Darglass microtubes 500 combo vs Markbass LMIV + 102p cab

[David De Vos]

Dear bass brothers, can you share your experience?

I am doubting between
• Darkglass Microtubes 500 Combo 112
• Markbass Little Mark IV + 102p traveler cab

I can not test them side by side unfortunatly but I played them both with some weeks in between and like them both.
It is not about price or volume, that is not that important to me.
It is about tone and sound.
What is your experience?

 

[GotGroove]

It comes down to personal taste and preferences. I'm not sure it's even fair to compare the 2. Totally different beasts imo.

To put it mildy, I'm not a MB amp fan. At all. One of the rehearsal rooms I'm in sometimes has one and I find it a pain in the rear to get a good clean tone I want. Also, I rarely slap, so their 'punchy midrange' salespitch is kinda wasted on me. However if you do slap and do funk stuff, the MB can be a great choice and possibly better than the DG. It's just not for me.

I'll take the DG any time. Not that I'll be using the drives a lot. In fact, I'll probably never touch em. But I find it a lot easier to get the clean tone I want. It's reasonably flat at center position. The EQ does what I expect it to do and it easily accommodates various musical styles, whereas the markbass always feels like it scoops/boosts some other frequency that's not on the dial I'm currently turning. Very annoying to my ears. Personally, I'd like to have a few lower frequencies available on the DG EQ section, but it's still a lot easier -to me- to get a workable tone with it than with the MB.

Tell us what kind of tone are you looking for and we can leave personal preferences behind and give you advise based on your needs instead of people like me just spitting their own opinions.

As always, YMMV

 

[1coil]

It depends on what you want for yore sound

I have DG heads, and MB heads and 102p cabs

Darkglass is pretty aggressive with a fairly frfr soundstage. Hard drive options.
MB is a lot more vintage, with the highs a lot more muted.

Choice belong you.

 

[SJan3]

MarkBass for me. My CMD121P sounds great with a P bass. Warm and punchy, strong lows, mids and highs.
Clean but not sterile.
I have no love for Darkglass distortion.