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Markbass LMII - is having no mute really a problem?

#21
Okay, my .02

Yes, I certainly want a mute switch. I also use a planet waves circuit breaker cable, however they have quite a high failure rate. I bring an extra cable to avoid potential problems. As others have mentioned the circuit breaker cables mutes from the bass so you cannot tune. I still use it in between sets etc though.

Lately I have been using a Boss TU-80 and I really like it. This tuner has LEDs that 'lock in' and once they do I know I'm in tune and move on to the next string. No more futzing around trying to get *just* the green light showing up.

TU-80_T_600_FNL-315c386cb9b3baf33f4bcad2817c5e90.jpg


This is all I use besides my LMII. So yeah, a mute switch would be really handy. Now what I am doing is turning down the gain to off on the amp so I dont have to touch the volume once it is set.

Part of the idea behind using the Boss TU-80 is that everything in my amp's rack bag is integrated. I use a metal 'L' bracket and some velcro to attach the TU-80 onto the rack bag. Now all I do is take my bass out, plug the cable into the tuner (which is always plugged into the amp's input) and I am good to go.

I prefer to minimize hassle with my rig whenever possible. I am the PA go-to guy in my band and that's what I prefer to spend time on to make sure everything sounds right.
 
#23
I'm more concerned about an amp having a great circuit and tone stack with a good response at volume, than things such as mute buttons. I can see how they'd be handy to a lot of players, but the lack of one is no deal breaker for me. Ah, but I did grow up in the dinosaur days where Ampeg, Sunn, and Acoustic pretty much ruled the earth. I remember when effects loops were considered to be a luxury feature.;)
 
#24
Kwesi said:
While I see your point, many have a Vol/Vol setup so when you turn the volume to zero you have to fiddle with 2 knobs to get what you want when you start playing again. But, using the volume knob on the amp would work just as well :)
Click to expand...

I have a 2 Vol/Vol setup as well, but I'd still prefer to turn those both down and then back up again when time to play a song. I usually set the amp volume first so I don't have to fiddle with that during the show. When I have my pedal, I can also use the tuner function as a mute.
 
#25
Having moved from an Ashdown ABM head I really missed the mute for tuning and powering up my wireless. Now I'm using a Korg Pitch Black tuner which mutes and I'm all good. I did think that MB would add a mute with the LMIII and am surprised that they didn't.
 
#29
No need for a mute, IMO.

Turning around to check tuning, mute an amp, or anything that gives the appearance of dinking around scores pretty low on the showmanship scale.

It's interesting... I was channel surfing the other day and I stumbled on a local access station televising some high school kids doing Oye Como Va for a school festival. While the band was playing one of the guitarists kept turning around and dinking with his amp... Man, that looks bad.

Invest in a pedal tuner.
 
#30
Never had an amp with a mute switch. My CL has a standby - not the same thing. My Redhead comes close, though. It has an internal speaker mute, which does not mute an extension cab (which I almost always used), and a DI mute which only affects the DI.

I don't miss it on my LMII, coz I've never really had it on any other amp.
 
#35
badboy1984 said:
I used a Boss Tuner pedal to do the mute. I setup the pedal to do silent tuning so when i not playing i just hit the pedal and it mute all the sound but i can still tune my bass again lol
Click to expand...


Yeah, for tuning, this makes the most sense. I'm a little picky about my tone (I HATE anything between my bass and amp), but with the new Sonic Research 'true bypass' tuners (and others out there now like the Strobostomp and some others), you literally can't tell it's there (i.e., no upper treble loss, etc.). That's a beautiful solution whether you have a mute switch on your amp or not! In between sets, I just turn the volume control on my bass off:smug:
 
#36
For sure it is always possible to find a replacement solution if an amp has not this or that connection possibility or this or that function button.

As an example, my actual amp head does not allow me to plug directly my CD player for rehearsal/playalong purposes. And I use playalong a lot.

My solution is to mix the CD signal with my bass signal on a small analogic mixing desk and that works very well. O.K. so far!

But: cost me some extra bucks to buy that thing:atoz:

So: if the adding of any features - which avoids the bass player to buy numerous extra peripherals - does not negatively influence the amps sound, performance and price- why shoudln't these features simply be added by the amp manufacturer?

The amp manufacturers should leave the decision to their customers (we bass players), which feature of the amp they want to use and which not - as long as it is there.

I really would be very happy to see soon a "LM IV" being "full featured" in that sense...
 

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