I'm fairly new to the bass scene and I want to buy/set-up a new amp. Please see details.?

Question

1. What are the differences in having a combo versuses a head and an enclosure?

2. I most definitely cannot afford Ampeg. What are some other good, reliable, trust-worthy brands for buying amp gear?

3. Is it hard to set-up a head and enclosure rig? If not, what is required?

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP IN ADVANCE!! :) have a good day/night

Answer 1

1.Combo amps are better for beginers as they are cheaper and smaller and easier to use. With a head and cab(s) you have more options but also it is very expensive if you get the mid or higher quality stuff.
I would go with a 1-10" to 1-15" speaker combo with somewhere between 25 to like 200 watts of power. some of the newer amps can be used as a head if you want to buy a speaker cabneit down the road.

2. G-K is an awesome brand. Fairly cheap but high quality solid state combos and encloser amps.
SWR is my personal favorite and they will last for years and years altough they usally cost about 100$ more the g-k but they are still in mid price range
Fender and Crate make good products too
The Fender B-DEC amp is a small combo amp that has a compleate learning and practice system inside of it and will run you about 400$

3. It is not at all hard to set up an enclosure. plug the head into the wall. plug the head into the amp. plug your bass into the head. turn it on. Thats it.

Hope this helped,
Ryan

Answer 2

depends on if your playing out or just a first practice amp. if its just a practice amp, a combo will do. if your playing out, i never had much luck with combos, even when run thru a pa. they just didnt seem to have the stage balls. one of the best cheap combinations i had was a 8ohm fender bassman head played thru a 4ohm two 10 one 18 enclosure. 2 outputs in the head to the 2 inputs in the enclosure, one to the 10s one to the 18, it was an older tube head, but the sound was great. i also used a compressor which helped alot. go to a reliable music store and tell them what you need and how much money you have to work with. peavey is not the best sounding, but they are moderately priced, and probably the most reliable. the sound can be taken care of with a compressor and/or stomp box. good luck.

Answer 3

1. If you have separate components, you'll have more amp/speaker flexibility.

2. Peavy is a good, reasonably-priced brand. Look for used.

3. It's easy. It's just a matter of hooking up the AC and audio wires. Piece of cake.

Answer 4

dslant6 has good advice. I can reccomend Mesa Boogie amps, although they are pricey as well.