A rather odd question about MarkBass amps.

[Slevage]

My 112 combo does 50% of my work --- add 112 external speaker for about 40% of my work. When I need 2 channels because of my EUB or crunch for my BG, I run a Tone Hammer into the XLR input to gain a second channel.
Most of the time the Markbass clean sound is perfect for me and wouldn't trade it for any other amp.

 

[Medicine Man]

My markbass 2x10 combo certainly isn't my best sounding rig, but it gets lots of gigs because of the portability. For small venues, it certainly sounds good enough. As honky as the bedroom tone is, I find it just fine under two loud guitars.

 

[funkinbottom]

I'm not so much a fan of Markbass cabs, but absolutely love my LM ll. Perhaps some are misinterpreting transparency as sterile? To me, this little amp when set flat seems to just put out what goes in, with the added ability to shape your tone in any way you desire. As stated earlier, I feel it's not the "only" amp, but IMHO it is far from sterile. Also I realize that things like transparent, sterile, full, fat, thin etc... are subjective and we all have our own opinions about them. But the nice thing is, these days there are a lots of amps out there to choose from. So, flavor #1 doesn't cut it for you..... try another flavor.

 

[DirkP]

Disagree. With the heads you can get every sound you want, if you want to go into overdrive or distortion etc. you need effects anyway as long as you don't go the tube road or choose an amp that is made for rock music.

Maybe people who change from large rigs with 4x10s etc. don't take the positioning of smaller cabinets or cabinets serious enough. When discussing nearfield and other studio monitors there is a common wisdom: the room and the position of the speakers is more important than the quality of the speakers. If you put a small 1x12 cabinet on the floor and even worse in the corner of a room, no cabinet sounds good. It is very important to direct the speaker to your ears and to not put them to close to a wall etc.
I have the 121P and it sounds extremly boxy in room corners, but extremely good if it is located the right way.

 

[steveinohio]

I love my Markbass LMIII!! Just the same you may have found an amp that's just not for you. No big. Tons of other companies out there. Your taste in tone evolves over time. Find one you like!