I think the preamp, recording style set up is the way to go, with a wee combo for practice. Do you record? songwrite? videos? Anyway the [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Pre_Amplifiers_Phil_Jones_Bass.html"]Phil Jones Bass Buddy[/url] is an excellent tiny preamp with decent features including compressor. I loved mine. Obviously you could go mental and get a SWR MM pre or an Avalon!? That's would be a total luxury. In terms of combo, some good suggestions so far- Roland, ashdown, markbass - but if you really have a bit of cash, then a [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/PJB_CUB.html"]Phil Jones combo[/url] might be a decent option? Small, very good sound. The Cub is designed to sit by a desk or whatever so you could even use that for your headphone work, avoiding the need for a pre? There are bigger PJ options. I would maybe add in a B3 for FX.

Edited October 20, 2012 by RichF

[Thor]

I have to agree with others on here and would never spend that much on a rig for home use?!

I have a PJB Briefcase for playing at home and also when we play acoustic type gigs - it really is a fantastic quality amp but also very discreet in it's size, as mentioned above would leave plenty of funds for other things (have to keep the good lady happy!).

[Lozz196]

Yep, I`d never look to spend that on a home use rig, as usually, for that money, the amp will be high powered, and I`ve always found using high-powered amps at home, you have to set them virtually "off" so you don`t get the benefit of the best sounds available.

For home use, dependent on sounds wanted, I`d look at Ampeg or Fender - both have a nice warm sound to their smaller amps. In fact, Ampeg have just brought out this micro stack:

http://www.ampeg.com/products/classic/microcl/

[JTUK]

Two ways you can approach it...
Get a quality self contained combo you could move around or store in one place taking up little room like a PJB combo...
or you could get a quality pre... like the Glokenlang in the F/S, knowing you could add to it for a gigging rig easily enough..

Adding a decent power stage for £2-300 and a cab gets you to £1500 should you want a flexible rig to cover most situations.

[chris_b]

You can blow your whole budget and more on an AER Bass Cube, spend £100 on a practice combo or get a larger combo. Ashdown, Ampeg, Genz Benz, Ibanez and Roland make small combos that would do the job for about £300 - £400.

I'd get a small combo with a line in, so you can put your CD through it, and a headphone socket for silent playing, when the rest of the family are asleep.

Also spend a couple of hundred on a good set of headphones.

Edited October 20, 2012 by chris_b

[0175westwood29]

For home use id grab either a nice markbass combo or a ampeg micro vr stack, both are awesome sounding and can be gigged if you joined a band?

Andy

[Doddy]

Let's be honest about this,you could get a Peavey MicroBass for under £100,or an Ashdown Perfect 10 for
£150...both would be perfectly fine for home use.

[LawrenceH]

Hmm, I had an Ashdown Perfect 10 as part of a trade - muddiest, worst bass sound I've ever heard, awful at any volume. If you're looking to spend that kind of money then I'd assume it's for sound quality? Which is why I think the ultimate could be a great preamp/headphone setup, perhaps with a rumble pack to help 'feel' the bass. But at the lower end of the combo market the Roland stuff with built-in modelling is hard to beat for versatility of sound.

[krysh]

I didn't play one yet, but by the looks and the name I'd probably grab one of the new [url="http://www.epifani.com/products/AL_112_combo.php"]epifani al112 combo[/url]s.

[MrTaff]

Hartke LH1000 head & [i]HyDrive [/i]810 cab,

or more seriously, a small combo amp would be fine, 25w, 12" speaker, will be plenty for home use.

[Thatguy59]

These are always pretty highly rated, come in second hand for around £100

[url="http://line6.com/lowdownstudio110/"]http://line6.com/lowdownstudio110/[/url]

Edited October 20, 2012 by Thatguy59

[molan]

Ok, so this is a bit of a 'left field' answer but if you want to spend up to £1,500 for something to use at home then you could try and hunt down a lovely old Ampeg SB12 or B15N combo:

http://www.andybaxterbass.com/details.php?id=188

http://www.andybaxterbass.com/details.php?id=332

http://www.andybaxterbass.com/details.php?id=316

These are absolutely lovely things to have in your home and just ooze mojo & class - check out some of their amazing history of use on so many classic recordings.

I have a pristine '67 and I love it

Highly unlikely that it's going to leave my house very often but I like it so much that it doesn't really bother me - every time I walk into my study it makes me smile, how many amps do that every day?

[krysh]

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1350742909' post='1842936']
Ok, so this is a bit of a 'left field' answer but if you want to spend up to £1,500 for something to use at home then you could try and hunt down a lovely old Ampeg SB12 or B15N combo:

[url="http://www.andybaxterbass.com/details.php?id=188"]http://www.andybaxte...ails.php?id=188[/url]

[url="http://www.andybaxterbass.com/details.php?id=332"]http://www.andybaxte...ails.php?id=332[/url]

[url="http://www.andybaxterbass.com/details.php?id=316"]http://www.andybaxte...ails.php?id=316[/url]

These are absolutely lovely things to have in your home and just ooze mojo & class - check out some of their amazing history of use on so many classic recordings.

I have a pristine '67 and I love it

Highly unlikely that it's going to leave my house very often but I like it so much that it doesn't really bother me - every time I walk into my study it makes me smile, how many amps do that every day?
[/quote]
or this.

[RichF]

if the geezer has £1500 and wants to spend it on something lovely then Barrie has just pointed him in the right direction - Ampeg B15N. Oh yeah! Then it begins. Only problem is you need a fcuk off good bedroom to deserve one o them bad boys. I imagine Molan Heights as a trendy loft or baronial mansion, with its vintage fenders, Foderas and Ritters. Maybe we're OK cause "Pete Bigmatch" sounds like a guy ready to do business.

Edited October 20, 2012 by RichF

[molan]

[quote name='RichF' timestamp='1350743371' post='1842946']
if the geezer has £1500 and wants to spend it on something lovely then Barrie has just pointed him in the right direction - Ampeg B15N. Oh yeah! Then it begins. Only problem is you need a fcuk off good bedroom to deserve one o them bad boys. I imagine Molan Heights as a trendy loft or baronial mansion, with its vintage fenders, Foderas and Ritters. Maybe we're OK cause "Pete Bigmatch" sounds like a guy ready to do business.
[/quote]

Sorry to shatter your illusion but Molan Heights is an end of terrace council house on a slightly run down estate (albeit in a nice area)

It is entirely owned by us, without a mortgage, though

[RichF]

Blow a guy's fantasies why dont you!