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Markbass Head Cut Out During Gig?

theoldmiami

theoldmiami

Mar 9, 2008
233
49
Charlotte, NC
#1
Maybe someone can help me here. I was playing at church yesterday, and I was in the middle of a great moment, the guitarist was taking a lead, and all of sudden my signal totally dies!!!

So, I scrambled to check cables, and everything seemed to be fine. So I fired up the SVT-3 Pro sitting in my rack and I was playing again in about 30 seconds.


SO.... Does anyone know what could have happened? Here's my setup here:

SR5 HS (battery is good in preamp) -> Markbass Little Mark II (just purchased about 4 weeks ago) -> Effects Loop Send -> ART MDC2001 (a compressor I found yesterday in our sound booth that works great) -> Effects Loop Return -> Speakon Out to two EV 4x10's. I was using a power conditioner for the whole rig.

After the set, I checked the amp and compressor and both work fine!? The ONLY thing is that the compressor works great when included before plugging in instrument to amp. (SR5 -> compressor -> LMII). It seems that the effects loop doesn't work right anymore. The compressor does NOTHING to the signal when I run it through the effects loop.

Can anyone help? Am I missing the point of the effects loop? Could it be a signal level issue (line level vs. instrument level, etc)?

I'm really confused here. Thanks!
 
#3
theoldmiami said:
Also - when my signal died, I was playing pretty hard and was the "clip" light was hitting pretty hard on my LMII.
Click to expand...

First of all the clip light should not light up at all. You want to back it off just before clipping! Secondly, what are the ohms of the speaker cabs? If they are 4 ohms each you were running at 2 ohms of which this amp would shut done due to the load.
 
#6
theoldmiami said:
They were 8 ohm each. Totaling a 4 ohm, so no problems there. They're EV cabs. I don't know what model though. Front ported with no horn/tweeter.
Click to expand...

I would say it is due to the amp clipping has hard as you described. Protection probably kicked in because it was running hot.

You want to see that light come on a little then back it off so it doesn't light at all when you are playing hard.
 
#8
Hmmm........Markbass may want to do a modification on their amps. They are very sensitive to the point where I no longer want to get one. I don't need any amp quitting on me in mid gig. Although I play at nominal volumes (i.e. slight treble boost, bass no higher than 3 o'clock/ bass flat on my active basses), I've never experienced a shutdown or clipping of any sort. I've read several reports here at TB (and other sites) regarding Markbass shutdowns. Not good.
 
#9
There is (or at least was) an issue with MB. I had a new LMII that cut out on the first gig I used it on (a low volume gig where I was plugged into my Berg 112). They sent me a new one and I've had no issues so far after several months.

There's a big thread here about it. Search for it and you'll find it.
 
#12
larry said:
Well, I tried to find it but there's so many stinkin' MB threads I can't find the thread I'm thinking of.

Suffice it to say that others have had the issue and it gets mentioned.
Click to expand...


There have been a few mentions of this... primarily from those using EA cabs, which seem to have a nominal impedance significantly below the typical 8ohm rating.

There does seem to be a sensitivity to below 4ohm nominal impedance when the head is pushed that a few have experienced, so there does seem to be something to it. It might be something as simple as a few amps having the shutdown threshold set a little too low.

Most of us have not had this issue... I've been running my F1 and LMII HARD into 4ohms for about a year now with no issues.
 
#14
larry said:
Went back to Guitar Center and exchanged it for another one. It was less than 3 days old.
Click to expand...

Most problems with any amp or electronic device happens right out of the box... i.e., if there is a flaw in the manufacturing of that particular box.. a cold solder or whatever.

Hopefully, you will be good now... it's just a stunningly good sounding head IMO.
 
#16
KJung said:
Most problems with any amp or electronic device happens right out of the box... i.e., if there is a flaw in the manufacturing of that particular box.. a cold solder or whatever.

Hopefully, you will be good now... it's just a stunningly good sounding head IMO.
Click to expand...

+1 You really have to start to worry when they consistently start to fail after 1,5 years or so.
 
#18
Just reading this thread because the same thing happened to me! My new-ish LM II Vintage (with tube pre) went dead in mid-gig. Swapped out the head with my Epiphani 901 that I have in my rack for bigger gigs and finished the set. Tried the LM II again before packing up my gear... worked fine. The same thing happened at rehearsal a few days later. It was just past store warranty so I shipped it to the MB service center in California. The ran it on the bench for days... no problem, but to their credit they replace the boards and the tube and returned it to me. I was so happy to get it back but the next day at sound check the same thing happened!! I am running a 4 ohmRevSound 2x10 cabinet and the rig sounds SO GOOD when it is working. I'm sad to let the LM II go because I truly love the sound, but I don't have time to experiment with other cabinets until I find one that doesn't trip MarkBass. Dave at RevSound said he ran into this problem with another MB amp. Now looking for another vintage sounding 500-ish watt head.
 

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