This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a jazz bassist and instructor based in Japan who teaches online lessons to students worldwide. In this article, he shares 5 key points to consider when choosing a bass amp.
Finding an amp that matches your taste and playing style is genuinely tricky, but keeping the points below in mind will make it a lot easier to land on something close to your ideal amp.
Contents
Amp Basics
Cabinet
A large enclosure packed with speakers — about the size of a refrigerator.
Amp Head
Sits on top of the cabinet — this is where you shape your tone using the knobs.
Combo Amp
A compact unit with the cabinet and amp head built into one piece.
5 Key Points to Consider When Choosing an Amp
Price
As with any product, expensive doesn’t automatically mean it’s the perfect tone for you.
Tone
Tone is one of the hardest things to pin down in words, but it helps to have a rough mental image — something like “round and warm,” “tight and punchy,” or “scooped mids.”
It also helps to have a reference artist in mind, even a vague one — “something like Nikki Sixx” or “like the bassist behind John Coltrane” — since that kind of reference makes it much easier to communicate what you want at a music shop.
The Genre You Play
“We’re a genre-bending band, man” is a nice sentiment, but in practice, genre still strongly influences which amp brands and sizes make sense.
Put simply: a 16-inch combo amp isn’t going to cut it for loud genres like hard rock or metal, and on the flip side, an 8×10 cabinet stack is way more power than you need for quieter genres like jazz or acoustic music.
Here’s my own personal association between genre and amp brands:
· Loud genres (hard rock, metal, punk) — Hartke, Ampeg, Mesa Boogie, Guyatone, Eden
· Mid-volume to acoustic (pop, funk, jazz) — Trace Elliot, Gallien-Krueger, Markbass
Where You Usually Play
The size of your typical venue matters too.
Combo amps have their limits on output. For something the size of a school AV room, a combo amp is plenty. For something the size of a gymnasium, you might need a larger cabinet setup.
Portability
Cabinet-and-head setups generally require a vehicle to transport. Combo amps, on the other hand, can often be wheeled around on a folding aluminum cart.
Bass amps have also gotten a lot more compact in recent years — brands like TC Electronic and Phil Jones Bass now make amps small enough to carry in a tote bag.
The Amp I Use
I’ve mentioned this a few times before, but I’m a longtime user of Phil Jones Bass amps.
Compact, but genuinely powerful — works great across acoustic, pop, and jazz with zero issues.
It handles upright bass without breaking up, and gives me a walking bass line with real definition.
It even fits in a backpack, which makes it incredibly convenient.
Finding the amp that actually matches your tone and playing style is something a teacher who’s heard you play in person can speak to directly.
Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?
This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.
At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.
Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.