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Not Happy with My New Markbass Rig

Dbassmon

Dbassmon

Oct 2, 2004
3,030
2,676
Rutherford, NJ
#1
I have a 210 traveler and Markbass LMIII which I just got. Honestly, It's just OK, I am not loving it.
I find the rig sounds pretty flat (not eq wise) 2 dimensional and I am wondering if its this the cabinet, neo drivers in general? More low middy than deep, sterile sounding on the top end.

I am replacing an Eden Metro which sounds very good, but it weights 95 lbs. Regardless if you love Edan or not, the little rig sounds huge.

Not sure what to do as I can not A/B different Markbass cabs as GC can't keep these things in stock. Maybe I want the Tube version of this amp....

Anyone got any similar impression of this particular rig and would love some suggestions
 
#3
That combo will be cleaner, more transparent and more 'accurate' than your Eden combo. To some, that is a good thing, to others, it will sound a bit lifeless and sterile.

I'm not a huge fan of the MB cabs, especially the small combo cabs. An LMIII with a high quality 210 or 112 like a Bergantino AE112 or 210 sounds VERY good.. .still clean, but with a bit more upper mid bight and punch.

If you want to stick to a combo, and want more of that tubehybrid sort of tone, I would consider the Genz Shuttle 6/12 with the 12 extension cab. Punchy, a touch grindy, and a bit closer to the Eden sort of voicing.
 
#4
Take back the combo if you got it new. Get the head and run a different brand of speakers.

Those MarkBass cabs are love/hate, I think they have an "airy" and "papery" sound to them. Some people love them.

I found the Little Mark II head had nice warmth through an Avatar 212.

If you want to be a "brand junkie", KJung hit the nail with the Genz Benz stuff.
 
#6
Fortunately, I did not get the combo. The issue for me may very well be the Markbass 210 cabinet. Before hitting flush on the whole rig, I will check out some other cabs....

is the flatness of Markbass cab have to do with Neo drivers or "Markbass Neo drivers" do you think?
 
#10
Dbassmon said:
Fortunately, I did not get the combo. The issue for me may very well be the Markbass 210 cabinet. Before hitting flush on the whole rig, I will check out some other cabs....

is the flatness of Markbass cab have to do with Neo drivers or "Markbass Neo drivers" do you think?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure the cab is flat by any means (the head is), but the voicing has nothing to do with neo's, but rather how the MB design guys want it so sound. There are a wide variety of neo voicings out there, from smooth and wide and open like the Epifani UL line, to tight and grindy and punchy like the Bergantino AE's and everyting in between.

The GK Neo 112's are getting some good reviews and are priced very nicely (especially with the MF 10% of sale).
 
#11
Wow, there are others who feel this way about Markbass. I think they sound thin and watery, but many bass amps today do as well. There are some good ones though.

I guess that is another reason why I am old school tube. :bassist:
 
#12
fishman35 said:
Wow, there are others who feel this way about Markbass. I think they sound thin and watery, but many bass amps today do as well. There are some good ones though.

I guess that is another reason why I am old school tube. :bassist:
Click to expand...

Thin they are not:smug: However, every amp interacts with different cabs for a different tone. I LOVE the MB line in general, but not many of the smaller cabs.

And, of course, if you like all tube amps, you probably won't like many solid state amps. I personally dislike all tube amps myself, but that's why I like most of these nice, clean, tight, accurate, punchy micro's:)
 
#13
I like my MB stuff because I find that the rig makes my bass sound pretty much like it does when I record it DI - and that's exactly what I want. Those who like the amp to add a sound of its own wouldn't go for that, of course. My 210 combo has plenty of oomph for most small gigs, but I confess to preferring it with the 115 added nowadays as it goes a lot louder with the extension cab without even breaking sweat.

That said, I'm a little surprised about your upper mids comment, Ken, as if there's one thing that does stand out with my own MB tone (CMD102P + Traveller 151P) when compared to a studio DI, it's exactly that part of the frequency spectrum. The thing definitely has that 1 kHz nasally "honk" that really cuts through a band mix and is kind of hard to dial out for just that reason. Luckily for me, I like it, otherwise the amp wouldn't be for me as it's such a strong part of its character.

It's not too dissimilar to the AE212 that I checked out, come to think of it.
 
#14
My LMII with my Markbass Standard 151HF sounds anything but thin and two dimensional, it fills the room with deep pillowy sound... But then again the 151HFwas just about the deepest-sounding cab they made. Not sure why it was discontinued. It's a great cabinet for old-school thump.
 
#16
bassybill said:
Comments like this always make me smile. The stuff's "over-rated" because... er... lots of people like something you don't? So they're all wrong, and you're right? :eek:

In that case, I think strawberry ice cream is way over-rated. :D
Click to expand...

+1 Kind of funny. I also don't like some stuff that a lot of other people like. That's what there's all this stuff! Over-rated is one of those useless comments that means nothing IMO.

+1 also on your comment of the upper mids with some of the Markbass cabs. There are two or three different MB210 cabs, and they all sound a touch different. The 210 in the 210 combo is decent. The Standard 102HF or whatever it is called is actually a very nice 210. The Traveler 102p is nasty... too small, thin, yuck. IMO
 
#17
i played a bunch of markbass cabs through markbass heads at GC. given--not the best listening environment, but "flat" was the word that came to mind. I played a friend of mine's NY 151 cab through my GK MB500 head at a gig and loved it... so maybe it's the head and not the speakers? maybe it's the poor listening environment in guitar center? maybe that's just my personal taste...
 
#18
see, i think it's the speakers and not the heads. well, at least the 500w little mark heads. my lmii rocked way hard for a micro. it was a very clean rocking sound, but i never thought of it as thin or weak. the cabs i never quite got accustomed to, but i will say that they come to life on a gig way more than in the store.
 
#19
KJung said:
Thin they are not:smug: However, every amp interacts with different cabs for a different tone. I LOVE the MB line in general, but not many of the smaller cabs.

And, of course, if you like all tube amps, you probably won't like many solid state amps. I personally dislike all tube amps myself, but that's why I like most of these nice, clean, tight, accurate, punchy micro's:)
Click to expand...

All I know is what I hear after 28 years of playing bass. I have had lot's of SS amps: Hartke, Trace Elliot, SWR Red Head, Ampeg SVT3, Marshall rackmount, even a Peavy Megabass. There are a few good SS heads out there, but they will never touch the sound of tube heads IMO, and I am fairly sure if we did a poll of all the players on here, the tube will win out. (There may even be a poll already).

Of course, opinions are like you-know-what's, and one person's perfect bass sound is another well delivered fart. A large portion of the SS amps are hybrids with a tube preamp anyway, so that says something about the old tube route. :eyebrow:

But there is more to it why I am old school tube.

I am not a fan of PCB's. Although they have improved quite a bit since their introduction in 1975 into amps, they are still $$$ to replace should one component go out. I prefer hand wired tube amps. Easy to work on, simplistic design, and a transistor cannot equal the warmth or thickness of the tube. Kind of like vinyl records compared to CDs. Maybe that is just my EE degree talking.

Just me, I guess. Play on. :bassist:
 
#20
The upright player that I play with runs a Orange Tiny Terror 500 watt head with a "15" Eminance 500 watt 4 ohm with a small basic cab with 2 4 inch ports in the back. Sounds incredible. I've become her bass tech since I'm the drummer/boyfriend. We always get offers to trade rigs when ever we play with anybody. The only problem is the direct out is way to hot with no pad down. We play rockabilly/psychobilly and blues.
 

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