Does the Markbass stuff hold up in the studio?

MuthaFunk · #1 04-06-2011, 02:30 PM

Has anyone used their Markbass amp in the studio for recording? I know it's popularity seems to be because of the ultra light weight and very decent ability to bring adequate volumes in a live situation but is that where it stops?

I know much like MP3's sometimes sound quality can take a back seat to convenience as long as it gets the job done. I have encountered a number of bass players who have bought Markbass equipment and ended up keeping the amps but selling the cabs. Is this an indication of perhaps a less than perfect cabinet for recording? That might rule out a combo for me.

Seeing's how most of Markbass amps have similar preamps I am asking the question, how do they perform in the studio? Any recordings of a Markbass rig in the mix??? Micd or direct I'd love to hear them. Any experience or thoughts you guys have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

silky smoove · #2 04-06-2011, 02:48 PM

Any amp that meets your tonal goals will hold up just fine in the studio. I'm afraid that this is far too broad of a question to net an adequate answer. The simple question is: Do you like the sound of Markbass products? If you answered yes, then they'll work fine for you in the studio.

I've used a Markbass LMTube in a studio setting before, but I ended up going a different route and don't have a recording with that amp. It wasn't because the amp didn't perform well, it did, but rather that I was looking for a different sound.

BigOldHarry · #3 04-06-2011, 02:48 PM

Heck, I've always just gone board-in in the studio. Amps just get in the way.

Big John66 · #4 04-06-2011, 02:58 PM

I used my LMII with a 2x10 cab recently for a project where I needed some "amp tone". I used a fair amonut of stomp box fx, so we di'd the bass with an Avalon and mic'd the cab with an RE-20.

I have to say the di tone with the Avalon is awesome. The amp/fx tone was used to a small degree but it also sounded great. I didn't try the di from the LMII, but just for amp tone, it did great. I would be interested to hear if anyone uses the head di and how it works in a studio setting.

JimmyM · #5 04-06-2011, 02:59 PM

you know, that is very subjective. a good player can make anything work in the studio. i have a little bit of experience recording with markbass stuff...i used to have an lmii and a mini cmd121p combo.

the lmii was replaced by the lm3, which has an upgraded di, but i don't know much about it since i never tried it. the lmii's di was lacking, though. not enough output and a little thin compared to a countryman type 85. it can be fixed with outboard eq and gain boost, but it isn't the first thing i'd try in a studio. the combo, i found, just didn't give me a sound i liked on tape. the tweeter is harsh and can't be attenuated, and i just wasn't feeling the bottom end as much as i would have liked.

mind you, these are the only pieces of markbass gear i've tried in the studio. plus you may find that you love it...it's quality gear and does a good job. but for micing a cab, i greatly prefer ampegs. even their inexpensive combos sound great with a mic on them, and i rarely have to do any eqing afterward. i haven't recorded with it yet, but i've been micing my micro vr stack live, and it kicks. another excellent inexpensive option for the studio is the ba112. and of course, the b-15 is the most popular studio amp ever, and having owned two of them and still owning one, i can see why.

another thing that works great in the studio is micing a guitar combo running at a low volume. a lot of cool sounding old recordings were done micing a fender guitar amp. and distortion freaks love to use marshalls, though i find they work best with a clean blend because they don't have much bottom end.

anyway, like i said, anything will work as long as you're getting a sound out of it that you enjoy and works for the songs. but for me, that's almost always ampeg.

JimmyM · #6 04-06-2011, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

Heck, I've always just gone board-in in the studio. Amps just get in the way.

wuss.

MuthaFunk · #7 04-06-2011, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

wuss.

LOL!! Nice touch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by silky smoove

Any amp that meets your tonal goals will hold up just fine in the studio. I'm afraid that this is far too broad of a question to net an adequate answer. The simple question is: Do you like the sound of Markbass products? If you answered yes, then they'll work fine for you in the studio.

I've used a Markbass LMTube in a studio setting before, but I ended up going a different route and don't have a recording with that amp. It wasn't because the amp didn't perform well, it did, but rather that I was looking for a different sound.

I wish I could agree about any amp that meets my tonal goals will do fine in the studio. I have loved my Eden rig for years live but I've never been a big fan of it's sound direct or micd in the studio. It just never sat well in the mix. Often I ended up using a Sans amp or even my 1970's HiWatt Guitar head mic'd with a SWR Big Ben.

My SWR Baby Baby Blue has a great DI but lacks when mic'd. I've also had positive results with my Mesa Scout both mic'd and it has a killer DI! It's these differences between amps and cabs that provoked the question about the Markbass stuff.

GrowlerBox · #8 04-06-2011, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuthaFunk

LOL!! Nice touch.

I wish I could agree about any amp that meets my tonal goals will do fine in the studio. I have loved my Eden rig for years live but I've never been a big fan of it's sound direct or micd in the studio. It just never sat well in the mix. Often I ended up using a Sans amp or even my 1970's HiWatt Guitar head mic'd with a SWR Big Ben.

My SWR Baby Baby Blue has a great DI but lacks when mic'd. I've also had positive results with my Mesa Scout both mic'd and it has a killer DI! It's these differences between amps and cabs that provoked the question about the Markbass stuff.

It's clear from this, as it should have been from the start, that you're only going to figure this out by trying it. What anyone else thinks of it is pretty much irrelevant. Some recordings would be useful, but I think you'll be lucky to find them. Are you anywhere near a GC? My understanding is that they have a pretty relaxed return policy if it doesn't work out.

micahturner · #9 04-06-2011, 05:03 PM

I used an LMIII in the studio with my VT bass pedal and it sounds great. I wish I knew how to post audio here.

OP, if you are interested in hearing, shoot me a PM with your email and I'll send you a clip.

JimmyM · #10 04-06-2011, 05:05 PM

honestly, i don't know that i'd use an xlr out of most amps in the studio unless it was super high quality, and if i did, i certainly wouldn't run post eq if i were micing the cab the amp's plugged into at the same time. there are exceptions, of course...i've done a speaker level di out of my b-15n while micing it and i dug it. but unless you're looking for a specific dirt tone you can only get with the di of a hybrid, i think you're way better served using an outboard di.

JimmyM · #11 04-06-2011, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by micahturner

I used an LMIII in the studio with my VT bass pedal and it sounds great. I wish I knew how to post audio here.

might as well have just plugged the vt directly into the board at that rate

MuthaFunk · #12 04-06-2011, 06:24 PM

The VT is a fine pedal that I used along with a re-capped rebuilt '70s GBX pre-amp to record the most recent album of this project.

Quadrafonics

The truth is that the VT Bass really changed the sound so much so I can't give any credit of the album bass sound at all to the GBX pre-amp.

Ideally I'd like to hear if the Markbass stuff has a certain "characteristic" kind of like the VT Bass or B15 ect...

micahturner, You could sign up for free to a site called sound cloud to upload and distribute tunes but I'll PM you my email anyway. I'd love to hear what you have.

Koog · #13 04-06-2011, 06:28 PM

Have used the past two years live and MB is awsome. In the studio have always plugged direct and flat into the board. This gives maximum latitude for tweaking with tone later.

Because of this MB is a non-issue in the studio.

Koog.

micahturner · #14 04-06-2011, 06:40 PM

I'm trying to recall how we did it.......

We mic'd the cab (Mesa 2-12), and ran from the XLR on the LMIII head. I think it came out pretty. Mutha Funk, you can be the judge of that. I think the main difference came from micing the cab. I know the VT bass changed the sound but I love the filters on the LMIII. I just ran the EQ settings at noon.

I loved my LMIII, but I upgraded to an SVT-CL. Very nice.

JimmyM · #15 04-06-2011, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuthaFunk

The VT is a fine pedal that I used along with a re-capped rebuilt '70s GBX pre-amp to record the most recent album of this project.

Quadrafonics

The truth is that the VT Bass really changed the sound so much so I can't give any credit of the album bass sound at all to the GBX pre-amp.

Ideally I'd like to hear if the Markbass stuff has a certain "characteristic" kind of like the VT Bass or B15 ect...

it will if you turn the knobs. but it's a pretty flat amp otherwise.

naturalkinds · #16 04-06-2011, 07:25 PM

Honestly, I'd be very surprised if any engineer would opt to use a Markbass DI over the options they (ought to) have in the studio.

Bass players should really just worry about playing the bass when the studio clock is ticking. That goes for the many engineer-bassists -- myself included -- that we have on board here. Leave the DI choices and amp choices to the engineer. And if you don't trust the engineer to have a better ear than you for recording, find another one.

MuthaFunk · #17 04-06-2011, 08:22 PM

In my case I am the engineer (hobbiest) and have time to experiment in my home studio. I did all the recording, mixing, and mastering of the Quadrafonics In Stereo album in my home studio. I was thinking about the Markbass stuff and just wanted to reach out for recordings and sounds made with Markbass equipment before I go through the effort to preview it in my studio.

Sometimes it's nice to have an idea what an amp sounds like should the right project come by for that particular sound. As an example, my Mesa Scout is a very unique sounding beast that wouldn't work for a smooth jazz sound but can really do a nice rock or R&B thing with little eq'ing and effort.

My perception of Markbass equipment to date has been that it's really only used for live sound and not typically a studio use amp. I was wondering if that's due to quality of components or sound?? Perhaps the success of Markbass equipment is limited to it's convience much like MP3's. I may be wrong and thought I'd query the enthusiasts here on TB to find out what they know.

Thanks for the great discussion. I'd still like to hear from other MB owners about if they use their amps in the studio and what they thought of them. Any recordings would be absolutely awesome, but I'd like to hear of experiences as well.

JimmyM · #18 04-06-2011, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naturalkinds

Honestly, I'd be very surprised if any engineer would opt to use a Markbass DI over the options they (ought to) have in the studio.

Bass players should really just worry about playing the bass when the studio clock is ticking. That goes for the many engineer-bassists -- myself included -- that we have on board here. Leave the DI choices and amp choices to the engineer. And if you don't trust the engineer to have a better ear than you for recording, find another one.

not always easy to scrap a day of recording plans because you don't like the engineer's ideas. i agree you should listen to them, but if an engineer ever told me he didn't want to mic my b-15, i would know he's an idiot. but i'd like to save the recording if i can, so i'd just override him. if i'm paying, my way goes.

christoph h. · #19 04-07-2011, 05:21 AM

I have an LMII and it certainly wouldn't be my goto-amp in the studio.
Also, the DI is horrible - never use that!

Regarding the cabinets: To my ears, they do not sound good at all.

For live it's an OK amp with the advantage of being light and having a small footprint, but recently I found that it lacks the character *I* want from an amp in a loud rock situation. For a lot of other music it does work well, though, depending on your tonal goals.

naturalkinds · #20 04-07-2011, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

not always easy to scrap a day of recording plans because you don't like the engineer's ideas. i agree you should listen to them, but if an engineer ever told me he didn't want to mic my b-15, i would know he's an idiot. but i'd like to save the recording if i can, so i'd just override him. if i'm paying, my way goes.

Sure, but what if he told you that he'd rather not mike your 12" Markbass combo in favor of DI?

It's contextual. I was too cavalier in my last post, but the germ of it sticks. I just think bassists can get ridiculously caught up with the what-do-I-need-to-record-in-the-studio line of thinking instead of realizing that they're not, in general, hired for that; the engineer is.

In the case of the OP saying it's for his or her home studio, my suggestion would be to upgrade elsewhere in your home studio. A DI is -- at maximum -- only as good as the preamp it goes into. If you've got a REDDI and a Digi 003 interface -- I hate to say it -- but the DI ain't going to do you all that much good. (And, heck, the 003 probably kills what most home musicians have as an audio interface in their 'home studios'!)