Peavey Max 208 and/or Phil Jones Session 77 experience?

I have the PV and like it a lot. It packs a great punch and I think it would fit the situation you described quite well. I bought mine as a demo from Sweetwater and saved myself some coin, as well.

It’s plenty tweakable for me. Nice range of sweep on the controls. The weight is decent, as well.

I play a P-Bass build and mostly rock and blues.

    I don’t have the Phil Jones amp your considering, I do have a Phil Jones two by four, I really like it, it was expensive with the recommended battery power supply. I was looking for an amp that could work off the grid. I use it mostly in acoustic situations, it has a great tone and cuts through all the dreadnoughts that most acoustic guitarists seem to prefer.       

    I’ve played my parlor sized acoustic Ibanez PNB14E bass outside and inside with as many as 10 Dreadnoughts, banjos, fiddles and mandolin pounding away and still cut though. Some of the guys commented on how good it sounded and couldn’t believe how well it cut through, until I pointed at the wireless transmitter plugged into the bass. The amp was under my chair. This has happened a few times. Even at the Alafia River Rendezvous, they let you slide a little on instruments that are not pre 1840 design, only the hired stage musicians use power and that’s just for the last two days when the camp is open to tourists. I had the PJ in an ash woven canoe pack and only one guy asked me about the blue led he noticed between the split ash weaving. I told him it was my emotional support canoe pack, not to worry about it. He laughed and said OK, sounds good, and thanked me for playing the whole time, it was a couple of hours, there had to be 20 others playing various instruments around the campfire. Only one bass.

Yeah, it’s tough buying stuff you’ve never auditioned. Particularly now a days were some bran name items are manufactured off shore and fall well below the historical reputation of the brand.

Then their is also the individual subjective opinion of what’s good or crap. Often stuff that has been recommended to me falls below my expectation. The Rumble 15 is an example, I purchased one after all the hoopla from bass forums, it just wasn’t for me. The Rumble 40 however was a happy surprise, I purchased it after I tried it. I’ll never use the Rumble 15, eventually I’ll sell of one of my basses and bundle it, after I switch it back to the stock Fender speaker.

    I have too many amps, it’s nice to have the variety though, I’ve got everything covered from noodling at home to large stage stuff, which mostly gets re-enforced anyways.

    I’ve been moving towards less weight. The GB Shuttle 9.0 weighs 4lbs, Power Output 500W/900 W, @ 8Ω/4Ω along with the 2X10 SWR Golight jr. @ 38lbs covers nearly everything I need. If I do need the full 900 watts I add a 15” or the SWR 4X10, I still have the old SWR Studio 220, that I purchased with the SWR Goliath 4X10. I have a lot of options in amp/speaker configurations.

    At the last project/band Al had a studio built inside one of his cow pastures, for those 3 or 4 years the old SWR 220 and it’s 4X10 cab lived there. I never used it for gigs. The GB rig I mentioned above covered all the bar jobs.

    Years ago I got a fairly good deal on a used GK MB150E. It’s a powerful little amp that covers a lot of venues, I’ve even used it outside playing a neighbors local outdoor tiki bar.

    For my 16th birthday dad got me a silver faced Fender Baseman. It was my first amp, at 16 years of age I was in heaven. Over the years of use I realized 50 watts was a bit anemic. It was stollen in a home break in back in the late 70s.

I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on the amp once you’ve played it a while.

Mine is great, but I only play at home.

Everything I said before still applies. I like it for lower volume stuff and wouldn't hesitate to buy another if it was lost or stolen.