another hello and which combo?

[jacksdad]

Afternoon all, have been reading the posts here for a while and thought it about time I joined up. I've come back to playing bass at 41 after a long time away, used to gig late teens/early twenties but nothing serious, have just been jamming with friends really since then but now a few of us putting a band together determined to get out there again, playing a mix of 70's rock, 80's indie and whatever else we like the sound of.

My gear is late 80's Aria Pro IGB-ST 4 string through Trace Elliot Commando 12 from about 1996 ish, just put a new Celestion Greenback in to replace tired original speaker, also bought earlier this year a Line 6 Studio 110 which is spot on, a cracking little practice amp.

The Trace Elliot is 100w which I remember struggling a bit alongside drums so looking to get something a bit meatier in the £500-600 approx range, but what? Always liked Ampeg, their BA300 range seems to fit the bill but read about a few quality issues, what about Hartke 3500 4x10, Marshall MB4210 etc?

Given that Line 6 is fine for practice, maybe should be looking at seperate head and cab option?

So many questions but that's why I'm here looking for advice!

[bumnote]

Hi and welcome

While there are some advantages with a combo, as a more mature member I find combos too heavy and a bit restricting. If you do want a combo, I loved my eden metro which was a really nice bit of kit, but heavy. There have been a few around here second hand, but they are quite pricey new, but Ihave seen tthem around at about your price range.

I would go for a head and cab, which gives you the flexibility to add a different cab or change the head.

Unfortunately, everyone has their different preferences, and while one person likes ashdown someone else wont.

Unless you buy something really cheap, I dont think these anything thats truly awfull, just some things you will prefer to others.

[Telebass]

Nice Markbass combo, extension if/when you need it. Not cheap, but light. My CMD121H and extension weigh 60lbs. Not bad for a mini-500 watt stack.

[munkonthehill]

hey dude,

stay well away from the mb4210, Mine packed up on me mid gig last weekend, im sure you can imagine how much of hassle that was hahaha. This was my second mb4210 as the first one wouldnt work at all if even the slightest amount of pressure was put on the top of the cab.

I swapped it for a H&K BK200which im looking forward to blasting a few songs from.

welcome to the forum though, everyone on here are absolute heros, real bunch of good guys

[MB1]

MB1.
...Greetings!
Youve come to the Right Place!

[OldGit]

Welcome! and welcome back to gigging....

There's a fair few light weight amping options and I'd certainly concur that a light head and light cab is the way to go, your budget may just be enough for used stuff if you can find it to buy. You may like to save a bit more or get a light cab and a heavy old style head to start with.

Most available light heads are probably the various Markbass ones. A 500 watt one (ie 500 when you have a 4ohm speaker setup) woud give you loads of headroom in case you get louder.
Something like Little Mark 2 (or "LMII" in shorthand) woud be great. £450 or so new, 250-300 used. Beware there's a Little Mark that is 250 watts and a bit underpowered fro what you'r talking about.

There's various cabs around but you should certainly talk to our very own Alex on here who makes the Barefaced cabs
[url="http://www.barefacedbass.com"]http://www.barefacedbass.com[/url]

Others can chip in with more stuff but for the sake of your back keep it light

[Laurence]

Hey
Welcome to the forum