Something warm and dirty in front of a Markbass...

I would look for a small tube preamp that's good at breaking up or giving full-on distortion. There was someone else talking about doing that in the effects loop with good results, although I can't remember what kind it was.

BTW, I have the same combo, and I love it! It's an SVT in a 14" box!

 

I use an ART Tube MP in front of my SWR. Warms it up and gives some grit, or full-on overdrive if I like. I've got this particular version, but they'll all work. It's made me like my rig again.

 

I used an EBS Valve Drive in front of mine...it worked great to add a little grit.

 

+1 on the EBS. It really changes the vibe of the amp quite a bit, but it still sounds like the LMII.

 

One thing I found out about my MB CMD 121P is that it sounds weak with dirt.

It just doesn't have the speaker area that makes overdrive so satisfying to me.

 

Very few mono rigs sound good with distortion or overdrive. I've always had to run either stereo or split the signal and join it back together when it hits the amp. I'll bet if you bought a second combo and ran it with distortion, you'd get a good sound out of those MB's.

 

Isn't that exactly what a Sansamp does?

 

Ya, it just does it poorly

 

"Something warm and dirty in front of a Markbass..."

Have sex in front of your amp!

 

Not to be crude but the first thing that came to my mind was Rose McGowen. Ever since the Marilyn Manson thing I always thought she was a little dirty, not in a good way either.

Back on topic.

 

The EBS Multicomp in tube mode works great for this. Its a quite subtle and not really overdriven sound, but it adds some warm overtones and fattens up the sound just the way I like it.

 

You know, I've heard distortion in many configs EXCEPT with a single 12" or a Markbass. So I really couldn't tell you. My advice would be to try it out, except I believe it's a special order at this time. So that's a tough one.

 

I thought I'd really prefer the R500 over the LMII which I returned for being too clinical. But I was underwhelmed with the the R500 (it was a short demo though, YMMV). I think if I was going back to MB, I'd go with a LMII and a good overdrive pedal. Which one will be up to you, they're all different.

 

If you want dirty at least TRY the SABDDI.

It really does add some nice grit if thats what you want. The manual explains how to get a nice SVT sound. If I wanted that gritty sound thats what I would use.

 

I use the Sansamp BDDI in front of my CMD 121P and it sounds great. I tried the ART mic preamp, too, and it warms things up a tad. I just happen to like the Sansamp better, especially because there are a wide variety of tone settings possible with the Sansamp.

 

+1 on the MultiComp for this purpose - the tube mode is warm and subtle, and has a nice character as a compressor.

 

+1 again. The EBS (non-tube) standard overdrive pedal also sounds great through my LMK11, and it's 100 less than the valvedrive with no tube to replace (but not as smooth IMO)