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Am I the only one having problems with MarkBass tweeters?

#41
Agito said:
Anyone here knows about a tweeter that might fit into 151p and 121p? (Two different amps, I'm asking for someone)
Thank you in advance
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I just disconnected the one in my 121p (before it got the chance to blow) first impression is that the amp is a little less hissy. The tweeter is a Le Son Model Lj and has a three cornered design
 
#42
If it uses a single piezo tweeter it's a given that they will blow. Piezos, unlike dynamic tweeters, are voltage limited, not power limited. That limit is roughly 25 volts, and even a 50 watt amp with moderate distortion will deliver that much to a tweeter. The only reliable method to use piezos is in pairs, series wired, which doubles their voltage limit.
 
#43
KJung said:
Again, there will be a few tweeter failures in any design, especially if you abuse it. Four in a row... something going on that is strange and specific to you. The good news is, tweeters (even pretty good ones) are relatively inexpensive, so you should be able to swap the fried tweeter out pretty easily. If the new one blows, then you would need to re-evaluate the situation. My guess is, it will.
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Problem is finding one that will fit in the tiny little space Markbass leaves for the tweeter in that combo. I gave up and returned the combo to GC.

I wanted to change mine out because that tweeter is a hideous piece of hammered dog crap. If it is silent after it blows. I would call it a blessing.
 
#44
Badong said:
Problem is finding one that will fit in the tiny little space Markbass leaves for the tweeter in that combo. I gave up and returned the combo to GC.

I wanted to change mine out because that tweeter is a hideous piece of hammered dog crap. If it is silent after it blows. I would call it a blessing.
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I surely don't recommend any of the Markbass combo amps. I again have not heard of a ton of tweeter failures, but that cheap sounding piezo tweeter with no attenuator is just a sin against nature, and is a classic example of why some people 'don't like tweeters'. If that is the only execution of a tweeter one has heard, I wouldn't like tweeters either. It is also one of the reasons that some post that 'Markbass amps are noisy' (which they are not). However, if you have a piezo tweeter that has no attenuator, it will amplify the normal background hiss of any amp to levels that many would find annoying.

I again STRONGLY recommend to the OP that he puts a replacement tweeter from Markbass in there, and then sell those cabs and move to something else.

MB, IMO, makes some of the findest sounding heads out there, and the cabs with the compression horns sound quite nice. The little combo cabs are IMO not of the same sound quality and design as the rest of their product line.
 
#45
KJung said:
I again STRONGLY recommend to the OP that he puts a replacement tweeter from Markbass in there, and then sell those cabs and move to something else.

MB, IMO, makes some of the findest sounding heads out there, and the cabs with the compression horns sound quite nice. The little combo cabs are IMO not of the same sound quality and design as the rest of their product line.
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Agreed. :smug:
 
#48
Billnc said:
I don't like tweeters on bass. I don't like Piezo tweeters in any application. I think my better cabs have all had Foster horns. I've rarely used horns as they only seem to add unwanted freqs. Fosters seem to work well.
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Fosters are only fair to middling; the main reason they're used so much is that they're inexpensive. I agree that tweeters for bass are a generally bad idea, midrange drivers work much better. If one must use a tweeter then a high quality tweeter capable of running to 2.5kHz would be best, but those cost about $10 more than what Fosters do, and the crossover components would cost perhaps $5 more than those for a Foster do, and so...:rollno:
 
#49
The tweeter in my 121p blew a while back and it's past the warranty period. I chose to open it up and bypass the crossover and just use the 12. I think it sounds much better this way, kind of like a smaller version of the Jeff Berlin model. It doesn't have the sparkling highs for slapping but it never was great for that as it really started to compress with the small enclosure. It has a more "old school" tone to it now and actually sounds pretty cool for slapping with a p bass still, IMO. Without the tweeter it seems to handle a lot more power and works great for rehearsals (which was one of the main things I bought it for).
I think this cab would have been much better from the get go if they left the tweeter off it. However, I paired it with the matching extension cab a while back and used the attenuator on it to dial in just a smidgen of the tweeter and that was killer. The two together were pretty cool. Too pricy for the results IMO though.
With that said, if you're out of warranty and have your tweeter go, try bypassing the crossover and just using the 12 before getting rid of it. You may be happy with the results. JM .02
 
#51
For now, I have juts unplugged the tweeter in my 121P and it sounds fine. I run mine with a 151 cab that has a tweeter anyway but, I would like to replace the tweeter in the 121P at some point. I dont really blame Markbass for the failure as it was my own stupididy that caused it to fail. This amp is 3 years old and has performed flawlessly until this issue. If anyone has a link to a good replacement tweeter, please post or forward it to me. Thanks!
 
#52
As others have said, the combos are not my favorite, but I love my LMII. Ive gigged the hell out of that thing and its still working great. I get so much love from my bandmates and people in the audience over that thing its not funny.
 
#53
I left my 4-10 Mark Bass cab for warranty repair and was told the tweeter was bad. After a month I picked it up and did one gig and now it's doing the same thing (buzz sound). Next week I'll take it back once again...I'm not too happy with MB at the moment.

Agito said:
Hi
It's the 4th time I'm having problem with MarkBass amps though I keep all the basic rules to make sure the amp will work fine.

First time with my first CMD151P (We'll call it amp no.1)
The power supply/board went poof
2nd time - tweeter went poof
3rd time - again with the tweeter
The store replaced my amplifier (Thankfully the store is made of great people that will give the best support)

They gave me the new CMD151P (Combo head II)
Everything was working fine, I made sure the amplifier won't clip, I didn't use high volumes and barely played with effects, and even if I did, they didn't clip or were in high volume.

And bam
4th time the tweeter's gone.

Anyone else had the same problem as I'm having?
Just wanted to know, cause this is ridiculous...
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#54
HI, I have posted another forum about lack of presence playing with the band with my MM Sterling.

I think the piezo tweeter from my NY151 is gone. I tried to listen close to the tweeter and playing high notes, but no sound is coming out. So I think it is busted.
 
#55
I don't know ifthe tweet in my traveler 151P cab has ever worked. I've certainly never heard it. It's never changed the tone, no matter where I set the knob. It also doesn't hiss, rattle, or do anything like what I hear folks say that one does when it's gone, or going, bad. Kind of a mystery to me. My hearing is bad, but I've had bandmates listen, and they can't tell either.

QUESTION: if it is bad, and if it makes no noise, can I just play on? Is there anything wrong with playing with a bad tweeter if it doesn't affect the sound? Does it affect the ohmage? Does disconnecting it change the ohmage? And what is involved in disconnecting it?
 
#60
Russell L said:
That's good to hear. Anyone else?
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You have one of the MB cabs that uses a piezo tweeter. As far as I know, piezo's don't even typically use a crossover, so if yours is blown, your driver would still run full range and no harm will be done to anything.

The way to tell if the tweeter is working or not (since some basses don't even put out frequencies as high as those piezos 'start point') is to unplug your bass (so you in no way risk hurting your ears), turn you VLE filter all the way off, turn your treble control all the way up, and crank both the input gain and master. That extreme setting will pump out all kinds of hiss above 10k, and you should hear that screaming out of that little piezo. If you don't, it is trashed.
 

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