Amplifiers

[The Afrodactyl]

I'm looking for a new amplifier, and I'm lookinf advice and recommendations.

Can anyone recommend me an amp?

There are only a few requirements: It must be able to play both bass and guitar, capable of overdrive (or whatever you want to call it) and must be £200 or less.

Apologies if I'm being a touch demanding, but the tiny amp I have at the moment is on it's last legs.

 

[TheComedown]

At that price I'm pretty sure that tiny amp isn't getting any bigger, not to mention you will be hard pressed to find an amp that takes both standard guitar and bass.

 

[Sronpop]

Now I am no expert, but I am pretty sure amps aren't suppose to be able to play both Guitar and Bass signals. That's what blows them right. I mean there are Bass Amps and Guitar Amps for a reason.

Just buy a cheap one from a buy and sell website. You don't need/can't afford anything really good at that price. You might be able to get 2 cheaps ones that that price anyway.

 

[nickjastrzebski]

I can't offer advice on bass amps, but the Roland Cube 30x is a good guitar amp & is less than 200 with plenty of in-built effects.
It might be able to take a bass, but I don't know; I've never tried it.
You might be able to get a cheap bass amp with the leftover cash from your 200 if you shop around.

 

[KnowYourOnion]

I'm looking for a new amplifier, and I'm lookinf advice and recommendations.

Can anyone recommend me an amp?

There are only a few requirements: It must be able to play both bass and guitar, capable of overdrive (or whatever you want to call it) and must be £200 or less.

Apologies if I'm being a touch demanding, but the tiny amp I have at the moment is on it's last legs.

Playing a bass through a guitar amp is going to end it really really fast!
A regular guitar speaker is designed to do the mids and highs whereas a bass amp will only really do the low end.

and for 200 quid you're going to struggle getting any thing larger than tiny.

I'd suggest looking at Line 6 Spider 3s for the guitar. Mine's served me well enough

 

[The Afrodactyl]

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure most amps can do both (I see quite a lot with a switch to set it to high or low).

I'll look more for bass amps then, as that's my main instrument. My current one can just hide in a drawer until I pull out the regular guitar.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure most amps can do both (I see quite a lot with a switch to set it to high or low)

A bass amp can handle guitar pretty well, but not the other way round. Guitar speakers can't handle the lower frequencies all that well.

Bass amps are designed for different frequencies though, so you'll get more of a low end (and high end if it has a tweeter), but the mid-range will be less noticeable. Same goes for the speakers, so it will get weaker highs and strong lows. Bass amps are also less suitable for overdrive than guitar amps, so you might need a distortion pedal.

Other than that, it is pretty safe to play guitar on a bass amp so long as you don't turn everything up to 11. I regularly use mine for clean guitar sounds and never had any problems with it.

I'd look into the Roland Cube Bass 30. Roland makes pretty good stuff and I've heard good things about it.

 

[Lerxst]

$800 (US) are where the larger amps start (thinking in terms of Stack Amps). Yes, they can handle the guitar and bass just as well but the "speakers" are run through cabinets which are interchangeable between different amps. They aren't specifically designed for a bass, but with the 4 speakers built in, you can adjust your settings so as to avoid blowing the speakers out but still get a good sound.

The head for one amp alone will cost $400 and then you need at least one cabinet (another $400).

 

[The Afrodactyl]

I see, I must have a bass amp then. Thanks Chimpzy.

:EDIT:
Is this the one, Chimpzy?
http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/pmtonline/?st=11719

Is reverb the same as overdrive?
I'm rather shite at the whole terminology thing sadly.

 

[Outright Villainy]

I use my guitar amp to play bass.
Yes, it's dirty and wrong.
I like it.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I see, I must have a bass amp then. Thanks Chimpzy.

:EDIT:
Is this the one, Chimpzy?
http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/pmtonline/?st=11719

Is reverb the same as overdrive?
I'm rather shite at the whole terminology thing sadly.

Reverb is echo.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/orange_cr50bx.htm

I personally love Orange amps.

They're very basic, but sound great.

 

[TheLaofKazi]

I'm pretty sure most bass amps support both guitar and bass. For distortion or overdrive you could just get an effects pedal for it.

 

[The Afrodactyl]

So reverb (or echo) is distortion?

If so, awesome, I need that for Muse stuff.

@TheLaofKazi - an effects pedal may not be out of the question if I get one that doesn't have reverb/echo/distortion/overdrive

 

[Alex Cowan]

Get a Vox VT15 guitar amp (£120) and get a cheap bass amp with the leftover £80. It'll sound better this way, as the speakers will be handling what they're actually designed to do.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

So reverb (or echo) is distortion?

If so, awesome, I need that for Muse stuff.

@TheLaofKazi - an effects pedal may not be out of the question if I get one that doesn't have reverb/echo/distortion/overdrive

Distortion is intentionally causing your amp to clip, or in other words, produce more power than its rated output. If you do this in a controlled fashion, you get your typical overdrive sound as opposed to clean.

Reverb is a form echo of echo that is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air. The reverb effect on amps/pedals emulates this.

They are quite different. Though I think you need both for Muse. But they use all kinds of effects and my memory is fuzzy right now as to which songs use which effects.

Anyways, many brands have a budget line of bass amps. I'll name a few that I can think of at the top of my head: Roland, Peavey, Gallien Krueger, Orange, Hartke, Fender, Eden, Laney and Warwick. Out of these I can recommend Roland, Gallien Krueger and Hartke. Out of my experience, they offer better price/quality than most. There is also Behringer, which is very cheap and many people like it, but I find it to be terrible. That's just my opinion though.

Of course, keep in mind that none of them can give you the sound that a high end professional amp can.

 

[Les Awesome]

well if you're lookinf for help

 

[The Afrodactyl]

Thanks Chimpzy. I'll be getting a huge amp later in life, when I have both money and space.

For now, I'll take a small one.

Thanks guys.

 

[diego_2112]

I would suggest getting a Vox Pathfinder 15R for your guitar needs (it's what I play in studio, can be heard on my band's myspace [http:www.myspace.com/centervoid]), it's right at $120USD from Musicians Friend.

For BASS... hrm... I normally run straight through the PA when I play bass... I do know Vox has a Pathfinder Bass Amp with TWO speakers, sounds good, never used it. The Crate BX15 is REALLY nice (it's what I started off on, can be found for decent price on places like musicgoround.com and craigslist), and Peavy makes some KILLER stuff (they own Trace Elliot, by the way, and TE kicks ASS).

As far as reverb/overdrive, the Pathfinder 15R has BOTH (spring reverb, really nice, and a built in overdrive circut.). It also has tremolo (a consistant raising and lowering of the volume to present a sort of underwater sound), and has an option for an external footswtich.

If you want GREAT distortion, get a Boss DS-1 pedal. Can be found on musicgoround for under $40 usually. Echo/Delay will run you in excess of $100 for good pedals (I paid $80 for mine, an Ibanez DE7).

I would STRONGLY suggest getting seperate amps for guitar and bass. You get better sound, more tonal control, and less a chance of your shit blowing up in your face.

Another REALLY great amp with EVERYTHING you could ever want (for guitar), is the Line 6 Spider IV series. My vocalist (and r. guitarist) uses the 75 watt combo on ALL of our songs, and it's a KILLER amp. $300 USD new on Musicans Friend.

I hope that helps!

If you dont mind my asking, what's your rig right now? I'm a bit of a gearhead.

 

[Berethond]

For BASS... hrm... I normally run straight through the PA when I play bass...

That's a horrendously bad idea. If you've ever seen a speaker explode, then you might know why.

 

[diego_2112]

That's a horrendously bad idea. If you've ever seen a speaker explode, then you might know why.

Really now? Hrm... I'm pretty sure Mr. Lee (as in GEDDY LEE, from the Prog band RUSH) would dispute that. He does the same thing. Why do you think he's got a wall of random appliances on stage with him, rather than a wall of speakers?

I've ran Direct to PA for YEARS now, never been a problem. Recently, I added a nice passive DI box, just to take advantage of better EQ on our current PA's mic channel.

Hell, our ENTIRE DEMO (link above) was recorded running bass DIRECT THROUGH THE PA, the only time we even put the DI on it was for "Simple Thoughts!"

Just sayin' man, I've been playing for quite some time now. I know what to do, and what NOT to do. I've been on stage with people who blow amps, and hell, I've even blown one myself! Trust me on this one, ok?