I know these things are great guitar amps, but I'm considering getting a tube bass amp and I can't afford an SVT. Also, I don't play bass that much.

In the past I've used a solid state Ampeg, a GK 400rb and an SWR Working Man's Bass. I really liked them all. I'm not picky and I can get a pretty usuable tone out of anything.

When I play bass, it's usually fill in work, but my sound is almost always deep, bassy, with just a little punch (sorry, but that's how it is). While I love the gritty Birthday Party tone, mine is much more 60s/Classic. I play though a single 15.

Would a Bassman be a good choice? More importantly, will this be loud enough? It seems low power to me, but with tubes you never know.
It needs to be loud enough for small stages with no DI, larger stages with DI and practice.

Thanks in advange, bass geniuses.

-A

the 100w one should do.

there's another fender tube amp, i can't recall the name off the top of my head...something like the showmaster or something equally retarded. they are 130w.

i believe these are what dave alexander used in the stooges.

with the added power they'll probably serve you a little better for bass.

I played bass in the late '70s with a Bassman 100. We have one here at the studio as well. I had the 4X12 cabinet.

It was always plenty loud for me, and I was in a band with a horn section at the time, with underpowered PA systems.

I have an old 70s Bassman head that I used to run through a Traynor 15" cab. I liked the sound, and it was used almost exclusively in a power trio. But it definitely lacked bottom end. I never ran any pedals through it, and it only has bass, mid, treble and master volume controls. So there aren't a lot of sound options. Still, I always liked how it sounded.

I've since switched to a Traynor YBA200 head, which has a ton of bottom end in comparison. Plus it has an XLR line out so you can run direct, and a mute button for tuning. You can probably get these for under $600 still. I think I paid about $580 from some shop in upstate New York last year.

With the right speakers and cabinet and your style of playing (it sounds like you like to blend/fill in instead of stick out), it's a good possibility. You could try a silverface bassman 100 which tend to be as much as a 50, maybe modify it a bit if you wanted. An ampeg V4B might be a little better. If you are competing with more than one guitarist maybe not. It also depends on the music you are playing.

For the 60s tone it would be pretty good though. Supposedly Paul Mccartney used a bandmaster for bass too. I had a blackface bandmaster and it actually sounded really awesome through the original cab.

On a side note, I played a 20W 1x15 tube (2xel84) bass amp with a semi loud band (keys, guitar, drums) in a small room and kept up, but with some nice distortion (I liked it anyways) my ampeg V4b was always loud enough through a 410hlf.

Yngwie Einstein wrote: power trio

So, are there bass, drum and guitar trios that are not "power" trios?

Don't forget the cab is important too though!!!

A big cab that is resonant around 40hz with an efficient speaker could be just as good with a 50w amp as a 100w amp with an ineffecient speaker in an different cab. The bottom end isn't all amp.

If you can pick one up for reasonably cheap (which I think might be difficult to do stateside), a 100W Selmer Treble n Bass would be totally adequate for your needs.

I don't know if a Bassman head would be cheaper in the US though. 100W will almost certainly be loud enough.

If you can even find a Selmer head here, and I do know of one locally, you'll pay about $700. A Bassman 100 will be about half that. I think they're a better-made amp as well.

zom-zom wrote:

Yngwie Einstein wrote: power trio

So, are there bass, drum and guitar trios that are not "power" trios?

Low?