anybody here use markbass cabs?

[BeenDown139]

so the band crashed and burned before it got off the ground.  picked up my gear, brought it back to the house, figured i might as well get out in the mix with all this spare gear laying around. 

so here's my quandry:  after playing through this markbass rig for 6 months i'm starting to believe its only redeeming quality is its weight.  i can probably get through an audition with it but i sure don't want my performing sound like this - boomy and thin at the same time (didn't know that was possible until now).  muddy low-def sound.  but lotsa volume.  lotsa volume.

for better or worse, my sound is partially defined by home rig: the ampeg 15" wedge in tandem with the PJB 2x4 for hte mono basses, split for the stereo basses.  it may not be glamorous, but it sounds exactly the way i want it to.  which is why it won't leave the house.

so i spent a coupla hours this afternoon A-B comparing the rigs using the mighty MKDeluxe with a fresh set of rotosound rounds on it.  the markbass 2x10 cab is ported in the rear. the boominess got worse next to the wall, so i blocked the ports and then tried to dial it in as close to the home rig as i could.  ttwiddling all the knobs on the bass and amp, i could either get lotsa thump and no high end or vice versa, no middle ground.

i'm pretty convinced this cab won't do it by itself.  my playing style is fingerstyle, no slapping.  my guess is that slapping is this cabinet's comfort zone.

i want a simple, light stage rig that ideally i can use either the mono or stereo basses on and have them sound the way they're supposed to.  thought about dumping the 2x10, getting a front-ported markbass 1x15 and putting the PJB on it.  would have to rack the power amps and a DS-5.  and make it road-worthy.  got a little time to think about this, any suggestions welcome

[Songdog]

I've never had a Markbass rig bring me joy. My first experience was sitting in for one song at a jam night. Plugged my Rick into the Markbass head (not sure about the cab), didn't twiddle any knobs, played a song where my first note (octave on the D string) on my own rig comes out as CHWONNNGGG and got twink. I was not impressed. I've played on another Markbass head and had some time to try different settings but my experience was much like yours - couldn't get anything I liked out of it. My opinion is that Markbass amps are designed for a style of music where you can feel that the bass is playing but you can't tell what it's playing.

I've been reading some good stuff about Mesa Boogie amps and cabs. I tried out a Subway 1x12 cab recently, sounded pretty decent for something I could lift easily and put a pair of in the back of my Golf with room left for a Subway head. From what I've read the 1x15 sounds really good, but I haven't gotten to try one.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Eh, get a Yamaha power amp and some Hard Truckers cabs and hire a roadie (or 3).......

But seriously, have you checked out fEARful cabs?  I heard Edwin play through a couple of them a few years back (like maybe 12 years?) and they both sounded glorious and weigh next to nothing.

Peter

[rv_bass]

The choice of instruments, strings, amps, cabs are all personal preferences.  That said, I have had good luck with Barefaced cabs.

[edwardofhuncote]

I sold a pair of Bag End S15 D cabinets last year that I used for a couple seasons. One of them was the X-D variation, meaning it had a coaxial speaker and a crossover built in. Most of the time, I was using a Mesa D-800 amp to power them, but on occasion I sent the full-range out of my F-1X to a power-amp, and out to them in a Y. Those two boxes were absolutely devastating with a Series bass. I recall the heaviest was 38 lb.


Good times!

[gtrguy]

As I have said before, I really like SWR workingman 10", 12", and the huge 15" combos (none of the other workingman stuff though). The 1st two are pretty light, sound great, and by adding an extra cab it ups the power, plus they have a built in direct out. They are also out of style, thus cheap these days. I also own big mother size bass amps and the SWR stuff holds up fine in comparison. I don't like the Mark stuff.

[keith_h]

I own a small Markbass Marcus Miller combo I use at home. It has a standard bass, mid, treble tone stack. It isn't up to my Eden/Bag End big rig but I have been happy with the sound I can obtain. I have not tried one based around the VLE/VPF filter tone stack so don't have an opinion on what they are like. I will say that Markbass appears to be voiced for a specific sound and much like other amp lines that are designed to have their own sound most folks either end up loving or hating them. There isn't much middle ground as there is with less colored more neutral sounding gear.

I've been working to get to the point of  letting my big rig and some other items go as I have stopped playing out. For what I play and who I play with these days the combo is adequate but I had thought about picking up a Markbass IV (not sure of which one at this point) and one of their small 2X10 cabinets for when I need more than 60W. One thing I've noticed is since I bought my CMD 101 is Markbass seems to have gotten away from the VLF/VPF tone stack in favor of the more traditional bass/mids/treble stack which has made my selection process easier. 

[BeenDown139]

...gotten away from the VLF/VPF tone stack in favor of the more traditional bass/...

thanx for the tip.  those are two knobs that i didn't twiddle as i didn't know what they did.  thought they might have been some stupid worthless built-in effect like the ampeg came with.  see below.

might hafta give them a twiddle while i wait for the concrete in my backyard construction project from the depths of hades sets.  i'll do it before i pull the port blocker.

now - off to the the hot tub & vaporizer.  been a long mroning...

 

[BeenDown139]

so i did some more knob twiddling and got it in the ballpark, i think  at least on the same planet, maybe.  this is probably as close as it's ever gonna get.  much better than when i started.

for some reason it took me 6 takes to get thru this.  shoulda been like falling off a log.  guess i gotta stop getting so baked before i post one of these. 

it's pretty obvious to me which amp is which, but i was sitting there watching.  the solution is left as an exercise to the reader.   cheers!

[Songdog]

Could you share the control settings you arrived at? A quick picture? I'd like to have a clue the next time I have to play through a Markbass 

[BeenDown139]

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Could you share the control settings you arrived at? A quick picture

here ya go.  nothing scientific here. i just kept twiddling until i got something that kinda worked.  bear in mind that i still have the ports blocked on the cabinet

[keith_h]

My understanding is the VLE is a shelf EQ that is used to cut the highs. The VPF is a mid cut I believe based around 300 Hz that also boosts the lows and highs. Basically a slapping style scoop control. They are also interactive with each other which leads me to believe it would be very easy to muck up the sound. 

[Songdog]

Thanks! "Kinda worked" is closer than I've ever gotten with Markbass. Now I have a place to start if I'm ever confronted with one of these again. I never would have thought to dime the VLP. Maybe I just need more weed, yeah, it's legal here too 

[JimmyJ]

The other thing you might try someday is cranking up the output of your Series axe and plugging it straight into the Effects Return on the back.  Bypass all that tone bending front-end and see what the power amp is really doing. 

Jimmy J

[BeenDown139]

I never would have thought to dime the VLP. Maybe I just need more weed, yeah, it's legal here too

learned this trick in my days as an engneeer when confronted with a new piece of test equipment.  sometimes ya just gotta twiddle all the knobs till something happens.   RTFM?!?   never!!!

The other thing you might try someday is cranking up the output of your Series axe and plugging it straight into the Effects Return on the back.  Bypass all that tone bending front-end and see what the power amp is really doing

it's an early day as usual at el rancho BeenDown.  i was just getting ready to get baked and naked when i read this.  kinda tickled me as it relates to the first half of this post - so i pluggged the mighty MKD directly into the effects return.  instant tone joy.  gotta go get my teeth worked on this morning, so ill try to post a vid later when i get back.  if i get back.  who'da'thunk it?  as we used to say back in the day - "well, i'll be double-dipped in ...something......"