MarkBass Alain Caron Combo Lite - SOLD £625 South Oxfordshire

[molan]

So this one is going to hurt - my favourite ever gigging combo up for sale! I've moved to modelling amps through stage monitors now so just can't justify something as good as this sitting in my study doing nothing

I've tried combos from loads of different manufacturers but always came back to this one as my 'do it all' unit. I can carry it it one hand, it fits in the boot of a, relatively, small car, can be set up to work in all sorts of bands, has a decent DI out and it goes both low and LOUD if required.

The two key determining factors for me were that it's a fairly easy lift at only 16Kg and it sounds great in a live band setting without needing to go into the PA (although I always try to DI whenever possible). This simply the only combo that's ever fulfilled everything I wanted. The newer AC combo is excellent but it's simply too heavy for me as a one-handed lift - it adds a useful mid-driver but it's nearly 70% heavier! It also, theoretically, has double the power output, however, that's only the case when you add a 2nd cab - at which point it makes even less sense to me.

The original AC Lite puts out the full 500w into the 12", 4ohm, driver whilst the integrated compression driver has a second power amp pushing at 300w. I've never driven mine really, really loud but I was present in our store when a customer wanted to try one at as close to full volume as possible & it was deafening!

The single 12" driver goes way lower than it ought to be able to and you can forget any of the mentions of it being a 'jazz' combo in some reviews - this thing rocks out and punches way above its weight. That dedicated high compression driver also means it'll work really well in a funk / soul setting.

It's been gigged maybe 20 times from new and in every case has also fed into foh via the integrated DI so it's never been pushed hard. I really take care of all my gear and it's in excellent condition. No bad scuffs or marks anywhere & even still has the sticker on the front. There's a tiny bit of stippling on a small patch on the left hand side where I've used a MarkBass Keeper on velcro. These are great by the way, I used them all the time with any MarkBass gear.

Should be able to post in UK, at cost, or can arrange pickup / delivery if anyone lives close enough to me in Henley.

Here's what MarkBass say:

"Alain Caron is an incredible jazz bassist from Canada that has spent years developing his own feel and sound using extended range basses. After using Markbass amplifiers for years they have finally worked together to build this combo amplifier that has all the tones that Alain needs as a touring jazz musician. The 121 Lite combo is an amplifier than has been designed from the ground up for the touring jazz bass player.

Bi-Amp Design

While a lot of bass amplifiers use a single amplifier this amplifier uses two separate amps and drivers that deliver 500w of power to the main 12" speaker and 300w to the smaller 1"tweeter that offers up a bright attack along with overtones you may have never heard before. By using two amps instead of one you get the best headroom and dynamics without needing to resort to massive speaker cabinets.

Classic MarkBass Tone

This little amplifier has been tuned to deliver a sound that suits Alain Caron's needs but it still has the same warm and transparent feel that MarkBass are well known for. All of the innovations and changes made for this amplifier can be adjusted to suit your style. For example you can use the VLE or Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator to give the amp a more vintage tube amp like sound which in turn dials back on the response from the tweeter.

Footswitchable Control

In recent years more and more bass amps are coming with effects loop bypass and mute switches. These are extremely handy for live use where you may need to mute the amplifier or certain effects for tuning without annoying the rest of the band.

Top-level sounding combo designed with bass legend Alain Caron, the COMBO 121 LITE is a powerful bi-amp combo, now updated with a 300W power amp for the new compression driver, and 500W power amp for the 12" speaker with maximum fidelity, headroom and dynamics! Alain Caron is known for his high standards, and the components in this combo were carefully chosen to reach those standards.

Specifications

Inputs: INPUT : impedance 1 Mohm/Max Voltage 10 Vpp / RETURN: impedance 33 Kohm/Max 10Vpp / AUX : impedance 10 Kohm/Max 4Vpp

Controls: GAIN : Range -60 / 23 dB / LINE OUT : GND Lift - Pre/Post EQ / Post Master (Post EQ mode) / EQ : Low / Mid-Low / Mid-High / High / FILTERS: VLE / VPF / MUTE: switch / footswitch / FX LOOP BYPASS: footswitch

Outputs: LINE OUT : Balanced, Max Voltage 20 Vpp / SEND : Unbalanced, Max Voltage 20Vpp (Pre EQ) / TUNER OUT: Unbalanced, Max Voltage 2Vpp / PREAMP OUT: Unbalanced, Max level 20Vpp / PHONES : 600 ohm, Maximum level 10 Vpp

Speaker: 12”

Tweeter: Compression driver

Power Amp: 500W (woofer) + 300W (tweeter)

Reflex: Rear

Size (W/H/D): 390 x 600 x 464mm / 15.35" x 23.62" x 18,27"

Weight: 35.94 lbs / 16.3 Kg

First pic is mine - rest are stock shots:

Edited November 10, 2020 by molan
SOLD

[franzbassist]

Wow, surprised to see this.  I thought that combo was staying with you forever Barrie!

[molan]

1 hour ago, franzbassist said:

Wow, surprised to see this.  I thought that combo was staying with you forever Barrie!

I really do love it Gareth but I’m determined to clear some gear out and thought I’d put a few more desirable things up first 🙈

[molan]

2 hours ago, szaszaT5H said:

I think it was my combo. Excellent sound. I loved it. 😢

They really are great combos - I can't fault it!

[molan]

NOW SOLD!

Thanks to BC for the facility