Markbass Megathread PART 3

[Altitude]

I played my first gig last night with the LMII. Here's a picture of my revised small club stage rig, which frankly is beginning to look a little wimpy - but I sure appreciated it at the end of the night!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

And it doesn't sound wimpy.

I ran the LMII flat, with the VPF at about 9:00 all night. Very usable, controllable highs, midrange that is just assertive enough to be musical. What I might have appreciated the most was the compressed low end. It's solid but never overbearing, and much easier to keep my fingers around than the huge bloomy low end on the iAmp I was playing with before.

We played as a 4-piece, with no horns or keys. That is one of my favorite configurations to test new gear, as it leaves the most space and I get to play "out there" a lot as a soloist. The LMII really presented the wide frequency range of my Skjold well. I have not before heard the fundamental of my low B this clearly (imagine if I had a better 410, even), and again the LMII presented those low notes in a way that was textured and usable, never boomy. The high registers were clear, expressing at least as much of whatever dynamics I was able to produce as the iAmp.

As I said earlier, the LMII brings out the best of the Avatar cabinet. I was beginning to think about a new cab what with all the Epi 410 talk around here - but this combination really sounds nice. I have a Selenium tweeter in this Avatar, so the highs are somewhat sweeter than with the stock horn. I think I'll be able to stick with this cab for a while now.

The LMII was dramatically quieter than the iAmp, and this club has really dirty power, so it is a good test indeed.

I never reached any kind of volume limit, this amp seems to have balls to spare in my typical playing situation. It will be interesting to try it in a larger club and outdoors, but so far I am confident that it can handle anything the iAmp could, plus a little more.

My Valenti is a completely different horse than the Skjold - I will post again when I play a gig with that one. Basement practice suggested to me that the LMII might actually benefit the Valenti's Sadowsky-powered J tone even more than the Skjold - the V has a very compressed low B that should really punch in the chest with the LMII.

And then there's the weight and size. I've got the amp, the cables, my tuner, some tools, and everything else I need for gigs in a backpack that weighs about 20 pounds total. Amazing!

What a nice tool.

 

[Xengamun]

Hi, I'm interested of getting the LMII since I hear many great reviews. I have a few questions though :

1) Where are they made?
2) Anyone pair it with any SWR Cabs? I planning to pair it with my SWR Goliath
3) Any online store which offer LMII with great price and ships to Canada?

thx a lot guys.

 

[Freddels]

They're made in Italy.
I haven't tried it with SWR.
In Canada, you can get it here:
http://www.clubbass.ca/

 

[Brad Johnson]

Hi, I'm interested of getting the LMII since I hear many great reviews. I have a few questions though :

1) Where are they made?
2) Anyone pair it with any SWR Cabs? I planning to pair it with my SWR Goliath
3) Any online store which offer LMII with great price and ships to Canada?

thx a lot guys.

I've tried it with a Goliath, Goliath Sr and my Triad. The Triad nailed the Marcus Miller vibe. It pushed the other cabs easily and sounded great IMO.

 

[lbwdog]

Anyone pair it with any SWR Cabs? I planning to pair it with my SWR Goliath

I played the first gig with mine last night (LM II+ Goliath III).
Not the best of sound conditions (semi outdoors, at a harbor bar) but I can say it sounded very good.

I did notice I had to run it a little hotter than my GK 700RBIII but not by much.

The biggest drawback I found is that in poor lighting, coupled with the closeness of the knobs, it's difficult to tweak on the fly.
Once I get more aquainted with it's character I'll be able to dial in the sound then forget about it. Last night I was hoping to be able to experiment a little but the lighting was very poor on my side.

 

[chadds]

Is the Epifani + MB such a match made in heaven because of the little bit of yellow on the name plate and on the back of the Epi cabs?

"I'm just sayin'."

 

[Tony G]

Is the Epifani + MB such a match made in heaven because of the little bit of yellow on the name plate and on the back of the Epi cabs?

"I'm just sayin'."

Actually, the Epifani name plate is more yellow/green to my eyes, and the Markbass color scheme is more yellow/orange to my eyes.

 

[syciprider]

GC let me take home the demo model last week while they got me a new one. I picked up my NIB CMD 121P today. I am selling a few things to get the 12" Traveler extension.

Link Removed

The only thing I didn't like about having such a small rig is that my distorted tone lacks the impact of the 810 I normally run it through But mebbe a Markbass big cab will address that shortcoming!

 

[DigMe]

It's solid but never overbearing, and much easier to keep my fingers around than the huge bloomy low end on the iAmp I was playing with before.

I felt exactly the same way about it compared to both my previous rig of SWR SM-500+Eden 410T as well as the iAmp-350 that I had at one time. I find the lows to be way easier to control. Double-thumping up and down all 4 strings was sounding more focused than I've ever been able to sound when doing that.

bc

 

[JimmyM]

Sorry guys, don't have a picture of me on a gig with my Mini CMD121P but I'll try to get one today or tomorrow. Our GC just recently got them and I just got it Friday and popped its gig cherry on Saturday so now I get to join the club! Then I bought an LM II for fly gigs and ordered a 12" extension cab on Sunday. The combo is all I'll ever need in an amp, but the extension cab is all I want!

Congratulations to all you other Markbassers...I see what the hype has been about now!

 

[JimmyM]

So I just skimmed through this thread and I have a couple comments...

DAMMIT TO HELL!!! If I had known my GC had started carrying Markbass, I could have saved close to $500 by buying it last weekend! I bought my combo and head this weekend and paid top dollar. Plus I got overcharged for the warranty on the LM II. They owned up to it, though.

I also see that everyone says that when they plug into their current cabinets, the sound is there, too. That was my experience when I plugged into my trusty old Tube Works 4-10" as well. Brought it to life in a way that my SWR SM-500 never could. It's a great sounding cab with an SVT or a B-15N hooked to it, but with the SWR it seemed to just miss. And SWR was the best solid state amp I could find that I could afford. The Markbass amp might have even sounded better than the B-15N through it, actually. I have gigs tonight and tomorrow, but on Wednesday I plan to do a lot of A/B'ing!

 

[BurningSkies]

Did a benefit show on Sunday afternoon at a small theater and as there were a number of acts, I only brought my LMII & my Bergantino HT115.

Worked great! all my gear fit in the same car as my guitarists stuff saving us some travel $$$...I carried my whole amp-rig into the theater in one trip (with our singer taking my bass in it was a one trip load in).

We didn't get a proper soundcheck or even a line check and I had no problem dialing in my sound in about 15 seconds during our intro.

Loud? Well I was asked to turn down, and I only had my main set at 3! Sounded great and there were no surprises when it came to my tone or the amp's performance.

The house soundman and the stage manager both loved the tone and commented on it and apologized about the promoter asking me to turn down...noting that neither of them thought I was too loud, but that she was too old and too uptight for it.

I used the DI without problem, without any issues.

The audience was both confused and excited by our upbeat dancehall version of "Silent Night" with all lyrics done in our singer's home African dialect (It was a christmas themed benefit).

 

[Altitude]

I used the DI without problem, without any issues.

Oh, yeah - I forgot to mention, my DI worked just fine too.

 

[tombowlus]

I played my first gig last night with the LMII. Here's a picture of my revised small club stage rig, which frankly is beginning to look a little wimpy - but I sure appreciated it at the end of the night!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

And it doesn't sound wimpy.

I ran the LMII flat, with the VPF at about 9:00 all night. Very usable, controllable highs, midrange that is just assertive enough to be musical. What I might have appreciated the most was the compressed low end. It's solid but never overbearing, and much easier to keep my fingers around than the huge bloomy low end on the iAmp I was playing with before.

We played as a 4-piece, with no horns or keys. That is one of my favorite configurations to test new gear, as it leaves the most space and I get to play "out there" a lot as a soloist. The LMII really presented the wide frequency range of my Skjold well. I have not before heard the fundamental of my low B this clearly (imagine if I had a better 410, even), and again the LMII presented those low notes in a way that was textured and usable, never boomy. The high registers were clear, expressing at least as much of whatever dynamics I was able to produce as the iAmp.

As I said earlier, the LMII brings out the best of the Avatar cabinet. I was beginning to think about a new cab what with all the Epi 410 talk around here - but this combination really sounds nice. I have a Selenium tweeter in this Avatar, so the highs are somewhat sweeter than with the stock horn. I think I'll be able to stick with this cab for a while now.

The LMII was dramatically quieter than the iAmp, and this club has really dirty power, so it is a good test indeed.

I never reached any kind of volume limit, this amp seems to have balls to spare in my typical playing situation. It will be interesting to try it in a larger club and outdoors, but so far I am confident that it can handle anything the iAmp could, plus a little more.

My Valenti is a completely different horse than the Skjold - I will post again when I play a gig with that one. Basement practice suggested to me that the LMII might actually benefit the Valenti's Sadowsky-powered J tone even more than the Skjold - the V has a very compressed low B that should really punch in the chest with the LMII.

And then there's the weight and size. I've got the amp, the cables, my tuner, some tools, and everything else I need for gigs in a backpack that weighs about 20 pounds total. Amazing!

What a nice tool.

Nice bass, Will!

 

[Brad Johnson]

I picked up a pair of Euphonic Audio VL210 cabs yesterday evening and am sorry to report that the LMII drives them easily.

IME these cabs have always been power hungry and I stayed away from them because I didn't want to go with a rack system or push my current amps at the time that hard. My TFB420 and AMP BH420 both got pretty hot driving one. I only bough the second one because of the deal I got... I'll probably never need it.

The LMII drove a pair easily and got very loud in the store. Went straight from the store to a gig, a large banquet room (room for maybe 500), no PA, bass, drums, keys and guitar. Hooked up one cab. Sounded great and covered well. Used a couple of Brubaker sixes, mainly contemporary Gospel and Jazz. Think Soulive meets a Charlie Brown Christmas

 

[Vic]

I picked up a pair of Euphonic Audio VL210 cabs yesterday evening and am sorry to report that the LMII drives them easily.

IME these cabs have always been power hungry and I stayed away from them because I didn't want to go with a rack system or push my current amps at the time that hard. My TFB420 and AMP BH420 both got pretty hot driving one. I only bough the second one because of the deal I got... I'll probably never need it.

The LMII drove a pair easily and got very loud in the store. Went straight from the store to a gig, a large banquet room (room for maybe 500), no PA, bass, drums, keys and guitar. Hooked up one cab. Sounded great and covered well. Used a couple of Brubaker sixes, mainly contemporary Gospel and Jazz. Think Soulive meets a Charlie Brown Christmas

"Sorry to report" ?

Also, interesting you chose a band that doesn't have a bass player as part of your analogy.

 

[Brad Johnson]

"Sorry to report" ?

I'm guessing the smiley at the end of that sentence wasn't big enough.


It was a joke... in some folks' opinion probably just more hype.

Also, interesting you chose a band that doesn't have a bass player as part of your analogy.

You need to listen to more Soulive. Not only do they have someone "playing bass", sometimes they have an actual bass guitar player. And horn section. Etc.

 

[Vic]

I'm guessing the smiley at the end of that sentence wasn't big enough.


It was a joke... in some folks' opinion probably just more hype.

No, it was big enough, but sometimes it's hard to tell with you if it's a sarcastic jab at a previous and contrary post (which I couldn't find, so I just asked).

You need to listen to more Soulive. Not only do they have someone "playing bass", sometimes they have an actual bass guitar player. And horn section. Etc.

Yeah, I know they have someone playing bass parts, I have actually listened to them.

Ok, how about I correct myself to "full-time bass guitar player"? You ok with that?

BTW, they are a great band... even without a full-time bass guitar player.

 

[Brad Johnson]

No, it was big enough, but sometimes it's hard to tell with you if it's a sarcastic jab at a previous and contrary post (which I couldn't find, so I just asked).

If people would just quit looking for things...


it wouldn't be Talkbass.


You could've just asked if it was a sarcastic jab in response to a previous and contrary post. That would've gotten right to your point.


It was simply a joke, like last week when I "apologized" to a friend for handing my Anthony Jackson Contrabass to him and letting him play it. It was a mean thing to do

Yeah, I know they have someone playing bass parts, I have actually listened to them.

Ok, how about I correct myself to "full-time bass guitar player"? You ok with that?

Sure, if you "had" said that, my response would've been different.

"I was talking about the overall Soulive vibe".

See? It really didn't make a difference if they had a bass guitar player or not... I was talking about their music. It's like saying we did a Tuck & Patti cover... or James Brown even though we didn't have a horn section.

BTW, they are a great band... even without a full-time bass guitar player.

Agreed.

 

[Vic]

BTW, they are a great band...

Agreed.

Hey, all "TB Blarney" set aside I am curious, especially since they don't have a regular bass guitar player in the band, what brought them up in your mind first... especially since, as great as they are, I don't consider them to be super unique. I know you're an accomplished bass player, so my first instinct would be you're a fan because you sat in with them at some point... maybe know some of them personally? Friends?

This is not to say we as bass players can't like bands that don't have them, of course, but just that generally we do tend to typically gravitate more to those that do.