Have you ever had another musician cuss about you (under their breath), and you just smiled back at him?

I did, and I laugh every time that I think about the situation (am I being mean?).

Here was the situation: I played at a friend’s church on a recent Sunday morning. Fun gig. Playing gospel music with those funky, rolling bass lines and the killer fills thrown in.

If you’ve played any funk or urban gospel music, you know what I mean. Hezekiah Walker, Maverick City Music, Todd Dulaney. As a bass player, these are some of the greatest sets to play.

And you know that you’ve got to have a sound that is both huge and tight at the same time. 

But what I brought into that gig on that Sunday made him jealous. So, jealous that he swore in church. 

Now, in previous gigs like this, I’d load in a bass head in a touring case along with a bass cabinet that was 2/3s as tall as me. And, then, I’d be able to get my bass and any effects out of my car, too.

We’re talking three trips, minimum, to get everything in and just as many trips to load out after the gig.

And if you had many stairs to go up or any real distance from the parking lot to the stage… You could throw your back out, if you weren’t careful. It was just a pain (literally!).

But, now? No, now, I load in and out in one trip. Yes, one. And my rig sounds HUGE.

I’d have called me crazy if I wasn’t experiencing it myself.

See, my Markbass CMD-121p 12” combo bass amp will put out 300 watts by itself, self-contained. If I add on an extension cabinet, the head will push 500 watts. Enough power for any gig that doesn’t already have its own PA to run my amp through (and the amp has DI outputs to plug straight into the system for the PA mix. Did I mention how much sound guys love me?).

Everyone just gushed about how clean, resonant, and tight my bass sounded through that amp. It just sounds amazing!

Oh, and that 300 watt combo weighs in at 36 pounds. Yes, 36 pounds. Total. My Mom’s dog weighs more than that! 

So, I load my bass and cables into my gig bag, throw it over my shoulder, pick up my Markbass CMD-121p in my right hand and any pedals in my left hand, and I walk out with everything.

That’s what made my guitarist cuss. Because he had to load out his guitar, his pedal board, and a tube amp that weighed three times what my Markbass amp weighs. So, he has to take those three trips loading in or loading out that I used to have to take. And all my equipment with my huge tone weighs less than his. 

And I just smiled.

You can smile, too, at your next gig when your guitarist curses at you out of the same jealousy. Just get a Markbass.

You can check one out, now, at your local Markbass dealer. Click here [link] to find out where the nearest Markbass dealer is so that you can try one out today.