Carlsbro Bass Bomber 115 Combo

I bought this amp about four years ago as I was using a Marshall practice amp and joined a gigging band, which subsequently split after half a dozen rehearsals. It has an affects loop, which I used a Korg multi effects unit. The effects loop worked well, but the Korg unit was naff. It is very loud, more than enough for rehearsing with a five-piece rock band. No compressor, just a three-band EQ, which is why it gets a six.

I have used it with a Steinberger 5-string, a Gibson Thunderbird, and the aforementioned Korg effects unit. I play everything from pop to thrash metal, the sound is incredibly flat and served to highlight the poor tone of the Steinberger and kill the tone of the Thunderbird. With the affects unit, it was very noisy, but I blame Korg for that; without affects, the amp is very quiet, even at high volumes. The EQ makes it possible to get a variety of tones from the amp; unfortunately, all of them flat. It doesn't distort, providing you keep an eye on the clip warning light.

A solid amp. Having said this, I bought it online and the first one had to be sent back as the courier and dropped it on it's front and obliterated one of the knobs (despite being boxed and packed in polystyrene. The second, which I kept, had a smashed plug - I simply binned the lead and used a PC kettle lead I had spare.

I have been playing bass for about 17 years. I have subsequently ordered a Warwick bass amp as I am dissatisfied with the sound I get from this. As previous reviewers have said, it is a satisfyingly loud amp, unfortunately, it lacks punch and sounds very tone-sapping. In fact, the Marshall practice amp sounds significantly better, albeit much quieter (I still have it). If it had a more transparent tone and a built-in compressor, this could potentially be a very good amp. When I bought this amp, it was about ??170GBP, now it retails for over ??220GBP, which means it isn't even good value compared to Ashdown and Warwick combos currently available.

All the standard stuff that comes with a bass bomber!

125W RMS
15" Speaker + HF Horn
Ultra High Impedance Universal Jack Input
Variable Input Gain Control
Input PPI LED
3 Band Active EQ
Mid Shift Switch
Master Volume Control
Switch On Delay
Headphone Jack Socket

i used it for home recording/ practicing/ etc. it did a few small gigs with no trouble. i bought it second hand a few years ago when i joined a band, primarily because it was the only 15"er over 100w in the shop! Even though the mid-shift is pretty useful though for slap-work, the controls are a bit basic. i only got rid of it because i joined a new band and needed more sound - im up against my guitarists HH musician VS 2x12"!!!

most of the stuff i play is real bass-heavy, like dance, dub/ reggae, rock, etc. although there was some stuff that was all-out heavy rock/ metal. this amp was capable of covering all the sounds i needed. At the time i was using standard fender Jazz and Precision basses running through a Digitech multi-fx pedal. the HF horn came in handy for picking up the precisions "punch", while on the whole the 15" dealt with the jazz's low-end sounds.

i could have thrown this amp out of a window an it would have still worked! okay maybe its not THAT dependable, but all the time that i owned one, nothing went wrong with it. Nothing at all, it just sat there- on stage or in my bedroom- chucking out loads of lovely big sounds. Maybe i got lucky and other people have had them disintergrate on them, but mine seemed to take the usual gig punishment okay.

being second-hand it just came with the shops own usual 28 day warranty. carlsbro have recently updated their website so contact wuold seem easy.

at the time my only other amp was a little 25w practice amp, and i was just basically out to replace it with anything around 100w and it was the only one in any of the local shops that fitted my budget.
unfortunately it IS a bit bland, both looks and sound wise, but the lack of tonal personality kinda allows me to be more effects-based, which is good. the upshot of this is that when i decided to replace it a few months ago, i actually found a Carlsbro Bassline 300 in another local music store, and sold the bassbomber to buy the Bassline 300.

one last thing if you have cats - those carpet covered corners... make ideal scratching posts, be warned!

I Play Punk So I Don't Need Effects Or Anything So It Is Perfect For Me.All I Need Is The Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass And Volume.
The Other Plus Is That It's Very Loud.

I'm Getting A Fender Jazz Next Week So Unfortunately I Can't Say How It Sounds With It. But With My Vintage It Sounds Great And Changing Settings Makes It Versatile. There Has Never Been A Buzz And At High Levels It Doesn't Distort.

I've Had It A Year And A Half And Have Played About 10 Gigs Using It And There Have Never Been Any Problems(Apart From When I Forgot The Power Lead). I've Never Used A Backup. It's Never Been Serviced And Has Never Broken Down.

I've Never Dealt With Them And Don't Know About The Warranty

I've Been Playing For Four Years. I Own A Vintage Bass And A Zoom 506 Bass Pedal.I Will Be Getting A Fender Jazz Next Week.I'd Buy It Again Definately.I Love The Sound, The Simlicity And The Volume.I Hate The Way It Is So Big That It Won't Fit In The Attic Where My Band Practice So I Only Use It For Personnel Practice And Gigs.
I Compared It To My Last Amp - A Danelectro 20 Watt And My Other Amp - A Squire 20 Watt And It Sounds Much Better.
I Wish It Had Another Handle At The Top.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 3 band E.Q and its loud.
There isnt a fan so if it overheats like mine turn it off or the insides will melt like mine.

Im was using the amp with a fender jazz bass and i think it sounds verry damp and cold no matter what settings you use. The only thing going fot it is that its loud.

Well mine is 3 years old and its been in the shop more times than ive been to the toilet. The amp has been mainly used at band practice and home use, but has been giged twice. The last gig the amp overheated and burnt out and its F**KED

I have been playing for 3 years and i use a fender jazz bass with it
If it were stolen i would probably buy somthing else cos its a pile of crap.
Love-Nothing
Hate-everything
I wish i had Warwick sweet 15 or roland cube 100
Its a pice of s**t dont buy it

Specs for this amp are: 120 Watts RMS, Ultra High Impedance Input, Variable Input Gain control, Pre-amp Clip (PPI) LED, 3 Band Active EQ, Mid Shift function, Master Volume control, 15" Speaker, HF Horn, Headphones Output Socket, Aux Send & Return Sockets, Bar Handles, Punched Metal Grille, Weight : 26Kg (Approx.)

This amp sounds awful. I bought it because it was loud but (seemingly) cheap. I've since discovered that you can get MUCH better-sounding amps for the money. No matter what you do with the tone controls it just sounds wooly and dreadful. It completely saps the tone of anything you put through it. I got the overwhelming impression that Carlsbro simply don't know how bass guitar is meant to sound - and judging from the comments here on other Carlsbro bass amps, I guess I'm right. There's simply no character at all to the sound - it's just dull and lifeless and nothing you do with the tone controls rescues it. If you tap your fingers lightly on the front grille it rings out like a tea-tray and there's no way that can be good for the sound of ANY type of amp.

This amp was so uninspiring to use that it never got enough use to test whether it was relaible or not.

After having this amp for a few months I took it back to the shop and part-exchanged it for a "real" bass amp (a Warwick). Fortunately this amp was so awful that I virtually never used it and so was able to return it to the shop in good-as-new condition and got a good deal on a replacement amp instead.

After messing with other Carlsbro products in the shop, I came to the conclusion that they must be tone-deaf at that place to produce products that sound this bad.