Markbass - Should I been concerned...?
 

I have wanted a markbass rig for years now and recently found a used 104HF cab for half what it would cost me to get it new.

The current owner seems like a good guy from what I can tell so I don't think he is trying to screw me but I am a little concerned about the fact that the cab is 5 years old. He is the second owner and although he told me that he has only used the cab twice and that the owner before him told him he didnt use it much either I am not 100% convinced.

Does anyone have any experience of deterioration with the NEO speakers? Is it a gradual process? Basically I just want to know if it is worth buying a new one.

PS I plan on matching it with a brand new Little Mark III.

Just so you know, there is nothing about the neo's that deteriorates more, worse, or differently than regular drivers. For any type of speaker, there are two easy tests:
1) Play through them, see how it sounds, especially with the volume up as loud as is reasonable for the cab.
2) Gently push on the dust caps (center of the cones) with your hand. If it makes a gravelly scratching noise as it goes in and out, there may be a problem.

I'm pretty sure it's gonna take a lot longer than 5 years for those speakers to demagnetize. Now, it could very well be that someone fed too much power to it and blew a speaker, or tore a speaker cone, but that would be immediately apparent when you plug in and test drive before you buy (which, you really should do).

Hi.
Are you having any specific problems with the speakers? I only just bought myself a Markbass CMD102P combo second hand. If you're concerned about cone excursion (I.e. how much the cones travel inwards and outwards compared to say, something like a JBL), I've been informed this is a characteristic of the neodymium speakers and how they get to move so much air. As I say, my experience is very limited due to only having one for a week. Maybe someone else might have some more answers, but I hope this helps

Thanks guys, put me at easy. And yes I will be testing it before i buy it.

up

+1 to all of the above. Nothing about the Markbass brand nor neo speakers that is more problematic than buying any other brand used.

The limiting factor for drivers is, from what I understand, failure of the speaker surrounds, which have, in general, about a 20 year usable life.

Added a 102hf to the cmd102p
 

I didn't change any settings and was a little surprised there was very little change to tone or output (band practice). I'm not sure what I expected but something more noticeable for sure. When we got going and I started digging in I did notice a little more volume but it was when we were playing Peaceful Easy Feeling I was asked to turn down but that song is mainly on the D and G string which can be loud anyway since there are less low tones to sick up power.

What I did notice was more clarity on the B string and maybe a little more volume on the open E. Does this sound about right? Or shoud I try changing the ext cab input jack (phase issue?).

On a separate note Markbass claims the same weight on both cabs but the 102hf is noticeably lighter, surprisingly so. I took turns picking them up and the difference was obvious, in fact I joked when I bought it and asked if both speakers were still in it (it came with a cover)

That sounds about right, but when you start pushing the volume, you should notice quite a bit of difference. However, basically, you are hearing correctly... noticeably more volume in an absolute sense (not crazy more though), and more importantly, a much more open, less compressed low end when you are cranking.

The combination of almost doubling the amp's power going from 8ohms to 4ohms, combined with adding a second cab will give you, on average, about 5db more absolute volume capability (that doesn't mean louder at the same master knob setting necessarily, but rather the ability to get louder), and an increase in low end, combined with less compression.

If the cabs were 'out of phase' (i.e., one cab was wired opposite the other), you would notice a MASSIVE drop of low end when you plugged the second one in.

That has NOTHING to do with the material the magnet is made of. The Markbass drivers are designed with that 'lots of excursion' sort of thing, which is why the little 112 combo goes so low for its size. Zero issue there!

Thanks Kjung. I'm going to change this to its own thread, meant to but I was on a Kindle, so things happen.

I bought all my Markbass gear used, one of which was an old school silver face, black drivers, 610. It was killer and at least a decade old when I got it. I am not saying it is fine, it might be blown, but it probably isn't and it definitely hasn't failed yet.

I suspect they didn't use them much because they may not have liked the sound or some other reason, like didn't get to play out much or had other gear they prefer. You can tell when a speaker is blown and it would be like trying to sell a car that didn't run. You would fell compelled to let people know. I suspect that the cab is fine but just wasn't their cup of tea or was not cost effective to their needs. If it blown however, don't buy it unless you find out the replacement cost first. The 12 in B&C speaker MB uses is a different size (uses a much bigger hole in baffle) than normal and other brands won't fit in the cab at all. I have 2 used MB cabs, both have no issues and are built like tanks in every respect except weight.