I am currently in the market for a small combo amp to use in clubs with a singer and piano. As most of the gigs are on the second floor or above, weight is a consideration. The reviews for the new GK Ultralights - the 1 by 15 especially - are very good. I need very clean sound with low or no buzz while idle but not a huge amount of power. Don't mind paying for quality but $1500 for a rig is a bit much. I play a 5-string Schecter usually, using my old j bass on occasion. Thanks for any ideas.

I recommend the Genz-Benz Shuttle 3.0 110T or 6.0 112T combos. I'm using the Shuttle 6.0 with the included 112ST cabinet and a 112T NEOX GB cab and it kicks. The 6.0 puts out 350 watts into 8 ohms, 600 watts into 4 ohms. The 3.0 may be all you need -- it puts out 175 watts into 8 ohms, which would be the 110ST cabinet, 300 watts into 4 ohms. For a gig with singer & piano, that should cover you. It weighs 18 pounds, with cabinet. The 6.0 c0mbo is about 25 pounds.I've been using GB exclusively for eight years and have found all their amps to be reliable. $799for the Shuttle 3.0 Combo, $1299 for the 6.0

I've also read good things about the TC Electronic ComboClassic and Combo450. 450 watts in a 2x10 cab with tweeter. I'm not sure of the weight on these. Prices are between $1300 & $1500.

Markbass also gets good reviews. The MiniMark has one 12" speaker and 300 watts. Weighs 29 pounds and sells for around $900. I believe ShackMan, who is here on MGR, uses Markbass gear\.

My two ez-totin combos are the classic
GK MB 12" combo and the fairly recent
MarkBass MiniMark 2x6". Each is under
25 lb, and have always been more than
enuf for small venues for the Diva Duo
of Ms D on vox & KB and YT on bass.

In larger venues, we add a fiddle and
geetar doubler dood, and the MiniMark
is the choice, it being twice the power
of the GK MB. Both combos have jacks
for an extension cab, and both allow
the user to choose whether or not to
turn off the internal speaker.

Each is in the $700 to $800 range.
They have different personalities so
that I'd hate to give up either one.
Each very handily fills the bill for a
one-trip load in/out [combo, gigbag
and cords bag].

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Perzonally, I don't want to haul any
combo bigger than these. Next level
is definitely head & cab. I have a
coupla 35 lb combos with tasty tone
but I just keep grabbing the lighter
ones. I'd rather make an extra trip,
if necessary, than combine too much
into a combo that I'll regret having
to carry up the stairs, etc. I don't
have a head over 500W ... not into
Big Rig stuff ... and am very lazy.
All my cabs are under 40 lb, a few
are maybe half that !

I'd rather move a pair of 12" cabs
than one single 2x12, even if that
pair is a coupla extra lbs in total.
I've set a 40 lb per item limit and
find thaz verrry easy to live with.
Two 35 lb 12" cabs and 5 lb 500W
head is my riggimus maximus.

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I kinda like the Ashdown electric blue combo's. Light with a heavy sound. I test drove one of the 100wt 12" models and it seemed loud enough to play with a rock drummer if needed.

I played through an Ashdown combo once using my Lakland 55-94 and, no matter what knobs I turned, it sounded the same. Sounded good, but always the same. Hmmmm.

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Well, if you engage a low-cut filter, a high-cut
filter, and a compressor/limiter, any rig would
behave as described. Was such stuff involved ?


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All I did was turn knobs. Bass, treble, mid. Seems to me there was a mid frequency selector, but I don't remember. Since I wasn't planning to buy the amp -- just using it for practice -- I really didn't get too involved in it. I thin it was a 210 combo.

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Nothing strange, I agree ...
I've played their heads in shops.
I found them to have cool tone
AND functioning controls, but I
haven't loved one enuf to bring
it home. Dunno wuzzup with the
combo you played ? Is it just a
singular example ?

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I wasn't unhappy with the sound, just curious why the knobs s seemed to have no effect. I know that on my GB Shuttle, the EQ knobs are +/- 15 db, so small turn has a great effect.

I kinda missed the days when I could run a 2x15 JBL Cab with a Fender Bassman head, set the bass on 4 and the treble on 10, crank the tone & vol on my P bass all the way, and just play. I Learned the sercet of treble from another bassist. Most of the guys I knew cranked bass to 10 and wondered why it was all molasses coming out of the cabinet.

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Well shore ... simplicity is its own reward.
But if an amp HAS controls and they don't
seem to work ... like that Ashdown 2x10.
It's as if you couldn't set your BassMan to
Bass-4 & Treble-10. It's fine to have very
few, or only one, knobs and quite another
if there's several knobs that don't work. It
makes you ask what else is going wrong,
or will go very wrong very soon.

Less is More:
I'm kinda bi-polar about tone/EQ controls,
a control freak who loves simplicity. One
polarity is well served by my Wendler bass
and MarkBass MiniMark combo. A Wendler
is very like a Rob Allen, having almost zero
knobs. The MiniMark has no EQ controls. It
has a high-cut filter and a contour control.
No bridge-of-the-starship fantasies there !

More is also MORE:
My other polarity digs a busy control panel
on both the rig and the ax ... coil splitters,
ser/par/sc modes, triple PU's, 4-band EQ,
etc etc. I've got all those toys, but no one
bass has 100% of them ... altho the ones
that have 80 or 90% are a lotta fun.

More, as an Improved "Less is More":
There's one easy trick I favor wih a 3-band
bass that converts it to a single-tone-knob
bass, but with more Atteetood. Big boost
the bass and deep cut the treble, and then
use the midrange knob as your tone knob.

It's sooo different from a one-knob passive
bass, yet equally simple to use. A passive
"tone" control is not a "tone control" at all.
It's a treble cut. Thaz why so many players
don't even use it [keep it at '10']. But this
deal using the active boost/cut midrange
really does dial up Tone with a capital 'T'.


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P.S. forgot to mention:

The Wendler-plus-MiniMark is not only
simple to dial-in, but is also a pleasant
instance of minimalism, weight-wise:

25 lb the whole outfit, ax AND combo !

Add a gigbag, geetar cord, tuna, and a
candy bar, and your complete load is
less than most "light weight" combos.

Dave Wendler is worthy of a shout out:
www.electrocoustic.com/products.html


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