Ultimate Guide to Best Bass Combo Amp for Gigging & Practice

Fender is a renowned brand that is famous for producing high-quality guitars and amplifiers. Over time, the company has diversified its offerings and expanded into markets outside its famed market. One such market is beginner-level equipment, which is aimed at new users.

The Fender Rumble 25 is a piece of equipment that is specifically designed for beginners. Despite its entry-level status, it is a powerful tool that can prove to be an asset for both novice and experienced bassists alike.

After being featured in many of our beginner bass amp guides for over 5 years, this amp still holds its position as the top-rated bass combo amp for this guide.

Bass practice amps are essential for bass players of any skill level, and this can serve that role nicely. Note that this combo amp won't keep up with a full band playing loudly.

In this price range, the key selling point of this amp is that it has a contour switch. A contour switch changes the contour of a certain frequency range, generally the mid-range. Without getting too technical, this feature basically changes the voicing of an amp which in turn gives you a much wider variety of tones on hand.

This flexibility is rare for an amp in this price range, though this feature does become more common in higher price tiers. If you're looking for a stage bass amp, its bigger sibling, the Rumble 500, has a power amp with more volume and features.

Considering its affordable price, the Fender Rumble 25 is good at what it does. It provides you with a compact and convenient grab-and-go personal bass amp. It is the best bass practice amp in the entry-level price range.

Features

• 25-Watts
• 8” Speaker
• Controls: Master Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Overdrive, Contour
• AUX-In and Headphone-Out
• Weight: 21 lbs.

Demo

Hartke is considered one of the best manufacturers of bass guitar amps. Their products are highly regarded and can compete with any other in the industry. 

However, in this latest edition of our gear guide, the Hartke HD15 fell one point from its previous top rank. Despite this, it still maintains the quality you'd expect from more expensive amplifiers produced by the company. This makes it a great choice if you're looking for a practice or entry-level amp within the under $200 price range.

The key selling point of this bass combo amp is that it features a built-in limiter. This limiter helps to limit peaks in volume that could damage your amp. This is huge for beginner musicians who may not understand what levels of volume, or in certain cases playing dynamics, can damage an amplifier.

Although it's a really good personal practice amp, it's a bit quieter than the Fender Rumble 25 and definitely not loud enough for jamming with a band unless you put it through a PA system.

The AUX input combined with its headphone output are handy practice features that let you jam along with your favorite tracks. However it does not come with any effects, and while that may be a limiting factor depending on the genre you play, it does help to keep the price low.

All in all, the Hartke HD15 is the best small bass amp for those who are looking for a budget practice amp.

Features

• 15-Watts
• 6.5” Speaker
• Controls: Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble
• AUX-In and Headphone-Out
• Weight: 16 lbs.

For this edition, the best bass combo amp in the $200 to $300 range is the Fender Rumble 40. It has surpassed the Fender Rumble LT25, which was previously the top-rated amp in this category.

Both amps have a rating of 96, competing with some of the most popular amps in this list. However, the Rumble 40 has higher sales compared to the LT25, with a margin of 19.69%. This indicates that the Fender Rumble 40 not only has good performance but is also highly preferred by customers.

For its features, the Rumble 40 V3 has a 40-watt amp, and a 10” speaker (slightly bigger than the LT25's 8"). This means it's got enough power to keep up with a band and handle small to medium-sized venues.

It comes with a 4-band EQ and a 3-button voicing palette. So, whether you're into a bright, punchy tone or something more vintage and warm, this amp gives you enough flexibility to tweak it to your liking.

Regarding connectivity, it's got an XLR line output. Hook it up to a PA system and give your sound an extra juice. Plus, there's also an aux input for connecting to your phone or laptop, and a headphone jack for silent practice sessions, which is always handy.

Overall, the Fender Rumble 40 V3 is a bass combo amp ideal for small to medium-sized venues. It's got enough power and versatility to handle your intimate gigging needs.

Features

• 40-Watts
• 10” Speaker
• Three-button voicing section (bright, contour, vintage)
• Controls: Gain, Bright On/Off, Contour On/Off, Vintage On/Off, Drive, Overdrive On/Off, Level, Bass, Low-Mid, High-Mid, Treble, Master Volume
• AAUX-In, Headphone-Out, Footswitch, XLR line out with ground lift
• Weight: 18 lbs.

Demo

Hartke is a well-known brand for producing great-value bass amps, and the Hartke HD150 combo is another good example of this.

Earning the top spot for the best bass combo amp between $300 and $500, this amp has a 150W amplifier with a 15" speaker and a 1" tweeter. These features are quite unique for an amp in this price range.

The addition of a tweeter, paper, and aluminum cone on the speakers gives this amp a bit more high-end emphasis, which works with many styles of bass playing. For more control over your sound, Hartke equipped the HD150 with a 7-band EQ.

Other features include a built-in limiter and effects loop, and it even has built-in rolling casters for added mobility.

This bass amp combo has a lot more trebly sparkle than the other ones above. The combination of 7-band EQ and a dedicated tweeter really allows you to create great scooped sounds or to simply jack up the high-end as you hear in some slap playing. I've seen other reviews that say the top end is too bright, but that's probably just their personal taste, as I find it quite pleasing. You can also tone it down to get something that sounds a bit like an upright bass.

The big 15" speaker moves a lot of air. This amp has no trouble keeping up with a loud band, and you can even gig with a full band in small to medium venues without having to go through the PA.

The downside is the weight. While it's easy enough to move around on its casters, it's a two-person job lifting it in and out of the band van.

If you're looking for a good-value 150W stage amp, then do check out the Hartke HD150.

Features

• 150-Watts
• 15” HyDrive Speaker, 1" Tweeter
• Controls: Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, 7-Band EQ
• AUX-In, Headphone-Out, Line-Out, Effects Loop
• Weight: 66 lbs.

Demo

The Fender Rumble 200 is an amplifier that is similar to others in the series, but it has an additional interesting feature. The Rumble 200 comes equipped with a tweeter, which is not present in other regular Rumble amps but is found in more expensive models like the Rumble Stage as well.

This feature allows the bass amp combo to reproduce clear treble frequencies, resulting in a sound that is clearer than that produced by amps that only have a 15" woofer. Basically, the tweeter is like a tiny speaker that adds some high-end sparkle to the sound. But if you do not want a brighter sound, you can simply turn the tweeter off.

In case you hadn’t guessed from the name, the Rumble 200 packs 200 watts of power. Given the wattage, you have enough volume for mid-size venues without needing to DI to the PA. It also has an XLR out in case you need to hook straight into a PA for bigger venues.

Other features include an effects loop, AUX-in, and headphone-out.

Unlike the Hartke HD150, one person can lift this amp on their own, and the handle on top feels secure. And even when it's light, construction feels solid and I have no doubt that this bass amp will be working reliably for many years.

It has a surprisingly thick tone even with the tweeter on, and it moves plenty of air. This makes the bright setting sound really modern. I'm not a huge fan of its vintage bass tone setting, which kills the top end and gives it more of a mid-range voicing, but that's just personal taste. 

Still, it gets close to the classic bass tones that many are looking for. If nothing else, the EQ is versatile enough to let you sculpt the sound the way you want it.

If you are looking for the best bass amp for gigging with good portability and projection, then the Fender Rumble bass combo amp should be your top pick among the many bass amp deals available.

Features

• 200-Watts
• 15” Speaker
• Controls: Bass, Low Mid, High Mid, Treble, Gain, Drive, Level, Master, Contour, Bright, Vintage
• AUX-Input, Headphone-Output, Footswitch, XLR Line Out, Effects Loop
• Weight: 34.5 lbs.

Demo

The Fender Rumble Stage 800 is the most expensive and feature-packed bass combo amp in this guide. It comes with digital sound processing that offers a wide range of amp models and effects. This means that you can use this amp as a complete bass rig.

You can choose from a variety of genre- and tone-specific presets and apply over 40 different bass effects.

To enhance the digital processing, the amp has a switchable HF compression tweeter. This allows you to achieve trebles that are otherwise not possible to get from a regular bass combo amp.

To help you get a good handle on all its features, the amp comes with an LCD color display along with the necessary buttons and an encoder dial. You can also wirelessly tweak the settings of the amp via the Fender Tone app. Speaking of wireless, this amp also has Bluetooth compatibility and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Other noteworthy features include a 60-second looper, bundled footswitch, USB direct recording output, and XLR line output.

One drawback of having all these features is that it's quite time-consuming trying to understand them all. Take a look at the manual, and you'll see what I mean: you can get a bit lost scrolling through the menu, but you get used to it after a little time.

While many amps provide some kind of modeling these days, this one has two modes for sounding like an acoustic amp. I quite like the acoustic model, which is based on their Acoustasonic Amps - it doesn't make your Fender P bass sound like an upright, but it does have a nice character to it. It does, however, have an Acoustic Sim model, which does provide a sound that's heading in that direction.

In fact, I'm prepared to go further and say that all the effects are pretty good. I really think this amp has reached the point where you can do away with most of your pedals, although you'll want to keep your preamp if you use one. Even the looper is fairly useful, although I won't be getting rid of my RC-300 anytime soon, but then you don't need a lot of features for bass looping (at least I don't).

At 800 watts, it already has a lot of power for most venues. Yet it can go even louder by connecting this bass combo amp to external speaker cabinets.

All in all, the Fender Rumble Stage 800 is more than just a bass combo amp; it's an all-in-one rig that is well worth the investment.

Features

• 800-Watts
• 2 x 10” Woofer and Compression Tweeter (Switchable)
• Controls: Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble, Master, LCD Display, Buttons, Rotary Encoder
• AUX-Input, Headphone-Output, Footswitch, Line Out, Effects Loop Send/Return, Footswitch, Extension Speaker
• Weight: 39 lbs

Demo