Starter Bass Amp

Will you be plugging into the church's PA system or will your amp be your main sound source? How big is the hall in which you'll be playing? Is there a drummer? Are the guitars electric or acoustic?

The church is fairly small - capacity is probably less than 500. We average just over 100. There is a drummer on an electronic kit, so the volume is fairly controlled. There is one electric guitar - he plays through a 16w tube amp (I think) and is not connected to the PA. The piano and keyboard are both connected/mic'ed to the PA. There are typically 5-6 instrumentalists - basson, trombone, flute, sax, french horn. The 4-5 vocalists use mic's through the PA. I'm thinking an amp would be the main sound source.

If you're going to get a small practice amp like those, I think you're going to want to also plug into the PA. A 30 watt solid state bass amp with a tiny speaker is not going to have much punch with that group, though one would probably be fine in a more acoustic setting.

But if you get one with a DI output (XLR) you can run straight into the mixer/PA from the amp, and use the amp as your monitor.

As the main sound source, I'd think you'd want at least a 12" speaker to get down nice and low; a smaller speaker might be too midrangey. Also there was a thread here recently about bass amps needing much more wattage than regular guitar amps to produce the same perceived volume level. When I used my Fender amp (60watts, 12" speaker) at church it was enough, but I was going through the PA as well for better balance throughout the hall, and we don't have horns or electric guitars.

Check out the Craigslist for Austin for a few days and see what comes up. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck buying used. Peaveys are built like tanks so they tend to hold up well. Also there's a 1x12 ampeg going cheap, if you don't mind the missing volume knob.

http://austin.craigslist.org/search/msg?maxAsk=250&query=bass%20amp