Little Mark III Fail

[grayhawk1853]

This head was bought about 3 years ago and has had the easiest use of any Amp I know. Literally only played at Church at very low settings, 3 times a week for a total of 10 too 11 hours, driving 2 8 ohm cabinets with Eminence Bass speakers, using the xlr out post-eq to the house. It has never been moved, or left running, nor dropped, shook, or scratched. Sunday morning rehearsal bout 10 minutes in it started blowing smoke and was shut down and unplugged immediately. Below you can see the damage. I asked Markbass if that was about all the lifespan I should expect. They didn't answer the question but were kind enough to send me a list of repair centers. Is anyone here heard of this type of issue with them? Looks like repairs are about 2/3 of the price of a new one, but I'll replace it with something else before I spend it on this.

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[s0c9]

No.. my Markbass CMD 121 has had MUCH more use/time on it than that and is still going strong.
Either you got damaged components installed or you took a power surge from somewhere... that looks like a fried transformer/power unit?
Do you leave it connected to the wall outlet (even tho off) during the week?
Had any bad weather recently?

 

[grayhawk1853]

It stayed plugged in to a surge protector, not directly in to the wall. But this is Central Florida, so yeah there are storms. This wasn't an issue where it happened as soon as it was switched on though, it happened about 10 minutes later, and the funny thing is, when we plugged it in afterwards, it still played, and all the controls still work. This thing has a tremendous sound and weighs 25 pounds less than my old Trace Elliot that we were using before. Thanks.

 

[Biggbass]

I wouldn't spend the money on repairing it. Mine went thru similar but not as extreme
issues, had it repaired for a bit over $200 bucks, then it died again on first use.
Don't have the heart to throw it away, will probably sell it for parts on Ebay.
IF I get another small amp of that type it will be a different brand. I have amps, SS and tube, that are 35 years to over 50 years old and still working fine. When someone makes a product that lasts as short a life span as the MB did, I'm off that train for good. Now I've got a couple of MB cabs I need to get rid of, probably won't use them again.

 

[jimfist]

try floating this thread over to the Amps & Cabs forum?

 

[mexicant]

My lm2 fried on me,switched to mesa d 800 that has a 5 year warranty, life is good again!

 

[grayhawk1853]

Oh, I forget to mention, there is a power amp plugged in to the same protector, and this was the only thing that failed.

try floating this thread over to the Amps & Cabs forum?

try floating this thread over to the Amps & Cabs forum?

try floating this thread over to the Amps & Cabs forum?

I couldn't get it to there, that's why I put it here, figuring this was the next best place.