Al Krow

Thanks Lozz. Having played the amp for a couple of days, I'm really delighted with it. As you noted at #11, it does come with the signature Markbass "clean" sound when played on its own, and from that perspective the rather gorgeous creamy warmth of my Mesa M6 Carbine is gonna be hard to beat (and I'm kinda glad I therefore still have an excuse to hold on to my Mesa for rehearsals!) Mrs K is particularly pleased that this Markbass has aux input and a headphone socket! As a practical, portable, powerful and great sounding little "gigging" combo I have a feeling that the Markbass Lite / Alain Caron is going to happily meet all my expectations.

First of all a big thanks to everyone for their thoughts on this.

I've been persuaded by the Markbass fans to go for one of their models: the Alain Caron signature combo which can currently be bought for around £875 at a couple of places (i.e. 25% off its normal list price of £1,150 - many thanks to Molan for spotting that for me), so below the £1k limit I had. I was also definitely tempted by the AER, but with the Markbass Lite delivering its full 600W (including 100W for the horn) through a stand-alone combo that I can lift with one arm, rather than 200W for the AER, and a 12" rather than 10" speaker, I guess I've gone for the slightly "safer" option of having the extra head room should I ever need it. It arrived today and looks great - really looking forward to gigging with it!

That's fair - see #17 for the source of my concern here. But hopefully just initial teething problems on the Ashdown production line.

I've taken the opportunity to update my initial thinking and re-order the list of "best" combos based on the very helpful feedback and comments received to date.

Just seen some dire reviews on the GK MB210 combos (basically blowing up / dying on stage) on Musician's Friend website...was that just bad luck, or does that tie in with folk's wider experience of GK?

The new Fender Rumble 500 seems to be getting some great reviews. Are the Markbass 121H or 210 combos, or even the very highly regarded AER combos going to add enough (or even anything?) to justify paying TWICE as much? I will see if the Fender (Regent Sounds) and Markbass (Wunjo) combos are in stock in Denmark St and A/B them. But grateful for your thoughts and any key niggles I should be watching out for?

Cheers buddy! Really like your band and the bass player is not too shabby at all! You're right the AER amp one does sound very good; with the bass clearly cutting through the mix throughout.

I also meant to say before that your thoughts on the evolution of bass amp technology at #61 was really well articulated and a very interesting (and positive) insight into the direction of travel for bass amplification. Thank you.

Mesa amp + Sandberg bass. Sounds like a perfect combination to me!

Can I persuade you to upload a track or two, for us BC's to hear these fantastic pieces of kit being played together?

Hi Clarky - did you buy this from Toasting with an additional 12" cab? If so are you selling that also?

Hey Molan - looking forward to your comparison and if there's a new Fender Rumble 500, which seems to be getting good reviews in a couple of other BC threads, which you can try out at the same time, even better!

A couple of comments in this thread have referred to Mesa Boogies. Titchfieldrelic has spotted a Mesa M3 combo for £799 at guitar guitar and I've been wondering (ok off topic!) how the M6 carbine would stack up against the new Demeter minnie VTBP-M800D. Now a little bird (walbassist to be precise ) told me you had experience of the Mesa and are the (lucky!) owner of a Demeter...

If that's correct then please share your views. In particular the Mesa describes itself as a "transclass" amp. Is that an AB or class D? What about the Demeter on the same point? (I see both have tube pre-amps).

Definitely two schools of thought developing here:
(I) 500W plus 2x12 cabs min needed for all gigs for band and audience to hear bass; avoids risk of inadequate PA & keeps options open to be louder when needed
(II) 200W & 10" speaker fine, 'cos adequate for pub gigs and small / med sized venues, and with larger venues still fine for the band to hear the bass on stage and bass will be DI'd via PA for audience

Sparky Mark and other Markbass users does the 121H (as a stand alone) stack up against the 102p (12" vs 2x10")? If so, it's additional portability makes it a very attractive option.

Just come across the Epifunky Combo 115 on the Bass Gallery website. 150W class AB into 15" plus separate 50W for tweeter £429. Seems very good value for an AB amp with the Epi brand? Anyone heard these? Another excuse for me to go visit Bass Gallery I guess

That does look like a great piece of kit. I'd be really interested to get your views on how the Markbass stacks up against the other leading sub £1k contenders, particularly the GK MB212 (or MB210) and the new Fender Rumble 500?

Hi walbassist - you ever been a Mesa Boogie fan? if so, how does the Demeter stack up against the M6 Carbine? They seem to be in a similar price (but obviously not the same weight!) bracket?

Fyi - there's also a really good thread on this amp started by walbassist on14 Feb. He's bought one and seems to be completely in love with it!

I'm happy to be over-ruled on the 10x vs 4x debate on watts needed for a doubling of experienced volume . My info source, for what it's worth was this seemingly very well put together article: http://www.gmarts.org/index.php?go=216

Phil you are seriously not helping my GAS in relation to AER amps!! They do seem to be getting uniformly rave reviews. Do you know anyone who owns / have you heard the AER Amp Two? This is a bit more pricey than the Amp One, but more powerful (okay I get that an extra 40W is like nothing from the volume debate ) and importantly has a 12"+4" speaker arrangement rather than a single 10" speaker and, on paper, should therefore be even more amazing!

All really good points. I've come across a slightly different relationship between watts and volume in that you need 4x the watts to double the volume (i.e. you would need a 800W amp to double the volume of your 200W)? I guess one of us will be right on this ('cos for once there is a "right" answer! ), but I certainly I agree that 10x watts does not give 10x volume. The point about the PA is clearly key and also if you are going to DI out. I did come across one basschatter who said "we bass players spend our lives trying to get the perfect sound / tone and then the sound engineer comes along and does what he likes!" I thought that was just beautiful! But I have to agree with you that a key rationale for the combo route is portability (and value for money) in addition to great sound, and your AER does seem to hit the mark!

Ok so we're kinda wandering a little off track, but in a hugely useful direction! Thank you, I do appreciate the shared wisdom here!

So if the issue is more generally with class D heads and processed sounds, what are the alternatives you've gone for?

Pure valve amps are hugely heavy and expensive, and can be painful to maintain. The AER amp two has a 12 + 4 speaker arrangement and an [i]analogue[/i] head, but is still light. I'm wondering whether this is the secret to AER getting such rave reviews from the likes of chrisanthony earlier in this thread and a very devoted basschat following more generally? I'm guessing that (i.e. analogue) is what Epifani are also doing with their heads? And then there is Mesa Boogie with its trans-class vacuum tube pre-amp set up and gorgeous creamy sound (certainly for the M6 when routed through Delano jazz pickups) which I absolutely love...

So the GK MB212-ii delivers 500W with a 2x12 cab, so not sure why this doesn't match up to what JTUK is recommending?

Thanks JTUK. Seems like you are a GK (separates) fan?! Given that I initially ranked 1= GK MB212 - ii 500W as ticking all the boxes, would you agree? Is it really as good as some of the reviews suggest? Any downsides with GK and this combo as compared to the rest?

Ok guys - you are looking to do some serious damage to my bank balance!! The Mark Bass Alain Caron (£1,150) and the AER Amp Two is £1,400 (and giving me serious GAS!!!). BUUUT I should rule both out of court, together with the TEC Amp Puma 212 Combo (also £1,150), for being above £1k. Maybe there's another thread of best combo > £1k to be had ...

I am interested that the comments so far suggest my thinking a minimum 2x10 is required is not correct for a medium sized venue and that 1x12 (or even 1x10) is fine to cut through the mix?

Horizontalste - I think there may be some new Genz Coutours being sold by eBay US, but once you've paid shipping, import duty and VAT they won't be cheap, and dunno what you feel about importing from the US rather than via a UK / EU retailer?

Cheers. Well that's given me another excuse to get up to the bass gallery, although it seems that the amp one is only available as a special order item Good luck with the festival and I'm looking forward to the YouTube clip of you guys playing live!

LukeFRC - the quality issue from the Ashdown 420 was from a mate of mine who has just set up a new rehearsal studio as a commercial venture. He bought 3 Ashdown 420s and ALL THREE had problems within a couple of months of acquiring. Ugh!! He has since retuned them all and received a full refund from the retailer and replaced with some second hand gear (a Peavey 450 Tour Head and cab and TC BG 250 model 1) which are all working fine...Real shame 'cos Ashdown, as a British manufacturer, would be one that it would be great to support and this combo (apart from its weight!) looks and sounds good. So I'm hoping that this was just an unlucky batch and Ashdown have sorted out the issue, but for all three to go wrong is kinda worrying..

Hi chrisanthony - look forward to hearing your band (where are you playing?)! I've checked Ed Friedland's review and I get the point about this being an analogue head (and not a class D digital) and hence some of the differences in power output "per watt" and clarity etc. Interested that your preference is for AER amp three 2x8 and not for amp two (240W and 12+4 inch speakers)? The latter seems ideal to me, but I suspect is going to be premium priced? I see that Thomann are doing amp one for £950, how much are amps two and three? Do you know which stores (around London best for me) stock these babies, so that I could try them out? Having owned both, are you really saying this combo is as good as / better than the Mesa Walkabout?!

The TecAmp Puma 112? - The new model seems to be retailing at £1149 on GAK, although Thomann have the Classic on for sale at under £800. Has the latter been discontinued, and do you know why the hike in price on the new model (which takes it above £1k...)?? Be interested to hear why you think the TecAmp wins over the MarkBass?

Hi chrisanthony, must admit I'd not come across the AER amp one before. I think this sneaks in at below £1k...You'll have seen that the MarkBass Combo is (rightly) getting support, so I'm kinda intrigued that you seem to prefer the AER to both the MarkBass and also the MesaBoogie Walkabout? (I'm a huge MesaBoogie fan btw, but the Walkabout is way above £1k so didn't make the short list). Do you have any clips of you using the AER with your band?

Hi stingrayPete I do agree there are some amazing separates out there. But a great 500W head and separate high quality 2x12 cab for £600 all in? I'd challenge anyone to find me high quality separates at that price that could go head to head with the GK or the Fender combos? (And plenty of bass chat comparing different amp heads and cabs, so I thought it would be great to hear a bit more about folk's thoughts on the combo options).

Thanks Ramirez - good to hear a contrary view about the Orange cleansound issue...

So its been 3 years since I originally put this question to the wicked and wise on BC:

I appreciate that a combo is not everyone's cup of tea, but in terms of "plug and play" convenience when doing smaller gigs and getting a better price in comparison to buying separates, they're hard to beat as a concept.

For me a great combo delivers:

• Great sound (of course)
• Ability to cut through the mix, so at least 300w and a minimum of 1x12 or 2x10 speakers [some really interesting debate as to whether this level of power and speaker size is needed or not - see #60 to #62 below]
• Value for money - with a price cap of £1k new
• Portability - ideally weighs less than 50lbs

NOV 2017 UPDATE of previous 2014 conclusions

1= Eich BC112 ProCombo Pro 500W 1x12 £999 31 lbs
Eich is the successor to the much loved Tecamp Puma and this BC112 Pro combines an amazing combination of power, portabilty and sound with its high quality Eich (Tecamp) cab which is very highly rated particularly in its 2x12 form. Just manages to slip in under the £1k limit!

1= Fender Rumble 500 350W (8ohm) / 500W (4ohm) 2x10 £450 37 lbs best value for money 

3 MarkBass Alain Caron121Lite ("AC") 500W 1x12 £989 37 lbs
Formerly 1= in 2014 (and my current combo). The latest model now has an additional 300w into horn. This really also does seem to deliver a great combination of power, portability and sound. Voicing of the cab and EQ of amp could both be improved a touch and hence why it has been pipped by the Eich.


Previously #1 (Nov 2014)
AER Amp One  200W 1x10 £950 (now £1,349) 30 lbs
No longer < £1k. Starting to feel like 'old tech'. AER haven't really updated their range for a decade and a number of BCers who have owned this combo have moved it on because of a lack of power for anything but smaller gigs with folk often preferring / swapping to the Markbass CMD121p + extension cab for a smaller outlay whilst still enjoying great portability and quality. The AER is obviously a great amp, but even if it was still < £1k, it doesn't justify being in the top 3 IMHO in 2017.