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Is Markbass really all that??
- Thread starter paul5string81
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I owned a little mark II with a 210 traveler cab for a while when I was in college. I could take or leave the looks. It was easy to carry around campus and through the college town to band rehearsals, gigs, and open mics. It had the volume for what I was doing at the time and fit under my dormroom bed. I liked the sound, recorded with it a bit too. It was definitely one of the more neutral sounding amps I've ever heard/had. IME it sounded pretty close to my bass direct to a board or DI without using filters and set flat. I think that's where the "sterile" comments tend to come from. Without messing with the filters a lot I always felt like it was the kind of amp where you got out what you put in. I liked the more "baked in" color of the Ampeg sound at the time (still do for some things) and when I ended up doing more gigs I bought an SVT 7 Pro and 410 to replace the Markbass stuff. I still sounded just like me, just a little different. I then got a GK MB210 combo for portability again. Still sounded like me just a little different again but this time with that GK color. Use what you like and stop buying something you don't like the sound of. I gig maybe twice a year now. So spending most of my time playing for 5 minutes when I get the chance out of an older Ampeg BA10 or direct into an interface for the occasional recording session seems to do it for me now (the engineer and artist is going to do what they want to my sound at that point anyway).
I guess their older stuff was nice. I get a lot of Mark Bass combos coming in for jazz shows where I work. At least until I let them start using my crappy little MB210, which they all seem to love.
As for their products. Someone gave me one of the compressor pedals and while it looked very nice, it was a complete piece of crap.
As for their products. Someone gave me one of the compressor pedals and while it looked very nice, it was a complete piece of crap.
Why aren't these trolling threads stopped before they pollute the whole forum?
Care to elaborate? I’m looking at these too but with Ashdown in place of TC. What type of music are you playing? What type of band and gigs?
First time poster here and I apologize off the bat for a somewhat negative start but here goes - I have never had a single positive experience with Markbass gear. Am I missing something? I've owned MB gear on multiple occasions (Why? Because it kept getting recommended and i'm a sucker for yellow and black) and I've always been left disappointed by the sound i've gotten. I've owned combos, separates , pretty much every combination and i've sold it all. I recently moved to Epifani gear Pic 999 head with the TOUR 4 X 10 and I absolutely love it - Punchy , clean and tons of headroom. I would say definitely in the same price point as MB but really just blows MB away IMO. Tell me MB users - What's the big deal? Sacrilegious, i know
I hear you on this. I needed to replace my rig and tested out Aguilar, Epifani, Markbass, Trickfish and Vanderkley bass amplification in December 2018. I had a real hard time choosing between Epifani and Trickfish - your description of "Punchy, clean and tons of headroom" is spot on for the Epifani but in the end, I went with Trickfish.
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I've done basically well with my Markbass gear. Sometimes I've wanted more direct control over 100-200 Hz, though on my LMII and LMIII, though. Depends on the venue. Often, I've done well with the knobs all at noon with no filters on. Other times I've tweeked just a bit, especially to accomodate playing with fingernails since I'm also a guitar fingerpicker.
Build-wise, I think Markbass is excellent. No issues yet after eleven years, although I know others have had trouble here and there. But, anything can fail no matter what it is. From what I've read Markbass seems to have an overall good track record, though, comparatively.
As for their cabs, I haven't tried many. All I have gigged with are my Traveler 151P cabs and the cab in my CMD 121H combo (2008 model). I really like the sound of that combo best. But of course it's limited in size when it comes to big venues. Anyway, I've usually gotten a fine tone with all my Markbass stuff. Whether it's the best I could do or not is moot since I don't have the resources to go try tons of other stuff.
I'd love to hear my LMIII head through a Barefaced cab. Maybe some day.
Build-wise, I think Markbass is excellent. No issues yet after eleven years, although I know others have had trouble here and there. But, anything can fail no matter what it is. From what I've read Markbass seems to have an overall good track record, though, comparatively.
As for their cabs, I haven't tried many. All I have gigged with are my Traveler 151P cabs and the cab in my CMD 121H combo (2008 model). I really like the sound of that combo best. But of course it's limited in size when it comes to big venues. Anyway, I've usually gotten a fine tone with all my Markbass stuff. Whether it's the best I could do or not is moot since I don't have the resources to go try tons of other stuff.
I'd love to hear my LMIII head through a Barefaced cab. Maybe some day.
The New Markus miller amp from MB might be more for you.. Its EQ centers are way different than the standard MB heads. Has a mid centered at 500Hz and a High mid at 1400kHz. Probably this latter freq you want to dip.
I have a celestion guitar speaker with a weird peak at 1.6-1.7kHz.. Immposible to dial out with the passive tonestack of My tube amp... A bit harsh
I had a Markbass LMII for a while and liked it a bunch . I got the Ampeg bug and switched but liked my LMII just fine .
I've recently had 3 people ask me what my rig is, then say, "well I have a Mark Bass rig, so...". It was like they just put an "Ace" on my "Jack". It seems sort of like QSC K-series. It's a safe thing to tell someone to buy, but there's a whole world of stuff out there that's as good or better. But that's the one people know. There are people who act like certain gear is the pinnacle, and it just isn't. Maybe that's what the OP is getting at?
If amps were chocolate, I think ampeg would be a reese's, markbass might be a linder ball, and the boutiques would be obscure italian (or whatever) chocolate. I can appreciate (and do) the higher quality chocolates, but reese's can taste dang good. There's crap, but no "best".
If amps were chocolate, I think ampeg would be a reese's, markbass might be a linder ball, and the boutiques would be obscure italian (or whatever) chocolate. I can appreciate (and do) the higher quality chocolates, but reese's can taste dang good. There's crap, but no "best".
Jazz bass. Mainly folky/country dance with acoustic instruments. I like a very clean uncoloured sound.
Not a big fan. I've heard a lot of horror stories regarding their support. I own the MB CMD102P and had some questions that I fired off the to email address listed on their website. Never heard back from them. I have little tolerance for companies that can't take the time to answer an email from a customer. I'll probably keep the CMD102p as my "small portable combo amp" for situations when I don't wanna lug my GK 1001RB around, but I wouldn't buy another one.
I don't understand why people think Markbass gear is expensive. The LMII was 590,- 15 years ago, the LMIII now is 530,-. Markbass is developping their own power amps. Nearly all other manufacturers buy the standard class-d poweramps from IcePower and just add a preamp. Trace/Peavey might be an exception. Look at the prices of Mesa Boogie! A 800 watt Markbass amp is 700,-, a Mesa is 1.300,- or even 1.500,-!!!
But Mesa just uses 3rd-party power amplifier and power-supply module, in this case the ICEpower 700ASC/X.
I really like the basic Markbass stuff like the LMIII, the CMD112 and the Minimark 108. I just think they offer to many products and I personally can not stand this Endorsement stuff, I don't like it no matter from which manufacturer. For me it works the opposite way: Instead of an artist supporting a brand and the brand supporting an artist it works the opposite way: I lose respect for both the artist and the brand.
But Mesa just uses 3rd-party power amplifier and power-supply module, in this case the ICEpower 700ASC/X.
I really like the basic Markbass stuff like the LMIII, the CMD112 and the Minimark 108. I just think they offer to many products and I personally can not stand this Endorsement stuff, I don't like it no matter from which manufacturer. For me it works the opposite way: Instead of an artist supporting a brand and the brand supporting an artist it works the opposite way: I lose respect for both the artist and the brand.
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