Entry level practice amp

[Hotglove]

Hi all, as a rank novice, I need some advice, I bought my Yamaha to start learning, one of my criteria was to keep all kit down to entry level prices, but also keep a reasonable resale value.

as yet I have no amp, I play through my Macbook Pro with Apogee One interface and Shure SHR 940 headphones and Garageband.

having read up on this site and elsewhere I have been looking for a practice amp and the parameters I have more or less settled on were, a used combo, around 30 watt, established brand, good condition, auxiliary input, not too big (needs to live under a desk)

From what I have seen there are 2 or 3 cheap Chinese amps that are clones of mainstream designs and are marketed as own brands by the big online dealers.

Normally I would avoid the own brands, but, at the moment, I am looking at the Fazley Dark Planet 35 from Bax, they are currently knocking these out at just under £50 inc postage, so, given the 30 day trial period, I am curious as to just how awful they might be, has anyone heard one?

all input welcome.

Edited Tuesday at 06:48 by Hotglove

[Norris]

This is a bit more than you are looking to pay, but being used you wouldn't lose on it if you decided to move it on. There are a lot of cheap bass practice amps that are completely unsuitable for bass. This is a proper bass practice amp made by a famous amp brand. I have one myself

 

 

[chris_b]

Buying cheap can be a false economy.

 

Cheap gear can easily make you sound bad, which is no incentive to pick up your bass.

 

Buy a good combo and you'll sound great and always be able to sell it on.

[paul_5]

Buy cheap, buy twice. Personally I'd look at the ampeg or similar. 

[Stub Mandrel]

Get an Orange Crush 20. Decent tone, built in tuner and 20 watts RMS so will wipe the floor with any '30 watt' no-name amp.

[chris_b]

Check out small Markbass combos. They have combos from 60 watts to 250 watts and you should be able to find a shop where you can try one out.

[PaulThePlug]

Used... see whats local on facebook and gumtree - best bang for buck!.. might get a little orange crush, fender rumble, or an eden, old Peavy or a Marshall MB30...

What sort of Sound ya after?

[Phil Starr]

23 hours ago, Hotglove said:

Hi all, as a rank novice, I need some advice, I bought my Yamaha to start learning, one of my criteria was to keep all kit down to entry level prices, but also keep a reasonable resale value.

as yet I have no amp, I play through my Macbook Pro with Apogee One interface and Shure SHR 940 headphones and Garageband.

having read up on this site and elsewhere I have been looking for a practice amp and the parameters I have more or less settled on were, a used combo, around 30 watt, established brand, good condition, auxiliary input, not too big (needs to live under a desk)

From what I have seen there are 2 or 3 cheap Chinese amps that are clones of mainstream designs and are marketed as own brands by the big online dealers.

Normally I would avoid the own brands, but, at the moment, I am looking at the Fazley Dark Planet 35 from Bax, they are currently knocking these out at just under £50 inc postage, so, given the 30 day trial period, I am curious as to just how awful they might be, has anyone heard one?

all input welcome.

First of all you might want to consider improving your headphone practice with a Zoom B1-Four https://www.thomann.co.uk/zoom_b1four_bass_multi_effect.htm It's got a tuner and drum machine built in, emulates a variety of amps gives you a wide variety of bass effects and you can input songs to play along with via a mini jack input. The headphone amp is good and it runs off AA batteries, USB or a power supply. A lot of us use them for headphone practice -£85 new. You might even be able to pick up the Zoom B1ON it's predecessor used.

 

I've given the advice before but avoid these little practice amps, they really don't sound good at all, even most of the brand name ones. There are hundreds of these around unused often sold as part of a starter setup given away for free or next to nothing with a starter bass kit. I think I sold my little Peavey one for £10 in the end. I doubt that anyone here has tried that Fazley so it could be the bargain of the century but probably not. You could pick up an old Hartke Kickback 10 for under £100 which will sound great and plenty of other small combo's are available too. Most of these will be 100W+ and that's where I think I'd try looking, not because you need 100W at home but because the 'practice' amps below this power have had no love put into their manufacture and almost universally fail to deliver. There are good sounding tiny practice amps but they cost at least as much as a bigger amp to make. You can save money by skipping this stage and going for something used.

[Franticsmurf]

+1 for the B1-Four. It's my go to practice device with a decent pair of headphones, I've gigged with it, sending the signal to FOH or using it for a couple of effects into an amp and on one occasion it provided the drums for a duo I was in when the backing tracks failed. In other words, it will last beyond your novice stage.

[casapete]

You can find a tidy s/h Fender Rumble 15 watt combo for your £50 budget.

They are fine for home use, and when you come to upgrade you’ll probably 

get your £50 back too.

[bremen]

On 18/09/2024 at 08:37, Phil Starr said:

 

I've given the advice before but avoid these little practice amps, they really don't sound good at all, even most of the brand name ones. There are hundreds of these around unused often sold as part of a starter setup given away for free or next to nothing with a starter bass kit. I think I sold my little Peavey one for £10 in the end. I doubt that anyone here has tried that Fazley so it could be the bargain of the century but probably not. You could pick up an old Hartke Kickback 10 for under £100 which will sound great and plenty of other small combo's are available too. Most of these will be 100W+ and that's where I think I'd try looking, not because you need 100W at home but because the 'practice' amps below this power have had no love put into their manufacture and almost universally fail to deliver. There are good sounding tiny practice amps but they cost at least as much as a bigger amp to make. You can save money by skipping this stage and going for something used.

This, x1000.

The sound coming out of a tinny little badly engineered fartbox isn't going to inspire you to keep playing.

Edited Thursday at 10:16 by bremen

[Hotglove]

Thanks for all the input, I am learning a lot, experience with other sports, hobbies and pastimes has taught me that, usually, at the bottom end there is cheap rubbish, at the top, there is “King’s new clothes” and, somewhere in between, there is decent kit that performs well and holds good resale value, just a matter of building a shortlist of reputable kit.

thanks again for your wise words.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 18/09/2024 at 08:37, Phil Starr said:

I've given the advice before but avoid these little practice amps, they really don't sound good at all, even most of the brand name ones.

 

The reason I recommend the Crush 20 is I have one, and the sound was what made me choose an Orange head for my rig. So IMHO some practice amps sound good. I have also used it at open mics with an acoustic bass.

[nekomatic]

On 18/09/2024 at 09:52, casapete said:

You can find a tidy s/h Fender Rumble 15 watt combo for your £50 budget.

They are fine for home use, and when you come to upgrade you’ll probably 

get your £50 back too.

I’d say the same for the Marshall MB15. 

[Alexx]

Fender Rumble +1, mine served me well for exactly the use case you describe. 

[Hotglove]

Again, thanks for all the input, I found an Ampeg RB 108 that was bought new 2 months ago and only used a couple of times, indistinguishable from new for £90, so very happy with the result. 👍