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The time has come! Markbass MegaThread!

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#682
dave_bass5 said:
Well ive never had a complaint about the output form my SA450 going through big PA's, both pre and post.
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That's a different circuit. I can't guarantee it's not the same chip, but since it's adjstable, it may be more like the SD800... in fact, the LMII may be unique, since don't most of their heads have adjustable DI's?

That said, while I've only used the LMII once on a full PA gig, I didn't have any complaints from the board on it.
 
#684
bassmeins said:
I think there must be a reason for the price differences between the LMII and the rest of the mb heads.
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Well, some of the heads are well over twice the price of the LMII. I guess all this digital stuff adds to the cost. The LMII is only about £60 less than the SA450 but the SD800 is twice the price of the SA450.
Again, referring to aaskia he got in touch with MarkBass and they said they hadnt heard of any problems with the XLR so who knows

vic, yes you are right but i cant imagine they would cripple the XLR out on the LMII.
 
#687
bassmeins said:
I had problems with the LMII-DI too. Three soundmen said, that the DI soundthin and kinda bassless. So I did a comparison with a sadowsky pre/di and a sansamp bass di in a recording situation. Both sounded much deeper and with the right ooomph. The LMII DI sounded thin here although (I tried pre- and post eq!).
Then I asked my dealer, which contacted markbass. They admited ("under the hand"), that they have used cheap parts for the DI.

I still love this amp ... only use it with an external DI.
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That's what I suspected. It makes a lot of sense because of the price point.

I heard the bass mix solo out front when we were trouble-shooting and it did sound thin but I can't be 100% sure because I don't know what the mixer was set. He said it was flat but there's so many variables that I can't be 100% sure until I test it thoroughly myelf.

Mind you, the whole situation could have been remedied on the spot by bumping my onboard pre's bass band but after playing so many years with a premium Jensen equipped preamp I'm uncomfortable w/ the thought of EQ'ing my direct signal to compensate for shortcomings. I'm much more comfortable with using quality components and the less is more approach to a direct signal and EQ.

I'm still waiting on a mixer from a friend to do my own analysis but I'm already thinking that a DI with a premium tranformer is probably the ultimate solution.
 
#689
marc40a said:
That's what I suspected. It makes a lot of sense because of the price point.

I heard the bass mix solo out front when we were trouble-shooting and it did sound thin but I can't be 100% sure because I don't know what the mixer was set. He said it was flat but there's so many variables that I can't be 100% sure until I test it thoroughly myelf.

Mind you, the whole situation could have been remedied on the spot by bumping my onboard pre's bass band but after playing so many years with a premium Jensen equipped preamp I'm uncomfortable w/ the thought of EQ'ing my direct signal to compensate for shortcomings. I'm much more comfortable with using quality components and the less is more approach to a direct signal and EQ.

I'm still waiting on a mixer from a friend to do my own analysis but I'm already thinking that a DI with a premium tranformer is probably the ultimate solution.
Click to expand...

I find the LMII is a pretty cool sounding amp (and light), that I use for monitoring. The FOH sound is for me a no compromise isue, so I use here a second signal path (only bass).
 
#690
Ok, It's done and I've gone through it thoroughly for the past hour.

I ran an A/B box with one channel into an LMII (post EQ/flat)and the other into a Demeter DI. They both feed a Mackie mixer (phanton power off) w/ Grado Headphones and I set the trim to get them to relatively equal input levels.

I used both an Active MTD Kingston 5, and a passive P-bass.

There is a very noticeable difference in bass reponse, no doubt about it.

I'm not even going to bother flipping the jumper to PRE EQ for further testing as my experience last night gave no indication that it sounds fuller in pre mode.

I won't be using the LMII's DI again. I will however, keep this amazing little amp for its indisputable strengths.

For what it's worth, I'm very particular about my direct sound. For general use, I'm sure that many will find the LMII's DI sound to be totally adequate.
 
#693
Just bought my LM II...woo hoo!!! What an amp out of my 2 Aggie 112s...making think my Thunderfunk 550B might well be up for grabs soon...but more testing to come first...initial thoughts compared to the TF 550B: the LM II not quite as open sounding as the TF...best I can describe is that the LM II sounds a bit more compressed, but I doubt it would be noticeable will playing live or practice with a full band...amazingly surprised...and I got a Boss TU-2 free with the deal from GC...recieved a letter from GC at the start of the month giving me 10% off virtually anything, but not Markbass. They saleperson was very swell and said he would give me the 10% of the sales price of the LM II on whatever esle I wanted to buy...I said I'll take a Boss TU-2 and he said "done, free of charge." Looks like this may be the start of a beautiful relationship with a new a amp. Sorry ol' pal TF 550B, you have served me well and done all I've asked of you, but at 6 lbs. for the LM II, what I may be losing in sound seems minimal to what I make up in weight for the LM II and the schlepping factor.
 
#695
Well FWIW I recorded with the LMII. I used it to basically record the VLE as a loudspeaker emulator for a rock studio gig. My signal chain was:

Radial JDI > Avalon (Setting 2) > LMII DI.

I used 12 o'clock VLE, no VPF, a bump of High Mid. And it mostly nailed the tone I was looking for of a mic'd smallish 115. The most interesting thing was the phase change of the signal compared to the JDI or Avalon. The JDI being the reference, the Avalon looked like an amplified JDI. The LMII had a much different hump. Almost like it got just above the line, and made two peaks for each cycle, but after that it diped fully below the line just like the JDI and LMII. I'll try to get pictures and a sound clip up so people can hear the differences first hand.
 
#697
Me to have not been that impressed by the LM2 DI , compared to my EBS Drome DI wich is known as a very good one , its sounds extremely thin , and looses the warmth and growl that the LM2 usualy produces. It just does not sound like the whole tone spectrum , more like a mid tone type of thing., with my EBS stuff and external DIs i get a lot of more crisp and fullrange sound , and they are often more sensitive and responsive when doing EQ adjustments.
But what a heck , the thing costs like 600€ and it kicks **s !
 
#700
Well, Here is what i was talking about.

If you look at the waveform view of the LMII and compare it to a JDI or Avalon, the difference is striking.

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I used the VLE at 12 o'clock to get this sound. The sound clips are from the chorus of the song. Rock is the genre.

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And - The mix of the three with a compressor on them:

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