Should i go with a combo bass amp or head and cabinet connected?

Question

I want to get a great sounding loud amp. Should i go with a combo amp or head and cabinet seperate? My price range is around 500 dollars but i want good quality. Please name some brands. Thanks!

Answer 1

There is nothing wrong with either one. Both can be played at gigs and can be carried around with no problem. I know a great head and cabinet you can get for that price. The brand is called Hartke. They use Celestian speakers( Just like Mesa Boogie). The distortion on it isn't that get but its better if you get a distortion pedal. I have had mine for a while. A good thing as well is that you can changes heads on a half stack. Just something to think about. Half stacks look cooler though. LOL. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

For 500 dollars you'd have trouble getting the seperate head and cabinet, but that is definitely the option I'd reccomend if you can wrangle it.  I started with a combo; it was great for about two years until I needed more.  Yorkville, Fender and Gallen-Krueger all make very solid combos that you can get at different wattages depending on the sound/volume you want.  Really the brand doesn't matter: what matters most is that it sounds good to YOU on YOUR bass.  Hit up a music store and demo everything they've got!  Good luck!

Answer 3

With a budget of $500 you will find several combo amps that will serve you well. You might find a couple head/cabinet choices, but I believe you will have more choices looking at the combo option. I can recommend Gallen-Krueger products very highly as I use a GK amp myself. While shopping, I tried Hartke, Peavey, Beringer, Acoustic and Fender but decided on GK because the these amps had a clear powerful signal with faithful reproduction across the volume curve from soft to loud. I tried these amps with my own instrument and with 2 off the store floor.

If you want bottom get a 15" driver. If you want punch go for 12s or 10s. Thinking ahead, you might want to choose a combo amp with sufficient power to push an external cabinet down the road. I did not check out Line 6. Maybe you should. Theiremulationer great imulation capabilities, and they have a good rep.

Be patient and try several different brands and models and take a friend or two with you to lend their ears. Sometimes amps sound different from 14-20 feet away than they sound standing next to them.

Do a littlon lineow shopping online before you head to your favorite retailer. I added the bass amp link from Guitar Center below. They have hundreds of choices.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Hi BamBam.. While years ago the head/cab was the ONLY way to go.. things have changed in bass amplification quite drastically in the last 10 years or so.  A lot of the stand alone bass heads you can buy from different manufacturers are also built right into their combo amps with many speaker configurations.  

    While I  own both types of amps, I find it much easier to take the combo amp, as its less work to load in.  Some brands worth looking into would be GK, SWR, Ashdown, (my personal favorite), and Peavey.  I would avoid at ALL cost Behringer, and also Hartke, but only the Hartke's with the Aluminum Drivers.  Hardly anyone will do a recone job on those, and if they do...... extremely expensive. (as with any aluminum driver)  Plus, they are not cheap to buy new as well.

    Someone mentioned if you want low end go with a 15, and more punch go with a 10 or 12 inch speaker??   Not necessarilly true. A lousy 15" speaker, such as the ones Behringer puts in there bass amps has low end.. but.. not much, and it breaks up alot if pushed to hard. And, if the wattage isnt there to push even a quality 15, (more air to push on a larger diameter speaker)... it will wind up sounding like nothing more than a well executed f**t!  My Ashdown Mag 300 with 4-10's, and a 2-10 Peavey extension cab has MORE low end than most amps ive heard.  I would also go with either 2 or 4 10 inch speakers to start instead of a single 15.  A 15 by itself just doesnt have the tonal qualities to cut through a lot of different playing situations.(add the 15 later)  

    Im enclosing a link to an amp that I think would be great in the price range you are looking at. Its the Ashdown Mag 300 w/2-10's.

http://www.music123.com/Ashdown-MAG-C210...

   Heres a couple of reasons I'm recommending this amp.  First off, it will handle the tonal range of 4,5,6,7 and 9 string basses. ( I own all of these, so speaking from experience).   One more reason... Ive had this amp on stage for "festival" type settings, with many bands playing on my rig during the course of 12+ hours.  It has handled country, classic rock, metal, blues, thrash, regaee, and jazz, and not one player complained about this amp.  Most of them were not familiar with Ashdown, and had nothing but praise for it.

   Hope this has helped.. bottom line... get what sounds good to you, and get a brand of amp that carries a good reputation.  There's a lot of good user reviews on various amps as well as other products at harmony central that might also be worth taking a look at.