portable bass amp recommendations

[henry norton]

I'm on the lookout for a new (used) bass amp. I'm not hugely fussed about speaker size (tried 'em all), but I would like something reasonably compact and with enough power to compete with drums and guitar in a pub/club sized venue. I would also prefer it to be reasonably light but with a budget of £400 I realise I won't be getting a Mark Bass Tube amp (or any MarkBass for that matter...). It doesn't matter if it's a combo or a head/cab.

I'm not new to bass playing but have been out of circulation for a few years now so if anyone's got an opinion then I'll be glad to hear it.

[henry norton]

Looks like I'll have to work it out meself then - what happened to all the self opinionated know alls on this forum.......?

I like the look of the MarkBass 1x12 combo (not sure of the exact name) which I've seen second hand for a bit more than my budget but would like to see whether the prices will soften a bit once the mark 3s start circulating. Here's hoping

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Unfortunately ,the smaller the rig-the more expensive it is.
Alot of it comes down to wattage(ie band rehearsal/gigging situations)
I would say you need around 250 watts as a rough guidline.


If you could stretch to around £700.00 you could get yourself a used Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout combo.
I was after one of these for a while as I don't drive. I decided in the end to go the cab/head route
and now own an Aguilar cab and head which is awesome!

Now and again Genz Benz heads come up on here and they look good.

Other Basschatters may have other recommendations

If you have a car then you may be interested in my Eden Nemesis 1x10 combo(or is it 1x15?) going for a lot less.

Hope this helps

[lozbass]

There's a Trace Elliot Mk V 4x10 combo for £250 in the ads section - you could do a lot worse. It'll be heavy and fairly big but it should compete easily with a couple of guitarists and a drummer. I'd have it myself (just to have it aournd) if I had the space.

[jonny-lad]

The mark bass combos are great for a portable amp...I don't use one but I play guitar (sorry!!) in a band where the bassist uses one and it always sounds great IMO.

A head and cabinet may be a good idea to go for on a budget - I use a mark bass Little Mark II, which I bought with a warwick 4x10 (which is the size I needed at the time), but I can always pair the Little Mark II with a much smaller cabinet without having to upgrade everything. Of course, it depends on your situation and what is easiest to compromise on - portability or budget.

I also spent ages looking for a decent portable combo on a budget and ended up with a Roland DB-500 for under £200, but it's not anywhere near as light as a mark bass combo...the newer Roland D-bass amps are lots lighter than the DB-500 though, but still not as small or light as a mark bass combo. I saw them quite cheap last year when I was looking, but they seem to have gone up since then.

[Etienne]

Not sure how much they're going for at the moment, but a 2nd-hand Eden Nemesis combo might do the trick...

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Mine's going for£250.00(pics in the for sale section)

[redstriper]

I don't know of anything light and loud within your budget.
There's plenty of options if you want to compromise on the weight side, both new and used.
Line 6 make a 350 watt combo which I thought had some great sounds, but it's heavy as heck.
The 12" markbass combo is light as a feather and great if you don't need very low frequencies at high volume, but you might be better with the 15" combo if you can stretch the budget.