+1 I played one today through an Aguilar GS410...sounded good..but I've heard alot better. IMHO they are too cheap to last too long. 6.5 lbs is light but so is 16 and 20 lbs. Don't get me wrong they sound good...but... I wouldn't spend $600 on one. But that is just me.
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Markbass Megathread PART 2
- Thread starter BassyBill
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I'm completely understand where you're coming from. I'm glad you voiced your opinion. I'm also feeling this amp is all hype....and I own one for God's sake! 
Many have noticed that the LMII sells for appreciably more in Europe. One man's cheap can most certainly be another's "inexpensive"... here
. There, all bets are off.
I haven't been babying mine for the year's worth of gigs I've subjected it to. With the five gigs I did last week mine paid for itself... again. Twice. YMMV
. There, all bets are off.I haven't been babying mine for the year's worth of gigs I've subjected it to. With the five gigs I did last week mine paid for itself... again. Twice. YMMV
Well, I guess I'm comparing mine to the Saturn car. Remember, when the Saturn first came out, it was the bomb, the best thing since sliced bread. The car will never break down, etc. Well the Saturn is a decent car, but as the years went on it let's just say it couldn't / wouldn't ride as smooth as other brands.
I think the LMII will be a nice serviceable amp...........a great back-up........but will it be durable, dependable, etc?
And Brad, I disagree with you to this extent....if I make thousands of dollars on ONE corporate gig does that mean if I use the amp on a gig, and then it fails, it's worth it? I'm sorry, amps with proper care, should last years & years.
Peace!
I think the LMII will be a nice serviceable amp...........a great back-up........but will it be durable, dependable, etc?
And Brad, I disagree with you to this extent....if I make thousands of dollars on ONE corporate gig does that mean if I use the amp on a gig, and then it fails, it's worth it? I'm sorry, amps with proper care, should last years & years.
Peace!
I don't agree. I used an AI Focus for a couple years with regular use. It was half the weight of the LMII and I never had a problem with it. It cost a couple hundred more, but ultimately I dont think that Focus is any better built or durable.
The LMII should last a good long while I believe.
You could question any amp in that regard. Unless it's been tried and true for the last 50 years or something. Haven't seen too many (if any) faults yet apart from Gary's incident.. compared to the hundreds of other LM-II owners on this board who have been gigging extensively with it, some for over a year now with no problems at all. Seems pretty solid so far.
Got mine today, paired with my Bergantino HS2x10 I am totally satisfied, wide range of tones, simple layout!
Again, for the money...IMO there is no amp in the market a the $600.00 price range that can even compare to the Markbass.
The one thing I do love on that AMP.....it approaches the KIS tech. for me.....Keep it Simplle!
So easy to dial in a tone, just like that!
And yes, all amps can have the same thing said.........
PS...Has anyone usesd the LMII as a pre-amp with your poweramp? Are you just using th line-out.
From memory..there isn't a pre-amp out that I recall.
The one thing I do love on that AMP.....it approaches the KIS tech. for me.....Keep it Simplle!
So easy to dial in a tone, just like that!
And yes, all amps can have the same thing said.........
PS...Has anyone usesd the LMII as a pre-amp with your poweramp? Are you just using th line-out.
From memory..there isn't a pre-amp out that I recall.
PM Vic for info. I don't think it works very well, due to the relatively low output of the DI, and the lack of a true pre-amp out.
+1. I'm a big believer in the number of TB failure and service posts being an indicator of problems . Given the huge number of LMII's purchased over a pretty good period of time now, and the very small number of issues posted, these things seem to be made VERY well.
Hmmm... I don't know if I'd go that far. The LMII is an impressive product, and as long as its reliability holds up, I can see it being a favorite of a lot of people for a long time. Have I heard better? Yes, but not many.
Maybe some of the thinking on the LM2 being cheap or poorly built stems from the American stigma of "if it isn't giant and heavy, it must be poorly built"? I opened my LM2 up when I was mounting it to peek under the hood and it was very clean and everything was solid. Any component that had a possibility of moving had a blob of glue on it to prevent that.
You gotta admit, the SVT (or perhaps a db750) head sure does seem more impressive than the LM2 from an American perception.. mmm.. F350 trucks... Hummers (Original, thank-you very much). I don't mean to be political or whatnot, but it is true, and I am certainly guilty of this!. To paraphrase Homer Simpson, "I'm an american! I want my beer cold, my tv loud and my bass heads Huuuuuuuuuge!"
You gotta admit, the SVT (or perhaps a db750) head sure does seem more impressive than the LM2 from an American perception.. mmm.. F350 trucks... Hummers (Original, thank-you very much). I don't mean to be political or whatnot, but it is true, and I am certainly guilty of this!. To paraphrase Homer Simpson, "I'm an american! I want my beer cold, my tv loud and my bass heads Huuuuuuuuuge!"
I'm completely understand where you're coming from. I'm glad you voiced your opinion. I'm also feeling this amp is all hype....and I own one for God's sake!
Your posts are interesting here. Almost like you have something personal against Markbass. The amp is all hype
I don't even know what that means. In our recent A/B/C, etc. of various small amps, including the Epi502, the LMII held up VERY well.Of course, no single amp will satisfy everyone, but I for one continue to be VERY impressed with the power of the sound, the beautiful functionality of the EQ, and the seemingly wonderful reliability of these heads, given the ton of them that are out there and being pounded on with only one or two problems posted.
Quite frankly, given the early problems with the 502, reliability (along with the rather strange price/performance ratio) is what kept me away from that amp for a while. After experiencing it, it does sound very nice, but the knobs, switches, etc. do not feel as good to me as the Markbass (which doesn't feel as good to me as the Thunderfunk, which in turn doesn't feel as good to me as the Glock!).
The 502 sounds great, but the tone controls are very subtle... it's pretty much a 'one sound amp' to me, and that sound is very good... warm, but still crisp. The features are strange on the amp to me... (channel switching, scoop buttons... all the stuff that most of the players I know don't use). However, the flat setting on channel 2 is sweet.
Both very nice heads. The other thing you need to take into account IMO is the 'mix and match'. I too am not that impressed with the LMII (and most other heads) with the larger HT Bergantino models (HT210, HT210s), etc. The only head that has made me happy with those is the Walter Woods, and it seems the 502 and 902 sound good also. The LMII with the Epi Series I cabs is a thing of beauty to my ear.
Finally, I've grown to love the idea of a deep bass control, combined with a low mid and upper mid EQ knobs. The LMII can get very large in the low end, but mixing the bass and low mid knobs really results in a lot of nice interplay that results in a lot of fine tuning to the low end... from big and wide to Jaco burp. I totally dig that, and the Glock heads and the Carvin B1500 have similar controls. Nice!
Anyway, both cool heads, each having their positives and negatives. Just depends on the cabs you are pairing them with, and the tone you are after IMO and IME.
Whats with all the semi-troll posts in this thread all the sudden. Did I miss something a few pages back? My LMII continues to be one of the greatest heads i've owned and played through.
What gives?
What gives?
Who's trolling? I haven't really noticed anything about that...
Semi-Trolling.. meaning= not full on troll, but they're going to shoot down that this gear is worth the money and reliable as to entice people away from it.
Its a semi-troll, not a full troll. So far its been constructive criticism but who's to say that the LMII is not reliable thats hogwash! They have not been in service enough to say they are not reliable.
I haven't heard about the reliability problems of the UL502, and a search here on talkbass really doesn't yeild anything about it. Could you point me in the right direction on this one?
Yes, I agree with your assessment of the UL502, warm yet crisp, punchy, and full. But you are right, this amp has its tone, and the eq is very subtle. I don't really use the channel switching, but it is nice to have it, and I don't use the scoop button. However, the UL502 has a lot of features, and if I should ever want to use them in the future, there they are. The UL502 is almost like a swiss army knife to that effect. Most of the time you just use the knife blade, and sometimes the scissors. But if you need one of the other tools on it in the future, well, there it is.
Ah, I see what your saying. I would agree with the overall assessment that the LMII looks to be made very nicely, though like any product, there may be a few bad eggs in the bunch.
Also, with the "heavier/bulkier seems more reliable", this doesn't really sit with me. Sure there are always chances that a something itself can just wear out inside the amp, but in my experience the majority of problems with amps come from poor handling and transportation, being tossed around, dropped, etc. The 6lbs of the LMII makes me think that this head would be less likely a problem if it was dropped, as the components are so light their wouldn't be a problem of things becoming dislodged due to weight shifting.
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