Me too. It's a perfect description of the sound of my early Little Mark III...
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Is Markbass really all that??
- Thread starter paul5string81
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Me too. It's a perfect description of the sound of my early Little Mark III...
+1
The reason I have been using Markbass as my main rig is the fact that it's sound is low-mids heavy.
My friend (bass player) and I A/B'd thoroughly my MB Traveler 102P with his GK Neo 210. We found that Gallien Krueger's sound was scooped, MB's was more towards (low) mids. He liked the scooped sound, I liked the mids sound.
Your characterization suggests that you either 1. do not understand how the VPF filter works, or 2. overuse it.
Yes, you can get scooped sound by engaging the VPF filter. But if you leave it off (turned counter-clockwise), there will be plenty of mids.
I always start dialing my sound with both filters (VPF, VLE) turned off (counterclockwise). I usually leave them that way.
The VPF control works similarly as the Contour control on GK heads. One important difference is that the GK heads sound scooped even with the Contour filter disengaged (especially if paired with GK cabs). That's not the case with MB heads (especially with MB cabs)...
IMO, IME...
I must say I totally agree. The truth is that this "Little Marcus" is absolutely hype with nothing to back it up. In addition to an ash body, maple FB, single coil pickups, new (or clean) roundwound SS strings, the amp must be open sounding in the high end to get the right sound--and it doesn't! My G&K does.
I wrote earlier that the Lttle Marcus might have some use with my fretless jazz bass, fattening out the G & C strings, but with my new pickups those strings are now plenty fat sounding. Though I love my MB 122 Ninja cab, the G&K head is entirely that much better than the MB head--which is going back ASAP!
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I've been playing an old GK 400RB head through an old Peavey 115 cab with a BW speaker that sits at the jam site lately. Sounds great. Took my LMIII head down there once to hear the difference in that cab. Well, it sounded great as well and still had the Markbass sound. Can't say one was better than the other really, just a little different. Might try it again this week just for fun. Le ya's know
You're right I do not understand what vpf does. For that reason I have never used it. I have limited experience with Markbass, I played 2 pretty regularly but did not own either. I own an SWR hence the comparison. The one useful tone I have gotten out of Markbass is a scooped tone, which I got with just a little bass boost.
What I mean by warm low mids is what you get out of say a Mesa Carbine. I don't know how to do that with a Markbass, and to my ears, that's not what you get just plugging into one. Maybe an experienced Markbass user such as yourself knows how to get that tone, but I think there's dialing knobs involved. Cheers =)
It's mid scoop. It cuts mids (center at 380 Hz) and boosts lows and highs...
No significant dialing needed, IME. Just leave the VPF off (counterclockwise). You may boost the low mids control a little bit.
I just picked up a used Little Mark 250, the Italian made one before the Black Line. After trying out a bunch of heads lately, I have to say that the Italian made Little Mark heads are great bang for the buck, especially used.
Ah maybe I did need to understand this knob after all then, could make sense. Thanks I'll try that (making sure this knob is all the way ccw) next time I use the MB.
A LOT of people run all the knobs straight up (including the v filters) thinking that is flat. And I don't know what having both VLE and VPF turned up would do exactly, but I doubt it's good. Doesn't sound good to me at least.
It's helpful to think of the VLE and VPF knobs as supplements to the other 4 eq knobs, so their off position is fully CCW. So, one could dial in their magical tone with the regular EQ section knobs and then leave them there and never touch their position again. Then if you need a little less highs and a more vintage tone, just raise the VLE knob until you get it. Or, if for a song you need a good slap tone or a more scooped sound, raise the VPF knob until it sounds good. Tonewise, these amps are pretty versatile and easy to dial in a very wide variety of tones. Combine that with some serious power, and yes, I think Markbass is really all that.
I had a little mark III for a long time . I liked it . I also had GK' 800's and a Quilter BB 800 that was one of the best sounding heads I ever owned. I just preferred the Mesa tone and got a Sub 800+ and a WD 800. We all have very individual likes. To each their own ..The MB head I had was a no problem, dependable and nice sounding head, I didn't change over because it was wanting ..it just wasn't what I was wanting at the time
I think cosmetically MB is super fugly. But I’ve heard a few players sound amazing using MB amps. I had considered both the Casa (Micheal leagues signature amp) and the randy Jackson tte800 I think it’s called. When I was most recently shopping bass amps. I ended up going with Mesa though and am happy.
I’m on the hunt for a combo and had almost convinced myself I’d be getting the cmd 151 players school or the 121. When it came to it I just couldn’t get a nice tone easily. All the other stuff I tried, except for a TC, gave me a tone I liked pretty quick. I know I didn’t spend much time with it and I guess it’s not what I’m looking for. Quality and power are there, no doubt, as is lightweight. I’d like to spend some time with one in the future as I’m convinced I’m missing something but for now I’m looking elsewhere.
I'm the interest of being even handed I've come back to post that I might keep my "Little Marcus 800W" because it brings my fretless bass to life in a manner that my G&K couldn't. Apparently it's because of so much midrange emphasis. Now I'm beginning to agree with prior assesmwnts of G&K and SWR sounding inherently scooped, & MB being midrangy. Yes all these amps have EQs but you can't necessarily dial away their inherent sonic signature. That said my Little Marcus sounds a little tok fat, tubby, veiled to get the open slap sound it's supposed to get. (Maybe btand new strings out of the package sound I don't know what sound yput after, but if you watch the punlicityy video you'll see a lot of hype. Test out the head using an ash bodied jazz bass with a maple ftetboatd & see for yourself if up get am.open, gutsy, ferocious growl (compared to G&K or SWR).
Even though I might keep this amp because it gives me a fat, decent Jaco sound on my fretless (& I'll have to absorb shipping costs both ways) it doesn't change the fact that this particular head (which you probably don't have yourself) didn't live up to the advertisement--& that really surprised & disappointed me.
Even though I might keep this amp because it gives me a fat, decent Jaco sound on my fretless (& I'll have to absorb shipping costs both ways) it doesn't change the fact that this particular head (which you probably don't have yourself) didn't live up to the advertisement--& that really surprised & disappointed me.
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