isteen Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 The tiny Harley Benton power amp, will that work on bass too? Would fit nice on a board along with a Zoom multifx. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 It should work perfectly well, yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 No reason for it not to work. The frequencies might not be geared up to suit bass but that's navigable. 100w @ 8 ohms 'might' be a struggle against a drummer and/or loud guitarist but everyone's circumstances are different. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 3 minutes ago, warwickhunt said: No reason for it not to work. The frequencies might not be geared up to suit bass but that's navigable. 100w @ 8 ohms 'might' be a struggle against a drummer and/or loud guitarist but everyone's circumstances are different. That is the frequencies of the EQ controls, not the frequency response of the unit, which will be perfectly fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 2 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said: That is the frequencies of the EQ controls, not the frequency response of the unit, which will be perfectly fine. Yes, that's what I meant. Often the 'bass' frequency for a guitar is centred higher than a bass player might like; ditto there seems to be no info as to what frequency the mid and high are affecting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 1 minute ago, warwickhunt said: Yes, that's what I meant. Often the 'bass' frequency for a guitar is centred higher than a bass player might like; ditto there seems to be no info as to what frequency the mid and high are affecting. On most dedicated poweramps there isn't even any EQ controls at all, so would consider that an extra bonus anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 4 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said: On most dedicated poweramps there isn't even any EQ controls at all, so would consider that an extra bonus anyway. Indeed. You'd not get EQ on a power amp which does ring a (very) small alarm bell that the unit may have been measured as 100w @ 8 ohms with the EQ turned to maximum: is it boost only or cut/boost, maybe even cut only? Ergo with EQ off/turned down you may get a reduction in output, easily remedied by turning pots to 100% but that could be inducing a tonal characteristic based on the frequencies that it boosts/cuts. Totally anecdotal as I've no idea how the amp is configured but it is possibly worth investigation... saying that it isn't a great deal of money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, warwickhunt said: Indeed. You'd not get EQ on a power amp which does ring a (very) small alarm bell that the unit may have been measured as 100w @ 8 ohms with the EQ turned to maximum: is it boost only or cut/boost, maybe even cut only? Ergo with EQ off/turned down you may get a reduction in output, easily remedied by turning pots to 100% but that could be inducing a tonal characteristic based on the frequencies that it boosts/cuts. Totally anecdotal as I've no idea how the amp is configured but it is possibly worth investigation... saying that it isn't a great deal of money! Or they might be selling you an empty box! Read the reviews maybe, featured just bellow the product? And look at the average ratings and how many people it was based on. I am pretty sure it is boost/cut, and that the power was measured with the EQ flat. Good thing Thomann got 30 days full, no questions asked, return policy, with shipping covered and all. Edited November 18, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 Meh, I'm done trying to help others and offering insight when it is asked for! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 (edited) 8 minutes ago, warwickhunt said: Meh, I'm done trying to help others and offering insight when it is asked for! I suppose one person's wild speculations might be another person's insight. Edited November 18, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 45 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said: Or they might be selling you an empty box! Read the reviews maybe, featured just bellow the product? And look at the average ratings and how many people it was based on. How many bass guitarists reviewed the product? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassman7755 Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 (edited) 4 hours ago, isteen said: The tiny Harley Benton power amp, will that work on bass too? Would fit nice on a board along with a Zoom multifx. It will work and gets good reviews from guitarists BUT ... guitar needs a lot less power amp headroom than bass so there is a question mark around whether it would be loud enough for live band bass applications (if thats what you had in mind). Edited November 18, 2023 by bassman7755 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassmanPaul Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 100W @8Ω won't take you too far with a bass. It wouldn't get one of my Acme B2 cabinets even going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 (edited) 200W @ 4Ohm, same as the Trace Elliot ELF, which people seems happy about. Also in my experience 100W is plenty to keep up with a drummer and a guitarist in a rock band, even to easily play up small bar sized venues without PA support, and bigger venues usually will have PA support, reducing your bass amp to nothing but a glorified stage monitor anyway. I've played small bar sized venues up with a 60W bass amp in a loud rock band, no trouble with hearing myself or being heard, and done the same at big open air festivals with PA support and stage monitors provided. Unless you have a serious deaf wish there is really little reason to go any higher than 200W or so. Edited November 18, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 100 W -> 200 W = +3 dB 100 W -> 400 W = +6 dB 100 W -> 1000 W = +10 dB Therefore with compression and HP filtering you can get quite some volume with a 100 W amp. True: some extra headroom is always nice. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted November 20, 2023 Share Posted November 20, 2023 On 18/11/2023 at 14:52, stevie said: How many bass guitarists reviewed the product? One at least, who gives it 5/5 but comments that he'd like to see a more powerful unit for bass. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted November 22, 2023 Share Posted November 22, 2023 The fact that Thomann don't mention that this amp is suitable for bass should ring warning bells. I did some searching, and found a discussion by some German bass players with actual experience of the unit. One person carried out and published measurements. Unsurprisingly (to @warwickhunt at least), the tone controls are an octave higher than one would like for bass. The Bass control is centred at 160Hz, for example, and Mid at 1.2kHz. Also interesting to know, the unit contains high and low pass filters that alter the frequency response according to output level. Bass is reduced as output is increased. I can see how that would work for guitar. According to the measurements, the unit does produce 200W into 4 ohms and 100W into 8 ohms with 1% distortion. However, at maximimum output, the high pass filter starts at about 150Hz and is 12dB down at 40Hz. The frequency response looks OK up until 25W. The consensus was that it's OK for home practice for bass, but the variable filters make it unusable for anything else. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGBass Posted November 22, 2023 Share Posted November 22, 2023 These aren't really designed for gigging imho. I'm pretty sure home use or even light rehearhsal use with a quiet band would make that feel like money well spent, you don't get much for that amount of money these days. Might even pair well with a 1x8 cab if small and neat is your thing. I do have some real world experience using the GPA-100's bigger stablemate with bass, the GPA-400 which is also billed as a guitar amp. It's probably a pair of the GPA-100 modules in one case. Home and studio, its a delight to use with bass, no fans and lots of nice clean uncoloured power although it too has a bass and treble control on each channel. The bigger one is giggable when used in bridge mode and can go pretty loud, loud enough to consider hearing protection but by then the peak limiter starts to kick in anyway. Oddly enough as @stevie mentioned about the GPA 100 having an HPF, the GPA 400 seems to have a similar drop off in low end response when using the full 400w in bridged mode and its those low end frequencies that soak up the power anyway and cause the amp to auto limit at its peak performance. Any small class d amp i've experienced does much the same thing if you dabble in low frequencies (between 30Hz-120Hz - I used my GPA 400 with a GP12SMX Stereo pre-amp) which means you have to back of the bass or risk the class d output section limiting/overheating or cutting out completely at its highest performance levels. To put it into perspective, the GPA-100 is £69 for a wee super portable take anywhere amp that will be usable for home and home studio use, and perhaps a very quiet band rehearshal. The GPA 400 is more expensive but quite giggable with bass in bridged mode even though it is marketed as a guitar amp. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downunderwonder Posted November 23, 2023 Share Posted November 23, 2023 On 19/11/2023 at 08:24, itu said: 100 W -> 1000 W = +10 dB = Toast or smashed drivers if you aren't careful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifi2112 Posted November 23, 2023 Share Posted November 23, 2023 I have a Koch ATR 4502 which puts out 90w bridged. Freq responds 40-20k Hz .. intention was to use for gigging ( 4 string standard tuning & sfx sound Thumpinator preamp) but never got the chance .. use it at home for guitar & bass with respective speakers .. it’s loud & very well made, think with enough efficient speakers it would be fine … Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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