smurfco
Meatus McPrepuce
It's a long story! Sorry! But maybe of interest here, in the Bottom End, the bass forum of Mark Wein Forums.
Soooo my old bass rig consisted of a MarkBass CMD102P combo amp, which is a 300 watt 2x10 combo, and a MarkBass Traveler 151P, which is an 8 ohm 15" cab. When used with the combo it's a 500 watt rig (at 4 ohms) and sounds great. I really liked the 2x10 plus 1x15 combination. But it was kind of huge, took up a lot of space in my music room.
Recently my bass playing friend Meg (of Bird Index) had her amp go on the fritz so I let her borrow the CMD102P. With it out of the room I was thrilled with the extra space I had, and Meg was blown away by how good the combo sounded on its own (she had been playing an Ampeg BA-112 so this was a considerable upgrade in terms of power). So I had the idea to sell her the combo for a good price, and to get a head to use with the 1x15 cab as my bass rig. (The combo has a static noise that she was aware of and we're getting it fixed before we finalize the deal.)
So anyways that sent me on a journey the last few weeks looking at bass heads in the 500W (at 4 ohms) range. For MarkBass I considered the Little Mark III, the Big Bang, the Little Mark Tube, and one of the newest entris in the MarkBass lineup: the Little Mark Vintage (pictured here).
It has a preamp tube that I'm pretty sure doesn't actually do anything and IMO looks kind of goofy, but as far as the features go I liked this one's relative simplicity and straightforward layout. The other head I was strongly considering was the Bergantino Forte D. The Little Mark Vintage retails for $799 while the Forte D is $999. I still kind of want a Forte D as it's a different sound and gets rave reviews (and should be of higher build quality than the MarkBass), but....
Yesterday my parents had to take my grandfather to the doctor near the Guitar Center in Marietta. I went there, and lo and behold they had a Little Mark Vintage that I was able to hook up and play through, and I was sold pretty quickly on it. Sounds great and very easy to dial in a big fat tone. And it was on sale for $649 - so $150 off the usual price. I didn't want a floor model so when I got home I ordered a new one from the GC website - it should be waiting for me when I get home to CT next week.
But the story doesn't end there! Today I was in another Guitar Center (Alpharetta) since my parents were at Lowe's next door looking at dishwashers and I tagged along again. And what did I find there? Well not only did they also have a Little Mark Vintage, but they also had a used MarkBass New York 121P 1x12 bass cabinet. It was one of the older ones, made in Italy (which have nicer speakers than the current Indonesian models).
I hooked the Vintage amp up to it and grabbed a P bass off the wall and it sounded great. I couldn't believe how big the 1x12 cab sounded on its own - more than enough for practices and small gigs with the potential new Beatles band (another one - I'd be playing bass in this one - thread on that later). And since I don't drive (legally blind) this would fit easily in the back seat of an Uber. Super light. And the best part is it was tagged for just $369 (they are $599 new).
I brought it up to the counter and brought the Speakon cable that was hooked to it as well, hoping they'd throw it in. They didn't say anything about the cable so I assume they were cool with me taking it (I put it on top of the cab like it belonged there). So just under $400 with tax and it was mine - now I just have to figure out how to get this cab back to Norwalk. I could ship it, but I am thinking I might just carry it on and gate check it.
What I like about this setup now - the Vintage head, the 1x12, and the 1x15 - is it gives me some options for when I have a bass gig. I can either just take the 1x12 for most situations, take the 1x15 if I need a little more low end, or for the really rare times I need the full 500 watts I can put the 1x12 on top of the 1x15 and have a pretty good little stack.
Anyways there you go. That's my bass adventure!
Soooo my old bass rig consisted of a MarkBass CMD102P combo amp, which is a 300 watt 2x10 combo, and a MarkBass Traveler 151P, which is an 8 ohm 15" cab. When used with the combo it's a 500 watt rig (at 4 ohms) and sounds great. I really liked the 2x10 plus 1x15 combination. But it was kind of huge, took up a lot of space in my music room.
Recently my bass playing friend Meg (of Bird Index) had her amp go on the fritz so I let her borrow the CMD102P. With it out of the room I was thrilled with the extra space I had, and Meg was blown away by how good the combo sounded on its own (she had been playing an Ampeg BA-112 so this was a considerable upgrade in terms of power). So I had the idea to sell her the combo for a good price, and to get a head to use with the 1x15 cab as my bass rig. (The combo has a static noise that she was aware of and we're getting it fixed before we finalize the deal.)
So anyways that sent me on a journey the last few weeks looking at bass heads in the 500W (at 4 ohms) range. For MarkBass I considered the Little Mark III, the Big Bang, the Little Mark Tube, and one of the newest entris in the MarkBass lineup: the Little Mark Vintage (pictured here).
It has a preamp tube that I'm pretty sure doesn't actually do anything and IMO looks kind of goofy, but as far as the features go I liked this one's relative simplicity and straightforward layout. The other head I was strongly considering was the Bergantino Forte D. The Little Mark Vintage retails for $799 while the Forte D is $999. I still kind of want a Forte D as it's a different sound and gets rave reviews (and should be of higher build quality than the MarkBass), but....
Yesterday my parents had to take my grandfather to the doctor near the Guitar Center in Marietta. I went there, and lo and behold they had a Little Mark Vintage that I was able to hook up and play through, and I was sold pretty quickly on it. Sounds great and very easy to dial in a big fat tone. And it was on sale for $649 - so $150 off the usual price. I didn't want a floor model so when I got home I ordered a new one from the GC website - it should be waiting for me when I get home to CT next week.
But the story doesn't end there! Today I was in another Guitar Center (Alpharetta) since my parents were at Lowe's next door looking at dishwashers and I tagged along again. And what did I find there? Well not only did they also have a Little Mark Vintage, but they also had a used MarkBass New York 121P 1x12 bass cabinet. It was one of the older ones, made in Italy (which have nicer speakers than the current Indonesian models).
I hooked the Vintage amp up to it and grabbed a P bass off the wall and it sounded great. I couldn't believe how big the 1x12 cab sounded on its own - more than enough for practices and small gigs with the potential new Beatles band (another one - I'd be playing bass in this one - thread on that later). And since I don't drive (legally blind) this would fit easily in the back seat of an Uber. Super light. And the best part is it was tagged for just $369 (they are $599 new).
I brought it up to the counter and brought the Speakon cable that was hooked to it as well, hoping they'd throw it in. They didn't say anything about the cable so I assume they were cool with me taking it (I put it on top of the cab like it belonged there). So just under $400 with tax and it was mine - now I just have to figure out how to get this cab back to Norwalk. I could ship it, but I am thinking I might just carry it on and gate check it.
What I like about this setup now - the Vintage head, the 1x12, and the 1x15 - is it gives me some options for when I have a bass gig. I can either just take the 1x12 for most situations, take the 1x15 if I need a little more low end, or for the really rare times I need the full 500 watts I can put the 1x12 on top of the 1x15 and have a pretty good little stack.
Anyways there you go. That's my bass adventure!
