The best combo for under £1,000?

[Doddy]

I've had quite a bit of experience with the GK 212ii. It's a nice amp but it didn't blow me away enough to want to buy one or replace my Ashdown rig. Out of the amps you've mentioned, I'd recommend the Rootmaster-They are great sounding amp. I've never had any reliability issues with any of my Ashdown gear.
Personally, I'd go for a seperate head and cab over a combo.I've been doing a lot of gigs with my Ashdown PiBass 240 (240 watts) and a single mi12 cab and have absolutely no problem cutting through a loud horn band. I might add another mi12 or use the MiBass 550 sometimes, but the small rig has never struggled to keep up at gig.

[Jenty]

+1 for separate head/cab.
Can't go wrong with a nice lightweight cab and a class D nowadays.
I love my GK 500 Fusion paired with Neo212.
Never been a huge fan of combos.
I can see the reason for them in the past, keeping fuss to a minimum, but now with so much lightweight gear around you can essentially just put a bass head and a cable in a bag... pick up the cab (lighter without the head built in) and your away.
My friend has the Mibass 2.0 and manages to fit the tiny thing in his guitar case. Tiny. But not my cup of cha.

[Al Krow]

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!

[Lozz196]

Excellent, keep us all updated on your post-gig verdict?

[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.

[LukeFRC]

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.

a week or so later... how you finding it?

Edited July 21, 2019 by Dad3353

[Al Krow]

So I had a chance to try the amp out "in anger" last night - playing a 90 minute set with my 4 piece band in a local East End pub with a lively crowd. Pleased to say that the Alain Caron Markbass delivered a punchy bassline pretty effortlessly, keeping up with the rest of the band and cutting through the mix. It was also dead easy to transport and set up. I even had a couple of punters complimenting the bass lines! So, so far so good!

Still keen to hear from other BCs about their own experiences with this combo or other combos retailing for less than £1k, which they have had good experience with (or otherwise!) playing in live gigs.

[Al Krow]

An old thread, but I thought it might be worth bringing up to date.

There seems to be a new kid on the block - the EICH BC 112 Pro which certainly looks like it may have trumped my own previous choice of the Markbass AC 121 Lite. Looking forward to trying it out on a trip to BD!

The Fender Rumble 500 is, however, still right up there given just how good value it is.

If there's anything else that should be included in the running or given an honourable mention - please do share your thoughts!

Edited July 21, 2019 by Dad3353

[Bigwan]

Second hand Tecamp Puma 2x12. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. The Eich 2x12 is along the same lines but not under a grand...

[Aliwobble]

Time to resurrect this thread again!

I’m looking at getting a good sounding combo for those gigs where I just can’t be bothered lugging in my Eden 2x10 cabinet at 30Kg. So, way down here in NZ it would seem that I have several options: Markbass cmd12, or Cmd15; Laney Nexus  sls112; GK mb210 or 212.  I already have an ibanez promethean 1x10 cabinet (powered by a GK mb500 after the original Ibanez head became unreliable) but it just lacks a bit of sonic weight for proper gigging.

 So my criteria are: sounds good ( my current setup really does sound good  ), under 20 Kg, and loud enough to gig unsupported. My current 300W laney nexus into the 2x10 Eden is plenty loud enough, to give you an idea of my gig volumes. I would prefer front-ported cabs so I can stack with the Eden.

 

Your thoughts please... 

Edited July 21, 2019 by Aliwobble

[Al Krow]

My thanks to @Dad3353 for 'refreshing' this old thread so that the earlier posts are easier for everyone to read.

So 5 years on from my initial post - I'd still be happy to recommend a Markbass Combo given the quality of the product (the AC 121 Lite did me proud over 4 years), but this time around I'd likely jump for the newer Marcus Miller CMD 102 500. The MM series seem to have nailed the EQ centre points, which were my only real gripe with the older LM3 based combos.

If you want amazing value for money then the TC BG250 series, is worth a look - heard one being played with a MTD bass and a full jazz brass band outdoors today and it sounded really good! I was genuinely surprised when I wandered across and saw that it was a 'humble' TC BG 250 - which was actually the first combo I ever owned.

And although I've never owned this, I would also be very tempted by the Rumble Stage 800:

 

Edited July 21, 2019 by Al Krow

[songofthewind]

Plus one for the TC BG250! Great wee amps.

[Aliwobble]

Thanks for your comments guys.

 

Ok, so after trying out combos by GK, Fender, Markbass, and Ibanez I ended up going with a Tech21 VT bass 200. Compact, good sound, and about 12kg or so.  I gave it its first outing last night (albeit on the world’s smallest stage, with pa support) and it performed admirably.  More detailed report coming soon.

Edited July 28, 2019 by Aliwobble