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Buying Guide: How to Choose the Right Rock Bass Amp

There are many great choices and when looking at bass combos, or any cabinet and head amplifiers, your choice needs to be decided by your budget, your venue and your sound requirements.

By Chris RoditisMusicngear Lead Editor

When deciding what amp to choose, there are many things to consider. One of the first decisions is whether you want a solid-state or tube amp. Tube amps tend to be more fragile and more expensive than solid-state amps, but they do, however, have much less distortion at high levels of sound. 

The next consideration would be whether or not you wanted to use a combo amp or a head and cabinet. The size of the venue you are looking to play in can be a big part of this decision, as the combo amp is better suited to a smaller club-type venue, while a high-powered amp driving one or two decent-sized cabinets will give you the more powerful sound you need in a larger setting.

Modeling is one of the benefits that can be offered as well, especially if your individual tone is not a critical factor as it provides cleaner tones with less noise. Speaker size is not all that important as long as your cabinet design is reliable and can offer what you need for the size of the gig. Portability and the number of available channels are two more choices to make when deciding on the right rock bass amp for your requirements. Here are a few possible choices of Bass Combos.

Solid State Combos

Gallien Krueger MB150S-112 III

There are a number of good-quality, solid-state combos available at reasonable prices. Gallien Krueger MB150S-112 III is a lightweight (11kg) combo offering 1 x 12” Speaker, voicing filters, 150W power, and many other features.

You could also look at the EBS Magni 500-115, Bass Combo, which is still lightweight at 20kg and offers 250 watts of power, a 15” speaker and tweeter, and a 4-band EQ. Another great solid-state amp is the Fender Rumble 500 2014. This amp weighs in at only 16.5 kgs and has a massive 500-watt output. It offers 2 x 10” Eminence ceramic magnet speakers and many other extra features to offer you great sound. This is just a sample of the many solid-state combos available today.

Tube Bass Combos

Ampeg Heritage B-15N

One of the best tube bass combos around is the Ampeg Heritage B-15N. This combo offers 30W RMS (1966 bias) / 25W RMS (1964 bias), 1 x 15" custom Eminence speaker, 3 x thomann 12AX7 preamps, rectifier, 2 x 6L6GC power amps, dual channel and tone controls.

Modelling Bass Combos

Roland Cube-60XL Bass

There are a number of modelling bass combos available with varied features. One of these is the Roland Cube-60XL Bass amplifier with amp modelling, with a 10” speaker and 60 Watt output for loud, transparent sound. Fender Bronco 40 is another good choice with its 40 watt output, 10” specially designed speaker, 8 amp models, and various controls to achieve your perfect sound.

Hybrid Bass Combos

Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout 112 - 4 Ohms

When looking at hybrid bass combos, the Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout 112 - 4 Ohms is one of the neatest combos with a 1 x 12” speaker, 300 Watt output, 4-level tube preamplifier, 3 volume semi-parametric EQ, adjustable mains input, and many more features.

Battery-Powered Bass Combos

Roland Micro Cube Bass RX

When you have to do a gig and the area does not offer mains power, a battery-powered combo is the best option. You can choose from a tiny Eden Microtour with its 4” speaker, to something a lot larger like the Roland Micro Cube Bass RX, which has 2 x 2.5Watt stereo and 4 x 4” speakers as well as 6 models, stereo reverb, and mic preamp.

There are many great choices, and when looking at bass combos, or any cabinet and head amplifiers, your choice needs to be decided by your budget, your venue, and your sound requirements.

About Chris Roditis

Chris Roditis has been an active musician since 1995 in various bands and projects across a variety of genres ranging from acoustic, electronic to nu metal, british rock and trip hop. He has extensive experience as a mixing engineer and producer and has built recording studios for most of the projects he has been involved with. His passion for music steered his entrepreneurial skills into founding MusicNGear in 2012.

Contact Chris Roditis at chrisroditis@musicngear.com

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