Best Lightweight Bass Combo Amp That Won't Break Your Back (Or Bank)

If you’re a bass guitar player, Then you most likely know the struggle of carrying a heavy amplifier. Traditionally, Bass amps have always been a hefty weight. However, today I’d like to discuss and review some lightweight bass combo amp options that any bass player from beginner all the way to professional can use.

The bass amps I have chosen meet very specific criteria. These include firstly, the ability to be loud enough in a gig or band scenario. And secondly, the weight needs to be very manageable for any bass player to carry.

I’ve decided to review only combo amps for this list. The reason for that is because there are a ton of lightweight bass amp heads out there. But a lot of bassists aren’t aware of the lightweight combo amps available. Therefore, I’d like to save your back as a bass player and prevent you from every carrying a heavy bass amp again.

Without me wasting anymore more time, let’s look at my top 3 portable bass combo amps:

1) Tc Electronic BG250
2) Fender Rumble V3 100
3) Peavey Max 110

[mickavoidant]

I bought a Markbass Mini CMD 121P for £579. 300w and 29lbs. The matching New York 121 takes it to 500w.

[robsantorobass]

Nice video man.

I’ve been using an Ampeg BA 115 v2 and I gotta say I love it. It sounds great, easy to move around and I’ve found that it handles any situation I’ve thrown at it thus far.
The way the amp is designed you can tilt it back so it can also act as a monitor when/if needed.
Shedding some more light on the subject, I was playing in a metal band that both guitar players were using a Mesa cab each and a Peavey 6505+ and 5150 and I have my Ampeg BA 115 v2 with my Sans Amp for some extra grit, and when I say it delivered, that’s no exaggeration. Saving grace to this amp and amps like it in situations like that is the ability to go DI. I got set up (also hit the -15 DB patch because the bass I was using has a higher output) it sounded amazing, delivering that classic Ampeg tone in such a compact amp and sounded massive. I had the volume maybe just under halfway, if that, and you could feel the rumble.
After the show I had some people coming up to me asking about my tone, what amp I was using, etc; Needless to say the look on their faces when they saw it wasn’t a fridge or even a 6x10 was priceless.

[lawrencegenereux]

TC Electronics rates their amplifiers in PEAK wattage; Fender rates their amplifiers in RMS wattage. The Fender Rumble is as loud as the TC 250, and is actually considerably lighter. It also has a really great natural tone, without boosting bass and treble to make it sound full. Do a side-by-side comparison, and think again about which one is #1.

[davidcudlip]

I play thru a Rumble 500. Great sounding amp that's easy to dial in. Adding the 210 or 115 rumble cabinet gets you the full 500 watts from the combo. I don't play many places that I need the extension cabinet. The line out is more useful to me.

[donaldswan]

Credit to Peavey for not following the idiotic trend of putting all the controls at the back, where you can't see them unless you're on top of the amp.

[redacted]

ALSO... please note the TC Electronics amp has TONE PRINT features. While the DFender has distortion the TC with TONE PRINT can have many other effects added to the amp so hehe

[erivers]

I had all 3 out of 4 of the Tc electronics combo amps, the 2 x 8, 1 x 15, and the 2 x 10. Great amps for the price. The tone print feature is useless, you can't even download any bass amp tones from the tone print app. Great idea but the company abandoned the bass amp tones. It used to work but no longer. When it did work ( a year or so ago) it didn't have reverb or delay which sucked. Reverb was my favorite effect and it was never available. On, y chorus, octaver, and flange. The feature is useless now because the company doesn't feature bass amp tone print effects, on, y for their pedals now.
The 2 X 8 was a cool size but is wasn't loud or powerful enough to play in a band, only a practice amp. The 1 x 15 sounded the best. The 2 x 10 was by far the most powerful and did have a tweeter 1" speaker, so it actually had 3 speakers. It's a lot heavier then the 1 x 15 and a lot louder. If you play in a band with 2 guitarists I would recommend the 2 x 10. To my ears the 1 x 15 sounded the best and was relatively light. I would recommend the 1 x 15 in your not in a loud metal band. Great amp because you can play in outdoor environments where heat and humidity could effect a tube bass amp. If you play with a tube amp this is a great back up amp in case of tube failure or extreme heat or humidity. The speakers are Chinese made but sounded pretty good for the price point. Brand new they sell for $299, or used to until inflation and for the price they really can't be beat in my opinion. I've played a Rumble too but they are way heavier, so I'm going with the TC BG 250 1 x 15. It's a great amp for the price even with the useless tone print feature which the company abandoned. The tone print tones weren't that good as well when they did work, better off just using a pedal.

[jonathanbenjamin]

My tc electronic bg 250 tone print works when I don't want it to. Four repair efforts so far have failed. I admit the basic sound is good.

[stratoman]

I have the BG250 with a 15” speaker. I literally need nothing else!

[cletusrobinson]

I’d like to see lightweight 2x10 combo amps compared, in the 250 W RMS and above group.

[ElderedAmbrose]

My 100W Fender Rumble amp is really getting on my nerves. The sound is terminally boomy, muddled, etc. Fixable by turning the bass control way down, but then the bottom notes drop out. Fond memories of an older Genz-Benz combo amp with astonishing tone (and weight), but it's not for sale. I also have a 500W 2x10 Fender combo, not super lightweight but it sounds better.

[jherrn]

Thank you ive been looking for a video like this, since I’m looking for an amp I can use that’s loud enough for a gig, but wanted to compare fender and peavy. Thank you very much, I subscribed

[MarcG]

The Rumble also has hi and low mids knobs

[michael_caz_nyc]

Love my Rumble 100 = it's a little Beast & Sounds great.

[richardmerriam]

Ampeg RB112. Bought one. They eat Rumble amps for breakfast. I used Fenders for 50 years.

[_Majoras]

i couldn't find these amps new online and then i noticed the videos upload date 🤣

[celestelongway]

Super cool demo! Light bass combos. A fave topic I have a 75 watt vintage but cool Peavey tko 75 from like 1987 . Heavy! 15 inch USA made beast . So new light bass amps are a interesting. ueah from Michael T Wyman in LA.

[comparedtowhat]

Nice descriptions but could we have some audio samples as well?

[alrangele]

I love eden! Mark bass and ampec second best.

[witz]

Is Max110 100w usable for apartment? I mean low volume night playin?