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My MarkBass woes

TSanders

TSanders

Oct 23, 2004
2,733
86
42
Columbus, Georgia
#1
Im not one to bash gear, but since I had a pretty serious problem with a second MarkBass product I did want to share that experience.....Ill preface that I am very careful with my gear. I do not abuse my equipment, and have good enough common sense to mistreat a piece of gear.

I bought a used MB Little Mark II from a TBer. Ran it gently at 8 ohms through a Berg HS210. Had no issues with it for 2-3 weeks, with a couple gigs on it each of those weeks. This was my 3rd or 4th MarkBass LMKII, and once again I decided that I dug the weight, but the tone just wasnt there for me.

I sold it here on TB to a very nice guy, who said my well packaged amp, with no signs of abuse, is shuting down on him. We do a little troubleshooting to determine an easy fix, and well, there isnt one. Without a reciept from MarkBass, we were offered the name of their out of warranty service center. Long story short, the service center has said the MarkBass need a new motherboard. The repair cost and shipping back to the TB buyer I sold it to is $415. Yes, that reads $415. We all know what those sell for, so with covering the repairs (as I felt it right to do), even though the amp worked fine for me, I basically gave away that LMKII.

This experience has left me cold towards MarkBass. I have had issues with 2 of the 5 or 6 MB amps Ive owned. As a result, I just wont use a MB amp ever again. Ill plug into a toaster before another MarkBass amp.

YOUR EXPERIENCE MAY VARY. I SINCERELY HOPE IT DOES. I wouldnt wish this on anyone.....
 
#3
Sorry you had troubles. I would never buy an amp used that I can pick up new for $550.00.

I just recently picked up a new MarkBass LMIII at GC and got a deal on it. I even got the GC Gold Insurance Policy that IMO cost too much but I got it on the cheap. If I throw my Marbass out a bus window, GC replaces it. :hyper:
 
#7
I'm sorry to hear about this; it truly sucks.

Amid all the (generally well-earned) high praise for MarkBass amps that goes on here, I remember one thread where a few of the more knowledgeable TBers (KJung? JimmyM?) wrote that there was some aspect of Markbass' production process that made certain soldered components very difficult, if not impossible, to replace. Whoever it was, he mentioned that something so simple as a chip failure would require the replacement of the entire mother board, which might be what happened to you.

I also recall that few people expressed concern at the time, probably because the amps were so new to the market that failures of any sort were few and far between. As time goes on, though, it's possible that we'll be hearing more stories like this, especially if such failures are expensive to repair by design.

Of course, your situation is a bit more complicated, since the amp has had several owners and the original receipt is MIA. It won't make things better, but I do applaud your willingness to stand behind something you sold to a fellow TBer. :(
 
#8
vinxbass said:
Sounds like you've had a case of some plain old bad luck. When your confidence has been stricken by a product twice it's really hard to get that confidence back from that particular name brand.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the first time, I figured it was an isolated incedent, the second time, really frustrated me. I like your wording, and doubt Id ever be confident in another MB product again.


weary hobo said:
It won't make things better, but I do applaud your willingness to stand behind something you sold to a fellow TBer. :(
Click to expand...


Thank you. That was a VERY hard pill to swallow, BUT if I got something that didnt work, Id want it taken care of, so I had to go with that train of thought.
 
#10
I'm pretty sure Markbass offers a 5 year warranty (I'd need to check again to be sure). I feel great about purchasing my SA450. It's been good for me for as long as I've had it, and it gets used all the time. You can't be upset with MarkBass for not doing a warranty repair, without proof of purchase. After all, it could be a stolen item, as far as they know.

I love my MarkBass!

Freddels said:
GC knows who the original purchaser is as it's in their database. I believe the "old" warranty was transferable so maybe you could track down the original owner of the amp.
Click to expand...
I'd try that.
 
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#11
I'm not sure how many people would have paid for repairs on an amp they sold in working condition, so in the end this story does you credit even though it really hurts you financially right now. I have to wonder about the servicibility and repairs on these newish small amp designs. I guess there is always a tradeoff. If you like big tube amps you sometimes get stuck retubing. The music business is really hard to make a buck with all the costs involved and the general low pay. :rollno:
:eyebrow:
Sorry about your experience, I feel your pain.
 
#13
Your third or fourth LMII?? I doesn't matter how many times you try an amp, once you've decided you don't like the tone you'll never like that amp!

That being said, your amp is still under warranty. if it has a transferable warranty, the person who sold it to you should have included the sales slip. Ask him for it. If he is a good guy he'll bend over backwards to help you out of this mess.

I,m not sure how long the LMII has been available. Has it been long enough that the warranty could have run out? If not then Mark Bass should have covered you even without the sales slip. They should be able to get a date of manufacture or import from the serial number. $415 repair for an almost new amplifier is more than a little ridiculous. Having to replace an entire board hints at significant future repair costs for ALL current LMII owners. It also IMHO points to a really bad design where serviceability has been completely ignored!

Paul

P.S. Hudos to you for your stance on this. I'm prepared to bet not too many people would have done the same. Good luck, I hope you get the situation resolved.
 
#15
BassmanPaul said:
P.S. Hudos to you for your stance on this. I'm prepared to bet not too many people would have done the same. Good luck, I hope you get the situation resolved.
Click to expand...
+1

and kudos, BTW. That is a tough pill to swallow, many would choke (I'm sitting here wondering what I would do... ).

To the point regarding repairability, or non-repairability of PCBs. I don't know if MB uses them, but ball-grid arrays are generally non-repairable. More and more devices are coming in that package.

Though (in my day job) we have one woman who can use the equipment and change out a 500+ ball grid array with success. These are not production or customer PCBs but rather engineering PCBs. It is normal that if a customer's PCB has a bad BGA, the board gets pitched.

The technology of small make this an unfortunate reality.
 
#16
Codger said:
+1

The technology of small make this an unfortunate reality.
Click to expand...

Precisely.... With all of the new 'compact' amps coming out (ie:the MB F1, GK MB2-500, Genz Benz Shuttles, etc...) they're designing them to be so tight for space that it ends up being more work to replace a bad component than the unit is worth. Components on the board are so close together that it's almost impossible to remove one without damaging another, which is probably why the service tech said they had to replace the motherboard.

I myself have a LMII and love it. Granted, if I had the money I probably would have gone with either a Mesa Carbine or Big Block but when I was looking for an amp, I was looking for tone and portability not so much what it would take to fix it if it breaks down. Just the way the world works I guess, the solution to one problem just creates another.... :rolleyes:
 
#17
BassmanPaul said:
Your third or fourth LMII?? I doesn't matter how many times you try an amp, once you've decided you don't like the tone you'll never like that amp!

That being said, your amp is still under warranty. if it has a transferable warranty, the person who sold it to you should have included the sales slip. Ask him for it. If he is a good guy he'll bend over backwards to help you out of this mess.

I,m not sure how long the LMII has been available. Has it been long enough that the warranty could have run out? If not then Mark Bass should have covered you even without the sales slip. They should be able to get a date of manufacture or import from the serial number. $415 repair for an almost new amplifier is more than a little ridiculous. Having to replace an entire board hints at significant future repair costs for ALL current LMII owners. It also IMHO points to a really bad design where serviceability has been completely ignored!

Paul

P.S. Hudos to you for your stance on this. I'm prepared to bet not too many people would have done the same. Good luck, I hope you get the situation resolved.
Click to expand...

+1....
You bought the exact same amp, and thought it would sound diffrent...?
Just trying to understand....
Thanks.
 
#19
TSanders said:
This was my 3rd or 4th MarkBass LMKII, and once again I decided that I dug the weight, but the tone just wasnt there for me.
Click to expand...

Curious...

Why is this your 3rd or 4th LMKII?
I don't understand (maybe I missed something).

This could just be bad luck, like others said.

I have 2 LMKII (1 racked 1 not) and at least one gets turned on everyday (no issues nock on wood).
 
#20
Codger said:
+1

and kudos, BTW. That is a tough pill to swallow, many would choke (I'm sitting here wondering what I would do... ).

To the point regarding repairability, or non-repairability of PCBs. I don't know if MB uses them, but ball-grid arrays are generally non-repairable. More and more devices are coming in that package.

Though (in my day job) we have one woman who can use the equipment and change out a 500+ ball grid array with success. These are not production or customer PCBs but rather engineering PCBs. It is normal that if a customer's PCB has a bad BGA, the board gets pitched.

The technology of small make this an unfortunate reality.
Click to expand...

We have BGA's replaced all the time at my work, and they are in production (mainly military applications) and logic parts seem to be moving more and more to that package direction. Its 90 bucks for the replacement plus the cost of the part (which ranges from 200 to 5000 dollars for what we use) but it can be done. We are currently setting our facility up to do instillation/replacement ourselves and its not cheap by any means as it involves buying an Xray machine to inspect the balls to insure they were flowed properly. I do hate those parts, they're supposed to be really reliable, but we have problems with them all the time, I absolutely hate them.
 

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