What to Look for in an Amp for Bass Guitar
Best bass amps 2022: killer low-end amplification options for bassists
We all know how important the bass audio is to a band. A roaring bass tone can glue everything together and bridge the gap between the rhythm department and the remainder of the band. So while your option of bass is certainly important, the amp you choose to play through dramatically affects the quality of your tone - and is arguably one of the nigh essential elements of your rig. Information technology'southward crucial then that you lot take the time to really think about what is the best bass amp for you.
Our listing features bass guitar amps of all kinds, from super-portable micro heads to land-of-the-art hybrid amplifiers, high-end all-tube heads, to budget-friendly exercise combos - there is something for anybody here. Mayhap what'southward most noteworthy, and what is and so encouraging for today'southward bassists, is that whatever you lot desire from your tone – be information technology an elastic bounce for funk or pure bass-heavy thunder – at that place'southward an amplifier out there that will make it happen.
Best bass amps: Guitar Globe'southward Choice
We take a couple of recommendations hither. If you lot're looking for a bass amp that sums up where the craft is at right now, it'southward got to be the Aguilar Tone Hammer . The control it offers you over the EQ is infrequent, with a smart front end panel that has everything just the speaker and tuner outputs, and the preamp is awesome (and sold every bit a pedal). It is available in 350-, 500- and 700-watt formats, offering a similar setup and features, information technology's expert value, gear up for the stage, studio, whatever you throw at it.
If you want a bass caput with enough power for shows, offers a fuss-costless control console with an excellent 3-band EQ, that sounds keen and that y'all can throw into a backpack, the Trace Elliot ELF has got to be the one. Information technology really is a pocket rocket.
Best bass amps: Production guide
The Tone Hammer is a truly infrequent solid-state head that offers you phenomenal command over your tone. There are so many usable tones to be establish here that you lot are certain to discover a sweet spot no matter what bass you're using – a street lamp with a fridge magnet pickup would sound usable through this.
The treble control allows for a salubrious 14dB of boost or cutting at 4kHz, the bass a hefty 17dB at 40Hz, while you tin park your mids anywhere between 180Hz and 1kHz and boost or cut by 16dB either way.
But wait – there's more than. The drive control interacts with the gain structure and EQ, offering a vintage-sounding EQ that rounds out the lesser terminate as you turn upwards the gain and takes off some highs. Aguilar encourages yous to use those drive, proceeds and mids controls as base of operations camp for tone exploration.
To give yous an idea of scale, the ELF measures just a quarter-inch wider than the iPhone 11 Pro Max. It's less than ane-and-a-half inches alpine. Y'all could fit information technology in your pocket, and you might want to, considering you lot won't want to allow it out of your sight.
The performance is exceptional, with a respectable 200-watts at 4 ohms and all the essential features you demand. The 3-ring EQ plays the percentages and parks the lows at 80Hz, mids at 500Hz, and highs at iv.2kHz, all very sensible, all usable. There'southward a XLR out for going straight to the PA.
But don't allow the portability attribute seem similar a gimmick. This volition work just equally well in the studio, and ships with REAPER DAW, and Peavey ReValver amp modeling software, plus there'due south a headphones jack for silent practice.
The LX8500 represents excellent value, somehow squeezing what is a vertiginous stack of features into a compact aluminum chassis. It is a hybrid, with a Form A valve preamp feeding an 800-watt Class D amplifier (at 4 ohms).
Hartke's Tone Stack EQ needs no introduction, though it does take some fourth dimension to fathom fully. There's a lot to get into. But even when you set everything at noon, the LX8500 volition hit you with a tone that's naturally broad, robust and musical.
There's a little analog heat in at that place cheers to the preamp's 12AX7 dual triode, and if you lot want a quick power-upwardly for your upper-mids the Brite Switch is a dainty bear on. Slap players will naturally love it – that pinch is tight and intuitive – yet there is enough range for players of all styles.
Where to start with the bass amp that can do everything except bulldoze the tour motorcoach? Well, allow's start with the 6-band EQ: fix it flat and report a wholly transparent performance, not unlike a top-line acoustic amplifier. Just, lo! Only a cursory adjustment of any ane of the six EQ parameters delivers a profound effect to your tone. With this, allied to an onboard compression that has its own control (a elementary clockwise turn for more than, anticlockwise for less), you've got everything y'all need…
And then you lot've got the Microtubes Engine section of the 900, and that actually spoils y'all with controls for drive, level, tone and blend to further eek out the full range of your instrument'south voice.
The overdrive on this amplifier is exceptional also, with two voicings – the mod, pugilistic B3K and the vintage VMT – selectable via a switch, with a colored LED to let you know which is engaged. This is a top-line, professional bass head, with all mod-cons in the back making it ideal for stage or studio.
The Orange Little Bass Thing is an excellent example of a fine Orange bass caput. Information technology has a tonal power that could requite you a black eye, a stage-ready vocalization that is perfectly attuned to the needs of the contemporary rocker.
Sure, there is a tendency for it to show a little teeth, and that might be too much Bass Thunder Demon for some players, but so long as you're not looking for pristine cleans at block-leveling book there is a lot to dear here. Too, the -6dB pad does a reasonable job of cleaning things upward otherwise.
One time you lot decipher the controls, you'll detect this a very intuitive, plug-in-and-play head. There are no great mysteries but plenty of sweep in a three-band EQ that can employ 15dB of cutting and boost to the bass, middle and treble, and the onboard compressor is excellent at tightening your tone up.
Read the full Orange Little Bass Thing review
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The U500 has got a lot going on merely kudos to Blackstar for laying out the control panel and so information technology all makes sense. In that location is a preamp section where you can choose from three voices.
Classic offers a vintage tube-amp tone, Mod goes for super-clean with a contemporary EQ profile, and Flat is exactly that, totally transparent. The power amp department, meanwhile, offers a choice of iii responses – Linear, 6L6 and 6550 – that shape the amp's natural dynamics and compression.
Of class, there is an independent pinch control, plus an onboard octave and chorus event, and y'all tin can change the gain structure for overdrive, distortion or fuzz. Hey, it's skilful to have options, and the UB500 feels like many amps in i box – an attractive quality in any amp, merely especially a philharmonic where yous are not of a mind to carry information technology with yous everywhere. You may want to.
There is no getting abroad from the quality and the imagination backside the Subway TT-800 caput'southward design. This is Mesa/Boogie going to boondocks on an amp caput to make information technology as versatile as possible. The Boogie channel is one-time-school Mesa functioning a la the BASS 400+ units, while the Subway channel is more neutral, tightening up the low cease, dialing up the clarity across the residue of the frequency spectrum and offering semi-parametric control over the midrange.
This is a exercise-information technology-all amp, for players of all styles. Each channel is footswitchable and has its own furnishings loop. While the two-aqueduct setup encourages in-depth tone hunting, the global proceeds switching and Brilliant and Deep switches offer y'all the ability to make quick changes to your tone. Kick in Deep to let that low-end bloom, or use Vivid to add that bouncy electricity slap players but love.
If you are looking for a bass combo, reasonably priced, reasonably spec'd, that doesn't feel similar yous're carting the Undertaker's fridge around with you, the relatively compact 1x12 Rumble 100 should meet you right.
It'south got the classic Fender styling, the black vinyl on a ported plywood cabinet and the silver grille fabric, with a well-designed control console on the top of the amplifier featuring controls for proceeds, drive, level, bass, low-mid, high-mid, treble and primary book.
There's an overdrive on/off switch that tin be accessed via an optional footswitch for, well, for some clay at the touch of a button, and Brilliant, Contour and Vintage switches for irresolute the amp's vox – Bright will give you a high-end boost, Profile will scoop the mids (hi, slap bassists), and vintage emulates the dynamics of a tube amp. Pretty corking. The Rumble comes in various formats merely for practice and modest gigs – and for the money – this is our selection.
Nosotros know that bass amplification is evolving apace but no best bass amps list could exist complete without an all-tube head that offers a premium make of vintage thunder that you just can't get anywhere else.
Now, it'southward heavy and it's expensive, and tubes are tubes which means maintenance at some bespeak downwardly the line, but the tone – primal, primeval, vintage Bootsy Collins, vintage Sting – should strong-arm you into submission.
The controls are spartan but there's everything you lot need; a padded -15dB input for agile basses, a 5-position mids selector and dial, an Ultra High/Ultra Low switch that allows you to boost highs and lows without swamping the respective frequency ranges, 3-band EQ, bias adjustment on the rear. Only plug it in and turn it up.
The Ashdown Studio 15 is the Sam Elliot of bass combos, deep, sonorous, administrative, and musical in its ain right. It's a lightweight combo, housed in a frame of poplar-ply, which is to say information technology's quite heavy but not for a combo.
Similar the Rumble, this has got a straight-alee control panel, with a pad switch for active basses and a shape switch for a quick, pre-EQ tone fix, finer changing the voicing of the amp. Y'all've got 300 watts to play with and a v-band EQ that pays special attention to your mids.
All the important stuff is on top, so that counterbalanced XLR out, effects loop, headphones out, footswitch and line in are all right in that location in forepart of yous. Speaker-wise, there is a lightweight neodymium speaker and a hello-fi tweeter that you tin can mute if you're sick of high frequencies.
Best bass amps: Buying advice
Which is the best bass amp for me?
When you're out there pounding the sidewalk or bruising your internet browser in search of a new bass amplifier, it is well worth doing a petty horizon planning. You first have to assess your current needs. What kind of style do you play? Is your bass guitar active or passive? What level are yous at? In what environment are y'all playing – at home, in clubs… Fenway Park?
What you play and where you see yourself playing in the nearly future plays a big office in the determination. After all, if y'all intend to play in the business firm, an 800-watt head is overkill. Conversely, gigging bassists need enough power to be heard in the mix.
Cost is always a concern too, only the good news is that the bass amp market place is total of very giggable options that volition give you change from 500 bucks.
Which features are essential in a bass amp?
All players want a certain level of versatility. Options are great, and features present options. But for beginner bass players, it's crucial you can find tones apace and concentrate on playing. A command panel that is easily navigable is a big plus – even with a condensed features set, the bass amplifier will teach you lot a good lesson in how EQ tin can change the character of your bass tone, complementing any style you lot're playing in.
Those looking for a more vintage-voiced tone might want to seek out a bass amp with a tube-driven preamp, which can add a sense of warmth and harmonic response that feels eminently musical. While all-tube bass heads are getting thin on the basis, hold-outs such every bit the Ampeg SVT are formidable performers – heavyweight, merely still unsurpassed for old-school bass tones.
For players at all levels, though, a well-voiced EQ is essential. Amp manufacturers know well that mid-range frequencies can be a minefield for bassists, a existent matter of sense of taste, and so many amplifiers volition offering generous controls over the midrange, allowing yous to select your mid frequencies and boost/cut as desired. The Ashfield Studio 15 combo we list here fifty-fifty offers a 3-band EQ approach to the midrange alone. That says it all.
If you want an all-in-one unit, at that place are a number of corking-sounding combos with lightweight builds.
Portability is forever an issue. Bass speaker cabinets are getting lighter but are even so unforgiving beasts, so it is a approval that the amp head is getting smaller and lighter. Bassists who ride the subway to rehearsal take options, and our superlative ii picks – the Aguilar Tone Hammer 500 and Trace Elliot ELF – have a combined weight of 5.6lb, less than the Thanksgiving turkey and more than than capable of being ferried around in a backpack.
If you want an all-in-one unit of measurement, there are a number of great-sounding combos with lightweight builds. These can be an excellent option for throwing in the back of the automobile and heading to rehearsal or a show, or if you just want a self-contained unit of measurement in which yous don't have to friction match the impedance on the head to the speaker.
Speaking of connections, information technology'south worth factoring these into your conclusion-making. Some connections are invaluable for practise, such as a headphones input or an 1/8" aux input for playing to external sound – a primal skill when information technology's your job to concord it down in the rhythm section. Others, such as a balanced XLR output, can be essential for alive performance, allowing you to send your bespeak straight to the PA.
What are the best bass amp brands?
Today there are many different bass amps available online from a range of different companies - so information technology tin can be difficult to cut through the racket. We've made sure to only include the biggest names in bass in this guide. The likes of Fender, Orange, Ampeg, Ashdown and Aguilar all have a rich history and take been producing some of the finest bass amps ever made for decades - so you really tin can't go wrong with whatsoever of them.
Each brand has its own distinct tone, then it's worth trying them out - or checking out YouTube demos - to see which suits your needs the all-time.
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Source: https://www.guitarworld.com/features/best-bass-amps-for-every-budget
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