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The Combo Club

#24,002
iagtrplyr said:
Happy New Year. Miles and clubmates! We're about ready to pop the cork ourselves. Ooh, I hit the 01 post...very neato! I'll be back to hit like on many of the previous posts. These last couple of days have been like the old days. Maybe if I came around more often... ;)
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I got the 0, I didn’t want to be a boor and snarf 1 as well!
You should def come around more.
 
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#24,003
CompleteHack said:
So far, it's pretty great.

The Markbass is less than half the weight of my first combo amp from years ago. I haven't needed to move it any farther than from the car to the practice room, so far, but I feel less need to dread taking it "on the road" than any amp I owned before.

Sound is great. I usually play it almost "flat." Turning the "Low" knob to somewhere between 9:00-10:30-ish prevents muddy boominess.

40W is plenty. I can get more volume than required, with the Master and Gain not past 50%. P-bass volume knob at perhaps 75% max is about right. I have tried but don't routinely use the "Boost" or "Scoop" buttons.

I don't the miss having a tweeter. I'm not sure it was doing much for me on the SWR. Maybe it matters more if you're doing slapping & popping, which I haven't got into yet.

Still loving the top-mounted Aux In and Headphones Out jacks.

The one gripe I have with the CMB 101 so far is, the way the Aux In channel is handled. No gain or volume control. You get whatever the source puts out, at whatever volume it's at, plus inherent noise.

But, that's seemingly all 40W-class combo amps, including the Fender Rumble 40 I test-drove.

This means volume of a play-along track, for instance, is controlled by the source, which is not a bad thing in itself.

The problem is that you get ALL the noise present on that aux audio source, even when it's "muted," and it's amplified as much as everything else.

My workaround so far is, using a Bluetooth receiver plugged into the Aux In jack. That BT receiver bridges to the BT on my desktop PC, which is where I play the Hal Leonard etc. play-along tracks, and online metronome from Studybass.com (used during truly quiet-to-others, headphones practice). This "air gap" solution isn't perfect, as the BT receiver has its own inherent noise, but it's load better than what I was getting from the PC's line-out or headphones jacks.


Unfortunately I am not a qualified mental health professional...
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Nah, I’m nuts and we all know it.

What you’d be looking for is the Ampeg BA V2 series of combos. Morrighan, my son, and I all have their 20-watt, 8” combo which has a separate volume control for Aux In. I know M likes it and so does my kid. He runs his laptop through it and plays along with the tunes. Not hi-fi, but gets loud and does the job.

Personally, I’d still rather have the CMB tone above features, but that’s just me. Glad you like yours.
 
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#24,006
Here on New Year's Day

doing the annual bass wellness check. New battery for the StingRay, new strings for the Nordy Cat bass. Treat fretboards (I use bore oil for fifes), add a touch of Big Bends Nut Sauce to 12 string slots, check neck relief, check string height, check intonation. Using a Vox strobe tuner. Apparently I am the only one who ever bought one, but it is a very good tuner.

Dust the combo amp :D
 
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#24,007
GwenOnBass said:
Here on New Year's Day

doing the annual bass wellness check. New battery for the StingRay, new strings for the Nordy Cat bass. Treat fretboards (I use bore oil for fifes), add a touch of Big Bends Nut Sauce to 12 string slots, check neck relief, check string height, check intonation. Using a Vox strobe tuner. Apparently I am the only one who ever bought one, but it is a very good tuner.

Dust the combo amp :D
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Christmas Day: changed strings on the TBird to a lighter gauge(40-95)/lighter tension set of EBCFs that I was given. Not impressed. Will put back the .045 G string that I took off [I don't cut strings when I change them]. Probably should've treated the fretboard but I did all 5 basses around Thanksgiving. I'd love to be able to lower the action on the TBird, but it's as low as it will go. Each bass has its own 'tuna'*, so I don't need to do that at the house, especially since it'll have to be adjusted on the gig(what we few we have these days).

*D'Addario micro
1735756985647.png
 
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#24,009
GwenOnBass said:
Here on New Year's Day

doing the annual bass wellness check. New battery for the StingRay, new strings for the Nordy Cat bass. Treat fretboards (I use bore oil for fifes), add a touch of Big Bends Nut Sauce to 12 string slots, check neck relief, check string height, check intonation. Using a Vox strobe tuner. Apparently I am the only one who ever bought one, but it is a very good tuner.

Dust the combo amp :D
Click to expand...
Bore oil FTW!
 
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#24,010
GonePlaid said:
Christmas Day: changed strings on the TBird to a lighter gauge(40-95)/lighter tension set of EBCFs that I was given. Not impressed. Will put back the .045 G string that I took off [I don't cut strings when I change them]. Probably should've treated the fretboard but I did all 5 basses around Thanksgiving. I'd love to be able to lower the action on the TBird, but it's as low as it will go. Each bass has its own 'tuna'*, so I don't need to do that at the house, especially since it'll have to be adjusted on the gig(what we few we have these days).

*D'Addario micro
View attachment 7113573
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Fat bottom strings, you make this rockin’ world go ‘round!
 
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#24,016
GwenOnBass said:
Would that be that the amp is something I could use. Which makes two of us, apparently.
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Short version: I'm most likely moving to a place where I won't have room for it. And I don't want a bunch of "looky-loos" coming here. If it's someone I "know" from TB, that's a different story.
 
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#24,017
GonePlaid said:
Short version: I'm most likely moving to a place where I won't have room for it. And I don't want a bunch of "looky-loos" coming here. If it's someone I "know" from TB, that's a different story.
Click to expand...

I'm getting everything done on my little combo. I can't imagine loading that in and out, even as cool as it is.
 
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