Lightweight bass combo for oldman!!

[djmay]

Hi Maron6168,
I used a Markbass 121p for about 8 years, adding a Markbass speaker cab when needed—which was seldom.
Great little amp—until the speaker blew.
Markbass won’t sell you a new speaker—at least not in the US: you have to ship it to an authorized service center (which is very costly), then pay for the speaker ($$), as well as installation (more $$).
By the time you’re done, you may as well just buy a new amp.
I replaced my speaker with another suitable one, and continued to gig with it, but it never sounded as good.
Ultimately, I bought a Fender Rumble 800– a fantastic amp: it has a bit more power, 2-10” speakers, excellent tone controls; and while it’s a bit larger, the weight’s about the same—29lbs.
If I’d known then what I know now about the Markbass service policies, I would’ve bought a Rumble in the first place!

Good to know

 

[kerrycares]

GR AT Cube

What's your budget?

If you're looking for a super lightweight combo, I think nobody can beat GR Bass:

AT Cube 350: 8,4 Kg - 18,5 lbs
AT Cube 500: 8,8 Kg - 19,4 lbs
AT Cube 800: 9,6 Kg - 21,1 lbs

 

[Nebadon2000]

until the speaker blew.

The Speaker blew?

Yes the Markbass CMD 121 fits the need here; worked great for me[got it at age 64; 69 now] and yes Service seems to be a 1 shop operation in USA but not so in Europe; a lot of Manufactures wont sell proprietary Speakers to Consumer

I now have Mesa WD 800 and Subway 1x15 not quite as convenient but easily manageable for me. Take a look at Ashdown/Orange amps Barefaced Cabs, For a little more $ Trickfish also GRBass Combo's seem a good choice;
In your neck of the woods.

 

[chris_b]

I’m also in the broken old man club . . . .

Me too.

I won't pick up any piece of gear that weighs more than 30lbs. . . . and I don't have to, my cabs weigh 21lbs each and the amps are around 5lbs each. At one point my accessories case was the heaviest thing I carried.

I use Aguilar amps and Barefaced cabs, sound fantastic and can be as loud as any band requires. It really is a new world for bass players. Especially for the old guys!

 

[aero]

I can recommend from extensive experience Fender Rumble 100 and Traynor SB112 or SB115. All are gigable. Im 73, I jettisoned all my bulky clumsy heavy rigs. The Rumble 100 is 21 lbs. the SB112 is 25lbs. They do the job well. Very liberating!!!

View attachment 5209925

I got two of these, hook both with ab/y switch for big venues, massive sound.

 

[G-Dog]

I got two of these, hook both with ab/y switch for big venues, massive sound.

Why the AB/Y switch, aerie? Do you EQ them differently? I've read of many dual R100 users who just connect FX Send of one to FX Return of the other and control both from the Sender.

Also, visit the TalkBass Fender Rumble Club and get your free membership.
.

 

[thedovewarlord]

Some other great sounding options depending on your tonal preference:

1. Gallien-Krueger Fusion Combos, like the 115 or 2210 are approx 40 lbs / 18.14 kg -- Review Link
   
2. Aguilar TH500 (4 lbs/1.81 kg) and one of their SL series cabs, such as the SL210 or SL115 (35 lbs/ 15.87 kg) - Review Link

 

[MrLenny1]

Yesterday I traded my Fender Rumble 100 for a Mark Bass CMD 121.
The Rumble had all the patching needed but I wanted more power.
26 lbs. 300W @ 8 ohms. 500W @ 4 ohms.
Good Eq. Dial in any sound you like.

 

[MMJoel]

A couple of others suggested a small class D head and one lightweight cab. I do this. My head fits in my gig bag pocket, my small pedal board attaches to my gig bag, and that leaves both hands free for load-in/load-out. One small cab (1-10, 2-8 or 1-12) is an easy carry from there. Lots of options for both heads and cabs. I have a Warwick Gnome i-Pro for my amp. I am looking at new cabs including Barefaced, Revsound and Genzler.

 

[bass_case]

Turning 70 this year, size matters. I have an itty bitty GK MB fusion 500 and a couple of Aguilar SL 112s. One cab is fine for most applications, only about 25 lbs each. Love the lightweight stuff.

 

[relayer66]

What's your budget?

If you're looking for a super lightweight combo, I think nobody can beat GR Bass:

AT Cube 350: 8,4 Kg - 18,5 lbs
AT Cube 500: 8,8 Kg - 19,4 lbs
AT Cube 800: 9,6 Kg - 21,1 lbs

Lots of good recommendations on this thread…
I have a GR AT Cube 800. I can pick it up with my pinky finger, it sounds great and it gets LOUD!

 

[Coot]

I have that rig ( WD800 into Mesa subway 1x15)and it would be my pick .. Gotta wonky back too!

 

[4StringDave]

you can try the Markbass 121, i purchased one as a spare amp for smaller venues where my "fridge" made of speakers was "not welcome" D), soon after I tried it (both live and in a reharshal room) I decided to sell every other amp i owned (at that time i had a Marshall vba400 and an Orange Terror Bass 1000), just kept this little yellow thing (I play mostly metal and can confirm you'll never feel any lack of power), never had a regret, never an issue about sound/DI/line out/effects loop etc, here you can find the specs:

• power: 500W @ 4 Ohm, 300W @ 8 Ohm
• Speaker: 1x 12"
• Tweeter: Piezo
• frequency response: 45Hz - 18kHz
• Crossover: 3,5kHz
• Sensitivity: 99dB SPL
• Dimensions: H425 x 380 x 360mm
• weight: 11,9kg

Big +1

 

[Tassieviking]

Anyone else wondering where the OP has gone ?
Newbie with 2 posts (#1, #3)and then nothing since Wednesday.

 

[Maron6168]

Take a look at the Fender Rumble Club pages - lot of options there, from the 100 to the 800 combo and everything in between.
Where are you in the UK? I got my Rumble 500c from PMT, it does everything I need. Same size and similar mass to the 100c and 200c, but with the obvious headroom advantage.

Cardiff PMT there so will pop in

 

[bherman]

Cardiff PMT there so will pop in

In the UK, I'd definitely be looking at one of the smaller, lightweight Barefaced cabinets and a class D amp (not sure what is readily available in the UK, but maybe a Genzler Magellan 350 or a Mesa Subway D800 or 350).

 

[PiquetBass]

Cardiff PMT there so will pop in

Be interested to hear your thoughts once you've been.

 

[aero]

Why the AB/Y switch, aerie? Do you EQ them differently? I've read of many dual R100 users who just connect FX Send of one to FX Return of the other and control both from the Sender.

Also, visit the TalkBass Fender Rumble Club and get your free membership.
.

Traynor SB combos don't have effects loop that's why I'm using the ab/y switch, I put everything at noon on the combos. If I'm using an active bass I'll go bass - ab/y - 2 traynor combos. On passive bass I'll go bass - outboard preamp - ab/y switch to 2 traynor combos.

 

[Jogobass]

might as well go for the Rumble 500 or the similar 2x10 combos from ampeg or markbass. All pretty equal with their own sound.

 

[butterfingers1]

Traynor SB combos don't have effects loop that's why I'm using the ab/y switch, I put everything at noon on the combos. If I'm using an active bass I'll go bass - ab/y - 2 traynor combos. On passive bass I'll go bass - outboard preamp - ab/y switch to 2 traynor combos.

I’m doing that too combining the SB112 and SB115 with a Radial Bigshot ABY. I even have a second aby feeding two guitars (Fender precision and jazz) into this. My regular Traynor stack has my Squier single coil precision.