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Markbass... Yes, they've started making basses too

#261
India_Sierra said:
I have to echo the criticism of calling this active tone control the 'G Spot'. It's not offensive, it's just cheesy and incredibly naff. Boutqiue basses are all about that high end, luxury experience - having the best of the best and feeling that refinement and quality in every aspect of the product. This rather tacky marketing stunt of making a deal of this 'G Spot' seems really at odds with what Markbass is trying to achieve here.

I am not going to dismiss this venture out of hand as Markbass know their onions when it comes to making good amps, but I rather feel that they will need a considerable push to break into the bass market in any meaningful way and the signs are that their initial offering is fraut with a few missteps. The most obvious one to me is the naff marketing on the 'G Spot', but there are other issues here too. I don't dislike the Kimandu/Kilimanjaro basses but they have always looked to my eye to look like a poor imitation of the Zon Legacy. The bottom horn looks to have been taken from Michael Manring's extended range Sonus fretless. It looks as though the designers just cobbled the body together after a brief look over the Zon website. I note that Bona played a Zon Legacy a few years ago (IIRC when he was playing with Joe Zawinul).

On the other hand, my brother has the Markbass Ninja 1000 head and cab and it's a really great sounding amp. I play through a Markbass CMD 151P Jeff Berlin combo and I love it. I love Markbass amps, they just have a great tone, but I am waiting to be convinced over their bass offering.
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Agreed, pretty lame marketing attempt.
 
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#262
alaskaleftybass said:
Hi @Jeff Scott if you were in Rare Blend you are one of the rare recording artists on this thread then my apologies to you. BTW I did do an album called Will Hanbury, Jr. Souvenir which is distributed through Amazon and Apple. BUT, it's not a full band. It was really created as a souvenir CD for tourists coming to Alaska with old-timey songs we used to play in saloons, featuring my singing. But good for your sir. Where can I hear some of your music?
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Start on youtube, most of the songs are there. Some searches to use:

Rare Blend Infinity
Rare Blend Evolution Theory
Rare Blend Stops Along The Way
Rare Blend Sessions

Here a live one to start with, from a gig in Baltimore in the summer of 2008.



To keep this on-topic, from the above gig:

Jeff-MG 4001-800_4498.jpg
 
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#265
Reading this thread is easy to notice that most of the people has prejudice about where an instrument is made and they allow themselves to call it a failure even before they even get close to one.
Mark Bass is a very innovative company but probably somebody here consider a new pickguard's color of a Fender P bass a better innovation.....ahahahaha
 
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#266
I don't think the problem here isn't innovation and people not liking Markbass being innovative here. It is in many cases because musicians are very conservative and especially these days "we" like the vintage or retro stuff (hence all the reissues of old instruments), but not here. The problem is Markbass ísn't innovative here. They cláim they are, but both basses aren't. The design isn't new, the layout isn't new, none of the ideas are new and the ones that seem to be don't seem very succesful on paper - the looks (although one can debate the "inspiration" ZON has given them), the knob layout, the weird name of the tone control... Reading through the promo again makes me think: you guys really think you've made something unique that everybody was waiting for and it doesn't seem like that in this thread.

Here's what's in the ad that's just plain wrong (factually) in my opinion on the Kilimanjaro:
-"Original Design"
It isn't. Maybe the headstock a bit. But it's not original.
-"Competitive price"
True, we don't know the price yet but it doesn't seem like these basses are going to be cheap, looking at the feature.
-"Refinished frets"
What are those, anyway?
-"G Spot Tone Control"
Do I need to explain that? "Everything in a one of a kind sensual way"?

On the MB Gold:
-"All the most sought after features"
By who? Not me. Not by many bass players I know. I have never heard anyone say "boy I would love a P-style body with J-pickups and an active three band preamp with only 20 frets".
-"amazing GOLD finish"
Well that's debatable.
-"Reduced nut with in a pure vintage style"
Wait what?
-"Two way truss rod for ultra precise adjustments"
That's a 60 year old feature. I expect a bass like that to have it. Many words for just *a* truss rod.
-"Getting J style pickup and neck on a P style body is a dream for many players"
How do they know this stuff?
-"The Tone control lets the player move from Jaco or Motown style tones to more modern and open sounds"
Jaco is pretty open and modern to me. But I wonder what they mean by that.

Now, all that aside: I am very very curious about these basses. I really want to know if they're any good and I hope they're coming to the Mannheim Guitar Summit in September and bringing them. I don't think they're doing much good about the expectation with this promo but I really want to play them and will try to do so with an open and unbiased view :D
 
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#269
This weekend I posted a "new release" from Fender called the Midnight Hour P bass or something like that. It was modelled off a vintage P bass with a purple body and headstock and gold hardware. Half the posters drooled and the other half bashed the bass. But I never saw as much intense animosity against it as this thread. C'mon. It's purple P bass with gold hardware!

I like the looks of the Kilimanjaro. So it's borrowed design elements from other boo-teek companies. how about Mike Lull, Sadowsky, Roscoe, Elrick, etc.? The J-bass is a universally copied bass by most custom builders. But Markbass doesn't get a break because so many people despise them. The MOB always has to come by and trash them.

If Markbass makes the Kilimanjaro in lefty and it's affordable, I'll try it. And on the MB Gold bass, so it has a P bass body with jazz pickups. No one's ever seen that before? I frankly like the symmetry of a P bass more than the Jazz. It sits well in a music stand and to my lap more comfortable.

How about we hold off on the lynching until someone has ACTUALLY seen one, bought one, or even tried one? The NAMM show is heating up, maybe there might be some Youtube videos. Then the Markbass haters can tear them up AFTER official release.
 
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#271
Achille said:
Reading this thread is easy to notice that most of the people has prejudice about where an instrument is made and they allow themselves to call it a failure even before they even get close to one.
Mark Bass is a very innovative company but probably somebody here consider a new pickguard's color of a Fender P bass a better innovation.....ahahahaha
Click to expand...

My issues are the English translations, that the modern looking bass is also ugly, and I am not sure about a <i>gold</i> Jazz/Precision, but otherwise it's OK, but likely far too expensive for me.
 
#275
-Asdfgh- said:
My issues are the English translations, that the modern looking bass is also ugly, and I am not sure about a <i>gold</i> Jazz/Precision, but otherwise it's OK, but likely far too expensive for me.
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I'm agreed about the translation. For a company that spent so much money on building three new basses, it's astounding to me that Markbass would leave it to an Asian company to PR their bass. It is amazing that the owner didn't catch the term "lute" in the description. I know 6th graders that could write a better blurb than that.

*gly is in the eye of the beholder. Many people love gold basses. As far as price, we have no idea what the MSRP will be.

Something everyone has failed to talk about between bashes-- there are a lot of Markbass users on TB who love their amps. These basses have special Markbass preamps built into the basses. That alone would be very intriguing for me. Why doesn't anyone talk about the Markbass preamps.
 
#276
alaskaleftybass said:
the owner didn't catch the term "lute" in the description. I know 6th graders that could write a better blurb than that.
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Especially as the shape of the Kilimanjaro reminds me more of Spock's lyre on Star Trek than a lute.

Something everyone has failed to talk about between bashes-- there are a lot of Markbass users on TB who love their amps. These basses have special Markbass preamps built into the basses. That alone would be very intriguing for me. Why doesn't anyone talk about the Markbass preamps.
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I don't own one of the amps, but I like the ones I've played through. I like them more than most of the current crop. That and the GK MB. I've only played a Fender Rumble at bedroom levels, so can't really comment on that.
 

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