Good combo amps

cool-beans

New member
Hey guys, I'm planning to buy a combo amp. Budget's about $700 and I don't mind new or used.

Any good ones to recommend? Some features I'm looking out for would be:

- More than 75w in power rating
- 12 inch speaker or bigger
- Balanced line out (DI out even better!)

I like warm, vintage, fat tones. Like James Jamerson or John Deacon. Look forward to your recommendations!
 
Ibanez's Promethean range of bass amps are rather overlooked as the brand name isn't bass synonymous. the P5110 is a worthy consideration:

227720.jpg


the good thing about it is, the head is detachable should you have some recording applications going.

68.jpg
 
It's not that it didn't work out, mate. It's really a great amp and fully deserves all the praise from other bassists. However, I'm really underutilising it. I mostly use the amp for home practice and I can never turn it up. Never use it at gigs as well because most of the places I play at provides PA support.

So rather than having a overpowered home practice amp, I decided to let the Genz Benz go to someone who'd use it better than I do. :)
 
Ibanez's Promethean range of bass amps are rather overlooked as the brand name isn't bass synonymous. the P5110 is a worthy consideration:

227720.jpg


the good thing about it is, the head is detachable should you have some recording applications going.

68.jpg

whats the price range on this?
 
It's not that it didn't work out, mate. It's really a great amp and fully deserves all the praise from other bassists. However, I'm really underutilising it. I mostly use the amp for home practice and I can never turn it up. Never use it at gigs as well because most of the places I play at provides PA support.

So rather than having a overpowered home practice amp, I decided to let the Genz Benz go to someone who'd use it better than I do. :)

i totally understand. infact i am looking to grab a vox pathfinder 10 for bass. just for practice.
 
600W is plenty of power, if it's paired with the right cab config. i recently ran my shuttle 3.0 though a 4x10 1x15 stack and it was loud enough to keep up in a 3pc band. a stack like that could probably handle over 500W easily, but rather than it being overkill, a less powerful amp really does benefit from more speakers.

now i can let it go with a peace of mind. im dead broke after many upgrades to my bass. my new j-retro is seriously ownage, i dont need any other kind of preamp. besides, my dream still is a markbass F1.

i hope a working bassist picks up your amp. i think the shuttle 6.0 can handle indoor gigs quite comfortably and even small outdoor gigs.

now im planning on going into a headphones setup. either with a recording interface or, more likely, an analog headphone amp. im waiting for EHX's new headphone amp to make some ripples. of course, the phil jones bass buddy that i used to own (twice) is probably the best headphone amp in the world.
 
@lordie I'm not sure about the Pathfinder. Reviews mostly tend to say that its a 'nice toy that's great for looks, but lacking in sound quality'. Not really surprising considering the tiny size of the speakers. That said, I'd probably still give it a try. You never know when something would surprise you! :p

@shinobi Yeah, the Shuttle 6.0 was made for the gigging bassist. :) Btw, any idea where I can try out the PJB Buddy? Seems interesting. Does it work with speakers?
 
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