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Little Mark II, please accept my apology.

fenderhutz

fenderhutz

Jan 28, 2007
11,988
177
Harpers Ferry WV
open.spotify.com
#1
I haven't been the biggest of fans of the Mark Bass heads. I owned a LM II for about a week and it sounded thin and papery with the cabs I owned. Avatar 410, Ampeg 410HLF, and Nemesis 212. I did however like the Ernie Ball HD-500 (which I owned for a good while).

Fast forward 6 months. I had my Avatar cab up for sale and had some local interest and took the cab over to his house to try out. He had a LMII and a SWR Red Head combo.

Good lord. The LMII sounded warm, articulate and the low end was incredible, even on his low B. With the volume only about a 1/3 of the way up we were rattling walls. So we went 50% and and I could feel my bones rattle. That cab NEVER even hiccup'd and the B string was CLEAR as a bell.

I tried this cab with a Shuttle 6.0 and it DID NOT half low end this head produces or sheer volume for that matter.

I have an Avatar 212 Neo Celestion prototype and I can tell I haven't EVER heard an amp/cab combo I liked better. Even after Ampeg SVT's, Mesa Walkabouts, Shuttle 6.0's etc.

I feel all of the negative press I have given this amp needs to be recanted, even after trying the LMII through just about every cab Guitar Center sold and other Avatar cabs at the time it sounded bad to me. With that particular cab it sounded great.

:)
 
#4
SO was it your settings that turned you off before? Did this cat set it up differently than you to make it sound so much better to you. I was one of those that tried one at GC when they first came out and just did not think a amp that small could be useful. I still dont own a mini-micro amp, LM or GB, and actually just bought a new Carvin B1500 :eek:

I keep wanting to go back and try one again, tho my holdout is all I have right now are 4 ohm cabs and I usually use 2 at gigs, need 2 ohms, but small gigs I can get away with just one GB NEox 212T, so could work. So what changed your mind? OH and yeah I did not care for the sound of the MB cab back then, have those changed any?
 
#5
No it was the cabs. I knew then as well to keep the V knobs off.

I can tell you a 4ohm 212 Avatar with that head is tone heaven. We tried it with a couple jazz basses, a P with flats, a Stingray, and an Ibanez 6'er.

The other cab he had the SWR Goliath II 410 sounded dry and flat to me and it lost a ton of low end, we were AB'ing with the Avatar and the Avatar opened the throttle on that head.
 
#7
I'm glad you got to give it a second chance. I went back and forth between the LMII and my old ThunderFunk 550 and I honestly thought the LMII sounded nicer even independent of price and weight (which is $600 vs. $1900). The LMII can do the hi-fi sound and you can also make it sound like a clean classic Ampeg rig. I use mine through an Avatar SB210 and SB112 and I really like it a lot. I, like you, use Fender 4 strings (Marcus Miller Jazz and MIA Precision) and both sound great through the rig although completely different. I have no GAS pains when it comes to my amp head. I absolutely think it's the greatest all around head for the money, weight and tone.
 
#11
I've been a GK user for quite a while now but all this praise for the LM II has me a little curious. I heard one played by someone else in a GC and I didn't like it at all. Then I heard one I played through at the Cincy GTG last year and was pretty impressed but I'm such a GK fan boy that I would feel like I'm cheating on my wife. Reading your post about these, though, has me wondering if I should give the LM II a shot. I know I'm going to hear the Mark Bass gospel now.
 
#12
capnsandwich said:
I've been a GK user for quite a while now but all this praise for the LM II has me a little curious. I heard one played by someone else in a GC and I didn't like it at all. Then I heard one I played through at the Cincy GTG last year and was pretty impressed but I'm such a GK fan boy that I would feel like I'm cheating on my wife. Reading your post about these, though, has me wondering if I should give the LM II a shot. I know I'm going to hear the Mark Bass gospel now.
Click to expand...

I know a lightning bolt from GK headquarters will strike me down, while the GK 700 RB II was VERY high on my list of great sounding amps, I find the Little Mark II cleaner and more articulate on the low end.
 
#14
Well the one cab that I do like to use stand alone is my NV215, sorta why Im trying out the B1500, to push some watts into this cab. Now Im guessing the LMII would like rediculous on top of this NV cab, but that aside, some have said here, it could push that cab fine. Still have time to send back the Carvin and try a smaller, lighter amp. I was thinking a Aggie AG500SC but be nice to have a very small light amp like MB or GB. Tho this B1500 sure has some big power so far.

Meant to mention I also have a GK1001RBI I use with a GB212T for small rooms, thats 540 watts @ 4ohms into that cab. Would the MB, Aggie AG500 type amps be just more of the same or dot thier pre's offer a big tone difference? I like a clean tone, no OD, but with a big bottom for these cabs I use.
 
#17
+1 Never stops amazing me either. & as I do regular Jazz gigs(EUB/EB>LMII>GS112) I find myself using the LMII far more than my Tube amps- LAZY-ness is one reason also!! ;-) But I find it does EVERYTHING I ask of it. Barring the tube OD of course-but I don't ask it that! It sounds great, is plenty powerful, is light & easy to transport. Hard to ask for much more than that.

With the NV215 - I think this is a great match up! Far better than with the NV610. While the NV610-I think - sounds better than the NV215 with the SVTII & V4BH.
 
#18
bongomania said:
You should keep at least one bass and one instrument cable. ;)
Click to expand...


+1. Otherwise, you'll end up like me, and be buying stuff all over again.:rollno::D

(went through a phase awhile back where I sold off just about everything I owned:rolleyes:)

On topic:

I should probably give the Markbass stuff another chance myself (even though I'm going Mesa this time around:)). There's a local player who's using a Markbass rig (the SD800 head through their 810 cabinet, IIRC) and he's getting a great sound out of it. I've only tried the stuff out at GC, and have left with a pretty sour taste in my mouth for most everything I've tried, with the exception of a combo amp that I thought kicked ass, but was pretty expensive.
 
#19
i love seeing markbass appreciation threads.

i think the LMII is happier with 12" speakers as compared to 10". i think the 12s let the lows run loose, if you will..

either way, i love my LMII and SD800. dont think ill be switching amps anytime soon.
 

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