The Little Bass thing is a 500 watt RMS at 4 Ω Class D amp. It weighs about 3 kg and has a build in compressor that is footswitchable (which I will get to later). I pair it with an 8 Ω OBC112 cab that weighs about 12 kg.
There are a couple of reasons why I picked this amp.
-It is relatively simple, just a 3 band EQ with sweepable mids, a volume knob and a knob for the compressor. I always get a bit seasick when I look at amps with too many buttons. Some people might love it, I am more of a plug and play kinda guy. That might also explain my love for the Precision bass.
-It is light, powerful and scalable. I can easily add a second 8 Ω cab to make use of the full 500 watt. I had an Orange Crush 100 and I really loved that amp. However, at 24 kg with a 15 inch speaker, carrying it up and down the stairs and to my car became a bit of a hassle. Not a dealbreaker but this is a nice alternative.
-Following with my plug and play mantra, having the compressor already in the amp is a great idea (to me). I don’t need much more than this 80% of the time.
The good: It has a great clean sound, full and warm and the EQ makes it possible to shape your tone quite a bit. The amp and cab work great with my basses, a Jazz sounds like a Jazz, a P like a P. Within a few minutes I had a great tone for reggae dialed in, a few twists of a few knobs later and I was in solid rock territory. It serves my styles of music quite well but since the cab lacks a tweeter, it might not be crisp and clear enough for some. I also like the compressor. Turning it up does cause quite an increase in volume. And speaking of volume, this thing is loud enough as it is. If I ever plan on removing some walls in my house, I can always add a second cab and I’ll be done in about .2 of a nanosecond.
The bad: Because the knobs are notched (is that the word? What I mean is, they have about 20 clicks instead of a seamless turn) it is a bit difficult to play at a low volume. It is either too soft or too loud to use as a practice amp. Some fiddling with the EQ fixes this, but you can’t rely on just the volume knob. Although the compressor can be turned on and off using a footswitch, the volume increase when you switch it on is quite extreme after the 8 or 9 o’ clock setting. So the footswitch is only useful when you go from no to just a tad of compressing. Anything above that and the difference becomes too large (IMHO).
The ugly: Well, maybe Orange isn’t for everyone. They do make the cab in black as well, if that is what you prefer.
