EBS_freak

Other pretty amp candidates...? Markbass F1 Phil Jones Bass D200 Yay/nay?

Little Mark Vintage - center frequency 68 Hz; level ±16 dB So, no shelving, no word of Q or slope... can't really tell if it's muddy or not... but interesting to see the if you are cut the bass on this amp, it's certainly way above the sub range! Back on track? EDIT: Does Mark King actually use bass (let a lone sub bass?)? He's more in the staplegun frequency range...?

Get a sine generator and listen to 45 Hz and see what you think. Now consider that live music generally doesn't utilise things as nice as sinewaves. Imagine a smearing of sub between 30 and 50 hz coming out of the foh mixing with all the rest of the complex harmonics that is going on. It's kind of akin to mashing your left hand on the bottom octave of a piano whilst trying to pick out individual pitches that aren't clashing with everything else that band is playing...

Bingo. Music no. Jurassic Park in the cinema, hell yes. (Although wouldn't want it in the theme tune either).

There's a good chance that the bass will start getting cut quite high in the frequency spectrum by the engineer - but the key element is the slope with which that cut occurs. A slope of 48dB/octave is worlds apart from 6dB/octave. Never mix by numbers - mix with what your ears are saying. If the bass sounds huge and how you want with a roll off beginning at 120Hz, then great. With aux fed subs, you have a lot more control of this whole sub band than simply shaping EQs. Your stated preference doesn't necessarily stand as the room itself may lend itself to boosting the lows - and is why a lot of serious engineers will invest in SMAART to understand and tune the PA to the room to get a more flat response across the system. In the same way that rooms can have hot frequencies, rooms can have hot lows. For if example, if the speakers are coupling with the floors/room etc and as a consequence, enhancing the levels of low end that is produced, you will need to cut those lows, 100%. The Thumpinator is primarily about increasing headroom in your amp and not making your speakers work so hard to produce frequencies that you can't hear. I would still wager for most (all) band situations, you will want to be cutting the bass output way above 28Hz. Hell, most subs can't even get that low. (You are looking at some specialist cinema subs to get that sort of low end rumbling). Pro subs tend to have a maximum lowend frequency response somewhere between 30 and 40. If you were to put those sort of signals through them as a constant, they wouldn't last long and the music would sound awful anyway. Get some raw stems in a DAW and play with the bass and see how much the mix cleans up and bass sound tighter and hits harder as soon as you start taking away the sub bass...

A thumpinator isn't really that big of a deal to add... especially if you are already rocking a pedal board.

The kick is used as the focal point as that is what derives the beat. If you can’t hear or in some cases, feel the beat, the whole band sounds flat and lifeless. Of course, in larger venues this problem is furthered because amplifying that lowend is really difficult and it gets soaked up quickly. I agree though, a lot of sound guys hit the kick so hard it pretty much over powers everything else. In smaller venues, where the kit is generally the loudest anyway, the overpowering of the kick is all too common - and the bleed of the cymbals into the vocal mics... you end up with all low end and piercing cymbals through the speakers. This is where your drummers have to have some sort of self restraint and the vocalists impeccable mic technique. If they aren’t eating the mic at all times, they aren’t doing it right. Anyway, you are right - you will save a lot of power by hpfing. Additionally, you may get away with going much higher than 35Hz (again many bass cabs won’t go that low anyway) as the effects of psycho acoustics put the rest back in. I’m hoping guys reading this will be inspired to have a play. As I stated earlier, losing the lowend may actually give you more and ultimately make your band sound better!

Just kiddin'

I recently did a festival where a Fender 500 was the backline - have to say, I immediately thought, oh gawd, going to be a nightmare... but have to say, it was an awesome piece of kit Mightily impressed. OK, was going out the PA out front, but that thing was thundering on stage and certainly more than enough for most gigs where the backline is providing the FoH sound. Got headphone jack - and as far as I am aware, is basically what Genz Benz became. It's manage-ably heavy... but for transportless students, it's easy enough to cart around on the bus, taxi I guess... or put on a sack truck.

Or at least the DI sound of it being processed by the FoH desk will...

A pure gem of a dutch auction.

On another tangent - I've just realised that I've played a Dingwall NG2 - I quite liked it, for what it was... but hated the cheese grater on the pickguard. I'd have to have that taken off!

I wouldn't worry - I've just realised that I've just described a naked woman as wearing leather trousers... that doesn't make much sense does it?

Oh! NOLLY. (Sorry, only know by the forename, not the surname) Yeah, I don't know much about him per se, just his name... but am aware of what he has apparently done for the sales of Dingwall. Wouldn't know about Darkglass (although rumour has it that they make beautiful looking amps). Talking of Darkglass, I know that their pedal sales are very much in keeping with the genre... but pretty much all the players of Darkglass that I know, don't use them for the genre which they are perhaps more famous for.

Who? If I go off googling, Im not going to be met with images of a naked woman in bronze leather trousers am I...?

Did people ever buy Hartke because Victor was using them? I'm happy to have discussions on this... but I reckon the only two bass players that can really shift amp gear in any numbers because they play it... are Mark King and Marcus. I can't think of any other players that would be able to shift amps in any significant number because they use it. Having said that, I'm not sure the Marcus signature amp is doing the same for Markbass as it did for SWR and EBS.

Do endoresements really work like that? This isn't even a King signature... so unlikely that he's getting a kickback from them. Very few artists get stuff for "free". They normally have the opportunity to buy gear at an "artist rate". It's only the real top dogs that command stuff for free... Or conversely, the small companies that are eager to have some sort of name playing their products, they'll give it away free in the hope that it generates some sort of interest. (Yes, there are artists out there who abuse the small manufacturers - those players are the REAL enwhorsers... especially when they flip the goods on for a profit). I suspect that as long as Kingy gets his face in a few mags when there's tours going on... and he can just turn up to a gig and there be his preferred backline there, I'm guessing he'll be happy.

Sometimes people just fancy a change. I don't think there's any slur on Ashdown's support why people move on. (Not that he moved from Ashdown to Markbass... he was currently on TC) Artist's can be somewhat prickly people to deal with. I know somebody who moved on because they didn't think that the manufacturer was putting their image in enough magazine adverts...

I did read that - but it didn't even register. Mind you, I hadn't slept yesterday... so it's amazing that I could even read anything.

We even got talk of Nathan East’s signature bass in here too. Poor Markbass. They are well down the pecking order in this thread!

I can't believe that anybody has commented on MARK King having MARK Bass amps. It's all a bit cheesy isn't it? Where's the STEVE Bass? Of course, the biggest trick that MB have missed is having a set of MARK King cabs. Just replace the tweeter, job done. Want Mark's sound? Then you'll need to buy the cabs, naturally. I've got this marketing malarkey down, I swear.

a - it's an immense preamp.

Knowing first hand how much low end that a BBNE2 can put out... and the fact that you are diming the low end on your bass... I'm amazed your speakers haven't given out yet. Or your ear drums. Or both.

And this is why it's a lost cause. 😛