Zulu
Oud Junkie
Posts: 149
Registered: 6-21-2004
Location: Austin, Texas
Member Is Offline
Mood: I'm in the m'Oud for Love!
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Guitar or Bass Amp
I've found a lot of great information on pickups and preamps in my thread search here but couldn't find anything on amps.
I know some local musicians who sit around and have fun jamming, but they all play through small to medium size amps. They don't have a P.A. system to
plug direct.
I'm not sure if I should buy a guitar amp or a bass amp...can anyone help with any suggestions.
Thanks!
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SamirCanada
Moderator
Posts: 3405
Registered: 6-4-2004
Member Is Offline
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I like a bass amp myself.
but you can bring your oud and pick up to a music shop and try the different ones they have.
@samiroud Instagram
samiroudmaker@gmail.com
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
Member Is Offline
Mood: m'Oudy
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A practice bass amp might work well for you. If you can find one of these second hand, they are crude, effective and (cost-)effective. This is a
simple amp with simple tone controls.
http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Gorilla-GB30-Bass-A...
Roughly 30 watts, just about right for living room jams and small restaurant venues. I got one for $30, and I love it. It's small, inexpensive and
needs no external speakers. Look at this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gorilla-Bass-Amp-/260662912065
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gorilla-GB-30-Bass-AMP-/110585883018?pt=LH_Defa...
If you play larger venues, you need a bigger amp. I use a vintage tube Fender Twin that weighs over 100 lbs and rattles all the windows, but for what
you described, this is great for the money.
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Marcus
Oud Junkie
Posts: 446
Registered: 11-26-2008
Location: Stuttgart/ South Germany
Member Is Offline
Mood: Lost in music
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Laney ProBass 150
Hi Zulu,
I use the Laney PB 150 ( sometimes on ebay for around 100€) and it works very well. The 11-chanel graphic-eq
is perfekt to avoid feedback. I use it with a zeck-box with a 15`and a 10`speaker.Usually I get a good,warm sound and can play pretty loud without
feedback-problems.
I attach the manual(pdf), so you can get a overview of its features.
Greet`s
Marcus
Attachment: phpNH5Som (760kB)
This file has been downloaded 269 times
Playing the oud is like feeding my soul with peace
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Sazi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 786
Registered: 9-17-2007
Location: Behind my oud
Member Is Offline
Mood: مبتهج ; ))
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I was blown away by the sound of this... the most natural sound I ever heard, just like acoustically, but louder, it's 200 watts, so you get plenty of
clean headroom.
http://lrbaggs.com/amp/ .. I want one! Now!
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
Member Is Offline
Mood: m'Oudy
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Traditionally guitar and bass amps are not "linear" like stereo hi-fi amps, and they are different in input impedance. I forget the specific
compensation curve they use, but they are designed to compensate for magnetic or piezo pickups. The impedance is unusually high, like at least over 1
Megaohm, so as not to load down pickups. An amp that is designed to be "faithful" will sound very different, and may have different input
characteristics. I don't know about this LRBaggs, it's likely excellent but list at $1500.
All the "pro" stuff is at least an order of magnitude more in cost than the Gorilla, which is a typical guitar practice amp, enough for an oud to play
a small room, with typical 3 band tone controls, plus a brightness switch, headphone jack and line out. For under $50 used, it's a deal, and a good
way to get started, as long as everything works and the speaker cone is in good shape. You normally don't get anything for $30, so when I e-bayed
mine, I didn't expect much, and was very happy to get a basic 25 lb amp that I ended up using a lot, for oud and guitar. Most studio guitar players
carry a little amp like this around to mic for that "guitar amp" tone. The speaker in the Gorilla is too small for bass, except for intimate practice,
hence some bad reviews. Works fine for guitar and oud. The things Sazi and Marcus are suggesting are in an entirely different bracket. A
classical "head + speaker cabs" setup is not very compact. Modern technology can pack big power and excellent fidelity in a 15 lb package, but you can
easily spend over a thousand dollars by the time you are done, so you should first decide how much you plan to spend, and whether you need a high-end
rig.
It used to be that playing live, every player used their own powerful amp (like my Fender Twin) or a huge "stack" (like Marshalls) with additional
speaker enclosures. Now the common scheme is that players use a small amp and feed a line-level signal and/or mic from in front of the speaker into
the house PA console. So if the timbre of the Gorilla suits you, it can even cover that situation as well.
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