In 2013 I bought a NOS Taylor guitar from an authorized dealer. The guitar was from 2001 but had never been sold or left the shop; Taylor honored the warranty registration.
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What happened to Markbass popularity?
- Thread starter ThinCrappyTone
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I had no idea.
No wonder the move has rubbed some people the wrong way. Marco was very vocal about how the move would not affect quality as they would apply the same principles, but that it would decrease costs which (to some extent) would be passed onto the customers. The first time I read it I thought it was just commercial talk BS... but the the prices did go down in the UK. Right at the time when I was about to sell my combo... that did sting a little, as I could have made an easy £100 more just a few weeks earlier.
So no price decrease in the US. Did MB pocket the difference, or did GC do that, as apparently they have the monopoly of distribution in the US?
Hmm. Yeah, I suppose if an amp were sold it would be registered as sold somewhere, and MarkBass could find out about it.
Surprising, but not impossible, clearly. I wonder what explanation MB gave to decline warranty. I only approached customer service twice and they were very good. Once merely for advice. The other, about the combo's handle falling apart. They sent me another free of charge within 3 days.
This post sums up much of why I believe Markbass (and SWR, Eden, EBS and others) has fallen out of favor.
What these brands all have in common is a "baked-in" tone, usually with accentuated mids and/or highs.
Each of these brands were very much in vogue when they were introduced, and each fell out of favor (seemingly overnight) after just a few years.
Often times, if the user really takes the time to really dial these amps in, he/she can get the warm & classic tones they seek, but the baked-in EQ is usually what causes these amps to end up on the local Craigslist.
The Baby Blue is the best amp SWR ever produced. Mine's due for an overhaul, but its one amp I'll never sell.
Awhile ago, I picked up a brand new Blackline from GC for a heckuva deal and I would definitely say it isn't tuby at all. Sterile and transparent would be a good description, which is fine because I use a Line 6 POD for preamp and effects and it works wonderfully thru the return on the MB, though the EQ is still in the path, but I usually set it flat.
Had the amp been Markbass mango, I doubt I would have bought it. I'm shallow like that.
Had the amp been Markbass mango, I doubt I would have bought it. I'm shallow like that.
Had an Italian made LM2. It broke and couldn't be fixed by any local repair tech and MB was unresponsive when trying to reach their CS.
I have never liked a markbass amp. I've played a couple that were backlines. They just have no life and they're hideous.
I have found that Markbass amps don't play nice with every cab. Even their own cabs. LOL. My LMIII sounded amazing with my GK Neo112's but not my Eden 212. Weird though because I now own a Blackline 250 and it sounds really good with either of my cabs.
Your post reminds me of an old saying:
If you owe the bank $1000 and you can't pay, YOU have a problem.
If you owe the bank $1,000,000,000 and you can't pay, the BANK has a problem!
So far, I think I've seen 3-4 posts re: owners who have had problems w/ their MarkBass unit, and were unhappy w/ the way it was handled, or not handled at all. Understood, if it happened to me, I'd be irate too.
When MB first appeared, there was a rep, Peter, who appeared like Batman on TB to respond to any concern, practically gave out his home phone!
I thought that a service policy was put in place w/GC, but not having any issues over several years + 2 LM's I couldn't say.
A thought to offer if I may:
The differences between Italy/Indonesian built amps...
Let's start with the housing itself; the chassis and front & rear plates.
Is the metal different? Are the knobs? Is the process for screening different? I don't think so.
We go to the guts, and believe me I'm no EE, but- Wht's in there? PC boards, caps, etc. Wiring that's soldered..
Now Indonesia apparently has a large base for MI: Ibanez and many others are having guitars built there, so MarkBass has probably contracted with an assembly plant who takes their components and build the line. I would think that a lot is automatic, done by "Robots".
So where is the diff in quality? The big losers here would be the Italian workers who lost their gigs. Happens every day here & everwhere.
You would need to take (2) identical pieces of gear, one Italian, the other made overseas and see & hear what the differences, if any are. As well as dissect the (2) and state what differences there are, if any. I don't think you'd find any differences.
I can do the "sound check" w/ my former LMIII and current LM800T- There aren't any, they are voiced & perform the same.
If someone can say they hear a difference, or that they're Offshore version blew-up I can't or won't argue.
I'm betting that's the great exception rather than the rule.
Lastly, it's cool not to like the tone, color, style of Markbass. Would be boring if that's all we heard.
You can even hate on Marco for what he's done or discontinued, but I think he ranks up there as a mover & shaker in Bass Amplification.
I've heard both Alain Caron & Jeff Berlin just KILL thru their MB rigs, (as they would with anything), but more importantly- I hear mine sounding very fine for how I use it. Takes a while to dial in thru the VLE/ VPF, but when done "right"
BOOM!
(That's the good sound of MarkBass I hear!)
When MB first appeared, there was a rep, Peter, who appeared like Batman on TB to respond to any concern, practically gave out his home phone!
I thought that a service policy was put in place w/GC, but not having any issues over several years + 2 LM's I couldn't say.
A thought to offer if I may:
The differences between Italy/Indonesian built amps...
Let's start with the housing itself; the chassis and front & rear plates.
Is the metal different? Are the knobs? Is the process for screening different? I don't think so.
We go to the guts, and believe me I'm no EE, but- Wht's in there? PC boards, caps, etc. Wiring that's soldered..
Now Indonesia apparently has a large base for MI: Ibanez and many others are having guitars built there, so MarkBass has probably contracted with an assembly plant who takes their components and build the line. I would think that a lot is automatic, done by "Robots".
So where is the diff in quality? The big losers here would be the Italian workers who lost their gigs. Happens every day here & everwhere.
You would need to take (2) identical pieces of gear, one Italian, the other made overseas and see & hear what the differences, if any are. As well as dissect the (2) and state what differences there are, if any. I don't think you'd find any differences.
I can do the "sound check" w/ my former LMIII and current LM800T- There aren't any, they are voiced & perform the same.
If someone can say they hear a difference, or that they're Offshore version blew-up I can't or won't argue.
I'm betting that's the great exception rather than the rule.
Lastly, it's cool not to like the tone, color, style of Markbass. Would be boring if that's all we heard.
You can even hate on Marco for what he's done or discontinued, but I think he ranks up there as a mover & shaker in Bass Amplification.
I've heard both Alain Caron & Jeff Berlin just KILL thru their MB rigs, (as they would with anything), but more importantly- I hear mine sounding very fine for how I use it. Takes a while to dial in thru the VLE/ VPF, but when done "right"
BOOM!
(That's the good sound of MarkBass I hear!
)
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I've never played with markbass, but I have a few friends that use it and I've liked very much how it sounds, specially the TTE 801. A friend of mine uses it with a Fender Jazz Bass and it's one off my favorite live bass tones that I've heard around here.
No problems with any of my Markbass gear (CMD 121H combo, LMIII head, two Traveler 151P cabs, all made in Italy). Works fine, sounds fine. The yellow looks fine to me, too. (It ain't orange). Bought my combo in 2008, the rest through 2013. I play an '87 Jazz Bass Special and an '01 American Jazz Bass. The amps are both Class AB.
Because all 'good' brands are known for 0% failure rates...
When the warranty replacement amp also fails within two gigs - didn't mention that part - and now you've had two identical models fail within six months?
It's no longer a good brand for this customer, and time to move on.
I get it, I agree, I feel 'ya
I probably would have moved on as well. Once bitten, twice shy, fool me once...etc.
But with all due respect, I'd have to say that statistically you are in the vast minority. If their units failed with such consistency, they (MarkBass) would have been long OOB and SOL!
If the price is too high the sound doesn't matter; if the sound is wrong the price doesn't matter.
Uh-huh, a premium company acts to deliberately decrease quality? First, Marco is a lot smarter than that and cares about his products and customers, even though U.S. customer service persists in being substandard. Those few among us who have reported doing side-by-side A/B comparisons of Italian and Indonesian builds have consistently said that the sounds and construction are indistinguishable.
Markbass and Phil Jones Bass build amps that are neutral-sounding. The amps that are our benchmarks (Ampeg, Fender, G&K, et al.) all have a characteristic sound, whether it be mid-scoop, distortion, or what have you. The "baked-in" tone of the benchmark amps is absent in the new guys. IOW once your ears are trained to hear a mid-scooped bass then any amp with a flat response curve will sound to you like it's got a disagreeably pronounced midrange. On nearly all the new amps you can take a little time to learn the amp and find a setting that works well for you. Too few people take the time to learn the amp. What overfeeds Craigslist is people who buy without understanding, without thinking it through.
I've quoted and referred to an Anthony Wellington clinic in Chicago several times around here. The guy at the store asked Ant what backline equipment he wanted. Ant told him, "Whatever you got is fine." It wasn't because his sound didn't matter to him but because he knew he could sound like himself no matter what. For unfathomable reasons we, as a group, refuse to learn that lesson.
You should have bought a lottery ticket!
But yeah, I think that would put me off too no matter how much I could rationalise that it was a freak occurrence...
My main rig is a Phil Jones M-500 head, along with Phil Jones 8-T and 16-B cabs, and while I agree that Phil Jones builds perhaps the most neutral-sounding amp on the market, none of the Markbass amps I've tried sounded anything like my Phil Jones.
They sounded good (as did the EBS and SWR rigs I've owned), but had - to my ears - a processed tone that my Phil Jones does not. YMMV.
