NAD markbass evo1

[la bam]

I've finally bitten the bullet and bought a mark bass evo 1.

Due to a back injury I'm having to sell my ashdown abm rig, so was looking for something a lot lighter and easier to carry. The side handle / arms out knuckle scraping on doorways days are hopefully a thing of the past!

There isn't that much info out there on these, but after about an hour in the shop I'd made my mind up.

A few first impressions:
1) it looks way cooler than I thought.
2) it's larger than I thought. It's more like a HI FI separate size. Much bigger than a lm3.
3) markbass eq takes a bit of getting used to. Set everything at 12 and your in trouble. Set everything at 6pm and slowly tweak from there and you'll soon get a great sound.
4) if you run this through a mb cab, you'll get a mb sound. I ran it through a few cabs of different makes, and the mb cabs really were colouring it.
5) the amp simulators are fantastic. Some of the high end bright ones were phenomenol.
6) it's really loud.
7) it's really easy to use.

I'm intending to match this with a barefaced super compact (do they do a 4 ohm version?) as I really like the weight and size of the barefaced and hear they match well with the markbass amps.

Gonna have a play and see what settings I can dial in to my tastes.

[la bam]

After a day noodling at home with this amp, I'm completely blown away by just how good it is!

The sounds are amazing.

I must say though, I've had to do so drastic eq change to get the lovely warm sounds I was after.

Firstly, I've set the gain a 12 o'clock as on some models you get intentional break up the further you turn the dial.

Then, I usually always use my bass (yamaha bb424x) in the both pick ups on and tone full on. For this ive had to roll a lot of the tone off, probably so its a quarter on.

Then eq on the amp wise I've got bass at 11 oclock. Mids at 7 o'clock (which really surprised me) and high at 1 oclock.

If you have the miss high, or tone full on on the bass, you get that echo like heftless mark bass tone. Hence I've eq'd it out.

The eq now works great across all the amp modules, and sounds amazing through my abm 2x10 (which again I didn't think would work We'll, but sounds great).

That's the set up for home solo sound. We'll have to see how the settings change in a band scenario.

Edited August 2, 2017 by la bam

[la bam]

a few days on, and the amp is absolutely brilliant! Sounds so rich with this cab.

cant wait to practice at volume next week!

the case is a mac tools case from b&q £27.

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Edited August 4, 2017 by la bam

[RichardH]

Very nice indeed!

[burno70]

It looks amazing!

[CXIII]

I've been considering picking one of these up since they were announced. Looks to tick all the boxes, especially with the two channels. You have me convinced to take the plunge!

[la bam]

It's an amazing amp.

I love the bass face (fender bassman) amp, really rich and smooth. Then going to the trace and gk - they sound awesome in a completely different way.

The only advice I would give is:

1) set the level to 12 oclock.
2) set the gain to 12 oclock.
this helps give you a good idea of the amp sounds. Turning higher can have the sound (intentionally) break up.
3) turn the mids to 6/7 oclock. Ie off / fully left. Then just add to taste. Having them at 12oclock can give an echo/mark bass signature tone.
4) I also turn the treble off my bass, then add to taste. The bassman sounds awesome with a tiny bit of treble. The trace sounds awesome with treble fully on.

Edited August 5, 2017 by la bam

[CXIII]

Have you put the amp through its paces live yet?

[la bam]

Next practice is on Thursday this week, so I'll keep you informed.

[la bam]

Had a good run through with this on Thursday.

Fair sized practice room (about half size of a normal gigging area in a pub. With lots of damping and sound proofing, due to it being a designated practice room.

I'd taken my ashdown abm 2x10 which I knew would be weaker and thinner than a 12 or 15 and break up quicker and my yamaha bb424x.

First thing I noticed was even with the 2x10 volume was not going to be an issue. Nothing was set over 12 o'clock. That includes gain, level and master. The amp felt like it had loads left to give.

Next a quick flick through the amp models. As before, I had the mids turned off and low and high around 12 clock.

The nicest sound without tinkering with the eq too much (as we had 9 new songs to go through) was the channel 1 ampeg svt (yellow led). There's also some real nice valve break up if you start to go past 12 o'clock on the gain.

That sound was lovely and warm, but the richness really shone letting me hear every note without being blisteringly loud. It had a nice fat 'band' sound to it which made a great foundation with the drums, but didnt sound like one instrument blasting through the mix. It found itself fitting well in the mix without really trying. I asked the drummer if he could hear ok and he said it was great. Very clear.

It wasn't hot at all after 3 hours playing either which was quite reassuring.

I can see me eventually tinkering with the eq more alongside the gains to find some really fantastic tones when I get chance.

I've ordered a barefaced super compact so can't wait for that to come so I can try it with that!

Edited August 19, 2017 by la bam