TELL ME WHAT AMPS TO BUY

[hazelwould]

I'd get an egnater tweaker

[Haki]

Are Orange Tiny Terrors out of your budget? I play with two guys that use them with acoustic and get great tones. Bass model looks cool too... or you could just get a Dumble...

Tiny Terror through an Orange 2x12 is what I've been using as my home practice rig for nearly 2 years now. I like the clean and crunch tones at apartment levels. Plus there's enough gain in that thing to piss off the whole block when you're so inclined.

[Bassus Sanguinis]

How about the Pipeamp? I'm interested in that one, though I'm not sure how transparent it is, really. And my fried uses Black Heart, and the small-ish Vox amp of another friend sound fine to me.

But I'm not a good example myself, I've never paid much attention - nor money - for practice amps. ...even at home I prefer to plug in a 600watts Hughes & Kettner bass head I use as the recording preamp and use the earphones (yeah, since I've got another in use at the rehearsal place) Thought about buying the Hughes & Kettner Tubeman II for direct recording tool and /or a small Quantum bass combo for home but since I'm on low budget and got a 600w amp readily available... and the small combo probably doesn't pack in the preamp that the expensive one does...

BUT If I've got a student for a bass lesson and headphones is not an option, we run through mini mixer set up into a Fender Rumble 15 my wife bought for herself. Doesn't sound that fantastic :;erm: but works as an active cab okay. Stays clean, too. And sure doesn't cost much.

[Derelict78]

I have had a peavey TKO 65 for about 10 years and I LOVE IT! I use it at home for practice and when Im with my band all my effects get piped to it. It handles fuzz very well although for a 115 combo it is VERY heavy im thinking 80+lb.

[McSpunckle]

For guitar, how about the Mesa Trans-Atlantic? Or maybe the traynor dark horse...

Dude, the Dark Horse looks fucking perfect...

So far it's between that and the Blackheart BH-15...

I'm still googling all of your suggestions. I don't have a "budget" as much as... I'm willing to save up for a bit for something really cool, but I'm not that picky, so I think spending a ton would be basically useless for me. Plus I have other shit to buy, so I don't wanna spend a TON on an amp.

What's not happening with the 150? Solid-state vs. tube?

Nahh. I'm not a solid state hater. It's just that all my favourite tones (I mostly listen to indie music) seems to come from tube amps in the >50 watt range, and I kinda wanna be able to drive it a bit at low volumes. My current rig, despite being solid state, has to have a bit of volume before it sounds decent. It might be the cab more than anything, but I want smaller stuff. I'm thinking of restoring the 150 and sticking it on top of a different cab for the bass amp, instead of getting a new bass amp. I kinda think it's my 4x10 that I don't dig... like it has a nasally high end...

[Bellyheart]

I think you're correct. I played the bass one through a Peavey 1516 with a strat and it was awesome at low volumes and high. All subjective though. I'm over my 4x10 combo for the same nasally reason.

[phantasmagorovich]

http://www.blackstaramps.co.uk/

These are supposed to be good for not too much dough.

[kosta]

This is kind of a weird suggestion, but I just found an old 1950's RCA 400 16mm film projector on the curb in my neighborhood. These have a built in loudspeaker/P.A. system in them with a mic input and an on-board low wattage tube amp. I'm having a amp tech rip the amp out of the projector and rehouse it in a custom built cab with a 15" speaker in it. We tested it on his bench the other day and it sounds great! Pretty clean up until about 50% volume or so, and then really pretty tube saturation beyond that. And tons of low-end with the 15" speaker. Sounded good with a 12" speaker too, but more focused and less bass-y.

So I guess what I'm saying is that some of those older 16mm projectors have built in tube amps, and I bet you could score one on the cheap and mod it yourself. I had a Kodak Pagent years ago that had a similar setup.

[Bassus Sanguinis]

http://www.blackstaramps.co.uk/

These are supposed to be good for not too much dough.

these ARE good, especially if You want to rock out with a full blown amp.

[masked elwood]

This is kind of a weird suggestion, but I just found an old 1950's RCA 400 16mm film projector on the curb in my neighborhood. These have a built in loudspeaker/P.A. system in them with a mic input and an on-board low wattage tube amp. I'm having a amp tech rip the amp out of the projector and rehouse it in a custom built cab with a 15" speaker in it. We tested it on his bench the other day and it sounds great! Pretty clean up until about 50% volume or so, and then really pretty tube saturation beyond that. And tons of low-end with the 15" speaker. Sounded good with a 12" speaker too, but more focused and less bass-y.

...

sounds like that's something i'd like to look into....thankies.

[McSpunckle]

Ok, after looking at every single suggestion, the Traynor Darkhorse is still my favourite. Bonus points for being cheap and still made in Canada. That's kinda neat, right?

Only issues is that there's not a lot of demos, but the ones I've found make it look like JUST what I want. And $650 for the stack isn't bad.

That's, of course, pending good deals, trades with bros, etc.

For the bass amp, I think imma stick with the Acoustic, and get a cab with bigger speakers. The Avatar 112 looks pretty cool... But I remember taking a fuzz to Guitar Center and running into a GK rig with a 15 and it was -splooge-

LOVE the film projector idea. That sounds like something I'd like to do at some point for sure. I just don't have time for all that tomfoolery right this moment.

Thanks ILF. Yer the best. <3

[kosta]

Elwood - I was totally thinking of you when the projector amp scheme was coming together.

Spunckz - Yeah, it is tomfoolery of the highest order. Hahaha.

I'll post some pics when it's done.

[univalve]

I'll post some pics when it's done.

Yes, please

[one bad monkey]

What's your bass amp budget, Spunk?

If I was still doing bar gigs, I'd still have my GK 700rb-ii and Aguilar GS112 speaker. That thing at 300w at 8ohm was the loudest amp setup I've ever had. Ever. Ever.

[fiddelerselbow]

This:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by7nNwQe_Sc