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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
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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.
The Markbass combos are excellent but pricey new - some good secondhand bargains tho.
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.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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..
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,
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.
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.
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.
...but weighs more than a black hole
Not mine! I do still have a Marshall 7210 though.
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...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F173456726058
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 .