Markbass F1 First Impressions

[petersland]

So, I bought an F1 after running an LMII for a year. I really like the LMII, and if there were no F1 I would probably keep it.

But - the amp I had before the LMII was an EA iAmp 800. I strongly preferred its clean, clinical tone, especially its sweet sizzly high end, to the LMII. It just wasn't loud enough, and a little too big. And, the low end was a little over the top on the iAmp. So, enter the F1.

I'm OK with the LMII and can see how many people would find its tone preferable. In fact, I may keep mine. But if I can find an amp that sounds like an iAmp, has a few more cojones, and weighs less than 5 pounds...I have to try it.

I'll have it in a week, but my next gig isn't until 12/6. Report to come.

Will, are you saying the Iamp800 is not as loud as the LMII?
This cause I'm thinking of trading my LMII for an iamp500 to get a bit more volume and drive lower than 4ohm.

 

[Altitude]

Will, are you saying the Iamp800 is not as loud as the LMII?
This cause I'm thinking of trading my LMII for an iamp500 to get a bit more volume and drive lower than 4ohm.

In my experience, the LMII is louder than the iAmp. I also found the limiter really often whenever I ran my iAmp at 2.67 ohms. I love the iAmp tone, but I am not sure they have enough juice for an average gig. Here is a review I wrote on an iAmp 500 the first time I tried one, a long time before the Markbass stuff came out...

 

[KJung]

Will, are you saying the Iamp800 is not as loud as the LMII?
This cause I'm thinking of trading my LMII for an iamp500 to get a bit more volume and drive lower than 4ohm.

You would not get any more volume at all out of the iAmp500 versus the LMII into 4ohms. If you need to go below 4ohms, then the MB stuff is not an option, so the comparison is a moot point.

The iAmp800, as many have posted, is very refined and wide sounding. It puts out a HUGE low end, and the mids are pure and the top end is sizzly and hi fi. As a result, the iAmp line of amps seems 'soft' for their published wattage. I don't think they really are 'underpowered', but rather the inherent voicing (that deep, deep, extended low end) just sucks up a lot of power, making them seem 'soft' in a mix versus other heads.

If more volume is your primary concern, there are better options for 2 ohm operation than the iAmps IMO (Mesa M6, Carvin B1500, etc.), from both a tone and reliability perspective).

 

[Bass Clef]

Will, are you saying the Iamp800 is not as loud as the LMII?
This cause I'm thinking of trading my LMII for an iamp500 to get a bit more volume and drive lower than 4ohm.

I definitely would be looking into getting the iamp800 for couple of hundresd dollars more over the iamp500. Way more head room and sounds great with EA cabs as well as being a lot more versatile than the F1 or LM II heads IMO. I've been very happy with mine, sound wise and reliability. Hasn't missed a beat.

 

[Vic]

I also found the limiter really often whenever I ran my iAmp at 2.67 ohms...

+1
Admittedly, I only ran into it when going under 4 ohms, but they advertised it could do it, I needed it to, and it couldn't... at least reliably for me. Deal killer. Sorry, EA, but that's a "miss" for me. I'd MUCH rather have an amp just fart out a bit or internally gain limit rather than shut completely off in the middle of a song.

 

[Altitude]

shut completely off in the middle of a song.

Yep, that's pretty much what it did to me too. Just...gone, then back about 5 seconds later.

 

[Vic]

Yep, that's pretty much what it did to me too. Just...gone, then back about 5 seconds later.

Yeah, IMHO that's intolerable... especially since I had no warning whatsoever... no clip lights, no alarming heat levels, nothing, no forewarning... everything seemed to be fine, then silence... even after a power board swap to update the OCL (over-current limiter)... did the same thing. People actually stopped dancing to look to see what was going on.

Sad, 'cause I did like the amp otherwise.

Anyway, sorry, this is getting to be a derail. I'll stop now.

 

[Eublet]

ARGGG! That TSA500 looks sweet also. 7.5 pounds, tube and SS, completely mixable. What is a bass player supposed to do with so many options? How can these guys have so many different products on the market? I just don't understand how they do it.

 

[B String]

Yeah, IMHO that's intolerable... especially since I had no warning whatsoever... no clip lights, no alarming heat levels, nothing, no forewarning... everything seemed to be fine, then silence... even after a power board swap to update the OCL (over-current limiter)... did the same thing. People actually stopped dancing to look to see what was going on.

Sad, 'cause I did like the amp otherwise.

Anyway, sorry, this is getting to be a derail. I'll stop now.

I had the same issue when I borrowed a 500 for a week.
I used it on three gigs. The highs were a bit thin for me, but
the lows were to die for. I thought I had a broken amp when
the thing just stopped for about five seconds on two out of
the three gigs. This happened a number of times too.
Intolerable is the right word.

 

[petersland]

Thanks for your opinions Ken, Vic and Will. Much appreciated.
I will leave the 500 as I don't think it's for me.
Back to the original post. Sorry Ken.

 

[nemo]

The differences are minimal if you don't need the differences.
For me, having 2 bands of sweepable mids are VERY useable.
I would also use the mute feature. Once I set the effects
loop and DI switches in the back of the amp, they would just
stay that way. My only complaint is that they still don't
isolate the effects loop. This means you can't use the F1 or
F500, or LMII just as a preamp, and you can't use a different
preamp using these as power amps. Not great for doublers.
For that use, the Acoustic Image amps are better. imho

Can anybody confirm that you really can't plug a different preamp to the effect return of the F1 and use F1 as the power amp?

 

[Vic]

Can anybody confirm that you really can't plug a different preamp to the effect return of the F1 and use F1 as the power amp?

You CAN do it, the problem is, you can't STRICTLY isolate the power amp.

So while it will likely work, the F1's EQ will still be in force, and you'll have to watch your gain settings to avoid accidentally overdriving things, and you'll probably also introduce a little more noise from the extra stuff being included that you don't need.

 

[nemo]

Thanks Vic. So it just means that the effect return is introduced pre-eq and the signal must pass through all the eq section.
Not ideal, but worth trying, the weight saving is so intriguing.
I was thinking about puting my new SVP-CL on front of it.
Talk about 10 pounds 500W SVT head with option to go ultra clean (only through F1/F500).