New model Mark Bass - Marcus Limited. And a question about Band Pass filters?

[fretmeister]

I had ordered the Little Marcus 800. Alas the shop has been informed by the supplier that there is no firm delivery date.

They've offered the new Marcus Limited instead.

The EQ points are all the same as the Little Marcus (good!) but the "Millerizer" control has been removed and replaced with a Semi Parametric. The Old School control is still there.

 

http://www.markbass.it/product-detail/marcus-limited-800/

 

I like the Miller slap sound, but I'm also aware that it's not really suitable for my band situation so that's less important at the moment.

 

But I do want to make sure I can get the traditional Miller sound out of it too - so in idiot terms like a 3 year old could understand it - how does a Band Pass filter work (in the older model) and from the specs of the new model does it look like a similar sound can still be achieved?

 

thank you!

 

[Al Krow]

I'll let others with more expertise than me to revert on how band pass filters work...but in relation to your Q:

Comments on the net suggest that the 'Old School' and 'Millerizer' controls are just a relabelling of the previous Markbass 'VLE' and 'VPF' filters found on the LM3 . That would obviously make good commercial sense for MBass to be recycling existing tech!

VLE = was a treble roll-off and the VPF a mid-scoop - which is the classic setting for slap bass. 

So if they have swapped the Millerizer for a Semi Para mid EQ, that should give you a fair bit more control and you'll still be able to mid scoop to your heart's content  

[fretmeister]

The Millerizer seemed to cut the mids and boos the bass - but also boost the treble all the way up at 12 Khz. The regular EQ doesn't go that high.

 

I suppose ultimately would MM put his name on it if he couldn't get it to sound how he wanted? Probably not.

 

I might give it a go. Can always send it back!

[Al Krow]

The new Marcus Limited range seems to have dealt with ALL the EQ shortcomings that were gripes for me with the old LM3. The LM3 had the bass EQ centre set too low at 40Hz, a massive 'hole' between high-mid centre EQ and treble EQ, and with the treble EQ being centred at a less than useful 10kHz.

The EQ centre points and semi-para mids look like just the ticket on this new model - so I think it's going to be their best D class head yet. It should give you a bit more of that Markbass warmth to contrast with the clean tone of your DG M900 and I suspect you're going to love it  

Btw - if you're wanting that top end zing for slap, do your cabs have a tweeter?

Edited July 15, 2019 by Al Krow

[fretmeister]

I don't like Tweeters!

 

Silly hissy things. So No - I have't got them.

 

But that's a very good point. I've just had a look at my cab specs and they top out at 6Khz.

 

No point being worried about that then!

[Al Krow]

7 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I don't like Tweeters!  Silly hissy things. So No - I have't got them. 

But that's a very good point. I've just had a look at my cab specs and they top out at 6Khz. No point being worried about that then!

Haha!

Is that a BF SC you have by any chance? If so, that would be far too BC clone if you've got both the same amp and cab as me and are now thinking about going MBass - I previously had the LM3 😁

So you going to push the button on the Marcus Limited or going to hold off for the GK Legacy?

Edited July 15, 2019 by Al Krow

[fretmeister]

I've got a pair of BF One10

 

I'm going to go for it. 7 working days wait time though!

 

I do want to try the Legacy but with Andertons now saying end of October I want a new toy now!  

[Al Krow]

Good stuff - I look forward to getting your thoughts on it once you've had a chance to put it through its paces. For me, it's always nice to have something a bit tonally varied - it just seems to keep everything from going stale. I find that particularly with my Yammy and Ibby basses. I think you're going to get some of that tonal variety / keeping things fresh with your M900 and MB heads. Enjoy! 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Al Krow

[franzbassist]

I have a Little Marcus 800 and love it.  The five band EQ is superb, and the VLE is pretty much the same as the one found on the Litte Mark range (slightly different EQ points).

The Millerizer function is a band pass filter than only passes frequencies between 5 and 12kHz.  I find it to be very musical: it just adds a nice treble sheen to the sound IMO.

That said, if I had the choice of a band pass filter or the para eq on the new version of the Marcus, I would choose the latter in a heartbeat.

 

[Al Krow]

9 minutes ago, franzbassist said:

That said, if I had the choice of a band pass filter or the para eq on the new version of the Marcus, I would choose the latter in a heartbeat.

Yup - that's very much my conclusion too!

I think we're in agreement that the new Marcus Limited range has finally nailed it on the EQ centre-point front and I look forward to buying Fretmeister's new amp off him when he's getting his next 'must have now' toy 😂

[Al Krow]

16 minutes ago, franzbassist said:

The Millerizer function is a band pass filter than only passes frequencies between 5 and 12kHz.  I find it to be very musical: it just adds a nice treble sheen to the sound IMO.

Just looking at your band pass chart - is that the actual one for the 'Millerizer'? It seems to be inverted to what I would be expecting from a VPF mid scoop type filter i.e. I would be expecting a cut between 5 kHz and 12 kHz (and therefore a relative boost of the lows and the highs).

Edited July 15, 2019 by Al Krow

[franzbassist]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Just looking at your band pass chart - is that the actual one for the 'Millerizer'? It seems to be inverted to what I would be expecting from a VPF mid scoop type filter i.e. I would be expecting a cut between 5 kHz and 12 kHz (and therefore a relative boost of the lows and the highs).

No it's just a generic graph off Google to show the concept of how the band pass works.  Should have made that clearer I guess!

[Greg Edwards69]

 

 

0

 Advanced issues found

▲

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

The new Marcus Limited range seems to have dealt with ALL the EQ shortcomings that were gripes for me with the old LM3. The LM3 had the bass EQ centre set too low at 40Hz, a massive 'hole' between high-mid centre EQ and treble EQ, and with the treble EQ being centred at a less than useful 10kHz.

The EQ centre points and semi-para mids look like just the ticket on this new model - so I think it's going to be their best D class head yet. It should give you a bit more of that Markbass warmth to contrast with the clean tone of your DG M900 and I suspect you're going to love it  

Btw - if you're wanting that top end zing for slap, do your cabs have a tweeter?

That about sums up my thoughts too.  I always felt the low was too low and the low mid was too high. There was nothing in between in the critical 100-250hz area.  The high mid was about perfect at 800hz but again, another hole between low mid and high mid with no way to cut the 500hz honk.

I sold my LM2 in favour of a Carvin BX700 a number of years ago. If I was in a place to buy a new amp the MM range are definitely ones I'd consider.

All moot now though as I've switched to Helix and FRFR.

[fretmeister]

Greg - that is an annoyingly large signature on your post!

Takes up half a screen!

EDIT - actually it takes up an entire screen!

Edited July 15, 2019 by fretmeister

[Greg Edwards69]

I don't even know what happened there - I don't even have a signature set.  All I can see is a large grey box above the quoted posted reading "0 Advanced issues found".

The edit button doesn't work either so I can't fix it - must be a corrupted post!

Edited July 15, 2019 by Greg Edwards69

[fretmeister]

That's most of what I see, 10 lines missing at the bottom!

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by fretmeister

[Al Krow]

Marcus Limited 800 = 500W at 8 ohms. That's going to pair very well with some excellent 8 ohm cabs! Particularly those that soak up watts fearlessly

[fretmeister]

That’s what I’m hoping!

 

Waiting for the amp will give me a chance to learn a surprisingly tricky new arrangement of “Sir Duke” for my big band.

 

Wrong key, double time section, drum solos! 

[Greg Edwards69]

4 hours ago, fretmeister said:

That's most of what I see, 10 lines missing at the bottom!

 

Haha - my bad.  I added my profile info to the signature box my mistake.  Schoolboy error.

Apologies for derailing the thread. As you were.

[Al Krow]

12 minutes ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

Haha - my bad.  I added my profile info to the signature box my mistake.  Schoolboy error.

Apologies for derailing the thread. As you were.

Well, even if you have previously owned just about every bit of bass gear that's been available, it's good to that see you still have attitude ... of a Yammy kind anyway 😀 

[Greg Edwards69]

3 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Well, even if you have previously owned just about every bit of bass gear that's been available, it's good to that see you still have attitude ... of a Yammy kind anyway 😀 

Haha. The gear in that list was used over many years - copied and pasted it from my talkbass profile. It is in no way intended to show off - a lot of it isn't boutique or desirable anyway.  It's just there as a reminder to myself of what I've previously owned and could offer real-world advice on if requested.

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, fretmeister said:

That’s what I’m hoping! Waiting for the amp will give me a chance to learn a surprisingly tricky new arrangement of “Sir Duke” for my big band. Wrong key, double time section, drum solos! 

You gonna post a YT clip of the band doing this I hope?

Now that you've started the ball rolling on commenting about the appearance of other folks' posts, how come your posts are all double spaced compared to everyone else's eh, eh? 😁

[fretmeister]

I don't know!

 

 

 

Is that better?

[fretmeister]

The Sir Duke arrangement is this one.

 

Starts entirely normally....