Bass Power Amps

  • Hi everyone,
    I am curious to see what the bassist here are using to push a cabinet with an unpowered Kemper (toaster/rack/stage). Also, I am curious about suggestions.

    After looking at FRFR cabinets, I think I might be more satisfied using the FX loop return of a bass amp into a cabinet paring of my choice. I run the Kemper without a cabinet section anyways, and this would just be for on-stage volume. My direct signal would still be sent to FOH.

    The Orange Terror Bass has caught my eye, and from experiencing technical issues, I think using a bass amp for live playing offers a redundancy plan. If the Kemper has an issue, I can at lease use an amp (+DI out) to keep the show going, and only lose out on my effects.

    Thoughts, ideas, opinions on live monitoring solutions?

  • So far I have used the effects-return (or PowerAmp-In as it is called) of an SVT Pro 4, powering a 4x10 when I needed stage volume for larger gigs.
    To my mind, this works really well, but I was also always looking for a "pure" power-amp for this purpose (preferably in rack format).


    I had an eye on the Palmer Macht 402, which is a (quite good) guitar power-amp for use with the kemper.

    Has someone already tried it for bass, does it have enough power? If yes, I could kill two birds with one stone.


    Greetings,

    Jakob

  • I like using a bass amp vs a dedicated power amp for bass. I have had great success with a fender tb600 both through the power amp in and even going through the front. I highly recommend avoiding lightweight amps for bass. I have yet to have one that sounds or 'feels' as good on stage. Others may disagree but I am happy to carry the extra weight for the tone.


    Also used other bass amps (mesa, gk, amp etc.) but I quite like the fender in a band mix.

  • At the practice space and live (when playing with my pedalboard before I bought a kemper), I always used the FX return/Power Amp in, since I had my tone dialed and sent to FOH anyways.

    The power amps that seem most convenient and best priced are definitely geared towards guitarists, so I really have no knowledge or experience with power amps aside from using a tube or solid state amp.