MoJoKe

I have an open pack of Advanced 5 string 45-130's here, which I was going to fit to my Lakland 55-02 (35"), but I realised just before stripping them off, the Elixirs on there are still far too new bin them yet! I've just matched them up, and if strung through bridge they'll fit fine, but not if you want to string through body...

I know it's very easy to keep saying of all fender clone basses "why? Just buy a fender," but I actually think the Italians have made a really fine, playable professional level bass here. We're generally a pedestrian lot here in bass world, and this "look" kinda works for most of us (witness my pair of JV's and playing Lakland 55-02/DJ basses for the last 15 years!). However, this bass feels great, the Italian build quality is bloody good, while its a J/J setup the neck pickup on its own still gives a bloody good impression of a thumpy P bass, and it has the secret weapon Markbass Instrument Preamp inside. Its absolutely not the same preamp which was put in Cort basses, it's a new design conceived as a collaboration with Richard Bona for his signature Kilimanjaro bass. It has three band active EQ, a passive tone control (which influences both in passive and active mode), and has virtually no gain difference between active and passive mode, which is something I've not experienced with any Lakland, East or Tonepump preamp equipped bass i've ever owned. You can dial from thumpy old P to sharp, mid-focussed active bridge tone between songs without touching your amp or the volume pots. Apparently its also available as a retrofit....

You're on! in the meantime, here it is in my studio with one of my JV's for company... I have to say, I never used to be a "flats" kind of player, always thought they felt dull and sticky under the fingers, but I'm rather loving these! Having played with Elixirs on all my basses for years now, they're obviously different, but the MB Vintage are neither dull or sticky.

As a Lakland 55-02 player, I have some sympathy with this request...!

Haha! It's actually not that far from you as we speak! I have that one at home, as I was supposed to be bringing it to the SW Bass Bash for you all to drool over! Happy to arrange hands-on when life starts being less locked down!

How? That said, I guess the cable could be cross-wired... The OP still hasn't commented whether this is a problem just for the 'Ray, or is an issue with other active/passive basses...

Multiamp has a TE model (pretty much the only model I ever used!), sounds amazing (gigged with one for 3 years!), STU, Ninja 1000, Little Marcus, Little Mark Vintage (as used by Mark King now), Little Mark Vintage D2, even the Casa will clean up like an AH head..... That's 7 for starters.......! 😁 I've never understood the "it sounds great but Markbass only ever sounds like Markbass" thing....!

My reply was to peteb's comment "I am not aware of any lightweight bass rig that is going to sound much like the OP's original Trace Elliot set-up", not to your post, so I'm not sure quite why the need for a "Woah"! 😆 The OP didn't mention Trace Elliott in this post, and I hadn't read the OP's other post, so had no idea he used to have a TE rig, I was responding to a request for help/advice, before ditching what may be bust, but what may be a perfectly good rig! I started my pro career with TE, stuck with it for years and absolutely loved it. I absolutely know how good the AH models were. I didn't intend it to sound like a "how far up the wall can you piddle" contest, rather to contest that there are a good number of lightweight heads (of multiple brands!) which would match the power and tone!

Yeah agreed, thats pretty much what i was suggesting in my first reply... Try a different bass, see how that sounds!

I couldn't even begin to consider agreeing with this statement!!! I can think of at least 6 different Markbass heads, including the LM3 in his CMD102p combo which have the capability to beast a Trace Elliott with the appropriate mix of cabs! And thats before you even start to work your way through other brands... Try a Markbass STU into a STD104HF x STD104HR and you'll see what I mean... it'll take your head off!

Well, the thing is, the answer to that is Markbass. I switched from TE to Markbass, and I (and my back) have never looked back. The rig should sound epic. The question was not phrased "Can I get great tone from my Markbass?", but "I'm not getting great tone from my Markbass with this Stingray". That sounds to me more like "Guys I don't want to change out, but it's sounding wrong. Before I give up what should I expect, and what else can I try?" It feels like there is something "not right" in the elements of this setup and its signal chain, and there are quite a few things to check before sticking up a "for sale" advert, because that rig should sound epic!

Graham, that rig should sound absolutely epic! I have been using Markbass for donkeys years, trust me, I know! If it doesn't, then you have a fault somewhere, and that may be your amp, cabs or bass..... has it sounded good with previous basses, or is this your first Markbass rig? Has the bass sound good though other rigs? So, forgive me in advance, not trying to teach egg sucking here, but here's the best start point, and then work from there. 1. forget the compressor for now (the effect of well configured compression will smooth out your overall sound, and balance your loud/quiet notes, but won't necessarily help your tone!) 2. Set the bass with all knobs on 10 o'clock. Is it active, and have you a new battery in the bass? 3. The knob on the side of the cab attenuates the tweeter. Full on its full tweeter, roll it off to reduce the level of the tweeter. For now, set it at full, at its brightest. 4. Make sure the speaker cable is good quality and working properly. DON'T use a guitar cable, use a speaker cable. 5. Set all four tone controls at 12 o'clock, set both the VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulation) and VPF (Variable Pre-shape Filter) at zero (VLE at maximum probably will make it sound dull!) 6. Turn the Input Gain, Line out and Master Output to zero. Plug your bass in with a known good cable, and play as loud and with as much attack as you would usually play and slowly increase the Input Gain on the amp until the blue clip light flickers, then back it off until it hardly ever flickers. 7. Turn up the Output level, and you should have glorious, bright, punchy Markbass tone. If none of that works, you may well have a problem, but this could be as likely to be the bass, preamp battery, guitar cable or speaker cable, but yes it may be the amp or extension cab.... you'll need to work through your signal chain to work out where the problem is! Hope that helps!

Just looked again... Some new stuff, some sale price drops already (TTE anyone?), and the strings discount code (posted above) definitely works...

I've never been to Abruzzo, but in my experience, Italy has quite a few best places! I know Umbria (next door!) very well, I'd happily settle for there!

This. I have the same. My G55 is racked up in a 2u rack with my Sennheiser Wireless Mic and IEM. Its never skipped a beat!

I was supposed to be working for them at the Manchester show, but we all know what got in the way of that... I was going to be taking them up there with me, but I have in my home studio (brought back from the Birmingham guitar show) a Kimandu 5 string bass fitted with a set of Advanced, and one of the JP Gold basses, which has a set of Vintage medium flats on it. The Advanced are great steel strings, and while I've never been a flats person before, they feel great to me too, far more playable than I expected. I'm still an Elixir user myself, so will be holding off for a while, but wouldn't be surprised if there were some coated strings in the pipeline...

As some of you may know, I don't work for them, but I do a bit of show/demo work with MSL. I'm no retail expert, but I was asked for some of my input on the website. Its not been advertised yet, but there's a 20% discount coupon code which works on any string orders, and only £2.99 shipping for orders under £50 (free shipping thereafter). I don't think I'll get a slap from them sharing it here, hope its OK with BC too! Try this: STRINGS20!

How annoying, the new date is a bugger, I have a gig at Beat at Tencreek that day, I think we're closing the day with Spencer James, but I'll still be expected to be there too early to make it to the Bash... 😓😢 If there's a remote possibility I will of course stick my head in the door...!

Sad, but the right thing to do. Mike let us know if you need to share the costs...

come and say Hi, I'll be around all weekend helping out the Markbass guys! Look for someone who looks a bit like the balding fool in my profile pic!

If it happens at all and its the same week as last year, I won't be there....

Yo! I'm hoping to be there too... Life has been stupidly busy so quite hard to plan... I'll bring whatever demo gear is left over from the month before (Manchester Bass Show), so will definitely have my Casa rig, probably the new Vintage D2 head (which I am thinking of selling the Casa to buy... its that good!), and I'll try and bring Markbass instruments and some packs of the new Markbass strings to give away...