BassManGraham

I did direct comparison between several heads earlier today. LittleMark Tube 800, Little Mark 800, Little Marcus 800 Aguilar AG700, Aguilar Tonehammer, Darkglass Microtube 900. Loved the AG700 but not sure it justified around £400 more than Markbass offerings. The Darkglass had really great drive and grit if you like metal etc, but I would rarely, if ever, use that much dirt . I too really disliked the logo of Marcus Miller on the Little Marcus 800, but at similar volume and all controls at 12 o'clock with VLE/old school and VPF/Millerizer off it seemed to have greater volume and punch than the other two Markbass amps. The mute switch is much better, and the low bass control excellent, so that is what I bought. But do try a Quilter BB800 they are probably the best vfm head out there right now.

Glad you like it. I have never tried my Crown 1002 in biamp mode, partly because I wanted a loud one cab solution (with Barefaced Super 12) and unbridged it gives considerably lower output..but will definitely give it a try now, with a pair of Vanderkleys.

QSC power amps are great,. In fact I use my Quilter Bass Block 800 (from Patrick Quilter, the Q in QSC) far more often than my Sansamp/ Crown rack unit these days, it just so handy!

Hi the Crown it is good, clean, loud and powerful and very good value for money.. The Sansamp ceates the tone, and sound engineers love them . I can't honestly compare the Crown with many A/B style amps as I have been using Class D stuff pretty much exclusively for 12 or more years and I am always DI'd through a PA so the power sections of all my amps are there to provide on stage sound. The bass and preamp are key in shaping sound/tone , the power amp and speakers deliver volume and 'heft'. With the right speaker cab this Sansamp/ Crown set-up is plenty powerful for most venues without going thru PA if you want a deafening sound on stage! I did try my Sansamp with a friends A/B style t.amp power amp before buying the Crown. The t-amp sounded OK, but to me the Crown sound was much better, and had far greater flexibility with high pass, low pass, bandwidth selection etc. Unable to compare with a high quality A/B amp.I sometimes wonder if the finer nuances are lost when a full band and drummer kick in? Personally I like class D amps. I have had valve heavyweights but even back in the day I preferred my solid state Acoustic 220 to my valve Fender Bassman 135 for cutting thru the mix,. I dare say you could get marginally better results by spending a lot more money. Demeter spring to mind. You just have to let your own ears judge what's best for you.

Just for the record (and to satisfy my pedantic OCD) a more elegant and aesthetic option is possible for the Crown . Channel 1 is wired for both channels so it can be used for BRIDGE mode wiring (or stereo wiring of two speakers using one 4 pin speakon plug) I use the rock-wire Speak-on to Speak--on with bridged terminals 1+/2+ and white sheath to avoid incorrect connection. The Crown is very flexible and excellent crossover allows bi-amping if you want to be reallly flash!

Hope pic helps, cheers Graham

There are two simple options for connecting speakers to the power amp in bridged mode. This is explained in the online manual. But briefly 1. You connect a standard speakon cable or Jack plug on one end (speaker cab connection) with bare wires to amp connection to the pair of bridged +ve and -ve red terminal posts. 2. I also got a special speakon cable made up by Dave (obbm) on this very forum. It's just different connection to terminals on the speak on plug. This then connects to speak on output on power amp.

Hi I have a Tech 21 Sansamp RBI in a rack with a Crown XLS 1002 Drive Core class D stereo power amp. (about £246 on Thomann at the moment) . I choose this power amp as it has a choice of input sensitivities. I use in bridged mode i.e. 700 W into 8 ohm or 1100 W into 4 ohm. Plenty of power. Easy to operate with really useful built in crossover with choice of high pass, low pass or bandwidth selection. I use bandwidth selection to limit sub bass rumble and excessive high end. A great combination and nice and light too.

Beautiful pair of Rudy Sarzos, liking that Jazz in the foreground too!

That's reassuring and good to know. Thanks

I remember hearing about a few reliability issues with the PF heads when I was looking for a small class D head a few years back. I went for a GK MB500 at the time. Good point about changing valves.

Interesting, I thought stand alone sound wasn't great a fuzziness and lack of clarity as I like a clean sound, but in fairness it sounded pretty good with band at full tilt!

I have been playing for more years than I care to remember, but never owned an iconic Ampeg rig. Recently I played a couple of festival rigs where backline was provided and there was insufficient turnaround to use my own gear. After a quick fiddle with numerous tone settings on an Ampeg head I got a fairly decent onstage sound thru an Ampeg 4x10. I was fairly impressed, so I decided to seek one out . I tried a couple of preowned SVT Pro 3 heads advertised on a site in Ireland. I was not impressed. I then did direct A/B comparison using my Quilter BB800 thru an Ampeg SVT 8x10, (and then my Barefaced Super 12T). I was totally underwhelmed by the SVT Pro 3. IMHO my Quilter blew the SVT PRO 3 away in all areas.. Far better tone, punch and clean power for less than half the new price? Any views on what might be a better Ampeg head to try BTW I am way past the heavyweight SVT 4 VALVE jobs!

The Mesa subway D800 delivers full power i.e.800W rms into 4 ohm load and/or a 2 ohm load. The 2 ohm switch allows you to link two 4 ohm cabs, and presumably switches in increased impedance so as not to overload output stage. Personally I would never run an 800w amp into 500w speakers, even if I rarely run gain or master above 1 or 2 o'clock on any head. I have always tried to add at least 50% to the handling capacity of bass speakers. So I typically run an 800W rms amp into 1200W rms capacity speakers. Sorry if that's not want you wanted to hear. Master volume on the Mesa seems more linear than other amps. I played one only last week in an A/B comparison with a Little Mark 500. Manufacturers power ratings vary considerably. For example a GK MB500 is way louder than a Hartke TX600. Wattage doesn't directly translate into volume or loudness which is dependent on speaker efficiency and cab placement etc etc. In summary it's a minefield. During my aforementioned demo at a major retailer the dude linked the Mesa D800 and LM Tube 500 into a 400w 4 ohm speaker and the speaker was not comfortable with either amp when driven over halfway!

My first decent bass in early seventies was a Fireglow Rickenbacker 4001. I liked the look and the slim neckthru body design. Loved that Chris Squire crunchy vibe at the time and played through my Hiwatt and later Acoustic 220/406 rigs it was truly awesome. I had a bit of a Yes, Jam, Rush thing going on back then, (which is probably the reason for my type 2 diabtetes later in life) Always thought they were a bit of an amazing one trick pony, and it eventually made way for Aria SBs, Fenders and a Wal. Always regret selling it to buy a Technics HiFi system which was consigned to a car boot sale long ago whereas that bass is probably worth a few grand now!!!! On reflection Rickys are more flexible than I originally gave them credit for. However the bridge pickup assembly is awkward and crazy. Bridge and intonation adjustment is not easy. Mine used to have a solid chrome metal pickup cover, but I was horrified to find that on more recent models this is that horrible ubiquitous plastic substance! Think how many sea turtles these will endanger! I do suffer from chronic G.A.S, but despite undue encouragement from muso friends I have never had the urge to reacquire a Ricky. Without wishing to start a brand lawsuit They do seem to be the ultimate Marmite bass. So if you like one get a pre owned, preplastic era model and remember that hall rhymes with tool.

I have used Little Mark II head (in combos) for years. I also sold an SA450 which on reflection I marginally preferred. Recently did a head to head between an LM 500 tube and a Mesa D800 subway. The LM held it's own for a few hundred quid less and I preferred the tube setting to solid state on a stand alone. Would need to try in band setting as I have often found nice warm valve setting sound great alone but may not be so effective at cutting through the mix so well. So I would say an LM500 tube head might be the way to go which offers a vast range of tonal options. But I would suggest you try and get a listen to the Quilter Bass Block 800 before parting with the readies! I am very impressed with my most recent aquisition.

I too used Markbass very happily for many years, had 2x10, 4x10, 1x12 (x2) and 1x15(x2) and have held onto a couple 1x12s. Still great stuff but Vanderkley and Barefaced are in a different league, which their price would suggest I visited Bass Direct a few years back and did a direct comparison between Bergantinos and Vanderkleys, and I went for the Vanderkleys.. I have been using Vanderkleys for about five years. I recently acquired a preowned Barefaced Super 12T which is a superb one cab solution and I now have trouble choosing between this and two MNT112 or a single LNT210. I visited Barefaced in Brighton and did a direct comparison between the Big Twin and Super Twin. The Big Twin was probably the best single bass cabinet I have ever heard, but as I am nearly always DI'd hrough PA, I went for the portability of the smaller cab, but sonically the Big Twin Is quite a bit more impressive. Barefaced cabs do use relatively thin ply, but are very rigid and well braced. If you respect them and dont hurl them about they are robust enough and really easy to touch-up. The pre and after sales service at Barefaced is excellent . Vanderkley cabs use thicker ply, have less bracing and do seem more robust. I have always preferred tough carpet covering to Tolex, but the 'lumpy' paint on Barefaced cabs is a doddle to maintain. Vanderkley use custom Faital Pro drivers, Barefaced use Eminence drivers wound to Alex's specs. Both companies give exceptional service. A difficult choice, unless you get both!!

Forgot to mention I sometimes use an Eden EX112 with my CMD 121P, it stacks nicely (same footprint). At 300W at 8 ohms it is a punchy little cab. OK It is clearly not in same league as MB n all, but is half the price and a pretty good cab for just under £200. Might be worth a try out before you spend double on MB or quadruple on Barefaced, Vanderkley, Bergs, Mesa etc Cheers