- Jun 29, 2006
- 5,148
- 3,216
- Disclosures
- President, CEO, CFO, CIO, Chief Engineer, Technician, Janitor - Reiner Amplification
I saw that UPS delivered my R500 this morning so I ran home on my lunch break to get it off the porch and gave it a quick whirl - actually, it turned into about 45 minutes! 
Good thing I live close to work!
I see a few folks on here that have the R500, but it seems like a less popular model, perhaps because it is a bit of a departure from the tone Markbas is known for, and the fact that it is less versitle than their other offerings. The R500 is geared as a "rock" amp, and being that is what I play, I was curious to check it out. In addition to being able to conjure up some tube grit, I was drawn to the R500 due to where it's EQ points are set - Bass @ 80Hz and Treble @ 3kHz instead of the 40Hz and 10kHz on most of their other offerings. As a 4-string pickstyle player, I've found that these ranges suit me better.
So I gave the amp a quick spin through my NV610, NV215, and Bag End S15-D stack using my trusty Hamer Cruise 2-tek and Schecter USA Model T (P-J config).
Gain: the R500 has some of the most useable grit/grind/overdrive I have encountered yet. It won't produce distortion/fuzz, but it will produce a fair bit of natural sounding overdrive with gain settings past ~2 o'clock. I own/have owned a lot of amps that can get gritty, and this is the best I've heard so far. I've only had brief expereinces with the LMII and SD800, and I don't remember them being able to produce grit - the VLE is cool for what it does, but I don't think you can replicate the R500's overdrive/grindy character. Well done.
EQ: like most folks comment on Markbass amps in general, it does sound great flat. On this head, the EQ doesn't seem ultra-powerful and capable of major tone sculpting, but it sounds very musical even at extreme settings, and being that the amp sounds great flat, I think it offers more than enough capability to compensate for different cabs, basses, rooms, etc.
Power: I was a bit concerned with the 500watt rating as most of my amps are pretty high powered and heavy, and this is my first experience in the lightweight realm. I ran the amp with the master full up
and it maintained full control over the speakers with no audible distortion, and barely got warm - admittedly this was a farily short time duration, but the fan seems to do a good job of keeping the unit cool. Woud I like more power? - yeah, but probably not becuase I would need it - I think it has plenty of juice for most situations when used with a decent size cab. That said, I like to play at stupid volume and always crave more headroom - too bad the R800 is on hold, but no biggie. The 500 watt rating seems honest and the R500 hangs well with my more powerful amps in the volume department.
During the brief demo, it sounded great through both of the Bergs and the Bag End stack. The Bag End's high sensitivity makes for one powerful yet compact rig. The Bags have pretty good high end extension and really bring out some top end grit. Out of all three cabs, the NV610 seems like the perfect match as they compliment eachothers midrange character very well.
Anyway, I think all the rockers out there owe it to themselves to give the R500 a whirl - it is an absolutely killer amp if you like a bit of color to your sound.
JR
Good thing I live close to work!I see a few folks on here that have the R500, but it seems like a less popular model, perhaps because it is a bit of a departure from the tone Markbas is known for, and the fact that it is less versitle than their other offerings. The R500 is geared as a "rock" amp, and being that is what I play, I was curious to check it out. In addition to being able to conjure up some tube grit, I was drawn to the R500 due to where it's EQ points are set - Bass @ 80Hz and Treble @ 3kHz instead of the 40Hz and 10kHz on most of their other offerings. As a 4-string pickstyle player, I've found that these ranges suit me better.
So I gave the amp a quick spin through my NV610, NV215, and Bag End S15-D stack using my trusty Hamer Cruise 2-tek and Schecter USA Model T (P-J config).
Gain: the R500 has some of the most useable grit/grind/overdrive I have encountered yet. It won't produce distortion/fuzz, but it will produce a fair bit of natural sounding overdrive with gain settings past ~2 o'clock. I own/have owned a lot of amps that can get gritty, and this is the best I've heard so far. I've only had brief expereinces with the LMII and SD800, and I don't remember them being able to produce grit - the VLE is cool for what it does, but I don't think you can replicate the R500's overdrive/grindy character. Well done.
EQ: like most folks comment on Markbass amps in general, it does sound great flat. On this head, the EQ doesn't seem ultra-powerful and capable of major tone sculpting, but it sounds very musical even at extreme settings, and being that the amp sounds great flat, I think it offers more than enough capability to compensate for different cabs, basses, rooms, etc.
Power: I was a bit concerned with the 500watt rating as most of my amps are pretty high powered and heavy, and this is my first experience in the lightweight realm. I ran the amp with the master full up
and it maintained full control over the speakers with no audible distortion, and barely got warm - admittedly this was a farily short time duration, but the fan seems to do a good job of keeping the unit cool. Woud I like more power? - yeah, but probably not becuase I would need it - I think it has plenty of juice for most situations when used with a decent size cab. That said, I like to play at stupid volume and always crave more headroom - too bad the R800 is on hold, but no biggie. The 500 watt rating seems honest and the R500 hangs well with my more powerful amps in the volume department. During the brief demo, it sounded great through both of the Bergs and the Bag End stack. The Bag End's high sensitivity makes for one powerful yet compact rig. The Bags have pretty good high end extension and really bring out some top end grit. Out of all three cabs, the NV610 seems like the perfect match as they compliment eachothers midrange character very well.
Anyway, I think all the rockers out there owe it to themselves to give the R500 a whirl - it is an absolutely killer amp if you like a bit of color to your sound.
JR
