MarkBass Mini CMD121P combo

[Johno Dunn]

Sorry if this has been covered, but my 11 week old son won't allow me the time to do a thorough search.
I would like to know if any one has one or has played one of these, and what your opinions are. I know the cabs have received mixed reveiws, but I can't swing an LMII and a cab right now, and I'm GASsing bad for the MB sound.
My goal, down the road, is to either get a Schroeder 1212L (4ohm), and use the combo for practice and pull the head (is this possible?) and use the 1212L for gigs, or add an Acme B1 (8 ohm) and have a Mini stack 'O Doom.
I play a Kubicki XFactor fretless, and am currently using an EBS Gorm . My band is an instrumental Funk/Jazz quintet (think Meters meets Sco meets Charlie Hunter) that consists of Sax, Bass, Guitar, Keys and Drums. We normally have PA support, but we practice moderatly loudly, and I would like to know if the combo alone would work for practices. The Gorm does fine volume wise.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for reading.
Gotta go change a diaper,

Johno!

 

[Wilbyman]

Sorry if this has been covered, but my 11 week old son won't allow me the time to do a thorough search.
I would like to know if any one has one or has played one of these, and what your opinions are. I know the cabs have received mixed reveiws, but I can't swing an LMII and a cab right now, and I'm GASsing bad for the MB sound.
My goal, down the road, is to either get a Schroeder 1212L (4ohm), and use the combo for practice and pull the head (is this possible?) and use the 1212L for gigs, or add an Acme B1 (8 ohm) and have a Mini stack 'O Doom.
I play a Kubicki Xfactor fretless, and am currently using an EBS Gorm . My band is an instrumentle Funk/Jazz quintet (think Meters meets Sco meets Charlie Hunter) that consists of Sax, Bass, Guitar, Keys and Drums. We normally have PA support, but we practice moderatly loudly, and I would like to know if the combo alon would work for practices. The Gorm does fine volume wise.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for reading.
Gotta go change a diaper,

Johno!

If you're talking about the CMD 121P, it is a nice little box which puts out a suprising amount of sound. But I don't think it is a big enough cab to handle a "loud" 5-piece set convincingly. There is only so much air a box that size can move. However, it will surprise you. To me, it is a perfect medium room jazz quartet amp for either upright or electric. I really consider it an excellent update to the old SWR Workingman's 1x12.

One nice option I have been exploring is using the CMD 121P on top of a well-voiced extension cab such as the Epi UL112. This rig will take nearly anything you can throw at it.

 

[WoodyG3]

I've had the MB CMD 121P for 3-4 weeks now, and have gigged it and used it at rehearsal. It is a very smooth sounding amp with a good range of tones. It's very light and transportable, and you can add an 8 ohm extension cab. It's plenty loud for what I do, which is coffee house to small theater type gigs. I've never turned the volume above 3 so far.

I'm not sure if you can remove the head, but the combo is so light it would be just as easy to carry in the combo form as any case I can think of.

 

[Johno Dunn]

Yeah, thats the one. I changed the title, and thanks for the reply.
I find that my Gorm has enough umph for our practice level, and it is 300 watts. I know the MB is a smaller box but I'm hoping it will work, 'cause I love the sound of it. I've played one briefly at a local GC, but I didn't know about the filters, and I didn't have my bass.
I'm going in this weekend with more knowledge and my XFactor.

On the extension cab, I love the tone of Acme's, I just don't know if it will pair well with the MB 12.



Johno!

 

[iamchipsmith]

I have it but haven't really gotten too much time for any meaningful test due to my lack of a band. It's pretty loud for it's size though like people have said. With an extension cab it'll probably be enough for anything.

On pulling the head out I think it's possible however I'm not sure it's built to do this. I think it may be missing a side of metal once taken out. However I think that could be solved by racking it.

I'm also trying to find what a good choice for an extension cab so if you hear/try anything let me know.

 

[Johno Dunn]

Will do.
Let me know if you get a chance to use it in a jam situation.

Johno!

 

[B String]

Just to experiment, I used my 121P combo on top of my
Epi UL112 at a large loud gig. (horns, percussion, guitar,
piano, drums) Everyone was totally surprised at the quality
of sound. Loud and clear with plenty o bottom. Easy load in.
Much better combo than expected. I'm happy........

 

[MMStingRay]

I was thinking of moving over to a MB rig and thought of the 121P or 121H combo and adding 121H cab to get a 212 rig for bigger gigs.

Now I'm leaning to the 102P combo and maybe adding a
102HF or 104HF to become a 410 or 610 MROD (mini rig of doom).

What do you guys think?

( I like the 102P and the 104HF idea but it maybe over kill? I had a 410 & 210 SWR WM rig and it was over kill the MB cabs seem to be alot nicer and louder? )

 

[Ed Goode]

Reviving this CMD121P thread for a few questions .....

I messed with this little combo over the weekend at GC and I was, well, shocked at how powerful it is. I need to do something about my current rig in terms of weight (for some personal health reasons) and at about 30 pounds this 121P is essentially perfect. Plus, it doesn't have any really significant color to the tone, which is what I also need.

BUT ..... can this little box actually fill a room at a real gig? I know it's loud, but does it really provide a room-filling low end? Most of the places I work are small lounges, restaurants and yuppie bars, so I'm not trying to play for 1000+ people. When we do festival gigs, we always have PA support and I go DI though a Bassbone. So really, I don't need a lot. And my gigs are generally either jazz, light funk/fusion or light classic rock.

Right now, using a plain vanilla Hartke 3500 with an Eden D210XLT I get complete room coverage with a nice low end. It's not necessarily volume, but the bass is present throughout the rooms we work. Will the CMD121P, as a stand alone box, do that for me? Anyone else besides WoodyG3 using this amp regularly?

 

[B String]

Location, location, location.......
Since the two ports are in the back of the amp, location is
paramont. If you can put the amp a foot or two away from
a bare wall, the low end increases a good amount. But if an
LMII is $650. out the door and the combo is $910. out the
door, why not just get the LMII and a used box with the
other $260. I've seen some killer deals here in the classifieds.

 

[Ed Goode]

Didn't think about the rear ports, makes sense to give it some projection space.

I've been giving a lot of thought to the LMII and a different cab, but the weight thing is paramount to me and will become increasingly more important over the next few years. Personally, I love the voicing on Eden stuff but the weight is quickly becoming a major problem. The EA Wizzy is also interesting, but I have never heard it in a live application. The Schroeder Mini's are decent, but don't knock me out.

So far, this 121P is the closest I've heard, live, to doing the trick ...... just doesn't seem physically possible to do what it does, when you look at the size of the thing ....

 

[B String]

So far, this 121P is the closest I've heard, live, to doing the trick ...... just doesn't seem physically possible to do what it does, when you look at the size of the thing ....

Its very rare for a small combo amp to have 300 watts into
8 ohms. This gives tons of headroom and clean power into
a very small box, which help make it clean and punchy.

I mistakenly brought mine to what I thought was a small,
quiet gig, that ended up being horns, drums, guitars, piano,
etc. I put my combo about 2ft out from a bare wall. You
wouldn't believe the lows I was getting. The little combo
kicked major behind. However! Nothing takes the place of a
bigger box thats pushing air. I've seen GK neo112 boxes
here for $300. shipped. (stupid cheap) A GK neo112 and an
LMII would be a great head/speaker combo.
I'm very happy with my 121P very much, but there are
other options out there.

 

[Ed Goode]

A GK neo112 and an
LMII would be a great head/speaker combo.

I was just talking to some guys last night about this exact set-up, apparently one of the guys (another excellent bassist) has tried this combination and was quite blown away by the sound. And not too bad in the 40 pound range, either ......

Thanks for the advice .... need to do some thinkin' now ....

 

[Bass.]

did a bit of searching and was hoping to get back to one of the things he had asked before:
removing the head

as those of us with the cmd121p know after you pull it out the top is all exposed. Covering this was my question. would plexiglass give it a good enough cover? (screw it in) or some sort of sheet metal?

I live near a homedepot and either option i looked into didnt cost more than $50 which is substantially cheaper than buying another head.

anyone?

any ideas?

 

[bass4u]

I have the MB 121p combo and it's never had a problem competing with any of the instruments in the 2 bands I play in. One of the bands is an Alt rock original band with 2 guitarists (marshall 100 watt heads and cabinets), keys and a 6'9" 265 lbs drummer who bashes the s**t out of his kit and the band members tell me to turn down and the amp is running 1/3 of the volume. The other band I play in is a Indie/Punk band where ALL the guitars and drums are turned up to 11. The guitarists get upset because I can blow them away with the volume of the MB rig. I usually run all the tone knobs flat and VLF at 9 o'clock. This rig produces gobs of low end and never has the speaker(s) farted out from the bass frequencies. I bought the MB NYC 121 cabinet to have in reserve and use this with the punk band. I've owned too many different bass amp/speaker combinations to list and MB has been a Godsend in power, tone and weight. This is the first rig I've ever owned with 12" speakers and wish I had found out about how good 12" speakers sound with bass guitar long time ago. The best thing about this rig is it cuts through the mix ALWAYS. Whenever I play a gig with other bands they laugh when I walk in with the MB rig but after my set is over the other bass players ask if they can use my rig or lots of questions about the MB rig. Most soundman I've worked with lately say they prefer to mike my rig instead of using a DI because the amp sounds great miked. like I stated before it cuts through the mix without them having to do much equing through the board. Get it, you won't be sorry.

 

[JimmyM]

i thought it was great for what it is. it moves an incredible amount of air for a tiny 112, but i eventually missed the bigness of big cabs.

 

[maestrovert]

i have a Mini CMD 121P combo /NY121 cab rig as well....

On it's own, the combo is as perfect a one handed grab n' go solution as i've yet to find...
Just adding the NY121 cab, the rig rivals the best 4x10s i've ever heard for depth and acoustic output...
Best of all, it sounds great with my 5s.

 

[JxBass]

I owned it and it's a neat little combo. As for your "down the road" goal, I agree with adding the NY121 as maestrovert suggests. You'll have a nice, modular, flexible rig that will address most situations.

 

[kittyboy]

best grab'n'go combo i'm aware of w/o spending $1500, pop up used for $600 regularly

 

[Johno Dunn]

OP here. I owned the CMD121P for a little over a year. I had an extension cab with it for most of the time. I would say it could handle a lot on its own, but another 12, and it could do just about any thing. I too have gone to a bigger combo.

J!