Pignose Hog 30 Portable Bass Amp?
I have been looking for a more portable bass amp. A guy I know has a Phil Jones Bass briefcase bass amp, but that costs about $600. I found this Pignose amp http://www.amazon.com/Pignose-HOG30-Guitar-Combo-Amplifier/dp/B0002D0K00/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1248668261&sr=8-1 on a google search for about $160. Just wondering if anyone on the forum here has or uses this amp and could you tell me more about it. I have read reviews all the way from average to 5 out of 5 stars. But it's hard to put it into context because you never know what people are really rating it against. I know it's not going to be an Ampeg 8X10 stack, etc... But will it work good for small outdoor get togethers or jams? Any other suggestions in portable (battery powered) bass amps? Just looking at options at this point. Any suggestions appreciated.
Comments
I am partial to the name Hog. That is my Trucker CB handle.
Another idea...Roland makes a pretty good portable amp.
Another guy I know who plays guitar showed up with a regular Pignose amp for practice and I was surprised on how good it sounded. He got me wondering if Pignose made a portable bass amp. The Hog 30 at 30 watts doesn't sound like it would push out much bass volume. Still, I wonder if 30 watts is enough for certain uses. My hometown is starting a musicians Thursday downtown gig on the street corners. You basically show up and jam out on the street and pick up tips. You don't do it for the money, but I hear it is fun. So it's not like anyone shows up with their PA system blasting. In addition to the low cost of $160 for the Hog 30, it has a battery life of 8+ hours. Also, from what I have read in the reviews, the Hog 30 is just the right height to sit on. At 19\" it is just a couple inches taller than a standard table chair. There are advantages of having a longer battery life.
Thanks for the Roland suggestion. I have looked at the Roland MICRO CUBE BASS RX, but it is more expensive and only puts out about 5 watts. I don't understand how you could do much of anything with a 5 watt bass amp. But maybe a 30 watt bass amp is not any good either. I do like all the extra features of the Roland Micro Cube, but the 5 watts doesn't excite me. Could somebody clue me into the actual volume difference between a 5 watt amp and a 30 watt amp? Is there someway to get a feel for 5 watts at full useable volume? Like I said, my smallest amp at home is 50 watts. That's louder than I would need gigging on a streetcorner. Also, the harmony-central reviews on the Roland are alot better than the Hog 30.
Since I don't have access to either the Roland Micro or the Pignose Hog 30 in my small hometown, I am wondering if anyone has/can compare the two units for me? The price difference is not that great so I'm looking more at sound quality and volume. Even if I could afford a PJB briefcase, the 1 hour battery life is not enough for what I would actually use a portable bass amp.
Don't know what to tell you other than what I saw of the Hog 30. It was used in a acoustic session which sounded fine. 30W can be sufficient for a lot of situations. It's not just the power capacity as it is the efficiency and other factors in determining how usable 30w may be. I've heard 30W SS amps that fall flat against a 10w tube amp.
30W can be loud enough for a band, and it may get buried. It all depends on other situations of the band. Get a drummer with pro rod sticks and it would probably work out.
And there isn't a battery technology in existance that'll power a phone long enough for Shania to call me back.
I recently bought a Yamaha YDD-60 portable digital drum set with built in speakers. So I was thinking more in lines of using something like that drum set with a built in volume control. Also, either acoustic guitars or electrics running on portables (like my friend's Pignose guitar amp). Haven't thought much about the vocals yet. Like I said, it would be for really small settings.
I have been reading articles on the watts versus loudness issue. The Roland Micro Cube bass amp only puts out 5 watts and I wondered how loud that would actually be. One of the articles I read said that 5 watts is about the same loudness as a trumpet, which is louder than you want to pump it out late at night, but probably not loud enough in context of an electric band at a gig. Another article expressed the loudness of 5 watts as 50% loudness of a 50 watt amp, and a 30 watt amp would be 86% as loud as that 50 watt amp.
However, just to make things even more confusing, the type of speaker with the amp also makes a big difference. I read that the decible rating of the speaker can make a big difference in the loudness of the amp. Also, tube amps can get louder than digital amps of the same watts because tube amps have a slower rate of distortion (measured up to 10%) than digital amps. I read that amps are rated at 1% distortion for normal max use and that 10% distortion is max ceiling. Tube amps have a gentle curve going up from 1% to 10%, digital amps have an almost immediate jump from 1% to 10% distortion. So, what we hear is that tube amps can pump out more watts/volume until they hit that 10% distortion point.
I really wish I had a guitar center around here that I could actually sit down and hear the difference between the Pignose Hog 30 and the Roland Micro Cube RX. I like the 30 watt Pignose over the 5 watt Roland, but the Roland gets better reviews on Harmony-Central and has lots more features for not much more money. However, the online guitar sellers customer reviews have the Pignose Hog 30 rated higher than the Roland Micro Cube RX. So I am not sure which would be the better way for me to go.
I am wondering if I will just have to order both, try them out, and send one back? Anyone done something like that with the online guitar stores?
I would like to try WDM but I dont know where I can find that driver for my sound card (I've a laptop wih a Conexant AC-link Audio).
Can you help me to find a good driver for me??
Thanks again!
Erbombo