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My MarkBass woes

#21
....I bought my LMII a little over 2 years ago and it's never let me down. I paid $599 so I figure that's less than $25 a month for great tone and flawless peformance. If it blows up tomorrow, I pitch it in the trash and buy a new one.
 
#22
I agree with this. Most amps live long, some don't. Either they are worth the trouble or they aren't. Five hundred dollars is no small amount of money, but any experienced player knows that it not a huge sum to spend in music, even accidentally.

I once had a really expensive ($1700-and a lot for me at the time) amp fail at a gig after it was out of warranty. I got it fixed, and I learned three things: 1) the overarching importance of backup equipment, 2) the frailties of technology, even high-dollar technology, and 3) how to play through a PA head in an emergency.

I no longer invest emotionally in equipment. It ain't the sound; I'm the sound, be it ever so humble. Some bets pay off better than others.

Just be prepared for equipment issues, because they are never convenient.
 
#23
Voss451 said:
Precisely.... With all of the new 'compact' amps coming out (ie:the MB F1, GK MB2-500, Genz Benz Shuttles, etc...) they're designing them to be so tight for space that it ends up being more work to replace a bad component than the unit is worth. Components on the board are so close together that it's almost impossible to remove one without damaging another, which is probably why the service tech said they had to replace the motherboard.
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Please let's not generalize that ALL compact amps are not serviceable. ALL of the Shuttle amps are indeed serviceable and for an skilled, experienced tech, no different than any of our other products. The key words here are "skilled and experienced". In some cases it may be less costly to replace a part like a class D module, but if not then it's repaired. Incidently, this is a good example of reading and understanding the limits of the warranty (either a manufacturer's or aftermarket). All of our products come with a 3 year transferrable warranty standard.

I should note that in some rare instances, like a lightning strike, hooked up to the wrong voltage or in the case of one TB forumite who was in a devistating rear end car wreck with his GBE-600 amp in back, it may be too costly to repair all of the damage (I did repair the GBE-600 BTW). I wonder if there was something else at play in this case? I would certainly recommend talking with the manufacturer's service manager to see if there are some other possible options available before assuming all is lost. Hope this helps.
 
#25
B-string said:
Thanks agedhorse, I'd like to hear RAG slam the door on that one also. Generalizing sticks a little hard in my craw as well.
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+1 And the reliability of most of these new SMPS amps seems amazing compared to the old days when it seemed half this stuff crapped out.

That being said, I feel for the OP. Even though the MB, Genz, etc. stuff seems to have stunning reliability (i.e., with the hundreds of posts and thousands sold, you rarely hear of a failure), failures do happen, and if you are that one in 200 or whatever that has a dud, it sucks!
 
#26
KJung said:
That being said, I feel for the OP. Even though the MB, Genz, etc. stuff seems to have stunning reliability (i.e., with the hundreds of posts and thousands sold, you rarely hear of a failure), failures do happen, and if you are that one in 200 or whatever that has a dud, it sucks!
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I do too Ken, nobody in this industry likes to see a customer suffer. That's EXACTLY why we bend over backwards to help a customer in the rare instance that something does go bad. Please support ALL of the companies out there (meaning not just us) who place a premium on customer service and support of their respective products. It's good for YOUR industry in the long run.
 
#28
agedhorse said:
I do too Ken, nobody in this industry likes to see a customer suffer. That's EXACTLY why we bend over backwards to help a customer in the rare instance that something does go bad. Please support ALL of the companies out there (meaning not just us) who place a premium on customer service and support of their respective products. It's good for YOUR industry in the long run.
Click to expand...

This is why I can't understand anyone buying LOUD Tech products? GenzBenz, Gallien-Krueger, Carvin and many others really make every effort to support thier products and end users! I will always support THEM!
 
#29
woolysock said:
Maybe I'm missing something, but I imagine you shipped the amp to the guy who bought it from you. It worked before you sent it. It didn't work after... Hmmmm. Sounds like a shipping problem, not a MarkBass problem. My hat's off to you for paying for the repair. It's the decent thing to do.
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That will be a very tough one to prove. A motherboard that goes out is really tough to prove shipping damage unless there's actual damage you can see. I think it's very possible one of the UPS's (underpaid package smashers, of which I used to be one) dropped it or slammed it on a belt. But they won't pay without definitive proof it was damaged by them. Then again, if it were easy to collect, everyone would take advantage of them.

This is a tough situation here...no good solution. But knowing that if my LMI ever craps out it will cost me $415 or more to fix it, I'll just throw it in the trash. I thought the whole idea behind replacing motherboards is that it would be cheaper to fix these amps, not more expensive. That's a very unreasonable price for a motherboard in an amp that only costs $600 and it really gives me pause about Markbass that there's such a disparity. I think there's a little stepping up to do on Markbass' part.

BTW, I'm not saying that Markbass doesn't make a killer line of amps, nor am I saying they don't stand behind their customers. But that's ridiculous to charge $415 for a motherboard in an amp that only costs $600.
 
#30
JimmyM said:
That will be a very tough one to prove. A motherboard that goes out is really tough to prove shipping damage unless there's actual damage you can see. I think it's very possible one of the UPS's (underpaid package smashers, of which I used to be one) dropped it or slammed it on a belt. But they won't pay without definitive proof it was damaged by them. Then again, if it were easy to collect, everyone would take advantage of them.

This is a tough situation here...no good solution. But knowing that if my LMI ever craps out it will cost me $415 or more to fix it, I'll just throw it in the trash. I thought the whole idea behind replacing motherboards is that it would be cheaper to fix these amps, not more expensive. That's a very unreasonable price for a motherboard in an amp that only costs $600, and it really gives me pause about Markbass that there's such a disparity. I think there's a little stepping up to do on Markbass' part.
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ups just broke my new (to me)shock mount rack case.....i can only imagine what would have happened if there had been any gear in there......
 
#31
Jim Campbell said:
ups just broke my new (to me)shock mount rack case.....i can only imagine what would have happened if there had been any gear in there......
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Then you would have filled out a "high value item" form, and it would have been hand carried and not smashed around like their usual packages. I don't know what the bottom limit is for that, but it's at least $1000. But they treat those packages like gold.
 
#32
I insured my old V4-B for $800, built a double wall box and provided 3" of foam and cardboard, amp was in it's own 1/8" thick foam lined heavy plastic "bag". The box arrived in good shape and the V4-B just like it was when it left. Overkill? Oh and the tubes were all bubble wrapped in thier own boxes inside the amp.
 
#34
TSanders said:
Im not one to bash gear, but since I had a pretty serious problem with a second MarkBass product I did want to share that experience.....Ill preface that I am very careful with my gear. I do not abuse my equipment, and have good enough common sense to mistreat a piece of gear.

I bought a used MB Little Mark II from a TBer. Ran it gently at 8 ohms through a Berg HS210. Had no issues with it for 2-3 weeks, with a couple gigs on it each of those weeks. This was my 3rd or 4th MarkBass LMKII, and once again I decided that I dug the weight, but the tone just wasnt there for me.

I sold it here on TB to a very nice guy, who said my well packaged amp, with no signs of abuse, is shuting down on him. We do a little troubleshooting to determine an easy fix, and well, there isnt one. Without a reciept from MarkBass, we were offered the name of their out of warranty service center. Long story short, the service center has said the MarkBass need a new motherboard. The repair cost and shipping back to the TB buyer I sold it to is $415. Yes, that reads $415. We all know what those sell for, so with covering the repairs (as I felt it right to do), even though the amp worked fine for me, I basically gave away that LMKII.

This experience has left me cold towards MarkBass. I have had issues with 2 of the 5 or 6 MB amps Ive owned. As a result, I just wont use a MB amp ever again. Ill plug into a toaster before another MarkBass amp.

YOUR EXPERIENCE MAY VARY. I SINCERELY HOPE IT DOES. I wouldnt wish this on anyone.....
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Well, I hate to add to your "woes", but the LMII I got from you had a fan failure a couple months after our trade. An easy fix of course, and not a big deal to me, but it did strike me as odd that the fan would have failed so soon as the head wasn't that old. Other than that, it's been a stellar performer, and I'm glad I picked it up. But since I saw this thread, I thought you might find it amusing. :D
 
#36
TSanders said:
Im not one to bash gear, but since I had a pretty serious problem with a second MarkBass product I did want to share that experience.....Ill preface that I am very careful with my gear. I do not abuse my equipment, and have good enough common sense to mistreat a piece of gear.

I bought a used MB Little Mark II from a TBer. Ran it gently at 8 ohms through a Berg HS210. Had no issues with it for 2-3 weeks, with a couple gigs on it each of those weeks. This was my 3rd or 4th MarkBass LMKII, and once again I decided that I dug the weight, but the tone just wasnt there for me.

I sold it here on TB to a very nice guy, who said my well packaged amp, with no signs of abuse, is shuting down on him. We do a little troubleshooting to determine an easy fix, and well, there isnt one. Without a reciept from MarkBass, we were offered the name of their out of warranty service center. Long story short, the service center has said the MarkBass need a new motherboard. The repair cost and shipping back to the TB buyer I sold it to is $415. Yes, that reads $415. We all know what those sell for, so with covering the repairs (as I felt it right to do), even though the amp worked fine for me, I basically gave away that LMKII.

This experience has left me cold towards MarkBass. I have had issues with 2 of the 5 or 6 MB amps Ive owned. As a result, I just wont use a MB amp ever again. Ill plug into a toaster before another MarkBass amp.

YOUR EXPERIENCE MAY VARY. I SINCERELY HOPE IT DOES. I wouldnt wish this on anyone.....
Click to expand...

Hi Travis,

I'm sorry to be just getting to this thread now. And of course I'm sorry to ready about your unfortunate story.

Since the repair is already done we are unable to offer any assistance at this point, but if you need help in future (or anyone else here) please PM me or send an email through the Markbass website for very fast support.

As I've mentioned on here we have approximately a 0.6% component failure rate, which means that 6 in 1000 of our products have some kind of problem. We have many, many products now in circulation. This is a good stat, but we're far from satisfied with it, and we're obviously always unhappy to hear when anything goes wrong. If we had it our way, there would never be any problems... but when there are issues we are very serious about taking care of our customers. And all repairs are reported back to us to help us improve our reliability.

I might add that that often problems you hear about end up being caused by user error, other defective components in the signal chain, shipping damage, etc. And people tend to make more noise when they have a problem than when they're satisfied! Even still, I hear positive comments about Markbass reliability every day.

Again I'm sorry to hear of your experience. If any of you ever have any problems please contact us immediately and we will take care of you!

Best,
Peter
 
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#37
Peter Murray said:
Hi Travis,

I'm sorry to be just getting to this thread now. And of course I'm sorry to ready about your unfortunate story.

Since the repair is already done we are unable to offer any assistance at this point, but if you need help in future (or anyone else here) please PM me or send an email through the Markbass website for very fast support.

As I've mentioned on here we have approximately a 0.6% component failure rate, which means that 6 in 1000 of our products have some kind of problem. We have many, many products now in circulation. This is a good stat, but we're far from satisfied with it, and we're obviously always unhappy to hear when anything goes wrong. If we had it our way, there would never be any problems... but when there are issues we are very serious about taking care of our customers. And all repairs are reported back to us to help us improve our reliability.

I might add that that often problems you hear about end up being caused by user error, other defective components in the signal chain, shipping damage, etc. And people tend to make more noise when they have a problem than when they're satisfied! Even still, I hear positive comments about Markbass reliability every day.

Again I'm sorry to hear of your experience. If any of you ever have any problems please contact us immediately and we will take care of you!

Best,
Peter
Click to expand...
I agree, and the general consensus around here is that the Markbass gear is top notch and very reliable. I've been quite impressed with the LMII as it has take some beatings.
 
#38
TSanders said:
Im not one to bash gear, but since I had a pretty serious problem with a second MarkBass product I did want to share that experience.....Ill preface that I am very careful with my gear. I do not abuse my equipment, and have good enough common sense to mistreat a piece of gear.

I bought a used MB Little Mark II from a TBer. Ran it gently at 8 ohms through a Berg HS210. Had no issues with it for 2-3 weeks, with a couple gigs on it each of those weeks. This was my 3rd or 4th MarkBass LMKII, and once again I decided that I dug the weight, but the tone just wasnt there for me.

I sold it here on TB to a very nice guy, who said my well packaged amp, with no signs of abuse, is shuting down on him. We do a little troubleshooting to determine an easy fix, and well, there isnt one. Without a reciept from MarkBass, we were offered the name of their out of warranty service center. Long story short, the service center has said the MarkBass need a new motherboard. The repair cost and shipping back to the TB buyer I sold it to is $415. Yes, that reads $415. We all know what those sell for, so with covering the repairs (as I felt it right to do), even though the amp worked fine for me, I basically gave away that LMKII.

This experience has left me cold towards MarkBass. I have had issues with 2 of the 5 or 6 MB amps Ive owned. As a result, I just wont use a MB amp ever again. Ill plug into a toaster before another MarkBass amp.

YOUR EXPERIENCE MAY VARY. I SINCERELY HOPE IT DOES. I wouldnt wish this on anyone.....
Click to expand...
I brought my Little Mark bass about two years ago and it recently blew out on a gig. Put it in the shop and cost me $350. Three months later it went out again. Although I like the MB, I'd rather invest in something different.
 

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