Home Quality Bass Amp Advice

[kristiansmart]

Hi I'm new here, although I've been lurking around the classified sections for awhile. I've been playing guitar for 20+ years (ok... go easy) and wanted to learn bass for awhile. Partner bought me a nice Fender Jazz for birthday. I'm looking around at bass amps which would be suitable initially at home and then maybe later band jams, (I used to run the jam in ystrad mynach before moving back to north devon, if anyone knows me). Markbass 121P seems to fit the bill, but I'm wondering if I should be consider something bigger ie head and cab setup like LMIII and Cab. Would that be to loud for playing at home? I've a cornell plexi 7 amps, I can just about get away with that at home if every one is out. As the Markbass amps are solid state, will they sound good at low volume? Thanks

[machinehead]

You'll get all sorts of opinions on this.

A solid state bass amp will sound just fine in every situation. Guitar amps maybe not so much.

I've gigged a 121P in pubs and it's been fine. I also had a traveller 102P cab and Markbass LMII head and that wsa louder and sounded better. That's what I would go for if you want to stick with Markbass. Both will be fine at home too.

There are so many options that it gets quite confusing, as you'll no doubt find out soon enough.

I hope this is of some help at least.

Frank.

[kristiansmart]

That helpful. There does seem rather a lot of options. Thanks

[Dan Dare]

If you have a gigging amp, Markbass may be overkill for home use (although they will certainly do the job and sound nice at low volumes). Then again, it's nice to have something decent if you can afford it (my practice/home amp a PJ Flightcase). Try a few before deciding?

[Grangur]

In my lounge at home I use an LM3 and a Barefaced One10. The tone has loads of bass, it handles the full range of tones well. It would also handle a pub-sized gig too.

And... it's small! No regrets here. It's not low-budget. But from what you say it doesn't sound like you're looking for a low-budget solution.


Oh, and btw... Welcome to BC, Kristian.

Edited July 4, 2016 by Grangur

[Osiris]

[quote name='machinehead' timestamp='1467304890' post='3082720']
You'll get all sorts of opinions on this.

[/quote]

And here's mine, for what it's worth

Maybe consider the option of a 'proper' gigging amp or combo, and a separate practice amp (I'm not offering any choice of models here, what works for me may not work for you).
I say this because of my own experience, which is this;

I used to have a[url="http://uk.line6.com/legacy/lowdownld150/"] Line 6 Lowdown 150[/url] (150 watt, 1 x 12) for use in the house and even playing it at what I thought were whisper quiet volumes in the upstairs spare room, and even at low volume, my good lady would complain that the bass was booming and thundering down stairs. To be fair, the Line 6 was overkill for a home practice amp, it had been bought to use as a dedicated bass monitor, but the project folded not long after buying it so it became a practice amp.

Prior to this, I was still using my first ever bass amp, a little 15 watt cheap and cheerful something or other I'd had since I started playing in the mid 80's, which had subsequently died. I could play the little amp louder in the spare room seemingly without it booming downstairs.

With this in mind, I sold the Line 6 and ended up with a [url="https://marshallamps.com/products/amplifiers/mb-series/mb30/"]30 watt Marshall[/url] 1 x 10 for home use which also doesn't seem to boom downstairs.
Whether there is any scientific explanation for any of this, or whether it's down to the capricious nature of my official spokeswoman remains unclear....

So depending on you own circumstances, a dedicated small practice amp [i]might [/i]be a better option for in-house use rather than a high powered amp at low volume.