Anyone making bass amp kits?

[justonwo]

My bass player is getting jealous of my amp projects. Anyone know of a bass amp kit?

[walterw]

sure, i use one myself. my bass amp kit consists of a sansamp bass di pedal, a p.a. power amp, and a speaker cabinet. assembles in minutes!

seriously, i suspect not, in that bass needs big power and high fidelity to sound good, so that means either solid state, or big, complicated, high-power (200w+) tube amps, neither of which lend themselves to home/hobbyist construction.

[jlummaa]

Here's one interesting amp kit even from guitarist's standing point:

TAD Plexi Bass 150W Head Kit

[justonwo]

What about the idea of buying a Metro Super Lead kit and building a Super Bass? Does anyone actually use a Super Bass for bass these days? What do they sound like?

[Old Tele man]

...although it's not formally released yet, isn't Ted Weber prototyping a kit-version of the old 300W 6x6550 AMPEG amp head?

[justonwo]

Is he? I hadn't heard. That would be pretty cool.

[doctord02]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...although it's not formally released yet, isn't Ted Weber prototyping a kit-version of the old 300W 3x6550 AMPEG amp head?

The schemo I saw was for a 200+ watt 6 x KT88 amp with a fairly simple tonestack. Nothing as wacky as the SVT inductor arrangement... Last I heard he had to spec out the PT and OT and it was kinda a back-burner project.

[bassic83]

http://www.londonpower.com/kits.htm

Try that...they have a bass pre, and power amp kits as well. Kinda pricey, but I don't know...hope that helps!

[El Caballo]

Originally Posted by justonwo

What about the idea of buying a Metro Super Lead kit and building a Super Bass? Does anyone actually use a Super Bass for bass these days? What do they sound like?

100 watts isn't much when it comes to bass. Bass speakers tend to be less efficient than guitar speakers, and your ears don't hear bass as well anyway.

I've played the bass channel of my 50W head through my 4x10 bass cabinet. It's a great tone, but it's quiet, and not enough for gigs...especially compared to the same power level playing my guitar through my 4x12 straight cab, which will rip your head off.

[BeauZooka]

I disagree. 100 watts tube is plenty loud for bass. I use a Music Man HD-150 head with a 6x10 cab and that sucker is loud with lots of booty and minimal distortion. My brother uses a silverface Bassman 100 with a 1x15 and a 2x10 with similar results.
I wouldn't use a 100 watt solid state amp with a band though.

[Sleepless]

I'll bump this thread. Has anyone come up with a company that offers bass amp kits? Ampeg kits for instance?
Thanks!

[The Moar You Know]

I've got a V4-B that needs a full restoration, but that's about as close as you're going to find, something that needs restoring. Nobody and I mean nobody is offering a kit, and I look.

Of course, the demand may not be there. I'm old enough that I don't even want to lift that damn V4B, I'm pretty sure it weighs as much as my cabinet if not more - and it's nowhere near what a for-real SVT head weighs (owned one, great tone, never going to lift one again!) Such a thing would be a fun build, but I'd never take it out of the house.

[gumtown]

It's quite expensive to build a power amp from scratch, even more so for tube.
I would rescue a power amp from something cheap, maybe a stereo pA power amp that has one blown channel for cheap, then you only need to kitset the preamp.

[oldlefty]

Just got an email from Mojotone- 50 w bass kit.

[Sleepless]

Originally Posted by oldlefty

Just got an email from Mojotone- 50 w bass kit.

Ridiculous... What will bass players do with 50w? They need at least 150w...
I crave for an Ampeg replica kit...