Hypothetical LM4 - what would you want

[Count Bassy]

I was going to post this in the thread about "Which Markbass?", because that's what made me think about it (LM3 being a bit long in the tooth etc), but decided on a separate thread.

So, as per the title, probably a hypothetical question, but what would people look for on an LM4 if such a thins were ever to appear?

I'm currently using an LM3 as my regular amp. Personally I'd say drop the XLR input and give it two Speakon outputs. Possibly build in a compressor (Though I probably wouldn't use it myself), and definitely keep the VLE and VPE. - in fact tone wise change nothing*. OH, and make it universal power supply.

* If anything at all give it blend-able valve pre-amp, but it would have to have far more effect than in their current valve pre-amp models.

[Danuman]

My ideal travel/practice/mixer-upper package would be a regular LMIII with aux in/headphone out.

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='Danuman' timestamp='1499033076' post='3328770']
My ideal travel/practice/mixer-upper package would be a regular LMIII with aux in/headphone out.
[/quote]

Very good point, which I hadn't thought of.

[6v6]

[quote name='Danuman' timestamp='1499033076' post='3328770']
My ideal travel/practice/mixer-upper package would be a regular LMIII with aux in/headphone out.
[/quote]


+1 and a built in tuner

[Sparky Mark]

Mute facility, semi-parametric high and low mids and the 1000W power section from the Ninja head.

Edited July 3, 2017 by Sparky Mark

[Ed_S]

Personally I'd like them to make the power section 2ohm stable, build in the circuit from their Compressore pedal (stick the XLR-in round the back to make more room for the extra controls on the front panel) and add a parallel / serial switch for the effects loop. Oh, and provide the rack ears in the box as standard!

[JazzBass4624]

I'm a happy LM3 user but a headphone out would be nice and a swap of the jack output for another speakon too (who would use jacks for speakers these days?).
Certainly would not change anything to the tone/filter section.

[xgsjx]

Much of the above & to be made in Italy.

[Lozz196]

Gain/drive, not massive amounts, but the ability to add in some break-up to the sound.

[JazzBass4624]

Why made in Italy? The result would probably be a price increase. I have no probs at all with my made in Indonesia head.

[xgsjx]

I'd rather pay the extra to have something made in the country of origin.
I don't agree with exploiting countries for cheap labour & I'm already forced to pay for things that are made in the Far East as there's often no alternatives made closer to home.

[Roland Rock]

A different colour

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='Sparky Mark' timestamp='1499066934' post='3328844']
Mute facility, semi-parametric high and low mids and the 1000W power section from the Ninja head.
[/quote]
Mute I'd agree with, but would probably want a footswitch for it (Otherwise why not use the volume Knob). The others are fine ideas in themselves, but to my mind it would cease to be an LM.

[spectoremg]

[quote name='Danuman' timestamp='1499033076' post='3328770']
My ideal travel/practice/mixer-upper package would be a regular LMIII with aux in/headphone out.
[/quote]This. The Big Bang's got a headphone out.

[mcnach]

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1499011486' post='3328557']
I was going to post this in the thread about "Which Markbass?", because that's what made me think about it (LM3 being a bit long in the tooth etc), but decided on a separate thread.

So, as per the title, probably a hypothetical question, but what would people look for on an LM4 if such a thins were ever to appear?

I'm currently using an LM3 as my regular amp. Personally I'd say drop the XLR input and give it two Speakon outputs. Possibly build in a compressor (Though I probably wouldn't use it myself), and definitely keep the VLE and VPE. - in fact tone wise change nothing*. OH, and make it universal power supply.

* If anything at all give it blend-able valve pre-amp, but it would have to have far more effect than in their current valve pre-amp models.
[/quote]

A MUTE button!!!!

I'd also like an adjustable HPF.

Maybe an aux input. Could remove the XLR input quite happily.
2ohm capability.

I'd prefer no built-in compressor or tuner. Higher power would be nice but not a big deal. Whatever they use on the Mesa D800 is pretty cool.

[yorks5stringer]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1499098152' post='3329148']
I'd rather pay the extra to have something made in the country of origin.
I don't agree with exploiting countries for cheap labour & I'm already forced to pay for things that are made in the Far East as there's often no alternatives made closer to home.
[/quote]

Most of the components are sourced from the Far East ( presumably due to lower labour costs) , so on that basis would probably rule it out for you anyway...!?

Edited July 3, 2017 by yorks5stringer

[xgsjx]

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1499113038' post='3329325']
Most of the components are sourced from the Far East ( presumably due to lower labour costs) , so on that basis would probably rule it out for you anyway...!?
[/quote]
I'd still buy an amp with far east components if I had to, just that I prefer to keep more manufacturing jobs in the countries of origin (though many businesses don't seem to agree to that).
The amp I have just now has nothing from the Far East in it, but it's older than most BC members.

[Sparky Mark]

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1499105609' post='3329224']

Mute I'd agree with, but would probably want a footswitch for it (Otherwise why not use the volume Knob). The others are fine ideas in themselves, but to my mind it would cease to be an LM.
[/quote]

Both a mute facility and 1000W are available on other LM heads. The semi parametric mids haven't been but make the discontinued SA450 a much more flexible head than the LM2 or LM3.

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='Sparky Mark' timestamp='1499119589' post='3329410']
Both a mute facility and 1000W are available on other LM heads. The semi parametric mids haven't been but make the discontinued SA450 a much more flexible head than the LM2 or LM3.
[/quote]
Ah, but one of the things like about the LM3 is its simplicity in the tone controls. Fortunately for me the basic LM3 sound suits me fine, so I've no real desire or need for the parametric mids.

I also have a Carvin BX700 which is great in many respects (will drive 2 Ohms) has the parametric mids and an equaliser (And a next to useless valve pre-amp), but it doesn't get used much because I end up spending too much time messing around with the controls to get a sound I like.

As for the 1000 Watt, well yes, but it sort of puts it into a different class. Perhaps we need an LMx+ range.

But I asked what 'you' would like to see so your suggestions are all perfectly valid, so I'm not really arguing against you.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Count Bassy

[BassBunny]

Back to a Class A/B power section. Mute and Headphone socket and remove the Jack output and replace with another Speakon. That would pretty much do it for me.

[Sparky Mark]

Absolutely. Although all the LM series has ever meant to me was the physical size of the box. I have three of the larger format markbass heads and a LM3 and they all share the same class AB power section and almost identical pre amps. Once markbass had developed its own 1000W class D power board and squeezed it into the LM Ninja I assumed a LM1000 in standard black and yellow livery wouldn't be far behind. The green Ninja is even more Marmite than the wasp colour scheme I think. I do have a TA503 with four bands of semi-parametric EQ which is really useful for taming the low end on occasion almost like a high pass filter; but as you say straight up is usually fine the majority of the time.

[JapanAxe]

Side-mounted Teasmade output

[Osiris]

I had a Mark II amp a few years back and the only thing that I wasn't keen on was the frequencies on the bass and treble tone controls. If I remember correctly, the bass eq was 40Hz and the treble was about 10Khz. I found these to be too wide and not particularly useful for your average pub/club/function gig. They're probably fine for recording, but for live work they weren't much use - in my experience and opinion that is.

The bass eq was only ever really useful for cutting as boosting it tended to make things boomy, and the treble was so high that it didn't seem to make much difference (I was playing finger style with a more rounded overall tone). Re-voice the bass eq a bit higher, somewhere between 80 and 120Hz, and lower the treble eq to somewhere between 4 and 6Khz. That's be about right for me. Those people who want the wider frequencies could still boost them using the VPF control.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1499081550' post='3328978']
Gain/drive, not massive amounts, but the ability to add in some break-up to the sound.
[/quote]

Absolutely, Lozz. Not a full on drive circuit as such but something lower gain and subtle, more akin to the drive channel on the Genzler Magellan 800 would be great.

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='BassBunny' timestamp='1499157818' post='3329514'] Back to a Class A/B power section. Mute and Headphone socket and remove the Jack output and replace with another Speakon. That would pretty much do it for me. [/quote]

A serious question (well not serious, but one that I genuinely don't know the answer to); Assuming/given that everything else remained the same when the change was made, can you actually hear the difference between the A/B and the D power sections? To be quite honest I don't even know if my LM3 is A/B or D.

[40hz]

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1499179565' post='3329746']
I had a Mark II amp a few years back and the only thing that I wasn't keen on was the frequencies on the bass and treble tone controls. If I remember correctly, the bass eq was 40Hz and the treble was about 10Khz. I found these to be too wide and not particularly useful for your average pub/club/function gig. They're probably fine for recording, but for live work they weren't much use - in my experience and opinion that is.

The bass eq was only ever really useful for cutting as boosting it tended to make things boomy, and the treble was so high that it didn't seem to make much difference (I was playing finger style with a more rounded overall tone). Re-voice the bass eq a bit higher, somewhere between 80 and 120Hz, and lower the treble eq to somewhere between 4 and 6Khz. That's be about right for me. Those people who want the wider frequencies could still boost them using the VPF control.



Absolutely, Lozz. Not a full on drive circuit as such but something lower gain and subtle, more akin to the drive channel on the Genzler Magellan 800 would be great.
[/quote]

I couldn't agree more with you about the EQ. This was my exact experience. Although I loved the amp and rate them very highly, they could do with the EQ points being jigged about IMO.