anybody here use markbass cabs?

[Glynn]

I went through a lot of Markbass gear years ago and never got on with it.  The small cabs and combos I had always sounded boxy and I use an Alembic Orion 4 but still could not get a good sound..  Now firmly happy with Genzler amps and Bergantino cabs.
Glynn

[gtrguy]

We have a couple Markbass amps at one of our practice rooms and they just don't really sound the best to me.

[keith_h]

Markbass definitely has its own voice. I think it is more oriented to Fender style basses and players that tend to slap and pop or are more percussive in their playing style. I think they are a better fit for players who use the amp to shape their tone rather than compensate for the room dynamics. Some companies are more neutral in their designs while others choose to color the result for a particular sound. In the end it really boils down to whose voicing you like and what fits your playing style when you buy a piece of gear.

[BeenDown139]

Markbass definitely has its own voice...

absolutely.  if the call were on sound alone i woulda passed on hte markbass.  but the primary objectives of this exercise were: weight and size, power and hopefully acceptable tone.  i need this amp to get me through auditions and not break my back getting to a gig.  so the executive summary is i thimk i'm there.  i can play the MK through it and what comes out is pretty recoginizable as an alembic.  if i get in a situation where i need these basses to sound like t he big leagues then i'll do a split version like  the home amp with an F2-B, a stereo power amp and  2x10 on top with a 1x15 on the bottom.  nice to dream about, but i gotta land a gig first.

since this is the bass what i'll go out & about with initially, here's the fretted MK deluxe through the effects return, normal input and home amp in that order.  initially i thought i heard  better tone thru the effects return, but ater listening to this a few times, there's not really much difference.  haven't pulled the port plugs.  it's not great but it'll do hte job.  somnetimes that's the best you can hope for:

for completeness, here's  the A-bass same deal.  my hands were kinda trashed from construction work on the yard so not my best performance.  it'll do for a demo.  incidentally,  now that the tropical spring and early summer has passed and it's hot and dry in the mile high,  the full complement of neck LEDs makes an appearance.  yay!

gotta say that the voice of that PJB is hard to beat, especially in split mode where all it has to handle is the bridge pickup.  never heard a tweeter or horn that i liked.   imho  ymmv  etc. & soforth

[keith_h]

Glad to hear you are getting a handle on things.

Weight is mainly why I was looking at Markbass as well. My Bag End speakers though great sounding at 70 lbs each have just gotten to be too much for me. Especially since I don't do the band thing and gigs anymore. For a couple of hours of jamming here and there a head that I can throw into a gig bag and speaker cabinet I can handle with one hand has a lot of appeal. My playing style also tends to be more percussive and slap/pop as a result I tend to scoop the mids some (not to heavily) so I think it works acceptably with the Markbass. 

[BeenDown139]

got myself posted on craigslist and bandmix.  not a nibble.  this is why our last band crashed - just couldn't find a guit@r player to save our souls and so everybody else gave up.  now that it's post-covid everybody's got a gig and doing tours and so no openings?  i don't get it.

so to while away the hours while waiting for the phone to ring, i'm gonna get my stage sound dialed in.  i'm convinced the markbass only rig will get my foot in the door.  but after all this jacking around, i still don't like it.  since i'm on the path of a modular system anyways, i did a mashup with the ampeg 1x15 on the bottom and the markbass 2x10 on top.  i've got my input patch system setup to put the amps in parallel for the mono basses, split for hte stereo basses.  so basically all i had to do was swap the PJB with the markbass.  and do a little adjustment. 

in a nutshell, this rig sounds really,  really good.  and i only worked the MKdeluxe out on it so far. the markbass cab isn't quite as crisp as the PJB.  but i had the PJB just about maxed out in wedge mode.  the markbass has plenty of drive.  since half of denver is at the taylor swift concert and the other half are watching the rockies show what happens to the mets when ya show up here with that new yawk attidue, tonight i was able to crank this up as loud as i could stand it amd not have somebody bellyache about it.  pretty sure i'll be able to hold my own on stage with this setup. 

so while i'm waiting for my appointment with fate, i'm gonna get this setup dialed in.  if i get to the point where i'm gonna hafta gig it, i'll rack up a coupla power amps and get a markbass 1x15 to haul around.   that wedge is awkward and heavy. 

[BeenDown139]

spent a coupla hours today balancing and dialing this setup in.  it's obvious now but a 2x10 just ain't gonna have the booty that a 1x15 does.  that markbass cab can do thump or it can do honk but it can't do both at the same time.  so i set the EQs on both cabs accordingly and this works pretty well for the mono basses which is what i'm gonna gig anyway.  it seems to favor the essence fretless 5 especially.  i guess this is technically a bi-amped rig in mono mode - the amp inputs are paralleled and are EQ'd and powered independantly.

not too worried about the stereo basses yet.   that wedge is about 65 lbs and so it won't be transported too many times before it gets replaced with an ultralight 1x15 and it can go back to its place of honor in my living room.

if i extend this setup for stereo then i gotta rack a DS-5 or its equivalent.  tht wedge is powered so its replacement will need a coupla hunnert watts of push.  got enough $ tied up in this for now.  i've got another  permutation of this setup that's even smaller and lighter that i wanna try at some point.  we'll see what happens when the rubber meets the road.

[BeenDown139]

one more last iteration on this.  i had an ephiphany in hte hot tub while contimplating another
outstanding sunset whilst baked to the gills.  this one hits all hte checkboxes for a hit-and-run audition amp - enough power to do a small room, enough tone to tell what kinda bass i'm playing.  the PJB is dialed for honk, the markbass for thump.  all it's gotta do is sound good with the MKdeluxe because that's the bass i'm going slumming with.

mission accomplished.  plus i can probably get this one to the gig on my bicycle.  gonna hafta re-do the PJB grille.

[bigredbass]

No, never.  How on Earth, Italians decided on black and American cheese orange as a color motif for their products, I'll never know.  EEEEEK ! ! !

I auditioned the Alain Caron signature combo, was disappointed in how it sounded.  Of course, it might have sounded better IF I hadn't had to throw a blanket over it so I couldn't see it.

[BeenDown139]

i love alain caron's playing.  it's so far from what i do day-to-day on a bass but i always feel his phrasing influencing my playing, especially when i solo on a fretless.

after having to do an audition on house equipment last night, i'm pretty convinced that i'm just not gonna get the bottom i want outta any 10" speaker cab unless it's paired with something that can compensate for it's deficiencies on the either the high or low end.

that MB 2x10 bi-amped with the 1x15 ampgeg gives me what i consider full range bass response (as opposed to a guit@r amp or a stereo speaker)  with enuff grunt to make my presence felt and appreciated.  but it's close to a 70-lb cab that i really don't wanna hump around.

if this band takes off then i'll probably pick up a 1x15 MB cab and rack the power amp and a DS-5 if we play somewheres where i have sufficient security to take the stereo basses along

[BeenDown139]

now that we've hopefully shaken loose evrything that's loose, it's back to the woodshed.  after the equipment problems at the last practice, i informed them i'm bringing my own muscle next time.

since weight is still the driving factor, i looked for the smallest, lightest 1x15 combo that's readily available. so - another trip to the local amp rental store local GC yielded this little nugget.  ~37 lbs.  250 watts.  these days my weight limit is 50 lbs. and dropping.  that wedge is close to 70lbs and is more than i feel comfortable moving without a helper.

so i paired it with the mighty PJB and commenced to optimize them for the newly re-voiced MKDeluxe. 

gotta say - it's tuff to beat the thump of a paper cone ampeg 15 for that floor-rattling B-string body vibe.  had a lotta trouble EQing the MB to emulate it without including a buncha mid-range chaff.   pretty sure the neighbors across the street could hear me struggling with it.  but in the end i got a reasonable facimile.

so i'm gonna haul this to rehearsal sunday, pair it with one of the wimpy 2x10's they got there and see if i can't hold my own against two  guit@r players with half-stacks without shedding blood or destroying my bass this time.

[jazzyvee]

If you get a chance, check out some Barefaced cabs, they are really light, extremely powerful across the full range and superb quality sound. A few years back i replaced my Mesa Boogie Powerhouse cabs for a set of barefaced cabs and never looked back.

[StephenR]

Agree with Jazzy... I think you would really like the Barefaced cabinets. If you want to hear everything your Alembics have to offer at any volume level the Barefaced cabinets will get you there. My 2x12 SuperTwin weighs under 40 lbs, can handle 1.200 watts, is really loud and clean with tons of low end. It is also the easiest cabinet I have ever had to move around. Not only is it light but there are built in wheels that work well over most surfaces. My back is shot from years of moving heavy gear night after night and moving from JBL and Eden bass cabinets to Barefaced gear made it possible for me to continue to go out and gig. My cabinets alone used to weigh almost 200 lbs, now my entire rig including two 4 space racks and 2 Barefaced cabinets weighs less than one of my JBL cabinets did...

[BeenDown139]

thanx for the suggestions.  i'm a little constrained by time, weight and ultimulately money.  this has turned into crash schedule all of a sudden so if it ain't at the local new amp rental store GC then it prolly ain't gonna happen for me.  i got a show to play the 24th.  i'm the new guy trying to play catch up.  still learning the songs.  my stage gear ain't ready. so im gonna take the most expediant path.

so here's my stage amp candidate.  gave it a run-thru with the first set of music and it sounds really good.  i like the sound of my ampeg/PJB mash-up.  this is almost as good.  but about 10 times as loud.  this is the smallest MB 1x15 i could find.  rear ported. combo so's i didn't have to round up another power amp.  or a pre-amp.  thought about that DS-5R/F2-B combo that just sold.  coulda used it.  then i'd have to get a stereo power amp.  and a rack.  and a power conditioner.  i've optimized this sound for the the MK deluxe.  and it sounds very well indeed, especially now that we've found her voice.  the stereo basses are staying home for the forseeable future so i'm excluding stereo support for now. at some point i gotta stop shovelling money into this, so this is where it ends.

so this rig is going to practice with me sunday.  gonna work with it all this week in the meantime and see what shakes out.  that 1x15 seems like the weak sister so if it can't cut the mustard i'll go with the next model up.

it wasn't cheep.  got about  $1200 wrapped in whatcha see here minus the basses. but - no single piece weighs over 40 lbs.  it all fits in my clown car.  it's modular so i can mix and match depending upon the situation.

[BeenDown139]

OK one more last post on this,  i swear.  really.  i do.  seriously.

so i'm getting everything ready to put this show on the road starting with a loud rowdy hot sweaty gig on east colfax the 24th.  had to mark all the gear.  one last item on the checkliste was to deal with that gawd-awful bright blue power LED they festoon their equipment with.  this seems to be a modern trend.  take something that's kinda mediocre and dress it up with the brightest blue LED you can get  to give it that internet connected, moderenistcal cachet.
in this case, it's so bright that it kills my night vision in a dark room, making it impossible to see how the controls are set without blocking it out.

never being afraid to make a piece of gear bend to my whims and desires, out come the tools and the slaughtering iron and away we go.  fortunately, the offending component is a discreet LED with leads. unfortunately i had to do a little disassembly to get to it. 

not a lot to the insides of one of these modernistical high-tech amps these days.  pretty sure as an amp tech all i could do if it crapped the bed on ya is open it up and say "yep.  it's totalled". on the bright side, there's  no big iron thingy to come loose and fall on yer foot.  no big capacitors loaded up with all kinds of charge ready to take the tip offa yer screwdriver or stop yer foolish heart should ya get across it.

so the obnoxious blue LED is now superceeded by an equally obnoxious colour-changing LED.  much like tim's first idiot light:  https://m.youtube.com/shorts/2c6rij5GPWA

all is well.