Good bass amp kit?

[Axtman]

I see a lot of guitar amp kit, but is there a good bass amp kit to build?

[Bruce / Mission Amps]

I see a lot of guitar amp kit, but is there a good bass amp kit to build?

How much power are you looking for?
I wonder how a 100 watt Marshall head, set up for bass would fare?

[txstrat]

I agree.
In times of giant PA systems and DI boxes or amps being miked I think 100 watts are well enough.

[Diablo]

Here's a 200 watt bass amp kit from Weber. I have no idea how it sounds.

https://taweber.powweb.com/store/kits_weber.htm#ab200

[Mythic]

100 watt Hiwatt clone should do nicely for bass...

VHR

[Axtman]

I would love to build the Weber AB200 Head! But they are out of stock.

[Casey4s]

A 5F6A in head form makes a decent bass amp when plugged into a decent bass cabinet. AMpegs are great builds for bass but I don't know of any kits.

[Tage]

I have been asked about building a bass amp as well, do you think a 100 watt Marshall or Highwatt would be good just changing a few bypass caps to target the lower bass frequencies

[Steve Conner]

TAD sell a kit that they call the "Plexi Bass".
Röhren, AMP Kits und Lautsprecher - Tube Amp Doctor

It's quite expensive but looks like a pretty serious bass amp.

If you want a dirty, "tubey" bass tone at low volumes for recording, this may be too big and powerful.

[Tage]

Yeah looks like we will be going with a Major.
That amp looks sweet but they won't readily ship to me in Canada

[doombass]

TAD sell a kit that they call the "Plexi Bass".
Röhren, AMP Kits und Lautsprecher - Tube Amp Doctor

It's quite expensive but looks like a pretty serious bass amp.

If you want a dirty, "tubey" bass tone at low volumes for recording, this may be too big and powerful.

Old thread but just wanted to share my expereinces with the above kit. I built one recently, and I'm very pleased with it. It's basically a Marshall Superbass preamp tweaked a bit further towards traditional bass use, ie we're talking some punch and headroom. Power output and character is comparable with my Orange AD200B MK2 (that 150 Watts rating is TAD being modest IMO). It actually puts out ~180W RMS before it hits the roof. "Dual rail" DC-supply just like Orange AD200B and Hiwatt DR201. If you want to go the other way Mojotone has a 50W bass amp kit: Mojotone 50 Watt Bass Amp Head Kit

[Tqi]

I'm building a Brownface Showman for bass use at the moment. A kit of that would be nice, but it doesn't seem that popular a concept!

[olddawg]

I'm building a Brownface Showman for bass use at the moment. A kit of that would be nice, but it doesn't seem that popular a concept!

When you can buy a 450watt Ampeg clone from Behringer that works great for under $200 (I got one for $149 from MF on a Stupid Deal) there isn’t much demand for bass amp kits. Took the badge off. No complaints. I ended up using the Main Amp In to drive monitors more than I used it for bass though. I guess a purist wants a tube bass amp. Most people just want clean overhead and thump.

[Tqi]

Heck, I've been pretty happy with my 15W Behringer bass amp. I kept the badge on mine though. I'm not ashamed. :P

You're not wrong to call me a purist. I don't like digital modelling amps at all; but as far as tubes for bass go, I just haven't found the sound I want in even analogue solid state. I want some of the things I love in my guitar sound, in my bass sound - and if a Fender tube amp is what makes that difference on guitar, I've got to try it on bass too. I know it's not the bass itself, because the qualities in my bass are identical qualities to the guitar - they're the same brand and model, just the guitar and bass versions. They're both short scale, hardtail, the same woods, the same shape, same chambering, they're both running humbuckers, flatwounds... And I've tried out some tube bass amps and I like how that sounds - but the availability of those amps in my area is poor (two Bassmans in my city over the last six months, both silverface, both broken) and building a tube amp is something I've wanted to do for nearly twenty years - so I figured... screw it. Why not?

I guess I just want something 'different' from the average. Hooray for individualism, or something.

[doombass]

I totally agree there is not much of a demand for bass amp kits and that most bassplayers like big headroom and thump. That said I have'nt played that many solid state bass amps that can give me the tone and character of an all tube amp. During my first 7-8 years of playing bass I did'nt care much for tube amps. I'd played on a Mesa 400 here and a Fender Bassman 100 there, but at those occations it was mostly about multiple bands plug in and play gigs with no time to tweak anything. Also they just seemed heavy, could break with quite expensive (for a youngster) spare parts. Then all of a sudden we had a solo gig and the bass backline provided was an early to mid 70's Marshall Superbass with matching 4x12". That was quite an ear opener. The blooming response from that rig was something I'd never experienced before.

It took me about 4 more years (early internet days) until I bought my first tube amp but I have'nt looked back except for searching for backup amps (yes. one of the drawbacks of tube amps. I feel safer having a backup amp). I've ended up with a Mesa Boogie Walkabout which is the closest to an all tube amp I've heard.