amp

[mandoliner]

Hello all. Just a quick question. My wife and I have a small act, acoustic guitar and mandolin, and for the last s6 month our son has been taking bass lessons so he can join the act. We will be playing through a small PA. We aren't talking Pink Floyd. We need to get him a small bass amp that doesn't cost a zillion dollars. I have been looking at Sweetwater and Reverb for used amps. There seem to be a lot of Fender Rumble amps that are fairly cheap. Any recommendations? I want to add that my wife and I are on social security and are retired. We don't have a lot of money to spend.

[Pilgrim]

One option if you play at low to moderate levels is a used Roland Bass 20XL Cube.  I also have the Rumble 100 V3 and it's a very nice amp with a warm sound, but it may be overkill depending on your sound levels.

The Roland is smaller, lighter but also much lower powered, but I can use it for gigs with low volume or when I accompany acoustic instruments. It also has a number of amp emulation sounds and a built-in tuner, all of which is very handy.

https://www.roland.com/global/products/cube-20xl_bass/

By the way, there is a guitar version of this small amp with a model number that's almost identical.  If you go after one, make sure you're getting what you want. Even some used equipment stores get the bass and guitar versions mixed up. 

OTOH, if you want some reserve power, the Rumble series would get a strong vote from me. I like the sound a lot and it's light and easily portable.  The series comes in amps with wattage at 15-25-40-100 and up.

[Dave W]

Another vote for the Rumble, but be sure you get v3 or newer. The original Rumble series was nowhere nearly as good.

[morrow]

And the two low watt versions suck.

[Alanko]

I have a 100 watt Rumble V3 and 'rumble' is apt.

I fancy trying one of these new Ampeg Rocket Bass combos.