Hi,
We're looking at getting a bass amp to go with our 'quiet' garage/powerpop combo. The cheaper the better. After combing the net I still can't totally get my head around the wattage required for our needs - it looks like 100 is best but if I can get away with less please let me know.

Our drums are a cocktail kit - so very quiet compared to a normal kit and the guitar is through a 5w Valve through a 12" speaker - cranked and fuzzed it is a good match for the drums. The bass is an old soviet plank with weak pickups - probably will run it through a bass big muff.
Would 50W bass amp be too little for this situation?

Thanks!

Great thanks for that. I think will go for a 50W solid state combo and if the FOH needs more add in a DI. Cheers. Dan Danger said:

The maximum wattage on a guitar amp is a little more important than that of a bass amp. Guitarists like power tube distortion, and ass such need to run their amp at near maximum volume to get "tone" out of them. Many bassists either want no distortion, or use a pedal to get their sound.
That said, a head an 4X10 may still be a bit too aggressive for the situation, but a 50 watt combo with a single twelve-inch speaker would probably work quite well. And if you can beg/borrow/steal an Ampeg portaflex with a single twelve-inch speaker, you'll be in heaven.

The maximum wattage on a guitar amp is a little more important than that of a bass amp. Guitarists like power tube distortion, and ass such need to run their amp at near maximum volume to get "tone" out of them. Many bassists either want no distortion, or use a pedal to get their sound.
That said, a head an 4X10 may still be a bit too aggressive for the situation, but a 50 watt combo with a single twelve-inch speaker would probably work quite well. And if you can beg/borrow/steal an Ampeg portaflex with a single twelve-inch speaker, you'll be in heaven.

oops - i'm connected to my drummer's profile... doesn't matter! BALDO said:

Hi,

For practising and small gigs, I use a 100 Ampeg reclinable AMP (can't remember which one precisely). It's dead good but only if the venue's big, obviously you need to mic up or DI.

I also used to - before it got stolen backstage during a gig - have a presonus pre-amp (blue one with just two knobs gain and volume) - that works really well to give it a kick - increases definition as well as warming up the grain (dunno how that works in terms of logic, but that's the effect it seemed to have - eh)...

We play 60's garage and that's the amp I take on tour.

Hi,

For practising and small gigs, I use a 100 Ampeg reclinable AMP (can't remember which one precisely). It's dead good but only if the venue's big, obviously you need to mic up or DI.

I also used to - before it got stolen backstage during a gig - have a presonus pre-amp (blue one with just two knobs gain and volume) - that works really well to give it a kick - increases definition as well as warming up the grain (dunno how that works in terms of logic, but that's the effect it seemed to have - eh)...

We play 60's garage and that's the amp I take on tour.