bass amp recommendations for a guitarist

What are some good bass amps that meet these criteria?

under $250
appear often on the craigslist
gig-able but not gigantic

I'm primarily a guitarist but I enjoy playing the bass and wouldn't mind having a small amp for jams. All I know is you need more watts than a guitar amp and it ain't about the toobz. There are a couple Ampeg BA115 on the local classifieds for $180 - $200. Is this a good price for this amp? I like the compactness and the XLR line out. The cab tilts back too. 62 pounds is pretty heavy but not too too bad.

I recently jammed with a guy who had a fender rumble amp. These pop up alot, too. It was cute but I wasn't impressed and could barely hear it with a drumset and my DRRI. Was my experience the norm or the exception?

Aside, who here uses a line out at a gig?

Sometimes use a line out from my bass amp. If you can get one for 250 or under, Roland Cube 100 highly recommended. Will blow the ampeg or Fenders you mentioned away and is lighter too.

Peavey TNT are very popular with bass players. Again, I would choose it over the models you mentioned above.

Search Peavey TNT on the Philadelphia craigslist and there are a couple available at good prices. I would compare those with the Ampeg before I bought.

I did not see anything on the Philadelphia craigslist that really jumped out as a screaming deal on a bass amp.

Thanks for your help.. I didn't notice any screaming deals either but I'll remain on the lookout for a peavey or cube.

Used Roland Cube's if you can find them but anyone who has one usually loves it so there are few around for sale. If you willing to push your budget up just a little I'd suggest the one I use.

It's a 200w GK MB112, weighs 28lbs and has plenty of juice for smaller gigs or as a stage monitor using a line out to the FOH PA at larger gigs. The online stores have a selling price of $339 on them but with the fairly frequent 15% discounts that GC and MF offer you can get a new one from $288 shipped to your door.

I've had mine about 6 months and it's worked out just fine for me. It's small enough and light enough to carry one handed and only has about a 20" square footprint so it's a great small practice amp or studio amp as well. GK tone and reliability.

My wife had a BA155 for the last 4 years which I also used - we just recently upgraded mostly for convenience but also because after 4 years of the BA115 being 98% ok, she just wanted a little more power more for confidence then anything else. The main thing she found is that when she used her Bass Big Muff that sometimes it squashed the signal enough that the BA155 wasn't quite loud enough for our louder bands. Otherwise though, it's a great option for a starter amp and a great deal for less than 200$ (we bought hers for 280$ and sold it for 275$ four years later).

As for the line out, we usually found that the sound guy would use it as a DI in probably about 30% of the shows. Most soundguys just prefer to use their own DI so they know what they are getting into....plus the XLR out doesn't have a ground lift switch so it could be noisy in some setups (her new Portaflex has the groupd lift which makes it a little more useful).

Happy NAD to me, got a peavey tnt 115 w scorpion speaker (at least that what it says on the front) for $100. Needs a cleaning and the pots cleaned, the 3prong is corroded, but it works and plays nice. 60, 70 lbs so overall it was cheaper per pound than my groceries

Thanks for all the suggestions

Good call there.

Find a used SWR.

Find a used SWR.

He found an amp already. Two posts before yours!

Tim

Those are great old workhorse amps and the price is right.