Suggestions for home practice and playing pleasure with great tone

[Jaybeevee]

Hi Folks,

Some opinions please on good home practice, or home noodling amp set ups with a great tone..

This set up will be purely for the enjoyment and maybe home recording if i finally get round to it.

I guess it's vintage leanings where i play P basses with a bit of tone roll off usually, jazz bass, a bunch of vintage basses including a stingray..

Low power, great tone and tubes is what i'm thinking

Can't see me going vintage B15 or Trinity trip top.. £££££££

I am looking at the Ashdown CTM 30 with a 15" or maybe an Ampeg PF20t with the matching cab..

Anyone have experience with either these or another suggestion?

Cheers

Jay

[Lozz196]

I was very impressed when I played through an Ashdown Little Bastard, had a great Motown vibe with a Precision, think it was through some form of Ashdown 1x15 cab.

[Bilbo]

I got one of these a year or so ago. I realised that I had not practiced through a bass amp at home for decades, usually going through the computer/headphones or a handily placed guitar amp (Roland Cube). When I got this, I couldn't believe how much better it felt to practice with the 'air' in my sound. It's a Phil Jones BG-75 DOuble 4. Retails around £375

 

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Bilbo

[Bigwan]

I've had a few similar setups over the last few years. Ashdown LB30 with an LB 2x12, Ashdown CTM30, CTM15 and Ampeg PF50T (which I still have) with my Barefaced Two10. I'll be brutally honest and say my Roland Cube 30 does a better job for playing for pleasure at home. To really get into the fun stuff all the valve amps need a little welly which gets loud VERY quickly and, while glorious when you get there, would get you ejected from the house just as quickly... So a Roland Bass Cube 30 or a Line6 Studio 110. Both cracking amps. Not tube/valve amps but more practical in my experience! 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Bigwan

[chris_b]

4 hours ago, jbu09 said:

I am looking at the Ashdown CTM 30 with a 15" or maybe an Ampeg PF20t . . . . . .

IMO for home use, these amps would sound excellent with a Barefaced One10. On a gig, get a second One10.

For a combo, look out for an AER.

[jazzyvee]

I have been using a PJB Briefcase as a home practice combo for years probably since mid 2000’s and can highly recommend it. Works great with a 5 string too as long as you are sensible with the low end of the B string. I have gigged with it on small wine bar type gigs and rehearsal with both guitar and basses. Not sure how much they cost niw but when i got it first i think it was under £350

[Baxlin]

I use an old 60w Tramp OHM keyboard amp,  it handles as much bass as I want to put through it at home, but it also is happy with the range of the YouTube tracks I’m putting through the second input.  TBH, I also  use it to drive the lecky drum kit if I’m not in a “bass” mood......

[songofthewind]

EBS Session 60. No tubes but ya don't need 'em.

[BassmanPaul]

I know you have dismissed a B15 but if you can get your hands on one they are worth every penny. They make practice time a pleasure and not somewhat of a chore.

[Dan Dare]

I find you can't beat a good set of headphones for tone at home volumes (unless you spend a lot of money). Keeps the neighbours onside, too.

[TheGreek]

On 19/01/2021 at 16:02, Baxlin said:

I use an old 60w Tramp OHM keyboard amp,  

I had the Pukka 100w bass amp many years ago...a friend bought one a few years ago for about £50

On 19/01/2021 at 16:57, songofthewind said:

EBS Session 60. No tubes but ya don't need 'em.

Heard nothing but good things about the whole range. 

[jazzmanb]

i always found it easy to sound great in the house. .There's zero elements to spoil it  . I like dabbling with pedals ,you can overdrive without getting lost or losing bottom end etc ,wack the treble right up or all gain to give you geddy . The problems for me are replicating that low volume tone at high levels 

[JapanAxe]

On 19/01/2021 at 08:31, jbu09 said:

...

I am looking at the Ashdown CTM 30 with a 15" or maybe an Ampeg PF20t with the matching cab..

...

On 19/01/2021 at 13:28, chris_b said:

IMO for home use, these amps would sound excellent with a Barefaced One10. On a gig, get a second One10.

...

Absolutely! The One 10 has a lovely rich vintage sound. I used mine with an Ampeg PF50T to great effect, and according to www.disssa.de the PF20T has a lot of the B15 vibe going on. (But be aware that some of the early models of these amps reportedly suffered from hum.)

[JapanAxe]

Well I'm glad I found this thread. My usual practice amp is a Markbass 801 combo, which although remarkable for its size is not especially inspiring. Given that it's going to be months before I stand on a stage again, I dived into my kit cupboard and came out with my One 10 and Demeter head. These are now installed in the 801's usual spot - now we're talking!

EDIT: It made me want to play bass for longer. Result.

Edited January 22, 2021 by JapanAxe

[Jaybeevee]

Great feed back. Here is a really nice comparison between some of the gear mentioned in the thread. Those Phil Jones sounds amazing, but my god, that AER...

 

[JapanAxe]

38 minutes ago, jbu09 said:

Great feed back. Here is a really nice comparison between some of the gear mentioned in the thread. Those Phil Jones sounds amazing, but my god, that AER...

 

Interesting! They all sound different but I couldn't say which I thought sounded the best.

When I got my MB 801 I also tried the PJB Double Four. Although I fancied the PJB's portability (you can run it form an external laptop battery pack) the MB just sounded fuller in the bass and 'bigger'.

[pineweasel]

10 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

Interesting! They all sound different but I couldn't say which I thought sounded the best.

When I got my MB 801 I also tried the PJB Double Four. Although I fancied the PJB's portability (you can run it form an external laptop battery pack) the MB just sounded fuller in the bass and 'bigger'.

Worth noting this is not true of the latest Double Four, it’s AC only

[JapanAxe]

53 minutes ago, pineweasel said:

Worth noting this is not true of the latest Double Four, it’s AC only

Thanks, I didn't know that.

[Bobthedog]

13 hours ago, jbu09 said:

Great feed back. Here is a really nice comparison between some of the gear mentioned in the thread. Those Phil Jones sounds amazing, but my god, that AER...

 

Now goes on a search for an AER  Amp One.

I had  the MB but sold it, I could never get there sound I wanted from it. I also tried a PJB (not sure which - one four speakers on the front, two on top?) but it could not cope with my Roscoe B string.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Bobthedog

[ped]

Unless other people need to hear you I’d never use an amplifier for home playing. Why not get a great headphone setup so you can play along with things and hear your bass like it’s on a record rather than reverberating things in the room. You don’t get the ‘clack’ from your instrument acoustically interfering with the bass sound either. 

[JapanAxe]

5 minutes ago, ped said:

Unless other people need to hear you I’d never use an amplifier for home playing. Why not get a great headphone setup so you can play along with things and hear your bass like it’s on a record rather than reverberating things in the room. You don’t get the ‘clack’ from your instrument acoustically interfering with the bass sound either. 

If it’s late and I don’t want to disturb Mrs Axe then I just plug straight into my interface and use headphones. Otherwise I prefer the sound and feel of an amp in the room.

19 minutes ago, Bobthedog said:

...

I had  the MB but sold it, I could never get there sound I wanted from it.

...

My previous practice amp was a 35W Hartke which put out only fizz and skronk (technical terms) and lacked any kind of depth or warmth. The MB is the anti-Hartke!

[Bobthedog]

1 hour ago, JapanAxe said:

My previous practice amp was a 35W Hartke which put out only fizz and skronk (technical terms) and lacked any kind of depth or warmth. The MB is the anti-Hartke!

For my ears, I never found the MB "warm" but more dark and deep. As for "skronk", way above my mental capacity to describe a tone. 

[JapanAxe]

6 minutes ago, Bobthedog said:

For my ears, I never found the MB "warm" but more dark and deep. As for "skronk", way above my mental capacity to describe a tone. 

Markbass make a Tweeter Box that you can add to the 801 but that wasn't something that ever interested me - when I bought the MB I was playing exclusively flatwounds.

I've now got rounds on 2 of my 3 basses and really enjoying the range through the Demeter and One 10.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

I've had a few combos over the years ( plus a couple of giant head / cab configurations ). 
 

Now downsized to a small flat , I have a choice depending on my moods erc

I have a Roland bass micro cube gx . Brilliant , and louder than you'd think .

I've also got a kustom 15 watt small combo which is brilliant . No bells and whistles compated to the Roland but it's a good meaty sound and has headphone and cd socket .5 string no problem.

The last few months I have just been trying to properly record stuff and have been playing through my Harmon jkardon computer monitors .

Having said all that, just before Christmas I purchased a usb mixer and have been using headphones while I try  to understand that .. I don't mind using the headphones tbh . 
 

While looking on you tube today , I saw a positive grid amplifier being demoed and that looks real good . . Not sure if it's a fad or a decent amp . I 'll wait and see what others think ..

[Bunion]

I’m currently running an Ampeg SVT IIP tube preamp through a PJB big head with headphones it’s sounds sweet. 
I do sometimes run it through the effects loop of a battered Ampeg VR and SVT 210 HE 

With the option to plug my iPhone into the big head also and play as loud as I can handle with media included  im finding I spend more practice time on the PJB. 
I’ll drop this in here from the PJB website as it’s something I haven’t tried 

A more important function of the BigHead is being a recording tool both in digital and analog. As an Analog Digital Converter, it has the finest BURR BROWN digital components. The USB out is 48KHz 16Bit digital conversion. In other words, recording your bass into Pro Tools will give you exactly what you wish for and absolutely nothing else.

Edited January 24, 2021 by Bunion