We scoured the planet in search of a practice amp that could deliver killer tone, plenty of punch, and is portable enough that you don’t need an army of roadies to move it. We found 5 contenders and then put them head-to-head to find the ultimate practice amp under $300.
1. $300 Maximum Price.Our objective was to find an affordable amp that would allow beginners to get a start in the bass world, without having to sell a kidney. $300 was the price limit for this group review.
2. Combo Amps Only.Then, we looked online and found all the bass combo amps. A combo amp is an amplifier and speaker cabinet integrated into a single unit. The alternative to a combo is an amp head and cabinet as two separate units. We opted for combo amps only as they are typically the more affordable, convenient, and practical option for beginners to get started with.
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3. Known Brands.Next, we needed some criteria to cut our list down from over 60 amps to a number we could actually physically review. So, we cut out all the companies that don’t have a reputation in the bass world – brand names are usually the safest bet for beginner gear. (We’ll test some of the lesser known brands in the future)
4. Minimum 10″ Speaker.We decided to only look at amps that had a 10” speaker or bigger. A lot of cheap beginner bass amps have an 8” speaker or smaller and, in my opinion (and other pros I consulted) a single
5. A Dash of Gut Feel.Finally, we considered existing online reviews, brand reputation, and some intuition to cut the list down to our top five.
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Just to test my theory that small speakers can’t deliver a solid bass, I spent some time with a Roland MICRO CUBE BASS RX, one of the more expensive practice amps in this price range that has four 4” speakers.
While the tone is fine and there are some cool features, the volume is completely wimpy. A good bass amp will give you low frequencies that you can actually feel, and I have yet to hear an inexpensive amp with a small speaker that sounds like a real bass amp.
Reviewing these amps was a pretty simple process of spending time playing through each amp and fiddling with knobs. I spent most of my review time playing my active Peavey Cirrus bass through all five amps, but I also tried a Squier Jazz bass from ourbass reviewsto see how a passive instrument would sound.
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I also took them to a local rehearsal space where I could hear them in a larger room with a higher ceiling.
In both rooms I brought along myTC Electronic RH450 headwithRS210 cabinetas a higher-end reference rig. I wasn’t expecting these cheaper amps to sound as good as the TC rig (with a value of around $1, 400), but it helped me establish a tone and volume baseline to compare each amp to.
1. Tone.I listened for how good the amp sounded with all the EQ flat, and how versatile it was in terms of offering me tones that would work in different musical genres.
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2. Volume.Here I judged the amp’s loudness, and particularly how much “body” or bottom end it put out. I also listened for amp hiss that might be unpleasant for a practice room.
3. Features.This rating was based on what features the amp had (how many EQ knobs, direct out or not, any other cool stuff), as well as overall ease of use.
I roughly averaged these four ratings to give each amp an overall rating, keeping in mind that Tone and Volume are the most important criteria.
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It’s important when watching and listening to amp reviews online to know how the amps were recorded so you can better assess the sound you’re hearing; different microphones, mic distances, and post-processing with compression and EQ can totally change your perception of what an amp “sounds” like. Here’s the complete recording process used in these reviews:
Audio for Video Reviews: I plugged my bass directly into the amp and recorded the amp with a Shure SM57 microphone 6 inches away from the center of the speaker cone. The microphone ran straight into my Audient iD14 digital audio interface into Logic Pro.
Audio for the Sample Riffs: In the “Hear for Yourself” section (below), there are a ton of audio recordings for each amp so you can directly compare the tone of each amp, for yourself. The recording process worked like this…
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First, I made sample audio recordings of bass riffs using my Peavey Cirrus bass (pickups balanced, onboard EQ flat) recording directly into the Audient (24-bit recording at 48Khz). Then I played the recorded sample riffs through each of the different amps while recording the sound with the SM57 six inches from the speaker cone (pictured below). I tweaked the amp volume and EQ to make them all sound as good as I could.
Note that everything was bounced from my recording software (Logic) withabsolutely no EQ, compression, or processingon the software side (besides normalization). What you are hearing is exactly what came into the microphone from the amplifier. This isn’t standard recording procedure – normally you would use compression and EQ to improve the sound – but I chose to go this route to offer you maximum clarity in listening to the differences between the amps.
VERDICT:You definitely get what you pay for – this being almost half the price of all the other amps I reviewed, results in a lot less possible volume and low end, but still plenty for practice purposes.
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The higher wattage B30 might be worth checking out if you like the sound of Acoustic amps and want something that could work for a mellow rehearsal or gig (no rock drummers or big distorted guitar). I would definitely use this as a practice amp, but that’s about it.
This amp jumped out to me because it was the only amp at this low price that had the 10” speaker I was looking for, and Acoustic has a good reputation for their bass amps. Here’s how it stacked up.
The flat EQ tone sounded good and balanced. Pushing the bass knob up and mid/treble knobs down lends a mellow, vintage-y tone that will work fine for practice, but it’s lacking the big low frequency response that comes with more wattage. There’s plenty of top end available on the mid/treble knobs for aggressive rock tones, with or without the Shape engaged. I couldn’t find a sweet spot for a punchy funk tone; the mid knob didn’t find quite the right frequency.
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This amp had a decent amount of volume, considering the size and the wattage. But even with the 10” speaker, this amp is still missing that special sensation of “enough low end.” Obviously, with only 15 watts, it has much less power than the other amps (at a $80-100 difference). I could only push the volume knob to about 4 with my active bass before I got serious distortion. I still found it enjoyable for low volume practice use though.
For a practice-only amp, I like the simple features and don’t mind the basic 3-band EQ. The overdrive and shape functions sound good to me, although I personally don’t use them for my particular playing style very often. There’s a headphone jack and an aux in for playing along with music, and everything’s on the front of the amp which makes it easy to access everything. If I had my druthers, I would ditch the overdrive and switch to a 4 band EQ with low mid/high mid options – we’re bass players, we don’t need amp distortion that badly!
The enclosure feels super solid. I don’t like the fabric speaker cover; metal grills are more durable, but for a practice amp it doesn’t really matter. The knobs feel solid. At 23lbs it’s not the lightest option for the amount of volume and wattage you get, but still comfortable to carry one-handed and not too bulky.
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VERDICT:I was really surprised to be so disappointed with this amp. I’ve loved all the higher-end Eden rigs I’ve tried over the years, this just didn’t have enough low end to qualify as a decent bass amp in my reckoning.
The default sound with flat EQ is very clear and crisp, lots of upper mid and treble, and pretty darn thin. I’m wishing there were two knobs for the mid-range to dial down the high mids without losing treble or low mids; there’s some harshness I wanted to get rid of. It was easy to dial in a nice funky punchiness by boosting the mid knob. No problem getting a nasty rock tone with the naturally crisp sound of the amp, I just rolled up the Enhance and some treble and I was ready to cut through a wall of distortion (if said distortion was playing very quietly). I found it challenging to get a bassy vintage sound without making the speaker clip.
The overall volume capacity of this amp was okay, but I was really bummed at the lack of bottom
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