Best guitar and bass amps for bedroom recording?

Question

Whats the best small (10-20 watt) guitar and bass amplifiers to buy for practicing cabbing and recording techniques? Am I better off with a combo or seperate guitar and bass amps?
Im not looking for loud amplifiers as I have to keep my recording relatively low, but what I do need is a very high quality magnet and cone. Wisdom please people..

Answer 1

I'll start with bass. One of the most common methods of recording bass guitar is Direct to the board, typically through a direct box. On some boards, one or more channes may have seperate Hi-z inputs just for this. A compressor is also an essential tool for this method. You can mic the bass amp, and it's neccessary to do that under a few circumstances, but in general, direct is the way to do it. It's also the most quiet. To get a good bass sound using a mic usually requires a decent amount of spl (sound pressure level) to get a really good sound, so were talking about more power than you've mentioned.

As far as guitar, it just depends on what sound you want. Are you using pedals or do you want effect on the amp, or do you use any effects at all. The absolute smallest speaker I would use would be an 8", and some suggest no less than 10". If you bump up the wattage a little you can use a dual speaker combo. Each speaker can have a unique "signature" so two just doubles your options, but it's not absolutely necessary. For effects on the amp, I'd recommend Behringer on the low end. They have several nice small affordable amps that have suprisingly good effects. On the high end, there aren't many amps in the 10-20 w range. Some of the nicer Line 6 Spider and Fender GDEC amps start at 30W. For a basic small amp with no effects in the 10-20 w range, I like the Peavey Rage 158. It's cheap, it can get loud, and it's pretty tough. The only problem is that it has a thin sound from the 8" speaker and you'll have to really work the mic to get a sweet spot, but thats mostly an issue of speaker size. I know peavy earned a bad name back years ago, but they've come back with some really nice products. I gotten some good results from the 158, and even I was pesimistic. All of the amps I've listed are the small ones I have experience with, and that's a limited list. It looks like Behringer, Crate, and Line 6 are making some pretty nice small amps. I haven't tried or even heard the small Marshalls so I don't know about them. Just try a bunch. If it sounds good to the ear, it's probably what your looking for. If your going to use a small amp, and are worried about volume, I have to reccomend a accoustic blanket from markertek or someone simillar. It can be used for isolation, noise reduction, and all sorts of other things. Just a versitile tool, and cheap too.

Answer 2

Watts is a measurement of electrical consumption not volume. A 20 watt amp could sound louder than a 100 watt amp. Loudness varies according to SPL (sound pressure level) measured in decibels (db). Obviously you'd expect there to be a relationship between wattage and loudness (as you would between physical size and loudness) but it's not that simple. A valve (tube) amp usually sounds louder than a solid state one and the sensitivity of the speakers has a huge effect. Also be aware that an amp that is very loud might not have that great a tone (at least not for guitar) and be careful not to get an amp that is so loud that it is almost unusable - I used to have a Marshall 50 watt amp and 4 x 12 - good for gigs but almost unusable in my bedroom, just far too loud. I have a Fender Champ now.

Answer 3

I personally use Behringer Combos. Some of their amps have 3 pin balanced output which is great for recording direct, and they also work well at low volumes and have quality speakers if you want to record viamics. Seperate Amps and cabs will be too powerful and loud for you

Answer 4

marshall