wateroftyne

Lush... relax, and breathe it in!

Presumably that sketch of him was done just as Neil told him he was retiring.

Absolutely, but having both is even nicer.

How stuff looks matters to me. It's a bit of an odd concept, I know. Maybe Markbass are spending all their money on R&D, and can only afford to pay wasps to do their front-end design? In which case, fair play to 'em.

Bees are dying out, man. Haven't you heard? It's a tragedy. Anyway, rest assured none of my comments are aimed at the quality of the gear, which I'm sure is very nice.

The Polish maker some folk rave about are a small operation, building to order. Mark Bass are a bit more off-the-shelf.

Yes. A bumble bee.

It looks like a bumble bee's boudoir.

But.. but.. it's hideous!* *It might be a nice amp, though.

I can imagine some of you on here short-circuiting at the thought of this one...

Because I'm literally the only other person on this thread who has mentioned Call Me the Breeze...?

Yes, I am a bass player. Well done for completely missing the point of my post :-)

I really don't see it myself. Sometimes I get what they're going for, but they just look like flimsy and tacky repros.

I generally don't mind - and am happy to play - simple lines. It only bothers me when they detract from the song. U2 for example: people slag Clayton's lines, but they work fine. It's march-y anthemic stuff.

They're in a race to the bottom with Ashdown.

This one literally makes me angry: An Eric Clapton-assembled tribute to his friend JJ Cale. Slavish attention to detail, capturing and recreating the rhythm and soul that made those original recordings so great... ...until Nathan East (who I've never been a fan of) puts his bass part down, at which point QC mysteriously flies out of the window. GAH!!! It's an insult to what we bring to the table.

I've had two (long story). Both lovely. QC seems to be high - they felt like custom shop. I liked the pickup switch (rather than a blend), but I didn't really need the J sound so I sold both of them. If I did need that sound, they'd be somewhere near the top of my list.

Rescued slightly by the pickups being embossed with 'Markbass' in gold leaf.

Not being a fan of their design choices, I clicked the link expecting to see something hideous. I wasn’t disappointed.

Mine’s OK for home use. Wouldn’t trust it for anything louder. The position of the power button is a PITA, and as a whole, it’s very mid-shy. i don’t seek sonic perfection for home use, though.

However I should add: If the MPulse 600 does it for you, £450 is a hell of a lot of amp for not much money.

Yeah.. I paid top-whack for me brand-new 600 back in the day (they just didn't exist on the used market), and while it was beautifully built and featured, and LOUD, when I realised it didn't have 'it', I had to sell it and lost a fortune. I always regretted that. Incidentally, the other amp along these lines that I did love was the Genz Benz GBE600 (which I assume Agedhorse had input into). That was just as nice, but for various reasons I had to let it go.

Lovely amps, but tonally.. they don't have the WA's 'magic mids'. IMO.