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Best combination of Markbass combo/cab

S

snakeinasack

Feb 21, 2009
12
0
Stockholm, Sweden
#1
Planning to buy a lightweight rig, and have been very interested in Markbass product line. I'm mostly playing blues and rock at small stages and need something that plays quite loud with a well definied middle that separates the bass from the lower notes from the hammond organ. For that purpose I'm leaning at a Markbass CMD 102 (LM ll with 2 x10' speakers). However I will do a number of reggae gigs later this fall and will probably need an additional cab for that real low sound. I'm leaning at some Markbass 1x15 cab.
Does anybody have any experience to share? Is there any pitfalls I should look out for?
 
#3
I run my LMII thru two Bergantino AE112's and it does it's job plenty. Play mostly R&B/Hip-Hop but have done Reggae gigs with it and it was quite dub-a-licious! One AE112 should be good for smaller venues but two stacked will go a looooong way IMO. Happy shopping!
 
#5
I think the CMD 102 + the 115HR cab would be a good choice for blues/rock with occasional reggae.

You might consider getting a LMII and a few cabs that can be used on there own and together. Basically all the markbass 10's and 15's seem to play nicely together as long as you have 8 ohm cabs.

My current configuration is a LMII, Traveler 102P and 151HR. I am planning to add a 4x10 cab in the future so I can scale my rig to the size of the gig. I would think the 102P+151HR would be a nice combination for you, and you can just bring the 33 lb 2x10 for rehearsals and smaller gigs. Also, I just sold a CMD 102 combo to move to the more flexible head + multiple cab rig. Good luck.

John
 
#6
I have LMIII and Hartke Hydrive 115 cab, killer combination and not that expensive, and both are very light.
The low end I can get from these is amazing, the hydrive has a very uncoloured sound to it, so it pretty much reproduces everything that I feed to it from my amp and effects.
If I feel like pushing more mids i can hear it instantly.
Bergs are great too, and there are plenty of great cabs on the market.
I would just grab the amp and take a day off to play thru various cabs out there, drink a beer or two, play some more....ahh what a day that would be..
 
#7
Thanks for your advice.
Maybe I should drop the thought of buying a combo and go for a separate LM ll (or LM lll) head instead. The backside is that I need to have more items to carry around, but the benefit is that I could choose cabinet solution for the occation. Another advantage is that, even if the head with the right voltage can only be bought where I live (Sweden), I´m free to buy cabinets from wherever I find them (for example from my fellow bass-mates here on this forum). Please keep on posting your ideas. I'm still learning.

On the other hand, the thought of spending some time in music shops, testing cabinets, drinking beer and annoying salesclerks is tempting...
/Gawe
 
#8
snakeinasack said:
Thanks for your advice.
Maybe I should drop the thought of buying a combo and go for a separate LMlll (or LMllll) head instead. The backside is that I need to have more items to carry around, but the benefit is that I could choose cabinett solution for the occation. Please keep on posting your ideas, I'm still learning.
/Gawe
Click to expand...

if you put the LMII (or LMIII) in the markbass bag, you do'nt have to really carry the head.
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it's a bit expensive (I paid 70 euros) but I've never regretted I bought it !
 
#10
I played around with the CMD 121P and the matching 12" ext cab (New York 121) a couple days ago and was quite impressed. I think you would end up bringing both to every gig (due to it being light in the low end by itself) but it sounded great together and plenty loud.

I suspect I would like the CMD 151P with the matching 15" ext cab (New York 151) even better. I would think the CMD 151P would handle many gigs on its own and 500W rocking two tight 15" would sound great IMO.
 
#11
Had a mail exchange with Peter Murray at Markbass today, Here is his recommendation:

"If you need good clear pitch definition, I would suggest a configuration that uses 10” speakers. These are nice and aggressive for cutting through the mix, but also when you get several 10” speakers together you also get a lot of bottom end that will be great for the reggae gigs. Robbie Shakespeare (the king of reggae bass), for example, uses Markbass cabinets with 10s.

So I guess my top recommendation would be a CMD 102P combo with either a Standard 102HF cabinet or maybe even a Standard 104HR cabinet.
CMD 102P [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Standard 102HF [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Standard 104HR [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
You could get a Standard 104HF (front-ported 4x10) but of course it’s less portable.
Standard 104HF Invalid Link Removed
Generally the larger the cabinet, the more bottom end you’re going to get.
So what you choose will depend on how important the portability is to you.
But I think the combo with the Standard 102HF would give you lots of power and bottom end!"
 

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