Switch625 Posted January 3, 2018 Author Share Posted January 3, 2018 Happy New Year! And good news, I've finally picked up my first bass a few hours ago! It's the TRBX174 that I was going to see before Christmas had I not spoken to the guy "selling" (wasting time more like) a Squier VM PJ. I bought it from a cash converters type shop and got a padded Stagg soft case with it. It's in great condition and barely looks used. Thanks to everybody above for suggesting different things and helping me out. Now all I need is an amp... any recommendations? I'm thinking something that's at least 30W as I'll probably outgrow a 10W practice amp quickly. Budget is around £80-100 used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harryburke14 Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 Shameless self promotion I know, but I have an Ashdown 75w amp available on the marketplace here. If you want to come to North Birmingham and have a go then you're more than welcome to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimothey Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 1 hour ago, Switch625 said: Happy New Year! And good news, I've finally picked up my first bass a few hours ago! It's the TRBX174 that I was going to see before Christmas had I not spoken to the guy "selling" (wasting time more like) a Squier VM PJ. I bought it from a cash converters type shop and got a padded Stagg soft case with it. It's in great condition and barely looks used. Thanks to everybody above for suggesting different things and helping me out. Now all I need is an amp... any recommendations? I'm thinking something that's at least 30W as I'll probably outgrow a 10W practice amp quickly. Budget is around £80-100 used. That’s great news I think we need some pics tho i was just looking on eBay and came across a Marshall B30 Bass state amp for £79 collection only (Atherstone) I don’t know if this is any good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edstraker123 Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 I picked up a Squier Affinity strat (made in Indonesia) off Ebay for £40 and I was playing it against my American Professional yesterday and there wasn't much in it in terms of tone. Utterly amazing value for money - so much so I've just bought an Affinity tele which I also love too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lownote Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 1 hour ago, Switch625 said: Now all I need is an amp... any recommendations? I'm thinking something that's at least 30W as I'll probably outgrow a 10W practice amp quickly. Budget is around £80-100 used. From my experience I would urge you not to buy an amp under 100w. If you're any good you will transition away from home practice fairly quickly and then you will need something with more cojones. For px with a band you're really going to need 100w + . Your budget is very very tight though so needs must perhaps. But as someone else has said the amp is just as important in the sound chain as the bass so don't scrimp on it. So many people are moving to lightweight gear now you may get a bargain by simply picking up something slightly uncool and heavy for a song. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewie Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 If I were you I'd buy a VM 1977 Squier Jazz......... I had one and it was so light and lovely to play.... It had all the qualities my 1977 Fender had except the price. The necks are lovely and the block inlays are really nicely done.... Then, when you're ready to sell the world alight, I'd pick up a pair of EMG pickups for it... they're active but require no routering or mucking about. They come with the control plate and cost about £200. It will sound amazing and you won't look back. Happy new year..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch625 Posted January 3, 2018 Author Share Posted January 3, 2018 (edited) Some pics... It's in such good condition, I can't really tell it's used at all. The finish is lovely under the light. Edited January 3, 2018 by Switch625 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch625 Posted January 3, 2018 Author Share Posted January 3, 2018 4 hours ago, Jimothey said: That’s great news I think we need some pics tho i was just looking on eBay and came across a Marshall B30 Bass state amp for £79 collection only (Atherstone) I don’t know if this is any good Thanks for the heads up. I'm in London so that's nowhere near. But I've had a look on Gumtree and there's a few potential options locally... 4 hours ago, edstraker123 said: I picked up a Squier Affinity strat (made in Indonesia) off Ebay for £40 and I was playing it against my American Professional yesterday and there wasn't much in it in terms of tone. Utterly amazing value for money - so much so I've just bought an Affinity tele which I also love too. That's amazing, I would love to pick up a bargain like that. I was tempted by a Squier Affinity PJ that came up on ebay just before Xmas for £129, but thought I'd wait and see what else comes up. 4 hours ago, lownote12 said: From my experience I would urge you not to buy an amp under 100w. If you're any good you will transition away from home practice fairly quickly and then you will need something with more cojones. For px with a band you're really going to need 100w + . Your budget is very very tight though so needs must perhaps. But as someone else has said the amp is just as important in the sound chain as the bass so don't scrimp on it. So many people are moving to lightweight gear now you may get a bargain by simply picking up something slightly uncool and heavy for a song. I'm only going to remain a bedroom player, playing along to old songs. 100W would be overkill and too big for my needs. I've got a 100W Marshall guitar amp sitting around doing nothing that takes up too much space, need to list that for sale at some point. 4 hours ago, Chewie said: If I were you I'd buy a VM 1977 Squier Jazz......... I had one and it was so light and lovely to play.... It had all the qualities my 1977 Fender had except the price. The necks are lovely and the block inlays are really nicely done.... Then, when you're ready to sell the world alight, I'd pick up a pair of EMG pickups for it... they're active but require no routering or mucking about. They come with the control plate and cost about £200. It will sound amazing and you won't look back. Happy new year..... Had a look at those and a couple did come up around £200. But it was a little more than I wanted to spend on a starter bass. Maybe I'll look at that in the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch625 Posted January 3, 2018 Author Share Posted January 3, 2018 5 hours ago, Harryburke14 said: Shameless self promotion I know, but I have an Ashdown 75w amp available on the marketplace here. If you want to come to North Birmingham and have a go then you're more than welcome to. Too far man! Otherwise I'd have snapped up the bitsa PJ you had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prowla Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 10 hours ago, edstraker123 said: I picked up a Squier Affinity strat (made in Indonesia) off Ebay for £40 and I was playing it against my American Professional yesterday and there wasn't much in it in terms of tone. Utterly amazing value for money - so much so I've just bought an Affinity tele which I also love too. I've got an Affinity Strat which I bought for my kids 10+years ago; it's like a Fender except every part is just cheaper & less well finished, but it sounds rather good. I looked at selling it a while back, but they're not worth much, so I kept it; I think £40-60 is the right price range and you get a lot of guitar for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-bbb Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 (edited) if the affinity is an earlier one then id go for that - i have a 2009 affinity and its perfectly acceptable instrument have gigged it plenty - i have a VM and its a slight bit better but nothing to fret over - that said the newer affinitys definitely dont look as nice as the earlier ones - the better option squier wise would be a nice classic vibe but that would definitely not fall within your budget personally i do not even look on evilbay at all these days for anything - have you tried preloved gumtree etc and there are plenty facebook groups as well that are sale forums - be wary of cash converters they do tend to err on overpricing slightly (our local one seems to anyway whenever ive cheked whats in there) apols just noticed your update - as for amp for home purposes would recommend a small trace elliot combo - there are usually some boxer 65's floating around or even the BLX series too occasionally - hartke small combos crop up on sale boards too and would be suitable imho Edited January 4, 2018 by steve-bbb update Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikki_Sixx Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 10 hours ago, Switch625 said: I'm only going to remain a bedroom player, playing along to old songs. 100W would be overkill and too big for my needs. I've got a 100W Marshall guitar amp sitting around doing nothing that takes up too much space, need to list that for sale at some point. If you're going to stick to bedroom playing then the 30w you mentioned is easily enough. I have a Laney Hardcore 30w that's great and I've never had the volume up past 3 in the house without headphones! Can't recommend it enough, although mine is now about 10 years old - I'm looking to sell it and drop down to something I can tuck under the bed (it's slightly too big) but I'm up in Leeds. Laney have a newer series (Richter) that looks perfect, I bet you could pick one up easily for under £100 second hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch625 Posted January 4, 2018 Author Share Posted January 4, 2018 46 minutes ago, Rikki_Sixx said: If you're going to stick to bedroom playing then the 30w you mentioned is easily enough. I have a Laney Hardcore 30w that's great and I've never had the volume up past 3 in the house without headphones! Can't recommend it enough, although mine is now about 10 years old - I'm looking to sell it and drop down to something I can tuck under the bed (it's slightly too big) but I'm up in Leeds. Laney have a newer series (Richter) that looks perfect, I bet you could pick one up easily for under £100 second hand. There's a Laney RB1 on sale in the classifieds here at the moment. I had a look at a couple of videos on youtube and quite like the tone. It's a 15W which might be suitable for home? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc S Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 As others have said, a smaller combo is usually the best for playing in your lounge or bedroom. Giggable size amps tend to be a bit on the big size for putting under the bed.... I once had a Marshall MB30. Lovely neat little 30W amp that was actually quite loud. Nice range of tones & options... but it also had a headphone jack socket and input for MP3 player too.... In fact, I did rehearse it once or twice with a full band, in the drummers living room. If the rest of the band keep volumes relatively low, and the drummer doesn't go nuts - you could even rehearse with one of these Quite small, compact & lightweight too. Think I sold mine for about £70 Nowadays, I use a Roland Micro bass amp. It's even smaller, a great amp with nice tone & sound options. It can even be powered by AA batteries! I've used this in folk / acoustic pub jams - alongside a quiet drummer and guitarists & singers with Roland Street cube amps.... And it's loud enough! Mind you, these are now over £200 new, and generally fetch over £100 second-hand.... useful little beasts though You should get plenty of choice for under £100 second-hand. But I'd opt for something you only want to use at home or at acoustic type jams Make the gigging amp a separate choice IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lownote Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 If you just want 30w in a bedroom, a Fender Rumble is brilliant and good value. the Roland series of Bass Cubes are awesome too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc S Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 As another option; Although I've not heard one, Blackstar do a very small battery powered bass amp. It has the additional advantage of an extension cab being available too OK, you couldn't gig with it, but might be sufficient for bedroom use.... and small enough to tuck in a drawer somewhere.... 49 quid brand new - and you can pick up the extension cab later, when you're more flush / if you ever need to https://www.gak.co.uk/en/blackstar-fly-3-bass-battery-powered-practice-amp/130750?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgcyz6ra-2AIViQrTCh29Eg29EAQYASABEgKSWfD_BwE Not heard a Fender Rumble 30W either, but I know the 100W version is a cracking amp, and light as a feather - so I imagine the 30W version should be good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lownote Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 I have actually seen something similar to the Rumble 30 used in a big gig context. Even though it's quiet with no headroom, it gives nice sound. Stick a PA mic up to it and voila - nice sound, loud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted January 4, 2018 Share Posted January 4, 2018 1 hour ago, lownote12 said: I have actually seen something similar to the Rumble 30 used in a big gig context. Even though it's quiet with no headroom, it gives nice sound. Stick a PA mic up to it and voila - nice sound, loud. I once played a 'festival' gig out in a forest "amps will be provided". When I arrived, they pointed me towards a tiny tiny tiny 30W Gorilla practice amp in the corner. The sound onstage was... well, very difficult. I put the thing on a chair on top of a box so that it could point more towards my ears and I still could barely hear the thing. However, it did have a line-out which they used to send a signal to the desk, and out there in the field the bass was mighty. Yes, it can be done, but if you rely on it for stage monitoring it can be difficult. Not that this is an issue for the OP, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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