Need a little help

[TobeyP]

Hey guys, I need some advice.  I'm currently playing Hofner basses and Sire U5 through a Orange Crush 50.  This is great for practise and writing but hopefully soon we'll be playing gigs soon and I was thinking an upgrade might be needed.  I play mostly clean tones.

I've been looking at the Orange Dark Terror,  Ampeg Micro CL Half Stack or a Vox SB half stack (though this is only 50W). 

Is there anything that's possibly better.  I like the idea of an amp that's more capable of adding cabs instead of forking out again for new everything. 

Anyways any advice be appreciated. Thanks guys.

[Dan Dare]

What's your budget? Really, a visit or two to a decent shop to try things is the best way to go.

You'll likely get dozens of opinions on here. We're all different. If you want clean, I'd avoid Orange. Good amps, but tend to be better if you like a bit of grunt/dirt/character in the sound.

The gear you mention is really little more than for practice or possibly very small gigs. I doubt if any of it could keep up with a drummer giving it any degree of large.

For clean at live volumes, you need power and enough in the way of speakers to move air without breaking a sweat. Low power + volume = distortion. Great for guitar players but not for bass, unless the music you're playing calls for it.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

I'm looking at options for a light, mid-sized head that I can sue for small gigs but with the power if I need it to drive a full stack.

I like the 'traditional' sound of Orange and Ampeg so front runners are Protaflex 350 or 500 or the OB1-500/300.

Alternatively, Trace Elliot Elf, but would need a mild overdrive for some styles.

[Lozz196]

I’d say for anyone intending on playing in a band with drums have 300 available watts on hand into either a 1x12 or 2x10. You might not need all of that but better to not be pushing an amp as they can sound a bit rotten if pushed beyond capabilities.

[BassmanPaul]

What about the Fender Rumble range. They have a good reputation over here in the Americas. I played through a Rumble 350 2x10 and was  pleasantly surprised in how well it handled my fretless six string. It's the first Fender bass amp I actually liked.