Markbass Minimark

It looks interesting. It probably won't hit the US market for another 8 yrs though. I'm sure the Canadian dealers will have it in short time. It looks to be only one channel though.

 

at Dave's shop in T.O , aad powered cabs 11.5 lbs
http://www.clubbass.ca/aad.html

 

The Markbass looks like it may be rear ported. At first glance I thought the tweeter was the front port until I looked at the back picture. Not a fan of rear porting in instances where one is playing in front of a curtain, outdoors or similar circumstances but it still is an attractive package.

Peace,
S

 

Hey fraublugher,

The AAD is a guitar amp version of the briefcase bass amp.
If you like Phil's stuff, look out for the new amp he's making.
I think it's called the Flight case, and it looks like a good update.

I borrowed a briefcase amp for a couple of rehearsals, and it was okay.
Not quite enough "oomph" for me, but maybe the new one will be better.

LM

 

Yo Adrian! This is up my alley so I'll tell you what I know. It's due out in August in Europe, and October here...likely. It's based on the Micromark, but doubled. But based on my experience with the MarkAcoustic 101 and MicroMark, I'd say the Flightcase will be the better choice among these 3. That's because while Markbass heads exceed their expectations, their tiny combos do not. However, I'll certainly try the Minimark when it comes. IMHO.

 

I tried this little bundle of joy at NAMM. I liked it alot.
Instead of bass and treble controls, it has a VLE knob.
I think its a good idea not to be able to boost too much
low end into six inch speakers. Seems like it would work
well for upright bass. You could use a little preamp for
tone shaping. I was floored at how well it handled
a Musicman B string. It all depends on the end cost as to
if it makes sense or not.

 

VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator)
frequency range 250 Hz–20 kHz (cut)

VPF (Variable Pre-shape Filter)
center frequency 380 Hz (cut)

http://www.markbass.it/products.php?lingua=en&cat=1&vedi=82

Edit: sorry chris, for writing such a prosaic answer to your poetic question, but in such case i reach my limits in expressing myself eloquently in english language. (hope this made sense...) (please remember i´m NOT from kentucky )

 

Whatever the letters mean, what is does is take away highs
and upper mids, instead of boosting lows. A little limiting
but I think it will work well with this amp.

 

I tried one of these, I want one bad. They had also had the Mini CMD 121P, and to me the Minimark sounded as loud or louder, DEFINITELY clearer and punchier. I think this is because the 500 watt (at 4 ohm) combo is only running 300 watts w/ the internal 8 ohm speaker alone. I think the Minimark is 250 watts to it's internal speakers. That's only 50 watts less.

Johnny

 

hey guys!

I own the micromark and played the minimark a lot in the near guitarshop, these two amps are not comparable! the minimarks is a real mature amp, this one will kick your a$$es and will be enough for lots of Jazzers out there!
dont get me wrong, I love my MicroMark and I also use it live with my FolkBand (www.redshamrock.ch), but I still need to have the bass through the stage monitors as well.

 

I've owned a Micromark (50w, 1x6" speaker) for one month, and have gigged and rehearsed with it many times. It's a great value if you like a combo that is small enough to put in a medium-sized backpack and have enough room left over for a change of clothes. It's small size and low weight has changed my life. No joke. I would have saved SO much taxi fare over the years had this combo been available while I was living in Montreal for school.

My only complaint is that if I _didn't_ have my HPF-Pre (a high-pass filter/preamp/impedance buffer), the Micromark would be almost useless with my Realist-equipped double bass. The HPF works wonders, and salvages the Micromark's useless one-knob EQ. Without a high-pass filter, the Micromark is wicked for electric bass at medium volume, and I've even plugged my Stratocaster and Pod into it and it sounds great.

A plea to those Markbass designers lurking in the shadows:
Please Markbass, you've made this wonderful, affordable product, whose form factor is ideal for upright bassists. Why not take fdeck's fabulous HPF-Pre design and incorporate a variable HPF into the Micromark?

A link to the design:
http://personalpages.tds.net/~fdeck/bass/hpfpre.htm

 

Has anyone compared the minimark to the Phil Jones Briefcase, or Flightcase??

all are about the same size/weight/power

 

Has no one tried both briefcase/flightcase, and the minimark??

 

The Minimark runs at 150 watts with the internal speakers. 250 with an add on speaker. The 2 smaller speakers versus one large speaker is what gives the impression of more volume.

 

Well...I tried this amp after being a bit of an ampeg fan, and personally, I was floored. The greatest tone out of a combo that I have ever heard (and yes that includes Phil Jones, which are awesome as well). But I think the Minimark has sufficient power and certainly has great clarity and naturalness. Definitely not for the person who wants to control every frequency with a separate knob, but I have found that you can dial in a killer tone quickly with the filters. I guess it's a preference thing, so I love it, but my advice would be to try it yourself.

 

This Combo is great, I had one and stupidly sold it for tuition. I just got a line on a good cheap one and I'm getting it next week. I've really missed it a lot.