Despite being a brand that's widely known for their basses and guitars, Musicman built some really good amps back in the 70's. These amps were used by professionals around the world but production was finished a few years afterwards. Sterling Ball (Musicman's current CEO) had been approached on many occasions by different manufacturers to rebooth these amps but it was not until Markbass' Marco de Virgilis contacted Sterling about this. Markbass are a big name when it comes to lightweight and efficient bass amplification so it was an easy decision.
The whole idea was to keep the old look of these great amps as well as a vintage sound but taking advantage of today's technology and Markbass expertise at buildng great bass amps.
This is the 115B-250 combo and is combines a solid state preamp section as well as a powerful 500W Class D power section.
The custom 15" speaker is just perfect to create classic bass sounds and in this case the wedge design is just great as it keeps the low end solid (it is always better to leave the combo on the floor) while projecting the midrange towards the bass player's ears. Cool.
The whole idea behind the preamp was that it should be easy to use and would deliver a great vntage tone immediately. We are happy to report it delivers.
Simple Gain, Volume, Bass and Treble are the starting point for you to get a classic sound and we think you won't be needing any more controls most of the times. However, should you require extra sounds, there's a built in 5 Band Graphic EQ (with pots instead of sliders) that allows you to fine tune your sound as well as create an alterative sound for a solo, a second bass, etc. Of course the Graphic EQ is switchable. Bands are 67Hz, 184Hz, 510Hz, 1.4Hz and 3.8Hz, putting the emphasis in the low and mid register of bass guitars.
To sum up, a classic looking, classic sounding combo that is lightweight and affordable.