Bass combo - upto £300 ish

Snap

Hi,

My youngest has been learning bass for a while and has got to the point where she needs an amp that will be oK for practicing with her mates in their first band.

I'm looking to spend upto 300 I think, and have looked at a couple so far - Markbass Micormark 801, and the Peavey Max 115.

I like the idea of possibly using an extension cab at some point if needed, but that's not a must have.

All advice most welcome!

cheers

MattBanshee

I used a Peavey Max 115 at a rehearsal studio last night because my Ampeg packed up, and it was very good. Loud, easy to dial in and reasonable size/weight.

kennedydream1980

My mate who is a drummer recently decided he wanted to try his hand at bass. He picked up a Fender Rumble 40 combo. It sounded excellent to me with the added bonus of being incredibly lightweight. I picked it up and it felt like an empty box, I couldn't believe there was an amp and speaker in there it was so light. I see the Rumble 100 combo is within your budget, might be worth a look.

Bridgehouse

New or second hand? If you want to play with others including a drummer then you need something with at least some poke. A fender Rumble 200 might do the job - a rumble 500 definitely will and they take extension cabs. 

The Markbass combos are excellent but pricey new - some good secondhand bargains tho.

ICBM

Of those two, the Peavey without question.

Although the Micromark is very nice-sounding, high quality and portable, I highly doubt it will be loud enough to play with a band at only 45W with an 8" speaker - I would go for something with a minimum of a 12" speaker, preferably a 15 or multiple 10s, and at least 100W, preferably 150.

It's also easy to find something second hand in that price range - or actually quite a lot less - with that sort of power and speaker size because they're generally heavy, and don't hold their value well. Peavey is still a good bet, or Fender, Laney, Hartke, Marshall, even Behringer aren't bad.

Avoid Ashdown if you can... they have reliability issues.

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Avoid Ashdown if you can... they [used to] have reliability issues [with some models - allegedly]

Kebabkid

Rumbles are good but if you can find a used Roland Bass Cube 120XL they're great (different models, fx, ext.spk output, DI out), loud enough to gig and relatively light

ICBM

Bridgehouse said:

ICBM said:

Avoid Ashdown if you can... they [used to] have reliability issues [with some models - allegedly]

Which models do they make now which don't?

I genuinely don't know since I only tend to see dead ones, so it would be good to find out what they make that I haven't seen . But I do see a *lot* of the older models, more than any other bass amp brand. Yes, I know they're also popular...

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Bridgehouse said:

ICBM said:

Avoid Ashdown if you can... they [used to] have reliability issues [with some models - allegedly]

Which models do they make now which don't?

I genuinely don't know since I only tend to see dead ones, so it would be good to find out what they make that I haven't seen . But I do see a *lot* of the older models, more than any other bass amp brand. Yes, I know they're also popular...

This thread is worth a read 

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/313385-ashdown-fan-club/?page=2

The general Basschat view is that they are broadly nowadays (since 2017) as reliable as any other mid range brand, had some issues in the past, but uniquely their customer Service is second to none and they are exceptionally good at going out of their way to fix stuff. 

The basschat regulars can be a tough crowd to please (the recent trace revival is testament to that ) but there is relatively very little negativity about Ashdown..

Snap

Thanks all, useful stuff. The Peavey looked v good value to me, its loud and extendable. don't want something too big at first either, cos it will be in a bedroom!

dunno what all this big amp fuss is about, I manage fine with my Blackstar Fly Bass,

Bridgehouse

Snap said:

Thanks all, useful stuff. The Peavey looked v good value to me, its loud and extendable. don't want something too big at first either, cos it will be in a bedroom!

dunno what all this big amp fuss is about, I manage fine with my Blackstar Fly Bass,

I’ve done plenty of gigs with no amp at all - just a pedaltrain Nano with tuner and preamp/DI and straight to FOH

Snap

When we moved house recently, I found the 4 channel amp we used in a band in the 80s. Rackmount, 200W mosfet transistor thing, from a build yourself kit, Powertran its called. That was damn loud. We'd put anything into it, and out into a couple of huge homemade 2x12 cabs, with Fane speakers in them. Each cab weighted about 3 stone!

I think the amp still works. At last test, it just had a bad hiss when you had a guitar or bass through it. Shame I have no cabs any more.

Funkfingers

Bridgehouse said:

A fender Rumble 200 might do the job 

The output rating on the Rumble 200 is a bit naughty. 200w RMS is only achieved with an extension cab connected. On its own, the 200 combo is only 120w RMS. 

Bridgehouse said:

a rumble 500 definitely will 

The Rumble 500 1x15 will handle gigs without resorting to any other amplification. The Fender extension cab options only make sense if you wish to stack a 2x10 on top of a 1x15.

ICBM said:

Marshall

Insane bargains to be had with the old Dynamic Bass System series. (Not to be confused with the MDF enclosed BassState series!) The 72115 is fugly but functional. The 72410 is cripplingly heavy. Confusingly, the 7400/7210/7115 stack that I used to gig with is probably more portable. 

Bridgehouse

Or, buy an old Trace Elliot combo - super cheap, massive sound and brilliant durability...


...but weighs more than a black hole

Funkfingers

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123280659105?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&fromMakeTrack=true 

Not mine! I do still have a Marshall 7210 though.

Bridgehouse

Funkfingers said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123280659105?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&fromMakeTrack=true 

Not mine! I do still have a Marshall 7210 though.

Comes with castors... which is essential

ICBM

Bridgehouse said:

Or, buy an old Trace Elliot combo - super cheap, massive sound and brilliant durability...

Trace Failalot .


They used to be very good - I had a pair of MkV heads (AH150 and AH250) I used for years, the 250 in particular sounded absolutely huge, although it did weigh as much as a small car...

But after Series 6 the design and build quality started to drop, and by the time they got to the SM series they were a pale reflection really. And don’t mention the V series! I had a V8 briefly too - it tried to collapse into its own gravitational field . (Basically the chassis wasn’t strong enough to support the weight of the transformers.)

Nowadays all the old ones are getting very tired and often need quite a lot of work as well. The recent Peavey-made ones seem fairly reliable, but if they do fail they aren’t easily repairable other than on a modular basis so I would be wary. I haven’t read what was said about them on Basschat...

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Bridgehouse said:

Or, buy an old Trace Elliot combo - super cheap, massive sound and brilliant durability...

Trace Failalot .


They used to be very good - I had a pair of MkV heads (AH150 and AH250) I used for years, the 250 in particular sounded absolutely huge, although it did weigh as much as a small car...

But after Series 6 the design and build quality started to drop, and by the time they got to the SM series they were a pale reflection really. And don’t mention the V series! I had a V8 briefly too - it tried to collapse into its own gravitational field . (Basically the chassis wasn’t strong enough to support the weight of the transformers.)

Nowadays all the old ones are getting very tired and often need quite a lot of work as well. The recent Peavey-made ones seem fairly reliable, but if they do fail they aren’t easily repairable other than on a modular basis so I would be wary. I haven’t read what was said about them on Basschat...

Mostly the Basschat lot just love the tone and wish the new elf even sounded vaguely like it had *that* tone

Bridgehouse

On the subject of TE - I considered getting one of their new Transit B’s but I’ve not got as far as actually committing the funds yet

Bridgehouse

Funkfingers said:

Bridgehouse said:

A fender Rumble 200 might do the job 

The output rating on the Rumble 200 is a bit naughty. 200w RMS is only achieved with an extension cab connected. On its own, the 200 combo is only 120w RMS. 

Bridgehouse said:

a rumble 500 definitely will 

The Rumble 500 1x15 will handle gigs without resorting to any other amplification. The Fender extension cab options only make sense if you wish to stack a 2x10 on top of a 1x15.

ICBM said:

Marshall

Insane bargains to be had with the old Dynamic Bass System series. (Not to be confused with the MDF enclosed BassState series!) The 72115 is fugly but functional. The 72410 is cripplingly heavy. Confusingly, the 7400/7210/7115 stack that I used to gig with is probably more portable. 

Irony of ironies...

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F173456726058

terada

I picked up a Markbass Micromark 801 a while back and absolutely love it. The tone is great, a lot of bass amps I tried couldn't handle my SG bass without distorting, but the little 8" speaker was way better than the other combos that I tried in that price bracket - even those with much larger speakers.

I suppose what it may lack in sheer volume it makes up in quality. The whole thing is very well made, no rattles at all even at silly volume, and it is both tiny and super light.

With regard to volume, it would really depend on your daughters band. It is great at home volumes, but also goes far louder than I could ever play at home. I have gigged mine, and once set on a chair was plenty loud enough to match the Peavey PA (used for vocals and electro-acoustic), and a light hitting drummer. It wasn't close to being at full volume either.

That said, I'm not sure it would cope with a heavy hitting drummer/half stack, which of course might be the preference of younger players  .