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Official Markbass Club

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#622
Chris Tarry said:
Looks like I'm an official member of the club here now.. ummm where do I hang my coat? Is the punch spiked? Are those cookies free? I think that Markbass 4x10 in the corner is giving me the eye.. :) Give me a number!

CT
Current Rig:
Little Mark II, Standard 102HF, Traveller 102P, Mark Stand, Bass Keeper.
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Cool! Hey, let me know what you think of that Mark Stand. I'm thinking about getting one.

MBCM #108 Chris Tarry!
 
#623
Ampeg SVP went wonky on me last night, and my daughter's got a Battle of the Bands gig tonight, which is counting on me to bring a working amp for use by four bands. So, I ran out to GC about an hour ago and got an LMII. Took me all of five minutes to find a tone I like, and I'll see how she likes it when she gets home from school today.

It's got a pretty good range of tonal capabilities, plenty of beef, and is very, very quiet. My wife likes the tone alot, and it's doing a nice job rocking the house. I'll miss the Ampeg some, but not lugging 60 lbs of gear!

We'll see how it gigs tonight.
 
#624
mslatter said:
Ampeg SVP went wonky on me last night, and my daughter's got a Battle of the Bands gig tonight, which is counting on me to bring a working amp for use by four bands. So, I ran out to GC about an hour ago and got an LMII. Took me all of five minutes to find a tone I like, and I'll see how she likes it when she gets home from school today.

It's got a pretty good range of tonal capabilities, plenty of beef, and is very, very quiet. My wife likes the tone alot, and it's doing a nice job rocking the house. I'll miss the Ampeg some, but not lugging 60 lbs of gear!

We'll see how it gigs tonight.
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Nice Post...
Keep the rocking in the family...
 
#625
mslatter said:
Ampeg SVP went wonky on me last night, and my daughter's got a Battle of the Bands gig tonight, which is counting on me to bring a working amp for use by four bands. So, I ran out to GC about an hour ago and got an LMII. Took me all of five minutes to find a tone I like, and I'll see how she likes it when she gets home from school today.

It's got a pretty good range of tonal capabilities, plenty of beef, and is very, very quiet. My wife likes the tone alot, and it's doing a nice job rocking the house. I'll miss the Ampeg some, but not lugging 60 lbs of gear!

We'll see how it gigs tonight.
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I'm only surprised it took you even that long to find a tone you liked. :D

Then again, coming from tube-land, that might be a bit more challenging of an adjustment, 'cause clearly, you can't get the same sound. You have to find another one you like as much (hopefully more). :)
 
#626
Vic, I don't know why people disagree with me about this so much, but I have never heard an SS amp that gets as close to tube sound as the LM2. It's a clean tube sound that can't do OD, but I've AB'd it with my B-15 heads and a couple rental SVT's and the sound is extremely favorable. It's not a dead-on match, but it's as close to tubes without tubes as I've ever heard.
 
#627
JimmyM said:
Vic, I don't know why people disagree with me about this so much, but I have never heard an SS amp that gets as close to tube sound as the LM2. It's a clean tube sound that can't do OD, but I've AB'd it with my B-15 heads and a couple rental SVT's and the sound is extremely favorable. It's not a dead-on match, but it's as close to tubes without tubes as I've ever heard.
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HAH! That's an EASY one, and I'm actually surprised this is a surprise to you.

First, while I personally like SS heads better, I will say tube heads do definitely sound different. No way around it, makes perfect sense.

Tube folks tend to be fairly puritan when it comes to tonal classification, and very particular about what they'll say even sounds anything like a tube amp that's not actually a tube amp. Also, as I've seen, tend to be fairly militant when it comes to responding to anyone drawing any similarities to tube tone from an SS amp. :)

Does that mean you can't get a similarly effective type of big warm sound out of an SS amp? Nah, but a lot of folks just don't like to see anyone say an SS amp sounds like a tube amp.

It just boils down to how liberal you want to be with interpreting "sounds like". They seem to be pretty conservative. :)

I'm sure there are some similar folks on the SS side, but I think I see it more on the tube side.

After all, they don't want to feel like they've been lugging that 100lb monster around for no good reason*! ;) :D

(*jk tube fans!)
 
#628
JimmyM said:
Vic, I don't know why people disagree with me about this so much, but I have never heard an SS amp that gets as close to tube sound as the LM2. It's a clean tube sound that can't do OD, but I've AB'd it with my B-15 heads and a couple rental SVT's and the sound is extremely favorable. It's not a dead-on match, but it's as close to tubes without tubes as I've ever heard.
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Got to agree here. It's the most tubey SS amp I've ever played through.
 
#629
Vic said:
HAH! That's an EASY one, and I'm actually surprised this is a surprise to you.

First, while I personally like SS heads better, I will say tube heads do definitely sound different. No way around it, makes perfect sense.

Tube folks tend to be fairly puritan when it comes to tonal classification, and very particular about what they'll say even sounds anything like a tube amp that's not actually a tube amp. Also, as I've seen, tend to be fairly militant when it comes to responding to anyone drawing any similarities to tube tone from an SS amp. :)

Does that mean you can't get a similarly effective type of big warm sound out of an SS amp? Nah, but a lot of folks just don't like to see anyone say an SS amp sounds like a tube amp.

It just boils down to how liberal you want to be with interpreting "sounds like". They seem to be pretty conservative. :)

I'm sure there are some similar folks on the SS side, but I think I see it more on the tube side.

After all, they don't want to feel like they've been lugging that 100lb monster around for no good reason*! ;) :D

(*jk tube fans!)
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I never thought of that. See, I always said the same things about SS amps not sounding as good as tubes all my life, but that was just because it was true ;)
 
#630
The LMII does have that warmer sound that gives you a sence of tube like tone. Not sounds like but has that hint of tube characteristics minus the weight! :D

For me, the F1 is all that and a bag of chips! This head is something special. If you like the LMII you will absolutly love the F1. Especially through an Epi Ul-410(2)! Everytime I rock this rig the sound just blows me away. :bassist:

Vic, you have to try the F1. I am sure your LMII will take a break. Just like mine!
 
#631
The only SS amp I've played that was as warm sounding as my LMII was my old Ampeg SVT200T. Now that I think about it, that's probably why I love my LMII so much. I've played through several other Ampeg SS heads and they sounded nothing like the SVT200T. Hopefully Markbass won't make the same mistake Ampeg did and discontinue the amp. Doubtful, they've got a good thing going with the LMII.
 
#632
cb56 said:
The only SS amp I've played that was as warm sounding as my LMII was my old Ampeg SVT200T. Now that I think about it, that's probably why I love my LMII so much. I've played through several other Ampeg SS heads and they sounded nothing like the SVT200T. Hopefully Markbass won't make the same mistake Ampeg did and discontinue the amp. Doubtful, they've got a good thing going with the LMII.
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Ya, amp companies do tend to not discontinue their best selling product unless they come up with something that blows it away. Ampeg, however, is a notable exception ;)
 
#633
JimmyM said:
Vic, I don't know why people disagree with me about this so much, but I have never heard an SS amp that gets as close to tube sound as the LM2. It's a clean tube sound that can't do OD, but I've AB'd it with my B-15 heads and a couple rental SVT's and the sound is extremely favorable. It's not a dead-on match, but it's as close to tubes without tubes as I've ever heard.
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It gigged very well (though the FOH could use some pointers on how to let a bass come through...) Four different bassists, two finger style, two pick, and it really let the bass come through. Not a knob was touched between bands, but there was distinct personality reflected from each bass, and the amp definitely held its own in the on-stage mix. I can't wait to gig it myself.

As for the tube sound, I'll get the Ampeg fixed and have my choice. It really is a great pre. I like the break-up I can bring out of the Ampeg just by digging in. To me, one difference between the two is that SS always feels "instant on" to me - that when I pluck a string, it comes through the amp at full volume at the first millisecond, whereas with tubes, there's a split second for the note to blossom. SS seems to have an almost more-percussive attack. That's what I think I'm hearing, and one of the things some people might not like but I won't believe it until I see a plot. And I like it. I played SS for years before I got the Ampeg.

Still, in a live mix, especially with a FOH system, that kind of thing just gets lost, really, and everyone in the audience is watching the singer, anyway. If this amp cuts through a mix the way I think it will, and lay down a solid foundation, the way I think it will - I'll be really pleased.
 
#634
Something you could do to tube it up is plug the SVP into the LM2, either as a front end for the LM2 or in the effects loop. I think that would give you a best of both worlds scenario.
 
#636
All I know is, my new CMD112 sounded amazing on Wed night's practice. Totally different than what I was used to.

Been playing for 26 yrs and this is the first - to me! - boutique amp I've ever had. I work almost every weekend and need a reliable, care-free amp that's portable.

Love it!!!
 
#640
LuvMusic said:
If you consider limited availability (GC/MF) and pricing as criteria, I'd say "Yes."

Looks like a poll opportunity.
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I don't know...Markbass is gearing up to have all their products available in the US by June, and the US is pretty much the last place in the free world that Markbass isn't widely available. Plus, $600 for their flagship amp isn't exactly a boutique price. So I'm still not sure we can call them "boutique."
 
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