Removing MarkBass Head from Combo

One option would be to keep it in the cabinet where there's a cooling system for it, unplug the speaker from the amp and plug the other cabinet in.

 

This is why I'm selling or making a charitable contribution of my markbass and going with mesa walkabout/scout. Im still pissed they try to limit you to using that cab with head. If you have machinist in your area you could get them to make a plate for you. It wouldn't be hard to take a piece of sheet metal cut it to size and tap and drill it. The idea of the design irritates me, hence my switch.

 

Don't fault Markbass. Look around, there are many, many combos by many other brands with the head entombed in the cab.

Ultimately, what I did was to buy me a separate LMIII head. I left my combo (121H) alone since it looks like too much trouble to be taking the head out and putting it back in all the time. Or I guess you could just leave it out as long as you make a cover for the top and fix up the hole left in the combo.

 

I understand what you mean. Its a personal choice. I like the idea of customizing my amps to what I want. I started tube rolling in my walkabout now the solid state sounds boring to me. I like the idea of customizing my tone, by cab use, tubes pedals etc.

 

don't know about Markbass specifically, but i do know it can be done, and done very profitably....

my son had an acoustic B450 combo. we took the amp out of that combo....the amp has a built in fan, so cooling is not a problem

i went to home depot and had them cut boards to dimension (which they did at no charge since i bought the boards from them)

installed the new "head" into the box which i assembled from the home depot boards (after drilling a bunch of holes to let cooling air from the fan circulate)

he now plays it with either of the cabs he has (an acoustic B410 or an Ampeg heritage 410 HLF) and it sounds great....we put the old acoustic combo amp (now a shell) with it's two 10 inch speakers into the basement because we no longer need it.

he now has a very versatile rig....he has a Fender Superbassman head, he has the acoustic "head" (which i made), and he has a choice of cabs....he can use any or all of it.

he just played a small jazz gig last night at a local restaurant using the acoustic head and the Ampeg cab and it sounded great....

i say go for it

 

Removing the head has been and can be done. However, as mentioned, the top plate of the amp is missing. You could rack it to solve that issue or heck even a 1/8 piece of ply cut to fit on top would work... at least temporarily.

 

Removing it has been done and can be done. It supposedly voids the warranty (but in reality how would they know).

There is no top on it but you could easily get a piece of sheet metal cut to fit, paint it black and attach it. Then get one of those Markbass bags (the ones that you don't have to take the amp out of the bag when you use it) and rock on.

What "cooling system" is built into the combos?

 

Making a top plate for the amp is a very simple project. Just needs a piece of metal plate, some measuring and drill a few small holes for the mounting screws.

 

Good idea on the bag.

Using a 1/8 or 1/4 piece of ply with the markbass amp bag designed for the LMII would likely be a easy, economical solution.

 

a bit of ally checker plate makes a good housing. i built a housing for an old ashdown mag that i seperated and it worked well and looked cool. just remember to remove ALL the swarf before trying it out coz them little bits of aluminum( american spelling) can do nasty things to amp internals

 

The combo head is a Little Mark III, which has a fan built in. No cooling from the cab required, nor does it provide any.

 

Not sure how you'd search for the threads addressing this issue but a while back there was lots of talk about it.

I have a 121P combo. There are four screws holding the head in. Its a rather snug fit. Take out the screws which have an allen wrench or star shaped head. There is a section of the top that is cut out. Nobody knows why they do it but they do.

I went to a shop who easily cut a small piece of thin metal plate than matched the thickness of the top. I afixed it with a few pieces of double stick tape. Never a problem. Just be careful not to ruin the holes in the head when removing and reinstaling the head.

 

Parts Express sell Hammond chassis parts. Look for a bottom plate for one of their steel or aluminium chassis of an appropriate size.

Otherwise any sheet metal shop or roofing company should be able to cut you a suitable plate for almost nothing.

 

Almost nothing for them...watch it cost $30 to get it done, though

Honestly, I have no clue why in this day and age that Markbass does that with their combo heads. It would be so easy to make them removable, and yet they not only don't, but they penalize you for doing it by voiding the warranty if they can tell you did it.

 

Besides the Walkabout (and the few other combo's Mesa makes), what combo's actually are made to remove the head? I know the AI combo's are, but not aware of any others. Tecamp are not, I don't think GK are, Phil Jones...no, not sure about Ampeg. Epifani...no. I would think that there would be a very small percentage of users who would ever take out a combo head for stand alone use. Most who need more 'oomph' would just add a second cab, which most companies make, and that are designed to work with the combo format.

Again, I don't think Markbass is at all 'unusual' in this.

 

Jimmy, there's lots o' stuff that companies do that seem to make little sense. If a combo has an amp Mounted in it that is available as a separate amp it seems obvious, at least to this old fart, to mount the entire amp. That enables the owner to have the flexibility of using the amp in the combo or as a head alone.

 

Portaflexes are. I think there are a ton of users who would be quite happy to be able to remove their high wattage combo micro heads from their combos and use them with different cabs as the need arises. And with micro heads, there's just no reason not to do it. I get why tube combos aren't always made to be separated but not micros.