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The time has come! Markbass MegaThread!

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Its setup that way now, but I don't have this studio in my home, so there's gonna be no more retakes ATM. Further comparison could be setup, but I no longer have the Avalon as well.

joelb79
Im confused. Are you saying the above graph is from recording using the LMII XLR set to pre EQ?
Just wondered why you used the VLF as i thought that was not getting sent through the XLR.
 
joelb79
Im confused. Are you saying the above graph is from recording using the LMII XLR set to pre EQ?
Just wondered why you used the VLF as i thought that was not getting sent through the XLR.


As far as I remember are the VLE and the VPF circuits still active on the DI, even with the DI is set to pre EQ. I'm quite sure for the SD800 and I think it is the same with the LMII.
 


As far as I remember are the VLE and the VPF circuits still active on the DI, even with the DI is set to pre EQ. I'm quite sure for the SD800 and I think it is the same with the LMII.


Ah right, i didnt know that. Im using my SA450 tonight in to our PA so ill test that out. Thanks.

Joel also siad he used a mild bump of high mid as well.
Like i said, im just confused. ignore me
 
When I buy an amp at this price, I do not expect the DI to be good enough for me to use. For FOH feeding I always use my long beloved Radial JDI
Interesting. I would.

Note that I wouldn't consider most heads to have a DI comparable to the Radial, BUT, I'd certainly expect them to be VERY usable.

Fact is, a decent DI circuit is not that expensive... especially at the manufacturing cost level. If Marco cut corners on this to save a few pennies without first making sure the circuit worked well, that was just a foolish mistake. There's absolutely no reason why a head in this price class can't have a great DI... no reason at all.
 


As far as I remember are the VLE and the VPF circuits still active on the DI, even with the DI is set to pre EQ. I'm quite sure for the SD800 and I think it is the same with the LMII.
No, they're not.

Look at the block diagrams below. The VLE+VPF and the EQ are clearly AFTER the DI if it's set to PRE. The same is also true for the SD800.

LMII:
lm2block.jpg


SD800:
sd800block.jpg


Also Joel wasn't saying he had it set as PRE when it was recorded. He said it's set to PRE now, but wouldn't be able to set up another test.

Hope this helps clarify a bit.
 
Remeber that its a Line out and not a normal DI AFAIK.
Would this make a difference?
What's the difference? AFAIK, if it's a 1/4" vs an XLR, the only difference is whether it's balanced or unbalanced?

As far as I've seen, Line Out, Recording Out, and DI Out are all used interchangeably... as opposed to something else like a Headphone Out or a Preamp Out (which I sorely miss on the LMII).
 
I did an outdoor festival type gig today and let the other bassists use my rig for the whole day. It was the only rig used. I ran the LMII into my Nahas cabs and ran the XLR out direct to the board. Because of all the talk here about the quality of the DI I asked the soundman specifically what he thought about the quality of the signal he was getting when I did the soundcheck. According to him it sounded very good and was easy to work with.

I ran the amp's EQ flat all day, the filters stayed off, everyone who used it commented on how good it sounded onstage and through FOH. The other bassists plugged in and played. Everyone had at least five strings, I ran a couple of sixes (Brubaker), Preach used his Brubaker five, a couple of guys used Smith fives, one had a Tobias five.

Again, everyone was more than happy with FOH sound. Of course I was the only one who had read this thread;)
 
I did an outdoor festival type gig today and let the other bassists use my rig for the whole day. It was the only rig used. I ran the LMII into my Nahas cabs and ran the XLR out direct to the board. Because of all the talk here about the quality of the DI I asked the soundman specifically what he thought about the quality of the signal he was getting when I did the soundcheck. According to him it sounded very good and was easy to work with.

I ran the amp's EQ flat all day, the filters stayed off, everyone who used it commented on how good it sounded onstage and through FOH. The other bassists plugged in and played. Everyone had at least five strings, I ran a couple of sixes (Brubaker), Preach used his Brubaker five, a couple of guys used Smith fives, one had a Tobias five.

Again, everyone was more than happy with FOH sound. Of course I was the only one who had read this thread;)

Cool Brad. Did you have it set to Pre or Post?
 
Interesting. I would.

Note that I wouldn't consider most heads to have a DI comparable to the Radial, BUT, I'd certainly expect them to be VERY usable.

Fact is, a decent DI circuit is not that expensive... especially at the manufacturing cost level. If Marco cut corners on this to save a few pennies without first making sure the circuit worked well, that was just a foolish mistake. There's absolutely no reason why a head in this price class can't have a great DI... no reason at all.

I can`t remember playing an amp in this pricerange with a DI that`s decent. But I must admit I haven`t tried the DI on my LM yet(cause it`s post EQ), guess I`ll have to do that with all the fuzz around it
 
What's the difference? AFAIK, if it's a 1/4" vs an XLR, the only difference is whether it's balanced or unbalanced?

As far as I've seen, Line Out, Recording Out, and DI Out are all used interchangeably... as opposed to something else like a Headphone Out or a Preamp Out (which I sorely miss on the LMII).

Its just that its not called a DI by MB. This came up last year in another thread i believe.
I wasnt implying it made a difference but i can see that because its XLR some people might run it in to a mic input. Again, not implying this has anything to do with poor signal quality. My XLR is so hot i have the gain right down on the desk and use the input control on the head to lower the signal even more so it doeant go in to the red.
 
Its just that its not called a DI by MB. This came up last year in another thread i believe.
I wasnt implying it made a difference but i can see that because its XLR some people might run it in to a mic input.
Well, frankly, then hen they don't know what they're doing and you need to get someone else on the job. This is such commonly done stuff. If they're taking a DI out of an instrument (pre)amp and plugging it into a mic-only device/channel or a mixer channel with the pad set to mic, they really have no idea what they're doing, and if that's happened to you, I'm truly sorry for that... I know what it's like to suffer incompetence, and it's no fun.

Again, not implying this has anything to do with poor signal quality. My XLR is so hot i have the gain right down on the desk and use the input control on the head to lower the signal even more so it doeant go in to the red.
Actually, I was pretty much genuinely asking the question... not implying you're implying anything. :) Just 'cause I've heard it all used interchangeably doesn't necessarily mean that's correct. :) No sweat, my friend. In fact, my question still stands if anyone out there knows if there is or isn't a real difference between those terms.
 
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.


These settings are killer for rock! I leave everything flat and put the VLE at 12. VPF off. (i do use a M-80 infront of it though with a slight lowend boost) Absolute fantastic rock tone! Cuts through like nothing else! Never thought it would do the rock tone, but i love this thing!
 
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