Am I underrating my amp or setting it silly?

[Richie Se7en]

I'm well into my 1st year playing and I feel a need to upgrade my amp (After testing many brands, I'm diggin' the sound of the Markbass CMD 102P). I'm currently using an early-mid 90's SWR Workingman 12, and although it can rattle things around, it seems to get fuzzy when I bump it up. FWIW, I prefer the deep end of the pool - and since hand issues caused me to park my Fender P for a Gibson SG - getting low hasn't become a problem. Plus, I usually tune everything flat(?) or 12:00 and Bass around +3 or so.

For now, we're enjoying yard/house jams and our first open mic gig, but honestly, my old-ass back would love a switch to the MB. More importantly, I think it'll maintain low-end clarity better and cut clean thru when we kick things up a few. My mates think the SWR sounds fine and I've been told mine is from a good production period, but I'm sure I'll be looking for different sounds as I progress, and I'm just not feeling it as it stands with the SWR. I like the idea of 2x10's for those humbuckers anyway, and can eventually grab a 12" or 15" cab to pair with if we ever go big time... like a school auditorium

 

[Downunderwonder]

Yes, no, what? Rock on.

 

[winegamd]

Your settings seem logical and are fine. The SWR will have more low end than the MB, at least in my experience.

 

[danosix]

I'm well into my 1st year playing and I feel a need to upgrade my amp (After testing many brands, I'm diggin' the sound of the Markbass CMD 102P). I'm currently using an early-mid 90's SWR Workingman 12, and although it can rattle things around, it seems to get fuzzy when I bump it up. FWIW, I prefer the deep end of the pool - and since hand issues caused me to park my Fender P for a Gibson SG - getting low hasn't become a problem. Plus, I usually tune everything flat(?) or 12:00 and Bass around +3 or so.

For now, we're enjoying yard/house jams and our first open mic gig, but honestly, my old-ass back would love a switch to the MB. More importantly, I think it'll maintain low-end clarity better and cut clean thru when we kick things up a few. My mates think the SWR sounds fine and I've been told mine is from a good production period, but I'm sure I'll be looking for different sounds as I progress, and I'm just not feeling it as it stands with the SWR. I like the idea of 2x10's for those humbuckers anyway, and can eventually grab a 12" or 15" cab to pair with if we ever go big time... like a school auditorium

Given your comment about "low end of the pool" and your choice of SG Bass (and your EQ settings) - I'm not sure Markbass is the right choice for you.
While they are good amps and reasonably versatile, my experience with them both as a user and an audience member is they're pretty "bright" and treble-y.
Another way of saying it is, if you feel you need to push the bass on your SWR - their tone is WAY more "fat/bassy/flubby/whatever" than the core tone of a Markbass.
If you are thinking of them for weight (again given your comments) both Fender and Ampeq have Class D amps now that weigh nothing - again one amp series that gets tons of love around TB is the new Rumble series and you can get a 200 watt 1x15 combo that will easily be lighter than your SWR (I had the 15 - it was a beast to load) and has the capacity for an extension cabinet for when you want more sound.
There are lots of other amps out there too, but I mention Fender and Ampeg based on your description of desired tone.

 

[Eminor3rd]

There's nothing wrong with your WR combo persay, but I've always maintained that a one speaker combo is really kind of a tweener -- it kinda technically can work with a band but it's strained, and it's too big and bulky to be convenient to move around.

I think you'll be happier with the MarkBass combo, or really any half decent combo or head/cab with 2 or 4 speakers. You'll have the headroom you need to dial in a tone that works for you without maxing the system out. You'll also find that the louder you go, the LESS low end you need to dial in. When you have the power to keep up, try running flat and see if it doesn't sound awesome.

 

[ashtray]

Sounds like you need more speakers. Now with ohms the way they are, if you amp isn't designed to handle "more speakers" (by which I mean its only got a hookup for the internal speaker - say at 8 ohms - and can't add another 8ohm cab) then you can disconnect your internal speaker and use a bigger cab of the same ohm rating. If your amp does have another socket for adding a speaker and can go to say 4 ohms, then grab another 1x12 cab to add to your combo's 12.

NOTE: Without seeing a pic of the back of your amp, I'm just throwing hypotheticals out there. Don't go plugging in cabs "bc some guy on the internet said to". I don't know that amp, the wattage, the minimum ohm load, or the internal speaker ohm rating.

You might be able to remove the amp portion from the combo and use it with another cab - depending on how it was designed. You might need to build a custom box for it.

At some point yoy might need more wattage. If you like your amp, you can go with a line out (?) to a power amp then to an ext cab, or get a powered cab. Shoot, you might even like a powered sub to get those low notes you can only feel.