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CARVIN BX 500 OR MARKBASS LITTLEMARK 3

mike costelow

mike costelow

Apr 12, 2009
325
15
kansas city,missouri
#1
Alright,think im liking the idea of the carvin b1500 to power my new schroeders and it is such a reasonable price that im going to pick up a lightweight 500 watt head as a back-up to run one of the schroeders for smaller gigs.i have narrowed it down to the little mark 3 or the bx500.leaning towards the littlemark just to have a different tone but getting a lot of positive input bout the carvin gear.have played littlemark and like it alot.no carvin gear is sold around my area as far as i know, so cant try it out without ordering it.how do these 2 stack up?i my cabs r 2-21012 light rated at 1000 watts each.this is to run one of the cabs. as always thanks for your input,dont know what i would do without ya'll.
 
#2
There is a mega thread about the BX500 and a BX500 part 2 thread floating around here almost everyday. I've got the BX500 and it's been nothing but a great head to me. Alot of people though have had problems with there heads and have had to send them back. Of coarse, we only hear about the heads that have problems and not all the heads that don't. The BX500 comes with alot of features for a very good price, something to think about. But all in all I've been very pleased with the one I've got.
 
#4
mike costelow said:
Alright,i have narrowed it down to the little mark 3 or the bx500.leaning towards the littlemark just to have a different tone but getting a lot of positive input bout the carvin gear.
Click to expand...

Exactly my situation. I've played the LMII-loved the deep punchy tone, I've spent days reading the BX500 comments. I'm using epi ul-310, or a pair of Epi ul-112's. Still thinking, if that Carvin can produce that same deep punch....... that would do it for me. :bassist:
 
#6
I tried the Carvin and the LMIII back to back @ NAMM & preferred the LMIII by a long country mile. Much deeper, richer sound & more of a natural punch. The BX500 was decent, but the LMIII has a real magic to it. By the way, I sampled the heads with the same Carvin bass & similar cabinets. IMO & IME & I've already recieved a world of poop for this opinion so I guess I never learn my lesson. Spend the extra $200.
 
#9
One item of note:
I have not read of many (if any) complaints of failures for the LMII heads here; tragicaly Carvin has not had such good luck
While I realize that it is all based on total sales to come up with a % failure rate; there can't be that many more Carvin heads sold than LMII
 
#13
K-Frog said:
another way to look at it is this:

I've seen what seems like a lot of LMII's for sale and maybe only 1 BX500 for sale. Does that say anything? I don't know.
Click to expand...

Yes... one thing it says is that quite a few more LMII's were sold than BX500's. I doubt anyone would dispute that.

I sold an LMII recently... it was my spare one and I hadn't used it in the year or so that I owned it because I never had a problem with my main one... even after a couple hundred gigs. Does that say anything? Yep.
:cool:

I also knew that the new MB models were coming out and the pricing with the updates was typically going to be the same as the previous model or in the case of the 800w model, much less. Prior to that used LMII's were selling for close to new even more than a year later. That probably says something too.
 
#14
Never had a prob with MY LMII either. Use it 2x/week & Seems to ALWAYS to me proud! Super li'l amp. & w/ me, it's had to PROVE itself. I've ALWAYS used tube amps- ever since my 1st amp at 12 y.o. ALL tube. I tried various other amps- hybrid & s.s. Ended up with a Ashdown EVO 575w which I liked, but IT Broke down & was under warranty so I ended up swapping it for a SVT3PRO- liked that for a year, then realised it was lacking 'something'... bought aAmpeg V4BH-all tube!! Then the need for a small lite amp reared it's ...head & I succombed to the TB LMII hype.... Bought a LMII - even tho I was pretty much against S.S. amps- due to NONE impressing me & only one Hybrid doing any real impressing, BUT the LMII just won me over, with it's sound, quality build, features & now after 2.5+ yrs, it's reliability!! Now I've got a Mark Bass cab as well- even tho I used to not think much of them- BUT in this case I had never used one in a band setting, just in shops... oh I did use a MB 410 cab afew times & it was OK. But they're just made well & work well & -here at least- are good value. WIN WIN WIN.
 
#17
Brad Johnson said:
Yes... one thing it says is that quite a few more LMII's were sold than BX500's. I doubt anyone would dispute that.

... Prior to that used LMII's were selling for close to new even more than a year later. That probably says something too.
Click to expand...

I believe this is probably what it says about the LMII.
Been for sale much longer, many purchased (no doubt some on impulse) and they certainly command a near new price when sold used.

I wasn't being sarcasic in my post, just asking the OP to consider one more piece of info.

I think you guys nailed it on the head.

K
 
#18
K-Frog said:
another way to look at it is this:

I've seen what seems like a lot of LMII's for sale and maybe only 1 BX500 for sale. Does that say anything? I don't know.
Click to expand...

I believe it says there are way more LM2 owners than BX500 owners since the latter is so new, and also reflects the fact that the LM3 is out and some may want the latest incarnation of the li'l wonder. I must add I see more posts about BX500 problems than LM problems, even though there are relatively fewer of the former head out there.
 
#19
lomo said:
I believe it says there are way more LM2 owners than BX500 owners since the latter is so new, and also reflects the fact that the LM3 is out and some may want the latest incarnation of the li'l wonder. I must add I see more posts about BX500 problems than LM problems, even though there are relatively fewer of the former head out there.
Click to expand...

i think you've summed up my observation very well.
 
#20
lomo said:
I believe it says there are way more LM2 owners than BX500 owners since the latter is so new, and also reflects the fact that the LM3 is out and some may want the latest incarnation of the li'l wonder. I must add I see more posts about BX500 problems than LM problems, even though there are relatively fewer of the former head out there.
Click to expand...



I was all set to order a BX500 to check one out and wanted to try an LMIII.I already own an LMII.I read somewhere that the Markbass failure rate is like .06% which to me is fantastic.Ive owned 2 MB heads and have yet to experience a problem.Honestly the stories Ive read on the Carvin scares me a bit.Just a thought,as folks are dumping their LMII's to update to the LMIII,pick one up.They are a steal on the used market now.I love mine so much I really see no need to upgrade to the III.
 

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