My kingdom for a portable, powerful, punchy, practical amp

[jezzamac]

I'm very happy with my Markbass CMD 121P.

 

[WoodyG3]

I'm very happy with my Markbass CMD 121P.

Me too.

I don't know what your volume requirements are, but I play my little 12" Markbass in a church with about 150 seats and the volume knob never goes above about 1/4 power.

Like you, I was pretty impressed with the little GK combos, too. Then I played one side by side with a Markbass and it ruined the GK for me. Of course, we are talking a HUGE difference in price, too.

Do you think the Peavey would be safe if you left it at church? That would certainly be the least work. Would other bassists benefit from being able to use the amp when you weren't playing? Also, would you fear other people miss using the amp when you weren't around.

 

[JimmyM]

Me too.

I don't know what your volume requirements are, but I play my little 12" Markbass in a church with about 150 seats and the volume knob never goes above about 1/4 power.

I've played 1000-seat theaters with mine and never had the volume higher than that. Of course, I had a PA to run it through

 

[Stumbo]

If you can get your peavey locked down at the church to keep it from being used when you're not there (if that's a problem), I would leave it there(if that's the only place you're going to perform) and buy a little practice combo with some inputs for a CD/mp3 player and a maybe even a drum machine/effects.

Or just practice through your stereo or computer with headphones and save some cash.

 

[Jefenator]

If you go with a amp/speaker system you would have everything you want, and the ability to add on later if you like
Aguilar GS112- $300 used + MB LMII or GB Shuttle 6.0 $500 used. Load in/out in one trip without hurting yourself and sound great too Add another GS112 when you are ready and you will be able to handle most anything

+1 on that - it's exactly what I did! (GS112 + LMII) Packs a pretty good wallop - add another 12 for depth at higher volume. If you're dead set on a combo, Markbass offers a bigger 1x12 combo, comparable to an Aguilar GS112.

 

[Liko]

Do you think the Peavey would be safe if you left it at church? That would certainly be the least work. Would other bassists benefit from being able to use the amp when you weren't playing? Also, would you fear other people misusing the amp when you weren't around.

Do I think the Peavey is safe at church? Definitely. (crosses fingers and knocks on wood) We've never had a break-in, the church is on a major thoroughfare and it itself is patrolled regularly by area police, and on top of that, the amp and its extension cab together are over 100 pounds, and would be upstairs largely out of sight. There are far more attractive pieces of hardware even if they went up there. I would actually fear a MarkBass rig being stolen more than I would this rig (small, expensive and bright yellow); if I did get a Markbass combo or head-cab it would probably be loaded in and out whenever it was needed.

Would other bassists benefit from it? Probably not; myself and another electric guitard are the only guys who regularly play bass, and if he's there he's on g****r since he's better at it (I've been playing g****r about 2 years; he's done it professionally for about 20).

Do I fear misuse? Not really. It's a Peavey, solid-state, and without an instrument or cable to plug in (I will DEFINITELY take my instruments with me), the most I'd realistically expect from anyone who'd be up in that loft would be some experimental knob-twiddling. That might make my first note a bit jarring, but I've pushed that amp harder longer than one loud note would ever do. If I thought tinkering would be a serious problem I could find a dust cover, which would discourage all but the most curious hands.

 

[DougD]

+1 on that - it's exactly what I did! (GS112 + LMII) Packs a pretty good wallop - add another 12 for depth at higher volume. If you're dead set on a combo, Markbass offers a bigger 1x12 combo, comparable to an Aguilar GS112.

I have the F1 and the 6.0 and I can say first hand that the Aggies sound great through both and they make my Dr. 1580 sing For the first time in a long while im GASS free. For now at least

 

[BullHorn]

I own the 210 markbass combo. It's light and very easy to move around (You can hold it vertically with one hand easily).

Then again, would you trade off sound for weight? In anything, I'm looking at 3 things in this order: A) sound. B) comfort. C) weight and size.

The Markbass is indeed small, light and comfortable. But sound? I haven't gigged with it much yet (Once, actually), but the amplifier itself is trying to compensate something. The low-end sounds muddy and hard to understand, compared to more old-school gear like Ampeg or Eden. With those amps you can hear exactly what is done, with the Markbass for some reason it's often hard to determine if I'm playing F or F#, for example.


It might be my EQ/playing/bass, or maybe there's a weird Markbass-bandwagon that shouldn't really exist because there is nothing so unique about the Markbass. I don't know. I just think you could get a much better sound out of a, say, Eden 405 and a nice 2x10 cabinet.
I'm not yet entirely satisfied from my 210 Markbass combo. :x


p.s. I also tried the 115 combo and I liked it less. I went with the 210 combo because I'm far from being able to afford an Eden and I was looking into buying something that can cut well through the mix. I'm still not sure if it can actually cut through the mix, lol. I'll have to test this.

 

[jezzamac]

I own the 210 markbass combo. .


... maybe there's a weird Markbass-bandwagon that shouldn't really exist because there is nothing so unique about the Markbass. I don't know.

??? ... What? It's yellow!!!!!!!

 

[DougD]

I own the 210 markbass combo. It's light and very easy to move around (You can hold it vertically with one hand easily).

Then again, would you trade off sound for weight? In anything, I'm looking at 3 things in this order: A) sound. B) comfort. C) weight and size.

The Markbass is indeed small, light and comfortable. But sound? I haven't gigged with it much yet (Once, actually), but the amplifier itself is trying to compensate something. The low-end sounds muddy and hard to understand, compared to more old-school gear like Ampeg or Eden. With those amps you can hear exactly what is done, with the Markbass for some reason it's often hard to determine if I'm playing F or F#, for example.


It might be my EQ/playing/bass, or maybe there's a weird Markbass-bandwagon that shouldn't really exist because there is nothing so unique about the Markbass. I don't know. I just think you could get a much better sound out of a, say, Eden 405 and a nice 2x10 cabinet.
I'm not yet entirely satisfied from my 210 Markbass combo. :x


p.s. I also tried the 115 combo and I liked it less. I went with the 210 combo because I'm far from being able to afford an Eden and I was looking into buying something that can cut well through the mix. I'm still not sure if it can actually cut through the mix, lol. I'll have to test this.

I hear ya im not entirely happy with markbass speakers either. That's why I went with the head and separate cab. more options that way INMHO