I am going to buy a new amp and the choice is between the LM II and the LM III. I have tried the LM II and in my opinion it's an amp that fits me perfectly. My local music store doesn't have the LM III in its assortment, so I am not possible to try it. What is the main differences between the two amps? and which one would you choose?
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Markbass LM II vs LM III
- Thread starter Fleischer
- Start date
The only difference between the LMII and LMIII is the color of the knobs and the more fully featured DI on the LMIII. So, it is a 'slight freshening' of the LMII model. The LMTube is the more fully featured model that also has a second channel with combo jack input and separate gain control, a blendable tube pre (pretty subtle), and a push/pull mute on the master.
If you are one who uses a DI to record and/or play live, the added features of the LMIII DI are nice (level control, pre/post switch). If a DI is not that important to you (you can still switch the LMII DI to pre or post, but you have to take the top of the amp off and move a jumper), and/or you can get the original LMII at a discount, you will be happy with that model also.
Great amps IMO!
Have you done a search on this? Plenty of threads, here's one to get you started:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=576061&highlight=lmii+lmiii
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=576061&highlight=lmii+lmiii
Details of the limiter are limited~ no one seems to know if the new limiter made it into the production LMIII
Nope, my previous post is accurate (as is the Markbass website). Marco didn't want to mess with a good thing. The new limiter is only in the new Momark power chassis. The LMII is fantastic. The LMIII is slightly better than fanstastic, due to the DI improvement IMO!
This is the final word
... based on emails with Peter Murray.
Ken, how does one do this? I took the top off my LMII and I think I saw what you meant. Have you done this before?
Having the direct out pre-EQ would make the LMII perfect for me!
Right in front of the ribbon cable in the front of the amp is a jumper, and the connections are labeled "pre" and "post" on the PCB. All you have to do is move the jumper from the post connection to pre. There's pics of it in a thread I tried to find but couldn't. I highly recommend doing it. It sounds a tad ballsier if you use pre.
Funny on the circuit board in mine it says Bi Band Limitter.
Well here is Peter Murray's first word.
Well here is Peter Murray's first word.
Don't mean to hijack this thread but since Fleischer's question seems answered...
JimmyM, how do you find the VT bass with the LM3? I'm on the hunt for an amp and I'm liking what I hear about it but since my VT bass is my bread and butter for my tone right now, do these two units get along?
JimmyM, how do you find the VT bass with the LM3? I'm on the hunt for an amp and I'm liking what I hear about it but since my VT bass is my bread and butter for my tone right now, do these two units get along?
I only have the LMII, but everyone says they sound identical. For a clean sound, I really like the LMII and don't feel much of a need to improve it, so I just use the VT as an overdrive.
I'll jump in here and just mention that I just picked up a TC RH450. The 'clean tone' is a bit warmer but still somewhat similar to the LMII/III. However, it has an excellent built in 'tube emulation' control that would give you at least something similar to the LMII with VT in front of it all in the same box. For those who want to emulate a tube amp (kind of, anyway), it is a pretty cool, if more expensive, amp.
Volume is at least at the LMII/III level. Just FYI.
The only thing to add to the advice provided would be...wait another few months if you can and see if the LMII prices start to drop. It's a "discontinued model," and theoretically should start to drop in price as LMIIIs start to crowd the stockrooms.
I used a LMII with a VT bass with fair results. I ultimately sold the VT bass simply because I just couldn't make it work for me live. I did a review of it here at TB somewhere in the megathread. I'm one of those guys that only seems to like SVT's when someone else is playing them. They sound great then, but when I'm standing in front of it...not so much. I felt the same way with the LMII/VT combo. I don't know if that means it was that authentic or what, so take it for what it's worth.
I did try all kinds of settings, such as using it to just warm things up a bit, to even trying to make the VT do absolutely nothing even when it was turned on. No matter what I tried, it just ultimately disappointed me. But like I said, I'm not an SVT player, and folks who are seem to like the VT. I do think you need a good clean amp (like the LMII) and a full-range cab to do any kind of modeling.
As for for Ken's mention of the RH450, I'll give a big +1 there. It does the SVT thing very well, but it also has tremendous usefulness outside of that tonal category. Clean, warm, or full out destruction.
KJung, I went and tried the TC RH450 and I gotta say that is one awesome sounding amp (I know this is getting more and more off topic but I felt like it needing saying), I think it's closer to what I want than the little mark 2 (which I also tried and isn't what I'm looking for)
All good stuff. I'm digging the RH450 also, and still am amazed by the fatness and price and quality of the LMII/III. The feature set of the RH450 really is something.
I will again say for all those using an LMII with a VT pedal, the RH450 is really something.
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