Amp for Kala UBass

Nickie

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We have a later model UBass, and would like to have an amp for it that won't weigh a ton.
We plan to shop pawn shops because our budget is quite limited. Any suggestions?
Any brands/models we should avoid?
 
unfortunately the latest innovations in bass amps have to do with weight savings. Meaning what you will find in pawn shops is going to be heavy.

what do you plan to do with it? at home practice or play where? what price range?

if you can, try to buy a fender rumble v3 amp. very popular which means hard to find used at the moment as they were released in 2014.
 
unfortunately the latest innovations in bass amps have to do with weight savings. Meaning what you will find in pawn shops is going to be heavy.

what do you plan to do with it? at home practice or play where? what price range?

if you can, try to buy a fender rumble v3 amp. very popular which means hard to find used at the moment as they were released in 2014.

We're planning to drag it around for gigs. I think we can afford about 200$ American.
 
As soon as I saw the title I was going to make a recommendation, but it's very expensive; a Phil Jones Double Four, 70 watts, two 4" speakers, it's kick butt. The thing is amazingly small and can even use a computer external battery, but all in it's about $600. I use it with my bass ukes for rehearsals with 35-40 strum and sing uke players and our leader on a Fishman Loud Box 120 in a large multi-purpose room, and also for smaller gigs.

PJD4 & Battery.jpg
 
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With a $200 price point you will be pretty limited in your selection. Used equipment is often a good value if what you want is available in the market. Usually what you want is not available used.

That said I have a couple of recommendations.

#1: Roland Cube 100. 100 watts, 1x12" speaker, amp modeling, a few effects, built in DI, and reasonably light weight. I own one of these and it's been used a lot for church gigs. I've also used it for a handful of cover band gigs when the stage area was limited. It weighs under 40 pounds, so I can easily make a one trip load in. It can get loud enough to keep up with a moderate drummer. If your drummer is loud, you'll need more power. With the amp modeling I can always find the sound I want for the room I'm in. Effects are fun at home, but I've found that reverb and delay are not needed, not wanted, in most of the rooms I've played. I paid $300 used many years ago. I over-paid, slightly, but the amp has delivered good value. Current used pricing is lower, and you may find one at your $200 price point.

#2: SWR WM10. I used to own two of these. Both were sold after I bought the Cube 100. 70 watts, light weight, 1x10" speaker, kept up with a controlled drummer in a church band setting. Versatile EQ, sounds better than most amps in this size/weight class. You should be able to find one under $200. I sold a minty version for $250 years ago, and the more well-used unit went for $200. With an efficient extension speaker these can get reasonably loud and still have good tone. I did replace the input jacks on both amps during the time I owned them. They were the shorting type of jack - when the 1/4" phone plug on the guitar cable was removed the two input contacts closed creating a short. When the jack wore out it became noisy. With the cable unplugged the amp is quieter with the proper jack, slightly noisier with the standard non-shorting jack.

Alternatives. I own none of these, but it may be worth looking at the current crop of small tilt back amps like Hartke and others have sold over the past few years. A friend really likes his Fender 25 watt bass amp, but it seems a little weak to me.

Try before you buy, always with used. It sounds like you may be a pawn shopper, so you will probably do fine. One of our local pawn shop chain stores has a 7 day return policy which is nice. And yes I do have equipment that I use on gigs purchased from pawn shops.

Good luck, and please let us know what you end up buying.
 
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in the price range would be a fender rumble 40 v3 but its 1x10 only with DI, i think 18lbs. Fender rumble 100v3 is 22lbs 1x12. Hard to find them used, esp the 100v3. these rumble v3s are wickedly popular over at talkbass.

Locally at a music go round i saw 2 roland cube 120xls both marked at 179usd. But more than 2x heavier than the rumble 100v3 (like the cube 100). considering i only have an ampeg ba108v1 at the moment the roland is tempting at that price point.

proaudiostar.com has b stock rumble v3s i think 235usd for a 100v3. but if guitar center has a 20% coupon (do they do 20?) then that would be one new for 240usd sans tax.
 
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All the above will guide you, but some reasons why those recommendations make sense...

No matter what amp setup, anything less than a 10" diameter speaker is really not capable of producing loud-enough nor the lower frequency range of a bass (or bass uke) and with smaller speakers you will instead get the sound of the speaker 'farting out' with smaller diameter speakers once you turn up the volume to a reasonable level...

10" is really a minimum, but with a 12" you will get a more pure (and full) bass sound, even at lower volumes, and with lower wattage amp circuit.

All of this is simply due to the physics of sound, in that for such LOW frequencies (300hz and less), which have a LONGER wavelength, you need a LARGER transducer and LARGER speaker cone to adequately project the sound outward...

Think more of a subwoofer than a midrange type speaker and you will do fine...
 
...anything less than a 10" diameter speaker is really not capable of producing loud-enough nor the lower frequency range of a bass (or bass uke)...

The Phil Jones Double Four is the exception, but expensive.
 
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Thanks guys! This will all be taken under consideration as we hunt!
 
I am quite happy with my Roland Micro Cube Bass RX - portable (15 lbs), runs on batteries or AC and still loud enough to be heard where I play
 
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Closer to $300, but light as a feather (as bass amps go): http://carvinaudio.com/collections/mb-series-bass-combos/products/mb10

Under $200, here's one to beat: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/ampeg-ba110v2-1x10-bass-combo-amplifier

Bigger amps nice, but hell, you aren't going to bass for a rock band, are you? LOL

the fender rumble 40v3 is 18lbs compared to the 34lbs on the ampeg. It makes a huge difference, trust me.

I think I've convinced myself keep an eye out for an on sale or used fender rumble 100v3. As booli mentioned before the 12" seems to be a good driver. Amplified double bass and EUB players seem to prefer 12" drivers, and a ubass is more like one of those than an electric.

A really nice extra about the rumble 100v3: If necessary you can buy another rumble 100v3 and use the effects loop to daisy chain them, which uses the preamp on the master 100v3. Each speaker uses its own power section, slaved to the master's volume controls. Looks to be much cheaper than buying a rumble 200v3 and a 115v3 together. Any bigger venue you'll want to use their PA system anways.
 
My bass rig was bought second hand, $ 400, before I ever considered playing the ukulele. The head is a Genz Benz Shuttle 3. The cabinet is a SWR Gollith Junior 11, 2 x 10. I use it for double bass, guitar bass and now uke bass. Magnetic pickup guitars are also played with this set up.

The shuttle 3 is very compact and light at 2 3/8" x 8 1/2" x 9 1/4". I'm looking for a 10 in or 12 in cabinet for more portability.
 
My wife, who plays a Kala UBass uses a Genz Benz 3.0 shuttle. After a while we purchased an extension cabinet, but for our small gigs, we don't need it. The amp is very light, and it sound fabulous. Sorry, I am sure this is more than your $200 budget, but maybe there is one on ebay.
 
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