Working bass players have two great things going for them: They’re bass players and they’re working. The downside is that the per-gig pay may not be able to buy that retirement cabin in Gatlinburg. You know what? It doesn’t matter. Free hot wings and small stages be damned. We want to perform and be heard, and for that we need some amplification. Luckily, today there are lots of low-cost, powerful options available.
Combo bass amps are a fantastic option for working players looking for a balance of price, features, and portability. With class-D technology, today’s combo amps are much lighter and more powerful than in years past, and while we may miss the vibe a tube amp can bring, modern alternatives come closer to their feel and saturation than ever. Designers are keeping players in mind by also offering useful features such as aux inputs and headphone jacks, to make their amps a great option from practice to rehearsal to gig. Are you in NYC and need something small and lightweight for the subway commute to the Bitter End? Is there a guitar player pushing you to be louder? Do you need switchable overdrive? How about the typical size of your gigs? Coffee shops mean less wattage (trust me on this!), but maybe you need an extension cabinet in case you are hitting some small festivals this summer. There is a lot to consider when choosing a modern combo bass amp—and this story doesn’t cover all that’s available—but now let’s look at some practical, affordable, and highly playable options.
Ampeg Rocket Bass RB-210
The Rocket Bass RB-210 from Ampeg is a lightweight, easy-to-use, class-D amp. The little powerhouse has two 10" custom Lavoce speakers, a high-frequency horn, and 500 watts. The RB-210 weighs in at just under 40 pounds, which makes the lower back happy during load out at the end of a long gig. If you feel nostalgic for Ampeg’s signature big-brother amp, the classic SVT, the Rocket Bass features Ampeg’s switchable Super Grit Technology (SGT), designed to add the dirt of a full SVT rig to the bass signal. SGT’s two dials allow the dirt to be piled on or peeled back and for volume adjustments of the overall sound level of the SGT circuit. You can really drive the rig hard without dealing with the refrigerator-like mass and weight of the original SVTs. Ampeg’s Legacy preamp is onboard, as well as their standard ultra-hi and ultra-lo switches to boost the 3-band EQ. This combo also has a 1/4" speaker out (rated 250 watts at 8 ohms), which makes the Rocket Bass a suitable option for those needing the air-moving flexibility of an extension cabinet for bigger gigs. The 1/8" aux in and 1/8" headphone out makes this a great practice amp as well. Vintage Ampeg grille cloth and knobs rounds out the design with a touch of old-school style, all at $649 street. Ampeg.com
Fender Rumble 500
Here’s a punchy option from the company bearing the name of the man who changed the bass forever. We all know about Fender’s basses, and they have been making amps to complement their instruments for almost as long. But the Rumble series is relatively new, having been introduced in 2018. They bring a lot of options in vintage-inspired housing and user-friendly design. There’s big wattage available from the aptly named Rumble 500 ($649 street): 350 watts internal, bumped up to 500 at 4 ohms by adding an external cab. Two 10" Eminence speakers drive this train. This amp was designed for gigs of any size—although its 19" x 4" footprint might challenge some coffeehouse stages—and with another Rumble extension cabinet (a 2x10 streets for $499), it could grow enough for pretty much any stage.
The bevy of features in the Fender Rumble 500 will also help cover just about any situation. Like all Rumbles, it has three EQ voicings (bright, contour, and vintage) built in, which makes quick work of getting good tone. The switchable onboard OD has drive and level controls, with a button for on/off. The compression horn also has an on/off switch, which is a nice feature for the discerning player, and there is a dedicated XLR out for front-of-house. There is also an 1/8" headphone jack for practicings, and like Fender’s Tone Master guitar amp series, it’s a lightweight heavyweight, clocking in at 35 1/2 pounds. Fender.com
Peavey MAX 300
Peavey’s MAX series delivers a lot of punch for the money. The MAX 300 is a 300-watt combo with two premium 10" speakers and Peavey’s clip-limiting DDT speaker protection technology, which guards the speakers from high-output damage and breakup. The MAX uses Peavey’s switchable KOMOS-C low-end enhancement, which enhances harmonics and subharmonics to add tonal character. The enclosures are also tuned and ported. Keeping with our “working bassists” theme, the MAX has an 1/8" aux in and 1/8" headphone out, making this a suitable practice and media option, and has a built-in chromatic tuner with a mute switch, which means one less pedal you have to worry about bringing to the gig.
The tone-shaping section of the MAX has useful options onboard as well. The EQ has low, mid, hi +/-15 controls, as well as a switchable onboard overdrive called TransTube technology. This technology emulates the sound of tube saturation and warmth, pre-gain. You can also use the panel switches to control the contour (mid scoop), the mid shift, and the brightness of your bass signal. The MAX is also constructed with an angled baffle design, which eliminates the need to tilt back your bass amp to better hear it. At $549 street, the MAX weighs in at just under 58 pounds, so bring a roller cart for load out. Peavey.com
Hartke HD500
Hartke’s contribution to the lightweight combo world, at $649 street, is the HD500, a 500-watt class-D amp with a load of features built into its portable frame. The 3-band EQ has +/-15 for each control, giving the player a wide range of options out of the gate. The secret sauce in the EQ section is the shape control, which works a sweepable 20 dB notch filter that allows application from 900 Hz to 100 Hz. This control is switchable.
Several decades ago, the introduction of the all-aluminum Hartke bass speaker turned the bass world on its ear. More recently, Hartke moved the needle yet again with a hybrid speaker, called the HyDrive. The HyDrive series of speakers are constructed of a paper cone on the outer edge for deep frequencies and an aluminum cone on the inside for advanced mid and high projection. The two 10" HyDrive speakers provide the HD500 with rich, resonant tones.
The HD500 also has practical features that working bass players may need. First, the amp weighs in at 35 pounds, which makes it easy for the drummer to carry. The XLR DI keeps setup easy, and the effects loop and 1/8" aux input can help connect all the toys needed for the gig. With a 1/4" headphone out, the HD500 can also be a great practice option. Other assets: a rugged perforated-steel grille and a top-carry strap. Hartke.com
Blackstar Unity Bass U250
Blackstar was founded by former Marshall employees, so you know there’s power and crunch at the heart of their aesthetics. Also from the 15" speaker camp, the Blackstar Unity Bass U250 has its own impressive qualities. They are engineered with versatility in mind, so they have plenty of virtues. Like what? Well, there’s 250 watts ripping through three selectable power-amp stages—classic, modern, and flat. Chorus and suboctave effects are built in. Dirt also gets its due, with controllable OD, distortion, and fuzz options. The speaker is an Eminence Opus, and there are three preamp voicings—classic, modern, and flat—as well as an effects loop. If you’re looking for a bigger sonic wallop, there’s an integrated link for a sister-powered cabinet. That’s the Unity U250ACT, which adds an extra 250 watts of power. The U250 also has a 10 dB pad, to best accommodate active and passive instruments. Once again, the goal is a ton of flexibility, but the U250 weighs considerably less than that, at just under 49 pounds. The street tag? It’s $619. Blackstaramps.com
Trace Elliot ELF
First came the 200-watt ELF head, which packed a lot of low-end into a box small enough to ride in a backpack. Its successor, the ELF combo, is also light, at 18 pounds, with a 1x10 speaker that is surprisingly beefy for its size and solo standing. This 200-watter has gain (with a single level LED), tone, and volume knobs, with a 3-band EQ—all along the top—and there’s a 1/4" jack for input and a headphone/line out. In the back, there’s an XLR line out and an additional speaker output. It‘s built for rich and articulate modern bass sounds, but can cover the waterfront handily. With an external cab, it can go toe-to-toe with much weightier amps. P.S.: There‘s a ground lift with the XLR DI out, too. Simple? Effective? You bet. And it fits our affordability profile at $599 street. Traceelliot.com
Bugera BXD15A
At $459 street, the Bugera BXD15A is a bargain that’s designed to compete with the combos of more established amp builders in terms of tone, reliability and price. It’s a 1,000-watt class-D combo—yes, you read that correctly—blending power and portability. Loaded with a 15" aluminum-cone speaker designed by Turbosound, the combination of woof and high-end brilliance projects. But if you’re impressed by the power and air being moved onstage, just wait—there’s more. Bugera has installed a lot of tone shaping controls. The company uses Gryrator circuitry for tube-inspired tone. The 3-band EQ becomes very flexible quickly, thanks to a selectable mid-frequency switch that provides five options. There are also bass and treble boost switches to get exactly the tone sought. The studio-grade compressor on the BXD15A brings a transparent, smoothing effect to peaks in your playing. There is also a feature called the Dynamizer, which splits the signal into two separate paths, compressing one and leaving the other clean.The result is a punchy yet natural tone. And there is a mute switch, an effects loop, and a footswitch control. Plus, the BXD15A weighs just under 48 pounds. Bugera-amps.com
Acoustic B600C
Acoustic Control’s combo series applies features found on larger amps to a smaller scale. The B600C, like all Acoustic combos, has a tilt-back design, which allows players to use the amp like a monitor or a traditional upright amp. The 600C has a formidable 420 watts as a standalone, and hits 600 watts (at 4 ohms) by adding an extension cabinet. This amp is loaded with two 10" custom low-frequency drivers and a piezo horn tweeter.
Tone control is king on this combo. There is a 6-band EQ with an on/off switch, as well as separate low and high EQ controls, with extended super-hi and super-lo switches for top and bottom boosting. With the onboard notch filter, the user has a switchable option to help dial in midrange tones. Need some overdrive on your signal? Acoustic has you covered there, too, with a blendable overdrive circuit that’s footswitch-controlled for the right amount of dirt. Need that signal squashed a little? Don’t sweat. There is also onboard switchable compression, which can help smooth out all the tone alternatives built into this amp. The amp also has a mute switch and -10 dB pad for active basses. There is an effects loop, 1/8" headphone, and 1/8" aux jacks for practice/interface options. The XLR DI will make sound engineers happy with a selectable pre/post control, a level control, and a ground lift. The Acoustic 600C comes in a little heavier on the bathroom scale than most amps in this guide, at 68 pounds. However, the added features may be worth the lifting if you are seeking an amp with a lot of power and pro adaptability. The street price is $599. Acousticcontrolcorp.com
You can access your complete TONEX library, including Tone Models, presets and ToneNET, quickly load favorites to audition, and save to a designated hardware slot on IK hardware pedals. This easy-to-use application simplifies workflow, providing a streamlined experience for preparing TONEX pedals for the stage.
Fine-tune and organize your pedal presets in real time for playing live. Fully compatible with all your previous TONEX library settings and presets. Complete control over all pedal preset parameters, including Global setups. Access all Tone Models/IRs in the hardware memory, computer library, and ToneNET Export/Import entire libraries at once to back up and prepare for gigs Redesigned GUI with adaptive resize saves time and screen space Instantly audition any computer Tone Model or preset through the pedal.
Studio to Stage
Edit any onboard Tone Model or preset while hearing changes instantly through the pedal. Save new settings directly to the pedal, including global setup and performance modes (TONEX ONE), making it easy to fine-tune and customize your sound. The updated editor features a new floating window design for better screen organization and seamless browsing of Tone Models, amps, cabs, custom IRs and VIR. You can directly access Tone Models and IRs stored in the hardware memory and computer library, streamlining workflow.
A straightforward drop-down menu provides quick access to hardware-stored Tone Models conveniently sorted by type and character. Additionally, the editor offers complete control over all key parameters, including FX, Tone Model Amps, Tone Model Cabs/IR/VIR, and tempo and global setup options, delivering comprehensive, real-time control over all settings.
A Seamless Ecosystem of Tones
TONEX Editor automatically syncs with the entire TONEX user library within the Librarian tab. It provides quick access to all Tone Models, presets and ToneNET, with advanced filtering and folder organization for easy navigation. At the same time, a dedicated auto-load button lets you preview any Tone Model or preset in a designated hardware slot before committing changes.This streamlined workflow ensures quick edits, precise adjustments and the ultimate flexibility in sculpting your tone.
Get Started Today
TONEX Editor is included with TONEX 1.9.0, which was released today. Download or update the TONEX Mac/PC software from the IK Product Manager to install it. Then, launch TONEX Editor from your applications folder or Explorer.
For more information and videos about TONEX Editor, TONEX Pedal, TONEX ONE, and TONEX Cab, visit:
www.ikmultimedia.com/tonexeditor
Valerie June’s songs, thanks to her distinctive vocal timbre and phrasing, and the cosmology of her lyrics, are part of her desire to “co-create a beautiful life” with the world at large.
YouTube
If you’re familiar with June’s sound, you know how effortlessly she stands out from the singer-songwriter pack. Her equal-parts warm, reedy, softly Macy Gray-tinged singing voice imprints on her as many facets as a radiant-cut emerald—and it possesses the trademark sincerity heard in the most distinctive of singer/songwriters. Her music, overall, brilliantly shines with a spirited, contagiously uplifting glow.
Owls, Omens, and Oracles opens with “Joy, Joy!” with producer M. Ward rocking lead guitar over strings (June plays acoustic on nearly all of the tracks and banjo on one). It then recurringly dips into ’50s doo-wop chord changes, blends chugging, at times funky rock rhythms with saxophones and horns, bursts with New Orleans-style brass on “Changed” (which features gospel legends the Blind Boys of Alabama), and explores a slow soul groove with electronic guest DJ Cavem Moetavation on “Superpower.” Bright Eyes’ multi-instrumentalist Nate Walcott helmed the arrangements with guidance from Ward and June, and frequently appears on piano and Hammond organ, while Norah Jones supports with backing vocals on the folk lullaby “Sweet Things Just for You.” The entire album was recorded live to tape, which was a new experience for June.
June shares her perspective on the album and her work, overall. “It’s not ever complete or finished, your study of art,” she offers. “It’s an adventure, and it keeps getting prettier as you walk through the meadow of creating or learning new things. Every artist that you bring in has a different way of performing with you, or the audience might be really talkative or super quiet. And all of that shapes the art—so it’s ever-expansive. It’s pretty infinite [laughs], where art can take you and where it goes.... I kinda got lost there a little bit,” she muses, laughing.
June’s favored acoustic guitar is this Martin 000-15M, with mahogany top, back, and sides.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
June didn’t connect with guitar in the beginning, but discovered her passion for it later, when the instrument became a vehicle for her self-empowerment. She took lessons as a teenager but was a distracted student, preferring to listen to her teacher share the history of blues guitarists like Big Bill Broonzy and Mississippi John Hurt. “I didn’t pick it up again until I was in my early 20s, and my band that I was in with my ex fell apart,” she says. “I still was singing and I still was hearing these beautiful voices sing me these songs, and I didn’t want to never be able to perform them. It was a terrible feeling, to be … musically stranded.
“And I was like, ‘Now, I could go get a new band and get some more accompaniment, but how ’bout I get my tail in there and keep my promise to my granddad who gave me that first guitar and actually learn how to play it, so I’ll never feel like this again.’ The goal was that I would never be musically stranded again.”
She became a solo performer, learning lap steel and banjo along with guitar, and called her style “organic moonshine roots music.” Today, she eschews picks for fingers, even when strumming chords, and is a vital blues-and-folk based stylist when she lays into her playing–especially in a live,solo setting. After two self-released albums, 2006’s The Way of the Weeping Willow and 2008’s Mountain of Rose Quartz, she connected with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who recorded and produced her 2013 album, Pushin’ Against Stone, at Nashville’s Easy Eye Sound, which helped launch her now-flourishing career.
Valerie June’s Gear
Guitars
Amps
- Fender Deluxe Reverb
Effects
- TC Electronic Hall of Fame
- MXR X Third Man Hardware Double Down booster
- J. Rockett Audio Archer boost/overdrive
Strings
- D’Addario XL Nickel Regular Light (.010–.046)
- Martin Marquis Silked Phosphor Bronze (.012–.054
Photo by Travys Owen
As we talk about art being a shared experience, June says she can be a bit of a hermit at times, but “when it’s time to share the art, then there you are. Even if you’re a painter and you just put your painting on a wall and walk away, that’s an interaction that brings you out of your studio or your bedroom to understand this whole act of co-creating—which to me is a spiritual act anyway. That’s why we’re here, to really understand those rules and layers to life. How do we co-create together?
“And I think it’s so fun,” she enthuses. “I enjoy learning, even when it’s hard. I’m like, ‘Okay, this chord is killing me right now, or this phrase.... but I’ma stick with it. And then that likens to something that I might face when I go out into the world. I’m like, ‘All right, I can get through this.’”
I suggest, “When you say ‘co-creating,’ it sounds like you mean something bigger.”
“Both in the creation of our art, but also in the creation of a life,” June replies. “’Cause how can a life be something this artistic? You get to the end of it and you’re like, ‘Wow, look at what I co-created! With all these other people, with animals, with nature, with sound that’s all around....‘ All of my life has been a piece of art or a collective creation. I imagine them like books: different lives on a shelf. And you go pick one—‘Whoa! I created a pretty fun one there!’ or, ‘Oh, man, I had no hand in that....’ Close the book, next one!” she concludes, laughing as she illustrates the metaphor with her hands.
“So does that make all of your inspirations your co-creators?” I ask.
Valerie June at one of her several Newport Folk Festival appearances, with her trusty Gold Tone banjo
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
“Yeah! Even if they’ve gone before,” says June. “I was listening to some beautiful classical music the other day, and I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know who any of these artists are; they’re all dead and gone, but I’m just enjoying it and it’s putting me in a zone that I need to be in right now.‘ So, we’re always leaving these little seeds for even those who are coming after us to be inspired by.”
Some of her current non-musical co-creators are poets and authors, such as the poet Hafez, the philosopher Audre Lorde, poet Mary Oliver, and Robin Wall Kimmerer, a Potawatomi botanist whose works include Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses.
“It’s not ever complete or finished, your study of art. It’s an adventure, and it keeps getting prettier as you walk through the meadow of creating or learning new things.”
“These books are so beautiful and show the relationship of humanity with nature and the way trees speak with each other; the way moss communicates to itself,” June explains. “Those ways of being can help humans, who always think we know so much, to learn how to work together better.”
As she’s sharing, I see her glance out her window. “Right now, I just saw a muskrat go across the pond,” she continues. “It’s about this big [holds hands about three feet apart] and it digs holes in the yard. It’s having such a great time and I’m just like, ‘Okay, you are huge, and I’m walking through the yard and falling in holes because of you [laughs]. I’m just watching you live your best life!’ And then there was a blue heron that came yesterday, and I watched it eat fish.... They’re my friends!” she exclaims, with more laughter.
Valerie June believes in the power of flowers–and all living thing–as her creative collaborators.
It might seem like we’re getting a bit off subject, but it’s residents of nature like these who are important in her creative process.
I share how, in my own approach to art, I feel as though we can always access creativity and our ideals, as long as we stay receptive to experiencing and sharing in them. June agrees, but comments that sometimes her best self only wants to sit and focus: “No more information; no more downloads, please.”
An encounter with Memphis-based blues guitarist Robert Belfour, who June frequently saw perform, expanded that perspective for her. She shares about a time she went up to him after a show: “I was like, ‘Hey, I would love to work with you on some music and maybe we could co-write a song or something.’ He was like, ‘Nope! I don’t wanna do it.’ And I said, ‘Whaaat?’ And he’s like, ‘No. I do what I do, and I do not do what anybody else does; I just do what I do.’”
Sometimes, she says, “I think that’s just as much of an outlook to have with creating as anything. It’s like, ‘Okay, I’m there, I’m where I wanna be. I don’t want to be anywhere else.’”
“That’s why we’re here, to really understand those rules and layers to life. How do we co-create together?”
Part of what’s so enjoyable about speaking with June is realizing that she truly exists on her own plane. She has no pretense, and in that, doesn’t hide some of the fears that weigh on her mind at times. But she doesn’t let those define her. It’s her easy, exuberant optimism that sparks a feeling of friendship between us, without having known each other before that afternoon. What are some of her guiding principles as an artist, I wonder?
“I sit with the idea of, ‘Who am I creating this for?’” she says, “and returning to the fact that I’m doing this for me, and, as Gillian Welch said, ‘I’m gonna do it anyway even if it doesn’t pay.’ This is what I wanna do. And reflecting on that and letting that kind of be my guiding force. It’s just something that I enjoy, that I really wanna do.”
YouTube It
From there, the conversation meanders in other directions, and June even generously asks me a few questions about my own artistic beliefs. We share about trusting your gut instinct, and walking away from situations and people who don’t serve us. This reminds her of a bigger feeling.
“With everything that these times hold for us as humans,” she shares, “from the inequality that we face to the environmental change, the political climate, and all the things that could lead us to fear or negativity.... I started to think about it, and I’m like, ‘Okay, well, maybe we are fucked! Maybe the planet is going to eject us and all of the other things are gonna come true! Well, if that’s what’s gonna happen, who do I wanna be?’
“I want to go out in a way that’s sweet or kind to other people, enjoying this experience, these last moments, and building togetherness through music. I want to co-create a beautiful life even in the face of all of that. That’s what I want to do.”
