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NAD: The final all-in-one, budget, be loud AF solution

kmon

kmon

Supporting Member
May 11, 2009
3,012
5,205
Chocolate Disneyland
#1
So I reported in last week on this. I'm back in some bands and I wanted a complete, quality, be-loud solution(or solutions) for under $700. I wanted something loud enough for anything(that I'm gonna do), but I also require portability as I'm rehearsing in multiple places where gear can't necessatily be left.

I wanted pro stuff, and I wanted functionaility. No toy rehearsal amp, I wanted something that I could both rehearse and gig with.

Mission accompished I think...I ended up with a mix and match solution that I'm absolutely thrilled with.

Big enough for anything is an Epifani 212. It's a beast that's loud enough for any show a hack like me will ever play :)

Light but functional is a Markbass 121 300/500 watt combo...29 lbs. I'll use the combo cab at 300 watts for rehearsals and gigs, I think it will cover a lot of situations on its own. When/if I need more I can pop the cable out of the combo and plug in the 4ohm Epifani to the Markbass head at 500 watts.

Seems like this will have me covered, and it came in just under budget at $650. Here she is:


IMG_2185 2.JPG

IMG_2186 2.jpg
 
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#4
kmon said:
Yep that's the plan 👍
Click to expand...
If you plan doing that, consider the possibility to remove the head from the combo.
It's perfectly doable: it will miss the "top cover", which you can easily arrange somehow.
You will then have the combo-cab serving as a regular 1x12 cab (you just need to extend the cable a bit) and the combo-head as a separate head.

I did it for some time.
To make things look nicer, I also put the "head" in a Mark Bass bag, so to hide the "home made" top cover I had.
 
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#5
Excellent setup for the money; I had MB Combo you may find it will work fine on it's own for most small to medium type venues even with no FOH

Yes removing the Head is a option but if luging Epifani 2x12 isn't a problem neither should 30lb MB along with it:)
 
#7
Using the head with a different cab looks very cool ... that's the reason I did (of course it's easier to carry a head in a bag on your back than a 1x12 combo)
Below you can see a couple of pictures.
Once I removed the head from the combo, I had different available combinations using 3 different cabs (all Mark Bass):

1x12 NY - the cab I got from the combo
1x12H - the bigger cab in the image below
4x10R - not in these pictures - never got it out of the rehearsal room (yet)

Actually I then acquired a separate Mark Bass head and I have rebuilt the combo, since I only ended up using one of these 2 configurations:

- 1x12NY --> the combo
- 1x12NY + 1x12H --> the combo with an extension cab


MB_1x12.jpg
Head + 1x12 from the combo (used as a cab)

MB_1x12_b.jpg
Head + 1x12 cab
 
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#9
MrWolf14 said:
Using the head with a different cab looks very cool ... that's the reason I did (of course it's easier to carry a head in a bag on your back than a 1x12 combo)
Below you can see a couple of pictures.
Once I removed the head from the combo, I had different available combinations using 3 different cabs (all Mark Bass):

1x12 NY - the cab I got from the combo
1x12H - the bigger cab in the image below
4x10R - not in these pictures - never got it out of the rehearsal room (yet)

Actually I then acquired a separate Mark Bass head and I have rebuilt the combo, since I only ended up using one of these 2 configurations:

- 1x12NY --> the combo
- 1x12NY + 1x12H --> the combo with an extension cab


View attachment 7338857
Head + 1x12 from the combo (used as a cab)

View attachment 7338858
Head + 1x12 cab
Click to expand...
That's a great idea. It's one of the things that I really liked about the MB setup: the fact that it was just a Little Mark II dropped in there and that it could be easily removed for maximum flexibility.

I'll leave it in for the moment to make it a quick grab and go for rehearsals, but it's nice to have the option.
 
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#11
Nice work! A year or so ago I played a shared bill and the other artist let me use their backline, which was either the same or very similar Epifani 2x12 cab you have and a Markbass head, and it sounded great. Enjoy your bargain bang-for-buck rig!
 
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#15
kmon said:
So I reported in last week on this. I'm back in some bands and I wanted a complete, quality, be-loud solution(or solutions) for under $700. I wanted something loud enough for anything(that I'm gonna do), but I also require portability as I'm rehearsing in multiple places where gear can't necessatily be left.

I wanted pro stuff, and I wanted functionaility. No toy rehearsal amp, I wanted something that I could both rehearse and gig with.

Mission accompished I think...I ended up with a mix and match solution that I'm absolutely thrilled with.

Big enough for anything is an Epifani 212. It's a beast that's loud enough for any show a hack like me will ever play :)

Light but functional is a Markbass 121 300/500 watt combo...29 lbs. I'll use the combo cab at 300 watts for rehearsals and gigs, I think it will cover a lot of situations on its own. When/if I need more I can pop the cable out of the combo and plug in the 4ohm Epifani to the Markbass head at 500 watts.

Seems like this will have me covered, and it came in just under budget at $650. Here she is:


View attachment 7338727
View attachment 7338728
Click to expand...
Well done. Congrats.
 

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