Sparky Mark

Luckily, Jim was prepared to wait until my latest expedition north to buy a cab from me. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to put the bass world to rights but Jim is obviously a genuinely nice guy and a tasty bass player to boot. Good (thorough) communications throughout. Cheers Jim.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1461496574' post='3035092'] Sure. Glockenklang Blue Rock [/quote] 1000 Watts.

When I think back to my older heavier amps from Ashdown, Ampeg, Trace, Peavey, Laney, Hartke and others I have forgotten for the moment, they quite often printed peak power on the rear as well as the official continuous RMS rating. The peak output was often two or three times the RMS rating and probably allowed for transient peaks for the occasional slappy bit. Maybe this extra energy was available because of the general over engineering of the older heads (big transformers, capacitors etc)? I know cost has always been important but nowadays the race to market the biggest output for the price seems to have led some manufacturers to quote maximum RMS figures but maybe the class D topology doesn't allow the peak capability that we were brought up with? Hence the proliferation of 1000 watt class D heads that possibly give us a similar transient load capacity to the 350 to 500 watt heavyweight heads?

I had the same issue with my F500 when pushing it hard into my Bergantino HT112ER and EX112ER. Does it cut out when it is turned up loud and you are digging in? If so you may be at the limit of your F1. I think that like quite a few of the early class d bass amps that their continuous output ratings were a little optimistic.

My F500 didn't have any problems driving a pair of the more efficient bergantino AE112s, just the HTs.

Markbass STD104HF 4ohm is a lightweight 26kg cab a smidge under 24" wide. I am selling one on here BTW.☺

I owned an F500 for a while and found the parametric mid controls difficult to set as they are so small and the line on the control knobs almost invisible in all but the best light conditions. Power wise it couldn't drive my Bergantino HT112ER and EX112ER loud without tripping out which is a major ball ache on a gig. This and the F1 were markbass first 500w class d power heads and were discontinued relatively quickly. The new LM3 uses a new class d power section which in my opinion sounds much warmer than the F series. If you want the same class d power amp in a smaller format it is in the Big Bang head which offers a few more facilities. Personally I prefer the class ab markbass heads but if I wanted a 500w class d markbass head it would be the LM3.

Gary popped round to buy a cab yesterday. Good communications and a hassle free transaction. All's well in the Hertfordshire bass community. Great BCer.

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1459079112' post='3013322'] That's the spirit! I'm not quite ready for a Uke Bass yet [/quote]

I have a few Ibanez SR basses. Even the mahogany bodied versions are so thin front to back that they are very lightweight. The cheaper models in the SR range are even lighter in my experience. To be blunt if an SR is too heavy for you it's time to consider packing in or going Kala uke bass ☺