Kustom Bass Amps

[jhiggins1]

i'm looking for a new bass amp and i came across Kustom bass amps and they looked good.

I was wondering if they were any good cause i never heard of them before. I dont think ive ever seen a bass palyer actully use one so i dont know if it will sound good with the type of music i play which is like punk and ska.

i also play with a pick so i didnt know if it sounded good with a pick or not.

Basically i want to know if this is an amp that will suite my playing ability

[EADG]

I use one, I like it a lot. They tend to have a bassy tone and don't handle high frequencies very well, which is what you probably want playing punk and ska. You could try it out, but you might want to reconsider.

[sixner]

I've got a Kustom amp.. twas my first... small, but it gets the job done. I use mine only for small jam sessions / practice around the house..... it's held up great for 3 + years... tones could be better but there are worse.........
-sixner

[dan02345]

my friend has one...loud but you cant get a huge tone variety out of it

[bassistuvdoom731]

howabout that new head? The "groove bass" head.

[Worrpigs]

theyre not bad. a kid at my school has a real vintage one. its pretty cool.

[edgebass5]

They're well-built amps and have a very nice price point. That being said, the noise to signal ratio is very bad on ALL of their amps, so keep that in mind. Also, the Groove Bass head only achieves its maximum wattage under a 2 ohm load, so.........

[EADG]

They're well-built amps and have a very nice price point. That being said, the noise to signal ratio is very bad on ALL of their amps


1) True
2) True
3) Not true


Mine doesn't have noise at all unless I put my bridge PUP on full, that's my basses fault though, it does that with any amp.

[edgebass5]

^^^compare the specs of a Kustom amp, to a Fender, Avalon, Ampeg, GK, Eden, etc. etc. etc. etc. and you'll find that its VERY true. So to correct your post.

1) True
2) True
3) True

[Chaos]

I guess my friend has one, and I played through it, I didn't think it was anything great, but it worked.

it had the most annoying EQ ever though, it didn't say bass/low, mids, high/treble, etc. It was very annoying.

[TheBassman238]

compare the specs of a Kustom amp, to a Fender, Avalon, Ampeg, GK, Eden, etc. etc. etc. etc. and you'll find that its VERY true.

^^very true

-TBM

[Pastorius]

I've got one, it's alright, gets the job done, and has some built in effects too which is nice.

Handles all frequencies fine, nothing special, but it's not exactly ****.

It does have horrible fuzz on high volumes though...

[The_Red_Death]

I've got a Kustom amp.. twas my first... small, but it gets the job done. I use mine only for small jam sessions / practice around the house..... it's held up great for 3 + years... tones could be better but there are worse.........
-sixner

Is it the KBA10? I have that amp, it's really not too bad considering how cheap it was. I can get some good tones out of it, but nothing amazing.

[sixner]

Is it the KBA10? I have that amp, it's really not too bad considering how cheap it was. I can get some good tones out of it, but nothing amazing.
yeah i think it is?... maybe a kba20... it says a 20watt output on the back, but yeah, good for the price no doubt.
-sixner

[jhiggins1]

i was also looking online and i came across two amps that i also have never heard of.

Laney and Drive

i would like to know if they were any good for my playing style too

[sixner]

ive heard laney is good... and ive heard drive sucks...

but i have no personal experience with either, so dont hold me to that........ simply what ive heard.
-sixner

[jhiggins1]

yea but will laney sound good in a punk band?

[faelun]

i just bought thier KBA100model it rocks.... I love this thing honestly...it's so sweet

[bassistuvdoom731]

Go to harmony central, you could probably find reviews on whatever gear your looking at.

[EADG]

^^^compare the specs of a Kustom amp, to a Fender, Avalon, Ampeg, GK, Eden, etc. etc. etc. etc. and you'll find that its VERY true. So to correct your post.



What specs? What are you talking about?

[edgebass5]

What specs? What are you talking about?

Look at the noise to signal ratio of a Kustom amp, than compare it to Fender, Avalon, Ampeg, GK, etc. etc. and you'll find that the percentage of noise in the signal path is noticeably higher than other manufacturers. Not sure why I had to explain that a second time it was pretty clear in my first post.

[802.11-NGR]

Look at the noise to signal ratio of a Kustom amp, than compare it to Fender, Avalon, Ampeg, GK, etc. etc. and you'll find that the percentage of noise in the signal path is noticeably higher than other manufacturers. Not sure why I had to explain that a second time it was pretty clear in my first post.

Groovebass:
Hum & Noise: -60db Residual Noise


The man makes an excellent point.

[EADG]

Look at the noise to signal ratio of a Kustom amp, than compare it to Fender, Avalon, Ampeg, GK, etc. etc. and you'll find that the percentage of noise in the signal path is noticeably higher than other manufacturers. Not sure why I had to explain that a second time it was pretty clear in my first post.


Still, even if the ratio is high, that doesn't mean anything to me. My amp doesn't have any noticable noise, so who cares about the numbers? It's the sound that counts.

[edgebass5]

^^^Having played a Groove Bass head (their top-of-the-line head) many times I can tell you that the noise level was definitely noticeable to me. That being said, I use an Avalon preamp which is one of the most noise-free preamp manufacturers on the planet, so maybe I'm a bit biased.

[EADG]

^^^Having played a Groove Bass head (their top-of-the-line head) many times I can tell you that the noise level was definitely noticeable to me. That being said, I use an Avalon preamp which is one of the most noise-free preamp manufacturers on the planet, so maybe I'm a bit biased.


Do you know any more brands that tend to have a high noise level? I plan to upgrade from a combo amp to a cab eventually and I hate noise in any way, shape, or form.

[edgebass5]

well, suprsingly enough, Ampeg says their stuff is low noise, but I find it to be pretty noisey. I've noticed a bit of noise when playing some SWR stuff as well..... Avalon + QSC for the zero noise win :D

[EADG]

I never really noticed any amps that had noise and hum as a stat. I'll be sure to check that out from now on.