| australianguitarmag.com.au 92 | REVIEWS MARKBASS NINJA 102 500 SMALL IS GOOD. LOUD IS GOOD. SMALL AND LOUD IS GREAT. BY STEVE HENDERSON I n less than 20 years, Markbass has become the premiere, got-to-have-it amp/cab builder for bass professionals and amateurs alike, pushing aside more established brands and continuing to refine the line with innovative ideas and no-nonsense products. The range is quite diverse, but the recurring theme is great tone, simple controls and amazing portability. To say that they are lightweight is like saying Paul McCartney has written some nice tunes. You can easily pick up a 410 cab with one hand and an 800-watt, full-function bass head will fit into the pocket of your gig bag. Likewise, their guitar lines (under the DV Mark banner) are lightweight, full of features and toneful, with monsters like Frank Gambale finding “the sound” within the simple control layout of a standard DV Mark amp. EVERYTHING IN THE RIGHT PLACE The Markbass Ninja 102 500 is virtually the perfect product: simple to use, easy to lug and satisfying to hear. The cab part is a rear-ported, two-by-ten plus super tweeter-loaded box that is barely wider than the speakers and just tall enough to incorporate the 83 millimetre high Little Mark Ninja head. The Ninja is a 500-watt (into four ohms) brain that features input gain and master volume controls (the yellow knobs), line out (also yellow) and six tone controls (sort of). The back panel has a speakON out, tuner out, an effects loop, a pre/post switch, a ground lift switch and a built-in DI with an XLR output. It’s only 276 millimetres wide, too. The Ninja delivers like no other compact bass combo I’ve heard. Played with an alder-bodied Precision Bass (with a Jazz Bass treble pickup), with all amp tone knobs at noon and the VPH/ VLE circuits off, the Ninja 102 offers a warm and woody sound that seems to bloom richly into the room. The attack is fast and full, but there’s an ‘aftertaste’ that spreads out to envelope the listener, like a compressor opening up. Place it in a corner or against a wall, and the bloom is fairly quick; place it further from the reflective surface, and there’s some latency in that bloom, sort of like a pre-delay. Sit it up on a chair or in an amp cradle or stand, and you’ll hear a subsonic image coming back from under the amp. The P-Bass pickup sounds mighty through the two tens – a woody attack followed by a harmonic sustain. Dig in a bit for that fabulous Precision grunt, where it sort of growls a little on the attack of the note. This is a rock’n’roll tone that fits into almost any style of the genre, from emo to blues. The J-bass pickup has a snappy attack and plenty of cutting power, and if you’re in the market for some funky tones and portability, look no further. The Ninja delivers funk like it was designed specifically for the Brothers Johnson. A BONAFIDE WINNER That said, the folks at Markbass actually had Richard Bona in mind. Playing something more in line with his style reveals a smooth sweetness in the Ninja that is even more infectious than those other classic sounds. The Ninja has a level of subtleness to its delivery that is not immediately noticeable. This is where the touch-sensitivity of the Ninja kicks in: play brashly – maybe with a pick – and you’ll