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Markbass F1 coming...

#81
Spaldo said:
Hey Chef

I've used other amps for upright but i really dig the preamp on the F1 for arco playing (using an underwood transducer), plus i can dial out a lot of the 'squawk', if you will, by using the VLE and still get clear articulation.
Click to expand...
+1. I was going to make this comment if nobody else had. I've loved the F1 as a funk amp, but I am also having good results using it with my Ergo upright. I do use a PreSonus TubePre in front of the F1 with the Ergo, but that plus a little VLE is really the ticket!
 
#82
Can you find it? Look for the blue light:
MBF1w8x8.jpg
 
#84
1) After all the reading I'd done, I expected it to be "brighter by nature." Set flat, I had to turn up the horn on the Epi 410UL, and LDS 2x8+horn from 9 o'clock to noon to get the same top end results as the M6.
2) The low end is very controlled. While the M6 typically has me dialing it back to control it, with the F1, lows are great flat. Tight, controlled, and substantive...how is that possible from an amp the size of a cigar box?
3) Plays well with others...both basses and cabs, the F1 seems to pretty well get along with everything I threw at it without complaint.
4) EQ...The M6 was my first satisfactory venture into non-semi-para eq in a loooong time. WT800b, TFB550b, Walkabout...see where I'm coming from? The F1's points seem well chosen, and work well.
5) Holy Small Powerhouse Batman! I think Lil Betsy here will cover anything I'll find myself doing. While it misses fitting in the gear pockets of my Lakland or G&L bass-bags by the width of the knobs (bummer!), it fits in the gear pocket of my Pro-tec Contego...so there;)
6) The VLE and VPF do their jobs well, and fairly subtly. VLE can tame a bright horn/bass while leaving your baseline eq alone, and VPF can subtract a bit of mids, and add a controlled bit of low end plus top end sheen quite nicely.

I tended to like eq flat, perhaps trimming a little off the bass knob while cranking volume; VLE and VPFboth at about 9 o'clock...
It'll be some time till I have a chance to stuff the double bass thru her, but so far, I like it pretty well.
 
#86
Meow?
Dunno yet...it's always one thing to check it out at home, and a different thing to take it out to ClubLand and whip on it some.
I don't see it bringing home any fail points, but I'm not gonna over-sing it's praises just yet either.
 
#88
With what I know so far:
TFB: darkest of the three; least headroom of these three, I think...hard as that might be to believe. Most flexible eq, tho you might have to tweak things a lot to take advantage of that. Tends to sound more old school til you run up enhance some, and turn timbre one or clicks to right of center. You can push it into shiny and modern that way, but it's certainly not it's flat tone. Love it for DB, like it for electric.
F1: perhaps right in the middle of these three. Tight, controlled low end. Capable of both nice modern sounds, and old school tones thru using only the VLE and VPF. More power than I need...I think.
M6: big low end. Not flubby, but there's a lot there. It can be overwhelming-at least to me. I've lowered the bass side of my pickups to control that better. Brightest of the three set flat. Most power, for sure. Kills for electric, and does surprisingly well with DB-didn't think it would. The eq presets go a long way to helping the M6 be a chameleon, and handle a wide range of basses and cabs with just one click, despite it's otherwise limited bass/mid/treb control layout.

that's my early and semi-uninformed-by real-world use opinion.
 
#89
Chef said:
With what I know so far:
TFB: darkest of the three; least headroom of these three, I think...hard as that might be to believe. Most flexible eq, tho you might have to tweak things a lot to take advantage of that. Tends to sound more old school til you run up enhance some, and turn timbre one or clicks to right of center. You can push it into shiny and modern that way, but it's certainly not it's flat tone. Love it for DB, like it for electric.
F1: perhaps right in the middle of these three. Tight, controlled low end. Capable of both nice modern sounds, and old school tones thru using only the VLE and VPF. More power than I need...I think.
M6: big low end. Not flubby, but there's a lot there. It can be overwhelming-at least to me. I've lowered the bass side of my pickups to control that better. Brightest of the three set flat. Most power, for sure. Kills for electric, and does surprisingly well with DB-didn't think it would. The eq presets go a long way to helping the M6 be a chameleon, and handle a wide range of basses and cabs with just one click, despite it's otherwise limited bass/mid/treb control layout.

that's my early and semi-uninformed-by real-world use opinion.
Click to expand...


+1 to all the above. And yes, the M6 REALLY has a bump going on in the upper mids low treble, making it bright sounding even to me, and I like that tone. The huge low end combined with that lower treble hump took a bit of the GAS away for me for the M6... kind of like the F1 with the VPF turned up too much (of couse, you can twiddle the knobs and settle it down, and reduce the tweeter, but I prefer a little more even voicing to start).

I find the F1 among the top of the heap of the micro's. Obviously, it doesn't have the wump of the M6 or B1500, but IMO and IME it will SPANK much larger heads in the same power range (AG500, Eden WT550, Thunderfunk550b, etc.). Given it's size and price, simply amazing.

The F500, if it EVER gets released in the US should make an amazing amp an almost perfect amp IMO!

Enjoy. I think you will find the voicing sounds even better to you on the gig... no flub down low, plenty of mid punch, and a nice top end that can grind or sizzle, depending on EQ and tweeter settings!
 
#91
tombowlus said:
I'm sure it will, and I'm guessing it won't be too long. I have had an F500 in for review for several weeks, and yes, it's one heck of an amp! :bassist: :cool:
Click to expand...


Cool. I know they've been out in the EU for quite a while. My guess is they are waiting until the inventory of F1's is depleted in the GC/MF channel before they send the F500's to the US.

Interestingly, since I run the F1 virtually flat and have no personal use for a mute switch, the additional features probably won't make much difference to me (although the more fully featured DI is nice). However.... I just WANT one:D


Edit: I wonder if they included that new dual band power amp safety limiting in the F500? I've never really heard the F1 clamp, even at 8ohms and pushed, but I assume it would be a slight improvement anyway.
 
#93
Brief gig report...
Worked with a new group tonight. Lady blues/jazz singer, sax, piano, guitar.
(no drums...booo! bassists like drummers)

Took the F1, and LDS 4x8+ 1" compression driver...Lakland Hollowbody with LaBella black tape flats, and Lakland JO5 with nickel rounds.
For the HB, I left eq flat except for a lil cut on bass, ran VLE and VPF both at about 9 o'clock. HB in series mode, neck pickup on 9, bridge pickup on 8...nice deep, clear woody tone. Cool.

Did the second set with the JO5; rolled the VLE off, put the bass back flat, and let her rip. Big aggressive tone that had me dialing tone back on the JO5...

With both basses, input was up at about 2 o'clock, master at about 9 oclock....tonnes of headroom, and plenty loud at that setting.

Nice first night. Took my walkabout for backup, but left it in the car; didn't need it.

That VLE dealio is neat for making a solid state head paired with a cab with a zingy horn sound nicely old school and thumpy.
 
#95
Bjazzman: sorry for the delayed response, I missed this somehow...
I think the M6 probably has more power, but I have yet to use half of what either have to offer.
I think the M6 is a little brighter by nature-especially comparing falt to flat-but the F1 can match it's sparkle with some eq tweaks.
The M6 is biiiiig donw low, and a little hard to control.
The F1's low end is tight, and stays there.
The M6 will handle 2.67/2 ohms, if this is important to you. It is to me, at times.

While the F1 will "only" do 8/4 ohms; two of them chained is still smaller than dang near anything else...hmmm....seriously...hmmm...anyone done that?...hmmmm...........
 
#96
I happy to say that testing today with a little jazz trio was very positive.

For reference, I most typically use either my Walkabout Scout (dark sounding, but niiiice) or a Walkabout head with an LDS 2x8+horn (represents string and finger noise much more, if that's important to you. I like that more modern sound, sometimes, for some things.

Using the F1 and LDS 2x8+horn worked very, very well.
I use a bassmax pickup and K&K two band preamp (set flat). While I spent some time tweaking the F! around for my own education, I ended up with bass cut just a bit, and the VPF at about 1/2 (50%). This kept a nice clear top end, pushed a little low end back in, and scooped out some of the mids that can be feedback-prone.

My LDS 2x8+5" mid driver worked equally well for a darker tone, but, rolling in some of the VLE also darkened up the 2x8+horn, if darker was required. No need to tweak the eq, which is nice...a fast adjustment.

Very nice. Very compact. Quite loud enough for any DB situation I'd find myself in.
 

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