Practice Amp for Bass - Now sorted

I'm looking for suggestions on practice amp for my wife to use (and stop her (ab)using my guitar amp   )

Looking at reviews, I see the Fender Rumble seems to top the charts with the Orange Crush also getting praise.  I've seen the Gear4Music offering what looks on paper to be very decent 35w amp with 10" speaker at a good price.

I'm not after anything really technical as she's only recently started learning and budget is probably sub-£200.

my daughter started playing bass recently and i got her a s/h fender rumble - it's decent and it looks cool - she's well happy.

a curveball suggestion - maybe look at a Yamaha THR10 - it has a bass setting, and is also great for the guitar too - it's my most used amp. Can't reccomend one enough

I use a couple of Yamaha THRs for bass. I've never had any specific bass amp. Sometimes on their own bass mode, sometimes on Flat with a decent bass preamp pedal. But the THR on its own is a fantastic bit of kit

You can always just buy her a Fender Mustang Micro headphone amp. Works great on both guitars and basses. Cheap as well. 

The Fender Rumble is very popular and is always recommended but the Ampeg Rocket Bass combos are also worthy of consideration.

Fender Rumble 25. Not the 15 - unless you need the absolute minimum size - the 25 is in a completely different league. The 15 is not a bad amp, but it's a bedroom amp. The 25 is a properly big-sounding real bass amp that happens to be small and light - although it's twice the size of the 15, that's why it sounds so much better... it's the cabinet that makes the difference. (It even still has the same size speaker.)

You could try one of those cute little class D heads through headphones at first and add a cab later. She wouldn't need to upgrade for years if at all. 

TC Electronic bq500, for example.  Warwick Gnome iPro V2. That sort of thing.  

For the past few years I've been using a Bugera T5 Infinium 5w/1w/0.1w valve head into a TC Electronic 2x8 200w cabinet. The amp head is very handy as, unusual for a valve head, it features a headphone out.

I would second the Fender Rumble 25.  It's a larger and deeper enclosure than most comparatively rated (i.e. watts) guitar amps, but the enclosures internal volume and closed back are what I think give it such a good full sound for a lower wattage amp.

I have an EBS Session 30 (30 Watts, 1x8 speaker) and it’s fab. 

I've just grabbed a used Marshall 5501 Bass 12 combo which sounds good for practise.  Before that I used a blackstar headphone bass amp which was surprisingly good fun and it comes with backing drums lol. 

Neilybob said:

Before that I used a blackstar headphone bass amp which was surprisingly good fun and it comes with backing drums lol. 

The Roland Micro Cube RX Bass has that too, and is amazingly good for something that can run on AA batteries - it’s only rated at something like 3.5W, but remarkably is easily loud enough to hear at about the same volume as an acoustic guitar, even outdoors. Unfortunately it’s also really expensive for something so low-powered (although not for what you actually get in functional terms) and is probably over budget unless you’re lucky. Mine is my most-used bass amp by far.

I’d say ampeg rocket, there really good value for money, size is great and as you go up the range you get some great extra features. RB112 you get a XLR out so would be a perfect amp for home or live direct use. 

Now sorted - thanks for the suggestions.

Switch625 said:

Well....what did you get??!

Hopefully not a new patio

Switch625 said:

Well....what did you get??!

A used Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0 10T from a member here.

Size matter?

Spark Minis are absolutely amazing. 

An option is a used 1x10 Markbass or similar; it might stretch the budget, but it be worth the same if you later sell it. 

I like the Markbass 801 (https://www.markbass.it/product/micromark-801/). It cost me around €300 a few years ago. It sounds very good and can function as a practice/jam/small gig combo.