Mark Bass little Mark TUBE 500 - talk to me

[Guest Jecklin]

I wasn't aware of the little mark tube head until very recently (found out about it through the cab recommendations thread here).

I'd like some user opinions on the head please.

http://www.markbass.it/product-detail/little-mark-tube/

It jumped out to me as a head I'd like as it has two channels - one offering phantom power (in most of my playing situations I'd use a microphone on one channel and a pickup on the second).

 

Good views, bad views, whatever you have to say. 

Cheers

Thomas

Edited April 6, 2018 by Jecklin

[Phil Starr]

Hi, I have one of these, It was on a special offer when I bought it a few years back and I think I paid only about £30 more than the LM III was at the time, otherwise I'd have gone for the LM III. The valve preamp is very subtle in it's effect, you aren't going to get valvey overdrive but it does add warmth. In practice I have the valve up full and solid state turned right down so I guess it must be useful. I didn't realise it had phantom power ha ha, I just plug it in and go but I have used a mic to get some percussion through the cab and that works OK. I'm probably not the one to comment on tone, I just use it flat most of the time and only eq for room acoustics. For me the amp does what it says on the tin. I can go as loud as the drums without overload with a couple of 12's and it is completely reliable. The VPF filter is useful at home and you can dial in some nice tones fairly simply but in a live situation I just turn it off usually to get a bit more penetration for the bass.

I can only say you should try it out and see if you like the way it sounds with your own gear.

[Lozz196]

I had one for a while, loved it. As Phil says, the valve is very subtle, to the point where you don`t really notice it as you turn it fully up, but more if you start playing and then turn the effect fully off, suddenly you notice "something" missing from the sound. To me it adds like a "shimmer/some hair" to the sound, stops it from being crystal clear.

When I got mine I went to Andertons with 3 Markbass amps on my list to try, the Little Mark 3, Little Mark Big Bang, and Little Mark Tube. I never got round to hearing the others, I just I liked the LMT that much.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Lozz196

[Guest Jecklin]

Cheers Lozz and Phil.

 

I wasn't really looking for a head that would get dirty and having been a long time user of a Hartke HA3500 am well used to a subtle (read inaudible) valve blend

So this head does really seem to suit my needs.

It's firmly in Gas territory at the moment.

[Phil Starr]

I moved from the HA 3500 to the MB Tube. Whisper it quietly (if you can hear a whisper over the Harke fan) the Hartke sounds better.

[Guest Jecklin]

3 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

I moved from the HA 3500 to the MB Tube. Whisper it quietly (if you can hear a whisper over the Harke fan) the Hartke sounds better.

Alas I sold my Hartke about a decade ago - at the time I had no use for it, of course now it would be very handy

 

[Phil Starr]

There are lots of plus points about going lightweight though. The HA3500 weighs more than my cabs and it's getting long in the tooth so needs the odd repair every now and then, it is very noisy with the graphic switched in and the fan is so noisy when you are playing at low levels. I still love it but it's not reliable enough for me to trust it at paying gigs. I did contemplate buying one new when they were on offer a while ago but the MB Tube is fine and 100% reliable.