Markbass Jeff Berlin Combo and a Cort Rithimic

[Chris2112]

Morning all,

I thought now would be a suitable time to get onto posting something about my new rig. I've had it for a couple of weeks now which I thought would really let me get to grips with it and maybe say more about it than some honeymoon period gushing.

Whilst both the bass and the amp are amazing, they're even better taken together. There is a reasonn for that; it's essentially Jeff Berlin's rig (albeit he uses two combos together). I'll explain:

I started to get back into bass seriously at the end of last year. I've been playing since I was 13 and but after about twelve years, I started feeling burned out and I grabbed a guitar for a couple of years. I played on occasion with a couple of friends in 2015 using a borrowed bass rig, but other than buying an SR3006 from Bass Direct, I didn't really play bass that much.

Getting back into bass, I started listening to loads of Jeff Berlin again. I've always loved his music and his playing but I started to really click with his passion for teaching. I wanted to pick up the bass again and improve my playing. The sound that I heard Jeff getting from his Markbass and Cort Rithimic was the tone that I had dreamed of for years.

I decided to jump in with Jeff's rig. It's relatively affordable stuff, the Markbass CMD151P Jeff Berlin is about £850 new and the Rithimic runs at about £780 new. I ordered the amp through Guitar Guitar and I was lucky enough to grab the Cort from the classified ads here.

The amp is a bit of a departure for me. Before I left the bass behind I had always loved the sound of bright, middy and modern 10" speakers with tweeters, so the Markbass with a 15 and no tweeter. That was Jeff's preference so I decided to cast off my previous notions of 15's as soggy, saggy, muddy sounding speakers. What a revelation this Markbass is. Tight, focused sound with outrageous bottom end punch and a really musical midrange and top end. With no glassy, piercing tweeter the whole thing sounds very articulate abd balanced. It'll fill a room without sounding mushy or flabby and there is plenty of wattage on tap for louder venues should you want that.

I gather that Markbass are moving away from the Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator and the Variable Preshape Filter. That's a shame if true - the VPF is a pretty cool feature in the style of a 'slap switch' with added control. It cuts the mids and boosts the bass and treble. I don't have much use for it but it's a handy thing to have there. The Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator is much better, as it gently rolls off the highs at the touch of one control. I use just a touch, about 30% or slightly less, which really softens the top and gives that 'horn like' tone Jeff uses.

The real blowaway item in all this is the Rithimic bass. I know that Jeff's insistence was that it have a name of it's own so as to appeal to a wider audience and this bass absolutely stands on it's own as a terrific instrument that deserves the plaudits I will heap upon it. It doesn't actually have Jeff's name on it anywhere but it fits his recipe for a good bass to a tee.

I will say that it's the best bass I've ever owned or played, and I've had a lot! The specification is similar to Jeff's past signature basses (the Peavey Palaedium and the Dean JB) and ultimately, the modded P Bass he played in the 80's Alder body, a thin neck with Hipshot tuners, a high mass bridge and custom wound Bartolini humbuckers. The bass is passive.

I believe it was this bass that saw the return of the true Jeff Berlin Bartolini humbuckers, derived from the original schematics that Bill Bartolini had in a workshop drawer. I rarely use the neck pickup - it's fair to say I've never known a bridge pickup to have the stomp or authority that this one does. It's got loads of middy burp but without being thin. This bass is the exact opposite of that; I have never known a bridge pickup running solo to have quite the grunt that this one does. It can carry off a heavy rock song with ease and just sounds so right, I know it'll be a dream to mix. It's got a similar tone profile to a jazz bass, scooped with both pickups running and a natural midrange that accents each note. Proof that you I don't need bells and whistles when I plug in.

It's a joy to play too. The neck is very straight with a touch of relief and the action is the lowest, cleanest setup I have ever encountered. It responds well to a light touch and feels effortless on the left hand, so I've been practicing more legato stuff with the left hand and trying to improve my phrasing. The neck is thin, and very fast with a satin finish. The balance is superb, given the Hipshots. The instrument is very light. I haven't yet fiddled with the bridge and I doubt I will provided it always plays this well but Babicz picks up where Leo Quann left off and this bridge trumps even the Badass II. It's high mass and adds amazing sustain, and it looks to have been machined by the most discerning of craftsmen. Suffice to say, Cort have always impressed me with their instruments but with the cachet of a player like Jeff, they've taken licence to pull out all the stops and produce a brilliant instrument. If this wore a Fender badge, you wouldn't see change from £2000, I'm sure.

So there we have it. I have returned to playing bass and bought a new rig off the back of some YouTube videos of one of my favourite players. It was a leap of faith but I was never in doubt that I'd love the final result. I'd like to extend my thanks to Basschatter Neil Murray for sending me this fine instrument. My next projects are probably collecting the earlier Jeff Berlin signature models...

[Thunderbird]

Great post I'm a huge fan of cort basses they are serious bits of gear I have never tried anything markbass so can't comment on the amp but I am glad to hear that you are loving your new toys