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Possible Markbass issue?


lownote
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Hi
I'd appreciate thoughts from any amp tech or knowledgeable Markbass owner.
I have a Markbass Little Mark 2 head. Bought it secondhand at about 9 years old. From the off when I switched it on it took a few seconds to 'warm up' and feed sound from the bass to driver. This would happen with a swell of sound coming in over half a second or so after a second or two of waiting. Now it's taken to being silent on switch on and then suddenly delivering sound - with no swelling of sound - after about 3 seconds.
What I need to know is, is this regular behaviour and nothing to worry about, or is the next step a bang and no sound at all.
Yes it Know it's best to ask a tech to have a look, just wondered if anyone had thoughts before doing that - I live a long way from the nearest tech.

Edited by lownote12
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Sounds like maybe some kind of startup protection circuit in the power supply cutting out once it has verified the working voltages. Sound coming in gradually over a second or two sounds like main filter capacitors charging up, but if I'm correct about the protection circuit, that would mean it was faulty and is now working.. ??

If you're not afraid of opening up your amp, have a look at the power supply (a collection of probably 20 or so biggish components connected closely to the power transformer) and see if anything looks visually dodgy. In particular there might be some electrolytic capacitors that have started to bulge, perhaps (quick google search will show you what these look like).

Remember to unplug your amp from the mains first, and avoid touching any solder joints/circuit board traces/component leads in case there is a charge still sitting on a capacitor waiting to give you a nasty shock.

At the end of the day, if it still sounds good and works fine once it's on, probably nothing to worry about. You could also try emailing Markbass, I imagine their technical support is pretty good.

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Pretty sure MB amps have a protection circuit to prevent start up "pops" and sound being fed to the speakers.
You can hear the relay click in after a couple of seconds on my SA450, (basically the same as an LMII but with parametric mids).
I always switch mine on and leave it for a few seconds anyway before plugging in.

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[quote name='mybass' timestamp='1486034768' post='3228625']
takes a few seconds to allow sound through on both my MB amps, quite normal. Maybe yours hadn't been used for a while when you got it.
[/quote]

same here, in the 4 MarkBass amps I've owned (three LMIII - one was in a combo, and teh second I sold stupidly and ended up buying another :lol: - and an LMT800)

it starts with no sound at all and suddenly there is sound. I can't say I noticed any swell of any kind... it's just silent. BUt then I don't play until a few seconds anyway and I tend to have my bass muted.

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[quote name='BassBunny' timestamp='1486059435' post='3228946']
Pretty sure MB amps have a protection circuit to prevent start up "pops" and sound being fed to the speakers.
You can hear the relay click in after a couple of seconds on my SA450, (basically the same as an LMII but with parametric mids).
I always switch mine on and leave it for a few seconds anyway before plugging in.
[/quote]

yup, there's a click and then you know it's ready to make noise

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