What's your all's opinion on some more current used combo amps of at least 250w? I prefer 4x10 speaker enclosures but would settle with a single 15 with a plastic tweeter. Anything reliable out there?

Some negative personal opinions...

Just about every Carvin bass combo I've checked out has had something seriously wrong with it. Please, no advice for the Carvin company. No love for Crate, either.

Brands I'm not too embarrassed to play through: Peavey, Fender, Hartke, Kustom...older Ampeg...I would prefer solid state. Thing is, I just haven't been out and around in at least a year. Finding out the good apples would be much easier through Fender Lounge.
Advice from the Lounge's bassists would be much appreciated.

My Bro-law has a rumble, (15" Speaker) I think they make em with 10s too.

He's had a number of bass combos, but says he really likes the Rumble. I think it sounds great.

I would post in the bass or amplifier section.

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STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

That would be a good idea if I were talking only about Fender bass amps.

The bass player in my last band had a Peavey TNT Bass amp and it was a little brute of a combo amp.It had a built in 15" Peavey speaker (Black Widow or Scorpion or some name like that) plus he also used a 1-15 Peavey cabinet and that amp had more than enough power to fill some pretty large venues that we played in.

Although they're not combo amps,Traynor produced some monster bass amps back in the 70s and 80s.Their Bassmaster amp was a killer bass amp,although it was rated at 200W,I'm sure that they put a lot more than that when paired with the Traynor 8-10 cabinet,a heavy duty 1-15 speaker cabinet would do alright with it.Traynor's solid state Monobloc bass amps were the rage in the 80s and lots of guys used scooped 15" bass PA bins for them because they were so powerful .You can still pick up these brutal amps on ebay for reasonable prices.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

The TNT is a definate consideration, especially the earlier ones with more watts. I wasn't aware they had a line out feature for extra cab use. Very nice.

I once owned a HUGE Traynor cab that had a single 18' facing backwards/downwards. I never could find an amp head strong enough to push it. It was given to me anyway. The magnet on that speaker was freaky huge.

Traynor also currently sells a monster tube head that plays in roughly the same territory as the the big classic Ampeg heads but for about half the price. They also sound quite good as well. Actually pretty much all of Traynor's bass gear sounds good and is good quality and reasonably priced except for the older BLOC series of amps. They were reasonable quality and good price but they weren't the best sounding amps.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Hi Dalembic,That cabinet was the one that was recommended for the 400W Traynor Monobloc head.That set up plus the amp and 15" P.A. bass bins-usually Sound Crew(I still own one,without the speaker)-was really popular around here because it was relatively cheap compared to just about all other brands.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Not much has changed in a year. Line 6 deep-sixed their entire bass line. Otherwise the same used gear is out there that was out there over a year ago. A lot of what you get will depend on what is available within a reasonable driving distance.

Surprised at your Carvin comment having enjoyed their products successfully myself. Never a Carvin owner but have used their amps a few times when provided at a venue. One local backline company has one heck of a Carvin bass rig. They are USA amps and I've come close to ordering one of the Micro combos more than once.

4x10 combos are scarce even new, they are also so big and heavy that you might as well do the head/cab thing if you really want a 4x10 so you'll have a bigger selection.

A Fender Rumble 350 head brand new with whatever decent used cabs you can find would be a sensible suggestion. The Rumble 350 2x10 combo is more amp than most of the older 4x10 combos out there.

I would add SUNN to your list of worthwhile used solid state bass amps, but their combos were much lower powered than their heads and can't remember a Sunn combo at 250+ watts. There may have been one but don't' remember it.

My personal bass rig would be fairly inexpensive to replicate with used equipment and it's not extremely heavy to lug around, plus there's castors. It's an SWR Engineering Red Head 210 combo with a Traynor extension cabinet. The cab has a single 15 and two 10s. It pounds.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I went to some pawn shops yesterday to find a suprise...a whole bunch of used Hartke. Those amps have a natural snappiness that I really like.

So here's what it's down to so far:

Non cheapo Hartke 4x10 and head
Fender Bassman 400
Early 90's Peavey TNT(not the post 1995 silver and black one's that sound all muffled no matter what)

I haven't been to Music Go Round yet. That could change everything depending on what they have. Their prices are hard to beat.

Dalembic, you are getting close to a decision. I recently bought a Peavey TNT and it sounds very good for it's price range, with an 8 ohm ext. cab. 2X15 it is almost as loud as my old Marshall stack.

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Most any of those older Peavey bass combos will do. I'd rather have one of the bigger box versions is the thing. Some of them aren't deep enough to pump the low end I would want and end up sounding very loose. That could just be the speaker's age, though. The best TNT's I've heard were from around 1990-1993, with the green lining. Hopefully I'll find one that was gently used in a school or church.

I'm still on the lookout. Thanks for the replies.

I just bought a brand spanking new Peavey MAX 112, for less than $250. It's a 200 watt 1x12 combo, with an active eq w/midshift, and plenty of gain on tap.

It sounds darn good, and the tiltback cab puts you right in front of the speaker. It'll do tight n punchy, low and growly, or big and boomy. The cabinet is very deep-it's pretty much a cube!

This is NOT the same old MAX series combo that's been out for years, with the low power, and the cheesy looking plastic ports on the lower front grill. It was updated, or should I say, completely re-done for this year. It moves some serious air, and gets really loud! ( I'm actually afraid to turn it up past 2.5 or so in my apartment!)

FWIW, the new new GK combos sound awesome too. And they'd better-at more than double the price of the above.

Have to give a +1 for the Rumble combos. I've played in live situations through a friend's Rumble 100W 2x10 combo many times, and this little amp will carry in all but the loudest bands. I'd like to have a Rumble 350 2x10 like Brother Dave spoke of.
My combo rig at the moment is a Genz Benz M Line 200. Very nice amp for 200W and 1x15.