Teeny tiny amps - any use?

[Ajoten]

I need a little practice amp to take the place of my acoustic bass - so doesn't need to be any louder really, playing-along-with-the-stereo volume. It needs to be small so I can whip it out from behind the sofa kinda thing.

Are these Blackstar Fly or Eden Micro Tour amps worth considering or are they just gimmicky daft?

[Dazed]

My go to reply is the PJB Doublefour - 75 watts, very transparent, in a shoe box size package. 

[discreet]

10 hours ago, Ajoten said:

It needs to be small so I can whip it out from behind the sofa kinda thing.

I think you're on the wrong website...

Ha, ha, ha! Oh God, I'm priceless. *Sticks tulip up bum and hides in wardrobe*

 

[chris_b]

I use my Barefaced One10 and my regular gigging Aguilar TH500 with the volume right down.

It's the size of a couple of big packets of Shreddies and gives a better tone than any other small rig I've used.

[machinehead]

40 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I use my Barefaced One10 and my regular gigging Aguilar TH500 with the volume right down.

It's the size of a couple of big packets of Shreddies and gives a better tone than any other small rig I've used.

I agree.  I use a one10 and GK MB200.  It sounds superb.

I do like the idea of one of the small PJB combos but I can't justify the cost given that the one10/MB200 is perfect for home practice.

Back to being sensible - the older Fender Rumble 15 sounds great at home volumes and is cheap as chips.  I've seen them at £20 to £40.

Frank.

[chris_b]

2 minutes ago, machinehead said:

. . . . the older Fender Rumble 15 sounds great at home volumes and is cheap as chips.  I've seen them at £20 to £40.

I agree, at that price a Rumble 15 would be hard to pass up. Probably wouldn't fit behind the sofa though.

My kids have grown up and I'm not as cash strapped as I was, so these days I fully support the "Life is too short for bad tone" approach.

[ped]

For true ‘behind the sofa’ flexibility you need battery power. I fear many of the setups here are a bit too ‘much’ for the OP’s requirement. Roland Micro Cube RX would fit the bill

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I recently got a Micro cube rx secondhand for £100 to use for acoustic rehearsals and home practice. I'm very pleased with it - sounds fantastic with all my basses even the Kala u-bass and NS-design CR-5M, and is much louder than the spec suggests it would be. The documentation said that rechargable batteries wouldn't work, but they do - I'm using 6 eneloop AAs and they last for days.

[ped]

Indeed they are quite loud and full sounding. 

I modded mine a bit by taking the badges off the grille (one rattled) and took off the plastic corner protectors. Looks rather neat. 

 

[ambient]

The Phil Jones double 4 is amazing. The size of a shoe box, and 75 watts. It can also be used at small gigs too, if needed.

 

There's currently one for sale in the marketplace

Edited November 28, 2017 by ambient

[fleabag]

Ya cant beat a small one

[RandomBass]

To add some scale to ped's picture, here it is next to a pile of pound coins...

 

[chris_b]

Sorry can't accept old coins. . . .

[Merton]

I use a Hotone Nano Legacy with headphones or my BF One10. It’s perfect for home practice - you can run an mp3 player into it if you wish. And it sounds like a mini SVT!

Edited November 28, 2017 by Merton

[bazzbass]

On ‎11‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 22:12, Ajoten said:

Are these Blackstar Fly or Eden Micro Tour amps worth considering or are they just gimmicky daft?

I have the Blackstar, loud enough with my passive J to keep up with two acoustic guitars and a cajon

 

get the extension speaker for more oomph 

[Hamster]

Line 6 One 10 is really quite good for home practice. My choice.

 

[Defo]

Hartke HD50 is versatile and loud enough with an inbuilt limiter 

[MrDaveTheBass]

On 27/11/2017 at 22:36, discreet said:

*Sticks tulip up bum and hides in wardrobe*

Is that you Mother?

[discreet]

48 minutes ago, MrDaveTheBass said:

Is that you Mother?

David?? 

[Guest Briton]

?

Edited June 23, 2018 by Briton

[RandomBass]

1 hour ago, Briton said:

My choice is the Ampeg SVT VR Micro amp and cab. Great Ampeg tone in a small package but not as small as some of the gear shown in this thread.

Good one. I ran one of those heads through a BF Compact for a while with good results. Great looks too.

[Painy]

On 28/11/2017 at 00:20, ped said:

Indeed they are quite loud and full sounding. 

I modded mine a bit by taking the badges off the grille (one rattled) and took off the plastic corner protectors. Looks rather neat. 

 

Looks like a full gigging rig for an elf.

[bassmayhem]

On 2017-11-27 at 23:32, Dazed said:

My go to reply is the PJB Doublefour - 75 watts, very transparent, in a shoe box size package. 

+ on that! The ones you mentioned in your initial post are toys; this is a real bass amp, yet tiny...

Edited December 16, 2017 by bassmayhem

[discreet]

1 hour ago, bassmayhem said:

...this is a real bass amp, yet tiny...

This is nice. Do PJB make combos you can actually gig with? That are still tiny?

[gjones]

On 12/3/2017 at 04:02, Hamster said:

Line 6 One 10 is really quite good for home practice. My choice.

 

I've done a gig with it (if it's the 75 watt amp I'm thinking of).