Bridge_H

I need a bass amp for band rehearsals and small gigs. I'm also poor. Y'know, the musician standard.

Anyways, I'm trying to find a cheap amp that will be loud enough for playing with the band. Behringer has an affordable 45W amp, but will that have the volume I need? What should be the minimum wattage to keep an eye out for?

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fastlanestoner

for bass I think it should be about double what the guitar is. bear in mind, wattage refers to the circuitry's ability to withstand heat. more heat means more electricity and hence more "volume" but wattage and volume are different

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&baconstrips

Don't get the Behringer, it's not worth it. I've seen people gig with mic'd 50w bass amps. If there's no PA, then you better get at least 100w imo. Go used.

askrere

it's double the guitarist, but the problem is if your guitarist is playing a 5 watter champion he can be heard over drums, your 10 watter fender rumble won't. It's kind of misleading.

Best option is 100 watts if that's all you can get, but 200-300 safe range, 300-500 never need more. If a PA is involved you still want the security of a nice amp so you have a monitor, or backup or stage reinforcement depending on how or if you need it.

chatterbox272

The champion is a tube though, I heard somewhere with tubes multiply the wattage by 10 for an equivalent solid state. That would be the equivalent of 50 so then you need a 100W.

TS, you probably want at least 100W more if you can. Check out Acoustic, I hear great things about them (unfortunately they're not a common sight here in Australia, or I'd have one). This should do you well, or this one would be even better, and could leave you set for a while.

If my school didn't make me I wouldn't touch a behringer with a 10 foot pole, they're insanely heavy, and have no low end response. Also, they have a tendency to quote Peak Power Output (The maximum handling of the amp) rather than the Root Mean Squared value (the safe amount to run the amp). This is very misleading and makes it quiet compared to other amps with a true 45W rating (45W RMS).

anguskilminster

A friend of mine used to do small pub/bar gigs with a 65watt Peavey bass amp, which was loud enough. He got it used for £70, so the used market is the best place to look.

&baconstrips

no

Bridge_H

The Acoustic 100W had been one I was looking at. $250 is a little steep for me, but I'm mostly looking to buy used anyways. Thanks for the suggestions!

__________________
Matthew 6:33

Uniting the World, One Bridge at a Time.