MARKBASS Little Mark IV

In the development of all Markbass instruments, care is taken to ensure that they are as innovative as possible and are truly what is at the top of the imaginary bass ladder. Interestingly, within the philosophy of this Italian brand, they have managed to combine a large, variable and high-quality sound with minimising size and, most importantly, weight - an undeniable advantage not only for those who need to travel frequently with their gear.

Within the Markbass amplifiers you can find both transistor and tube models, and for the end amplifiers not only analogue but also digital is used, which makes it possible to create a really wide range of instruments with a very interesting sound that can be used almost everywhere. The best electronics are used for maximum quality, all major components are siliconized to protect against unwanted vibrations, the chassis of the amplifiers is made of 2 mm thick aluminium sheet, the cabinet of the combos is made of reliable multi-layered poplar plywood. Only neodymium magnets are used in the combos, which have excellent technical parameters and at the same time very low weight. Simply put - quality wherever you look.

The Little Mark IV is an improved successor to the Little Mark III, the company's flagship amplifier. As with the previous model, it is a high quality instrument that meets all the points of the Markbass philosophy - top materials, precise construction, top sound, minimal size and weight. The ideal instrument for any bassist looking for a reliable instrument at a reasonable price. This is confirmed by the prestigious awards that Little Mark has won, for example Best Bass Head or All-Around Best New Product according to the readers of the prestigious Bass Player magazine.

Compared to its predecessor, the fourth model is equipped with, for example, a two-band limiter, which allows a faster response with better dynamics, a special MPT amplifier, which is carefully designed for perfect bass guitar reproduction, a mute switch or, for example, a switch for equalization modes (Flat, Scooped, Footswitchable).

This amplifier has a power output of 500 W when connected to a 4 ohm speaker. When using a load equivalent to 8 ohms, the resulting power is 300 W. The whole amplifier is hidden in a chassis measuring 27.6 x 8.3 x 25.5 cm, the total weight is 2.8 kg. If required, brackets can be screwed to the chassis for mounting in a 2U rack.

On the yellow control panel you will find a standard input for a 6.3 jack cable from your instrument, and an input for a footswitch. Both passive and active basses can be plugged into the jack connector with complete ease.

To adjust the volume of the sound, you'll find Gain and Master potentiometers, with Gain setting the signal level before the preamp input, and Master setting the overall volume. To avoid any clipping and unwanted distortion, there is an LED behind the Gain control to indicate clipping. Equalization of the sound is done via four controls, namely Bass, Mid Low, Mid High and High. All these potentiometers have a range of +/- 16dB at a given frequency, which is 68 Hz for Bass, 360 Hz for Mid Low, 800 Hz for Mid High and 10 kHz for High. It's really no problem to set up any quality sound you want. For even more versatility, you'll also find an "Old School Filter," which you can use to attenuate the high frequencies for a nicely rounded sound.

The rear panel of the unit houses the speaker-out outputs, both in the form of a 6.3 Jack and a Speakon-Combo from Neutrik. There's also a line-out with Ground-Lift switch and pre/post-EQ switching, and an unbalanced tuner-out for connecting a tuner, but any other device not requiring a balanced signal can be plugged into it. The last elements are the parallel effect loop input and output.

The Markbass Little Mark IV is therefore the ideal companion for musicians demanding great sound without any compromise. This beast is truly guaranteed to make you heard.