Interested in a small 1-2 watt bass amp

[matmosphere]

Hi guys, been a while!

My 13 year old son just started playing bass and I'm looking for something like a Ruby to build him so he can plug in and not be too loud. Read mixed things about Bass with the Ruby that has the bassman mods.

Anyone have a suggestion for a little project? Something not to hard cause maybe I will get the boy to build it himself.

[jwin615]

Not gonna move a bass speaker with 1 watt. I can fart into a pillow louder than that.
Maybe find one of those TDA amp projects like this guy
https://github.com/Erriez/DualTDA7293PowerAmplifier

[mauman]

+1.  The nature of bass amps is that you need significantly more clean wattage than a guitar amp to get the same perceived volume level.  Even for practice, a couple of watts won't do.

[derevaun]

My 15yo currently loves to play bass through a shitty Kustom "12 gauge" guitar amp, which I think is 12 watts. I bought the stupid amp for nearly nothing, planning to use it as a cab and maybe put an amp project in it. Anyway, it's too loud with the volume at noon, and it's not even a bass amp. So I think 8-10 watts could cut it for bedroom rocking. There's something to be said for being able to turn it up past 9:00 in normal usage.

The Tiny Giant uses a TDA7240 and is apparently 20 watts at 15-20 volts. No experience with it. Have fun!

[matmosphere]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input. I should maybe give a little more background. I'm trying to avoid buying an amp for about a year because where we live now we are on 220V, but next summer we'll be moving back to the states to 110V again. So I feel like buying something that won't work in a year would be a little bit of a waste. So building something small for now seems like the way to go.

I know that a little Ruby or something wouldn't have much volume on a bass, but we aren't looking for loud at the moment, just audible. We have a neighbor 10 feet above his room.

Right now he has been perfectly happy playing unplugged on my semi-hollow bass, but we just got him a solid body so he needs a bit of volume, or maybe a headphone amp. Plus he's really into Bad Religion ATM and I don't know that he minds if it isn't a perfectly clean sound 

I'll figure something out.

[jwin615]

I'd still lean toward a TDA based design.(edit, fat thumbs)
Could also consider one of these. Good bang for the buck.
https://www.amazon.com/SONICAKE-Headphone-Madness-Effects-Chargable/dp/B079FGN89H/ref=asc_df_B079FGN89H/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312165962058&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8118170579716462991&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9013118&hvtargid=pla-569806243643&psc=1

[jimilee]

I have a very small fender rumble practice amp I use. Most of the time, I just run a Scarlette solo into my computer and wear headphones.


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[derevaun]

When my kid started, he used a Korg Pandora headphone amp cabled into the aux input of a JBL bluetooth speaker.

[Willybomb]

I've built a couple of TDA based amps.  These will push a 4x12 without issue over an acoustic drumkit and are dead cheap, powered from a 19v laptop power supply.

https://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=33275.msg31940

https://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=33305.msg319680

[LukeFRC]

When I started I just lent the headstock against a wardrobe door to amplify it.

Look for whatever you can find locally secondhand and sell it again when you leave?

[matmosphere]

When I started I just lent the headstock against a wardrobe door to amplify it.

Look for whatever you can find locally secondhand and sell it again when you leave?

I've thought about it but I think it really comes down to the fact that I enjoy building stuff and I think it would be cool to build him something.

I think I'll check out the TDA based amps and see if that would be a good fit.

Thanks all!!!

[jwin615]

Plus side, the tda would run off DC so it can go anywhere with you.

[jimilee]

Noisy cricket, that would be a cool build, it's really modifiable. There's even a tube version somewhere.


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[LukeFRC]

When I started I just lent the headstock against a wardrobe door to amplify it.

Look for whatever you can find locally secondhand and sell it again when you leave?

I've thought about it but I think it really comes down to the fact that I enjoy building stuff and I think it would be cool to build him something.

I think I'll check out the TDA based amps and see if that would be a good fit.

Thanks all!!!

the issue will be that bass amps need way more power than guitar amps, and the cab will tend to be bigger. Ashdown do a small valve amp that's 30w and then coupled with a high efficiency cab - for guitar that would be enough for most things but for bass would just be loud enough to play with a quiet drummer. 
If you are building something it's going to be low power and possibly too big to take back with you.
If it's just for practice a preamp, compressor, drive, whatever and then headphone amp might be more useful ?