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Kinsman K100B review

Bass combo with built-in effects

  • £279
Reviews
By ( Guitarist ) published
The Kinsman K100B makes a great practice amp, but has no problem handling small gigs, either

MusicRadar Verdict

A simple bass amp with solid build quality, that's powerful enough to take you through small gigs. The EQ section is a highlight.

Pros

  • +

    Powerful. Solid tones. Flexible.

Cons

  • -

    Some effects a bit lightweight. No active indicator for effects.

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In smart black livery with corner protectors and inset side handles, this highly affordable 1 x 15 bass combo certainly looks the part. The Kinsman K100B has a good solid build, reasonable weight and twin rear porting, too.

"The Kinsman K100B has a good solid build, reasonable weight and twin rear porting, too"

Under the hood, we have six-band rotary EQ with notch filter, preamp gain and master volume with associated preamp overload indicator, and an aux input.

There's also an effects loop, footswitch and external speaker connections plus a balanced line-out XLR. But the switchable digital effects section makes this rather special, with its four stages of chorus, two of flange, a slapback echo sound and a Pink Floyd- style delay.

Sounds

"This is a remarkably capable unit with a good solid sound"

This is a remarkably capable unit with a good solid sound, surprisingly powerful delivery and a really good range of tones thanks to that expansive EQ section. The notch control makes the combo even more variable, as it allows further tailoring of your sound by removing certain frequencies from the overall spectrum.

We like the effects, too, although some seem a bit lightweight on delivery and on things such as the Lite Chorus, it's not that easy to be sure they're on, so an active indicator would be a real bonus. You can't combine the effects, either.

Primarily a practice amp, this does have all the necessary output connections as well as 100 watts of power, so it can also handle small gigs and recording with no problems. The effects are an interesting addition but would benefit from more individual control.