Practice amp

[Hotglove]

Hi, considering a practice amp for novice, looking to buy a clean, used example to allow for future upgrade at the least financial loss.

so far the 2 that appear to tick most boxes are the Fender Rumble 25 and Roland Bass Cube 20 or Bass Cube 30.

all input welcome.

[PaulThePlug]

I'd have a look on Gumtree and Faceache, see whats local.

I picked up an Eden 8 20 watter for about £15.

But if any of those you listed are about, yep!

[Phil Starr]

I'd say for least financial loss buy something fairly decent and avoid anything that says 'practice amp'

 

The reasoning is this: if you buy something old but good you'll be able to re-sell at more of less the price you pay. On top of that most 'practice amps have terrible speakers and tone. Your novice is going to be discouraged by poor tone and enthusiastic about making lots of lovely bassiness. They'll be even more encouraged if their first amp is good enough to jam along with mates. My first amp was a Hartke Kickback 10, bought for £100, used for four years and sold for £100 and I even gigged with it a few times and used it for dozens of rehearsals. A small gigging combo might be easier to re-sell and be a better bet and it will certainly be nicer to play

[SimonK]

1 hour ago, Phil Starr said:

I'd say for least financial loss buy something fairly decent and avoid anything that says 'practice amp'

 

The reasoning is this: if you buy something old but good you'll be able to re-sell at more of less the price you pay. On top of that most 'practice amps have terrible speakers and tone. Your novice is going to be discouraged by poor tone and enthusiastic about making lots of lovely bassiness. They'll be even more encouraged if their first amp is good enough to jam along with mates. My first amp was a Hartke Kickback 10, bought for £100, used for four years and sold for £100 and I even gigged with it a few times and used it for dozens of rehearsals. A small gigging combo might be easier to re-sell and be a better bet and it will certainly be nicer to play

 

I second this - as bass amps are quite big, and people are keen to get rid of them when the amp stops being the flavour of the month, there are some amazing bargains to be had often for less than £100. Fender Rumbles seem to be available on facebook marketplace.

[lemmywinks]

Frequently see used TC Bg combos for around the price of a new Rumble, sometimes under £100. Will be much more useful than a mine practice amp and has built in effects and a tuner.

 

The previously mentioned Hartke Kickback (and also the larger A series) are also excellent if you see one come up for sale.

[msb]

I prefer components to combos. I buy both new and used , you can find some deals on the used market. There are a bunch of 200 watt heads around that can be combined with whatever speaker you choose. I was a big fan of the GK MB200. Great little amps. There’s also the Elf and Gnome , and The Darkglass minis. If you up the power to 350 there’s a bunch more available. 
There are some interesting speaker choices. In the UK I’d suggest looking at Barefaced , there should be used for sale too.