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I've asked variations on this question before, but I didn't feel like bumping up a dead thread from over a year ago. Plus, repetition is a form of change, right? So here goes.

I'm playing pedal-heavy psychedelic ambient stuff in stereo. My main amp is a 22w Ampeg Gemini I which I love; it's nice and warm and a little dark, with wicked trem. Right now my Other Amp switches back and forth between a 50w Katana (I don't use any of the onboard fx other than reverb, and I keep it on the clean channel), and a Barcus Berry 15" combo. The BB sounds pretty good, particularly when I play my Bass VI, but the reverb's a bit hissy and there's something about it I just haven't bonded with. The Katana sounds great clean but sounds awful with the Bass VI.

For both space-saving and personal issues I (and my wife) would really like to settle on one second amp. However, I'm not sure The One exists, given my needs:

1. As clean and headroomy and quiet as possible
2. Can handle bass
3. ~22w, so as to keep up with but not overwhelm the Ampeg
4. headphone jack, so I can play without giving my wife migraines (or maybe an attenuator or something)
5. Reverb
6. Preferably $500 or under
7. Combo
8. Preferably NOT a Jazz Chorus (though I might consider a JC-40 if it wouldn't crowd out the Ampeg)

I don't care about an FX loop, modeling, channel switching, or SS vs tube.

Amps I've considered in various capacities (but not really researched) include an AC15 (having realized that I use the Vox emulation in Garageband most of all), Lunchbox, some kind of Fender (Deluxe would be great but out of budget)... I forget the rest, as I haven't found anything that quite meets all my needs. Which is why, despite my continued research, I turn to you, O Oracular ILF Hivemind...

AC15 is pretty sweet but I would worry about how it handled bass (plus headphone out doesn't exist that I know of) also the AC15 really sounds best cranked

How are you hooking up the headphones in a stereo amp setup?

I kindof like the idea of 1 tube and 1 solid state, you get the nice tube tones plus some attack,

Some of the older fender clean amps may do what you want like 1x12 chorus and they sound good at low volume (Edit: It's the princeton series that sounds aweseom)

if you like the barcus but not the reverb have you thought about just getting a reverb pedal for it?

hbombgraphics wrote:AC15 is pretty sweet but I would worry about how it handled bass (plus headphone out doesn't exist that I know of) also the AC15 really sounds best cranked

How are you hooking up the headphones in a stereo amp setup?

I kindof like the idea of 1 tube and 1 solid state, you get the nice tube tones plus some attack,

Some of the older fender clean amps may do what you want like 1x12 chorus and they sound good at low volume (Edit: It's the princeton series that sounds aweseom)

if you like the barcus but not the reverb have you thought about just getting a reverb pedal for it?

Oh, I should clarify that the headphone out is not part of the stereo aspect of all this. But it's nice to have one amp that has this option.

I dig the tube/SS pairing too, though I'm not wedded to it.

And I have toyed with a red-knob Fender (like a Princeton Chorus, which was actually my very first "real" amp so many years ago), but I've been... wary. I can't remember why now but something about the low end sounding flabby? Maybe? Sigh.

And funnily enough, I hadn't thought about putting a verb pedal in front of the Barcus. I generally prefer amp verb for my main verb, and pedal verb for more ambient stuff. But that might be a good idea...

It might work to put a cheap spring style pedal in front of it,

You might be right on the flubbyness of the princeton series, you could try a combo with a swapped speaker, when I was playing lower tuned music I used bass cabs with guitar heads and was pretty happy.

I know it's head and cab but the orange micro amps are pretty good for what they do and you could try it with a bass cab (but no verb!!!!)

Right now I am running a first act V-stack as my main amp, it seems to handle low end really well (replaced the speaker) but it is brutally heavy, I am looking for a backsaving replacement myself, I only use the vox channel anyway. I hate looking for new amps, pedals are easy if you don't like em you can sell em and ship em.

hbombgraphics wrote:It might work to put a cheap spring style pedal in front of it,

You might be right on the flubbyness of the princeton series, you could try a combo with a swapped speaker, when I was playing lower tuned music I used bass cabs with guitar heads and was pretty happy.

I know it's head and cab but the orange micro amps are pretty good for what they do and you could try it with a bass cab (but no verb!!!!)

Right now I am running a first act V-stack as my main amp, it seems to handle low end really well (replaced the speaker) but it is brutally heavy, I am looking for a backsaving replacement myself, I only use the vox channel anyway. I hate looking for new amps, pedals are easy if you don't like em you can sell em and ship em.

I think there was a Princeton Chorus I was thinking about doing that with, because the amp was cheap, but then I realized to buy the speaker and have it swapped would've been pretty close to the price of the amp and so why not just spend more money on an amp I fully dug?

I'm not a big Orange fan, actually. Too crispety crunchety.

I love and hate amps, man. I have thought about a bass combo, but that rabbit hole got pretty complicated pretty fast...

As I do some browsing, I keep coming across the Bugera V22 Infinum. Apparently both super clean and super loud...

Errant Tiger wrote:As I do some browsing, I keep coming across the Bugera V22 Infinum. Apparently both super clean and super loud...

I have never played one but have heard good things.
There's a couple of blackstar amps that might work for you as well.

Orange Crush 35RT is worth a look. Been using mine for 4 years now at home, practice, and live. All the Clean Headroom, has headphone out, and can also play with a drummer with the output volume at 4. I've played bass through it...it's still a guitar amp that accentuates mids but it works. I have used the headphone out to record bass though which has some more low end response.

Ghost Hip wrote:Orange Crush 35RT is worth a look. Been using mine for 4 years now at home, practice, and live. All the Clean Headroom, has headphone out, and can also play with a drummer with the output volume at 4. I've played bass through it...it's still a guitar amp that accentuates mids but it works. I have used the headphone out to record bass though which has some more low end response.

I'm generally not a big Orange fan, at least for my own purposes, but I'll keep my eye out for one.

Also, today I happened to play a '98 Blues Deluxe Reissue, and though it totally fits almost none of my needs (other than sounding amazing), I'm completely in love with it. Anyone know how these things might handle a bass?

Errant Tiger wrote:

Ghost Hip wrote:Orange Crush 35RT is worth a look. Been using mine for 4 years now at home, practice, and live. All the Clean Headroom, has headphone out, and can also play with a drummer with the output volume at 4. I've played bass through it...it's still a guitar amp that accentuates mids but it works. I have used the headphone out to record bass though which has some more low end response.

I'm generally not a big Orange fan, at least for my own purposes, but I'll keep my eye out for one.

Also, today I happened to play a '98 Blues Deluxe Reissue, and though it totally fits almost none of my needs (other than sounding amazing), I'm completely in love with it. Anyone know how these things might handle a bass?

I foresee tube rattle, that's just my experience with fender blues amps with low notes.

other than that I think it would sound pretty cool

Ghost Hip wrote:
other than that I think it would sound pretty cool

I ended up not stressing the wallet even more, and trading my old Barcus Berry toward a Strat. The Katana will be a fine second amp for the foreseeable future. But I'm convinced that Fender cleans are where it'll be at when I do resume the search in earnest.

Errant Tiger wrote:

Ghost Hip wrote:Orange Crush 35RT is worth a look. Been using mine for 4 years now at home, practice, and live. All the Clean Headroom, has headphone out, and can also play with a drummer with the output volume at 4. I've played bass through it...it's still a guitar amp that accentuates mids but it works. I have used the headphone out to record bass though which has some more low end response.

I'm generally not a big Orange fan, at least for my own purposes, but I'll keep my eye out for one.

Also, today I happened to play a '98 Blues Deluxe Reissue, and though it totally fits almost none of my needs (other than sounding amazing), I'm completely in love with it. Anyone know how these things might handle a bass?

It’ll handle a bass VI just fine, it won’t handle a longer scale or lower tuned bass well though. A GK-400rb and a small cab might work well for you?

BoatRich wrote:

Errant Tiger wrote:

Ghost Hip wrote:Orange Crush 35RT is worth a look. Been using mine for 4 years now at home, practice, and live. All the Clean Headroom, has headphone out, and can also play with a drummer with the output volume at 4. I've played bass through it...it's still a guitar amp that accentuates mids but it works. I have used the headphone out to record bass though which has some more low end response.

I'm generally not a big Orange fan, at least for my own purposes, but I'll keep my eye out for one.

Also, today I happened to play a '98 Blues Deluxe Reissue, and though it totally fits almost none of my needs (other than sounding amazing), I'm completely in love with it. Anyone know how these things might handle a bass?

It’ll handle a bass VI just fine, it won’t handle a longer scale or lower tuned bass well though. A GK-400rb and a small cab might work well for you?

Thanks! Bass VI is all I will ever need it to handle, but I've decided that paying for dental work is more than enough to keep my wallet busy (new crowns are totally pedge). But I'll keep this in mind for the future...

Dont know about the ac15 but the ac30 sounds super awesome on bass. Chris Squire used it as his studio amp on Fragile and i think that is a pretty bitchin sound. Some fender combos sound pretty awesome on bass too but thats like the bigger ones.