Markbass Little Mark Vintage 1000 | CMC Music | RRP: $2550.00
Part of Markbass’ acclaimed Vintage Lineup, the Little Mark Vintage 1000 seeks to pack huge power and tone into a small form package.
This trend of packing high-wattage amplification into a small footprint has become commonplace within the landscape of modern guitar and bass amplification. However, Markbass have gone out of their way to ensure that the Little Mark Vintage 1000 stands out from the pack.
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The first thing I noticed about the Little Mark Vintage 1000 was its solid black chassis, flanked by MarkBass’ iconic yellow, all of this surrounding the visual tube that powers the Little Mark Vintage 1000’s tube preamp. The small footprint works to provide an air of both aesthetic class and durability.
Little Mark Vintage 1000
Designed as a solution for those seeking a high-wattage power amp, the Little Mark Vintage 1000’s well-designed face plate leaves no room for confusion. Boasting a mono input jack, Gain and Master Volume control, Markbass have provided all the essentials when it comes to controlling the unit from the front. In addition to input and output, the Little Mark Vintage 1000 includes four band-EQ, with two bands for high and low mids, as well as the expected low and high frequency adjustment.
A contour-style switch allows you to switch between a “Flat”, “Scooped” and “Old” EQ preset options. A DI volume control allows you to set the volume for the direct out on the back of the unit, which also has a switch for this DI to be pre or post EQ, as well as a ground lift switch.
Bass amplifier
Boasting 1000 watts, the Little Mark Vintage 1000 packs enough power to fill even the largest of venues without breaking a sweat. This power amp will never leave you starved for headroom ensuring that your tone remains intact even at the loudest of volumes.
Big tone doesn’t have to break your back either, throwing this Little Mark onto a scale reveals that it weighs a measly 3kg. No more killing yourself loading into that venue with the staircase of doom when you have this puppy packed in your bag!
Perhaps my favourite feature of the Little Mark Vintage 1000 is its inbuilt limiter. This feature imparts a profound level of control over the amp’s tone and response, despite it being manipulated via a single knob on the amp’s front panel.
When fully dialled in the limiter control provides a more modern feel to the amplifier response, squishing down dynamics in a musically pleasing way while tightening up the bottom end of the amplifier providing a snappier attack.
These effects never sacrifice the Little Mark Vintage 1000’s juicy bottom end though, which manages to remain intact even when the limiter is pushed to the end of its threshold.
Backing off the limiter results in a much more vintage response from the power amp. Providing more dynamics and even occurrences of pleasing overdrive when pushed in the right manner, all of this being rounded off with the Little Mark Vintage 1000’s tube sound.
I also got fantastic results balancing the limiter control in between essentially providing a blend between the two voicings, this could be balanced out to anybody’s taste depending on what they were after tonally.
Struck by the immediate musicality of the Little Mark’s Limiter control, I found myself wondering what exactly Markbass had implemented into their limiter circuit to make it so colourful and versatile. You’ll have to try it for yourself!
The unit never failed to provide a fantastic tone that exceeded in punching through a full band mix, never leaving me starved for more power or punch.
The rear panel features a Speakon out for connecting a speaker cabinet, effects loop send and return, tuner output, as well as the Line Out XLR and aforementioned routing switches. A grill for the unit’s cooling fan sits beside an IEC plug for powering the Little Mark Vintage 1000.
Speaking of cooling, I ran the Little Mark Vintage 1000 while reviewing the unit and never found the unit getting particularly hot even when left on for me to try a few different tones, settings and routing options.
Additionally, the cooling fan isn’t the type that will sound like a jet engine during your next studio session which is always a desirable trait of any bass amp!
With many other manufacturers on the market utilising power amps that haven’t been designed specifically for bass in their amps you can really tell that Markbass have taken the time to perfect their designs in-house.
The Little Mark Vintage 1000 is an amplifier that really sets the standard for professional bass amplification providing stellar tone, and quality, all in a footprint that will easily fit in any laptop bag or backpack.
For local MarkBass enquiries, visit CMC Music.
