Marshalls new MB bass series?

[Al Heeley]

[b]Marshall's new MB series[/b]
[i]MB150 combo, MB4210 combo, MB4410, combo, MB450 head[/i]

I guess these came out earlier this year but does anyone have any experience of these? They seem pretty well specced for the price (however Indian-made, Marshall will be careful to protect their good name I'm sure)
Are they a serious contender for reasonable quality tone at low price for small to medium sized gigs?
I'm particularly interested in the 4210 combo running into the 115 cab. Thats a good spec for under £420 for a value and solid state blendable pre-amp and 450W of power.
I know Marshall are not a fashoinable name to boot about in a bass forum, but does anyone have opinions or experience of these?

Edited January 10, 2009 by Al Heeley

[dudewheresmybass]

one of my students has one.
it's a useful 210 design, that has a more modern clean sound on one channel, and a more classic 'warm', 'thick sound on the other. the great thing about these amps though is the blendability of the two channels. there are a wealth of useful sounds to be had here, and quite a reasonable amount of volume available to boot!
IMO for your average pub gig and perhaps a little more they are a great buy!

[leonshelley01]

I have a 4210 and have been very pleased by it. It is a very versatile combo tonally and great value for money. I will probably get the 1x15 cab, not because I need it as it is plenty loud enough (the drummer asks for it to be turned down sometimes), but to intimidate the guitarists!

[Al Heeley]

Thanks to all who provided views and info during my Christmas hunt for a new bass rig. I finally settled on the new marshall bass combo and cab as giving the best balance of flexibility, power and price.

This is the MB4210 combo plus MBC115 extension cab that delivers 450W. I've yet to really try it in anger but I took the 4210 along on its own to a party last night and it performed very nicely against my mate's Les Paul and Mesa Boogie. What I really like about it is the versatility of tones. You can choose between a solid state or a valve pre-amp, with very different tone and dynamics. You can also choose to blend the two together to any extent. The valve pre-amp has 3 voicings to deliver different amounts of mid scoop, and you can blend in as much of this voicing as you need. The ss pre amp has a simple parametric with mid freq and boost/cut level as well as a compressor which seems to fire in pretty early (anything abouve 3.5 really).
There's a CD/iPod input on the front as well as headphone socket. On the rear there's an FX loop send/return, 2 speaker output sockets, a DI plus pre.post switch and it comes with a 2-toggle footswitch to choose between valve or ss pre-amp, blend on/off.
So all in all a good spec for not a lot of money - whole package came to about £450 inc. delivery.
The 15 inch speaker cab has a tweeter you cn turn on/off as needed. Interesting to try the amp with just 1 x 15, then hear the difference with just the 2 x 10's, there is a lot of lower frequency reinforcement as you'd expect with the 1 x 15, but for small gigs the 2 x 10 has a lot of punch and presence and a great tone for the money, considering the 4210 can be bought for only £275 and pushes out 300W on its own. the cab also has a tweeter built in but its not switchable.
Looking forward to first rehersals with it on Sunday.

[Jarhead]

I have the MBC 115, great cab, especially for the price. Yet to be gigged though, only rehearsals so far.
Zach

[bassmachine2112]

hiho,I use a mb450 head with two 2x10 cabs and it is great on the classic channel.the modern channel is better if you are using effects units as it doesn,t colour up the sound.I used to use ampeg with 8x10 cabs but i,m very happy with the marshall and would not go back.whoops goin to get some flack here for that comment.

[Al Heeley]

Just had my new rig [MB4210+MBC115] up and running at a (fairly loud) practice with the band, got a lot of smiles and a scared drummer. It was great - really rich, authorative tone and it was really just on tickover. Best sound by far was classic channel voice 1 with just a hint of modern blended in (blend on 9) and compression on 3 - stacks of depth and warmth with a hint of bite from the modern - the ss preamp sound is very tyransparent, it benefits from having some of the mids knocked out of it. I'm using mid freq set between 4 and 6 and the middle knob on 3 (5 is flat). The modern channel also needs a much higher bass setting - the classic has enormous bass, I turned it down to 4 but had modern set on 7-8 to keep up.
The only negative for me is the classic gain - the overdrive sound to me is really insubstantial and had me going round checking the cones and the speaker grille for rattles.
Great to be able to keep up with the band volume effortlessly - leads to much more dynamic and expressive bass playing.
All in all, tremendous value for money and a very versatile system.

[Boneless]

[quote]You can choose between a solid state or a valve pre-amp, with very different tone and dynamics. You can also choose to blend the two together to any extent. The valve pre-amp has 3 voicings to deliver different amounts of mid scoop, and you can blend in as much of this voicing as you need. The ss pre amp has a simple parametric with mid freq and boost/cut level as well as a compressor which seems to fire in pretty early (anything abouve 3.5 really).[/quote]

It looks A BIT like the Hartke HA3500, then.
A mid-scooped valve channel and a quite transparent solid-state preamp. The compressor is pretty similar in it being very "touchy" as well
I'd imagine it being warmer than the Hartke, of course I'd describe the Hartke as being... "clinical" (which I like).

[escholl]

any ideas about the reliability on these?

I suppose they haven't been out that long, but have a friend who is looking to buy so thought I would ask.

[bassmachine2112]

hiho,how you doin,plenty of grunt and for the price perfect.I run my ricky through a driver and it,s instant geddy or bruce foxton.It also sounds great with a musicman and a p bass.I run it with 2 2x10 cabs plenty of bottom.
keep on keepin on

[Jarhead]

I really want a full stack now, after seeing Al's rig. I have the 1x15, but my head only goes to 4 ohms, coincidentally, the impedance of the cab. Don't suppose anyone is willing to trade me the head and a 2x10 or 4x10 MBC for a 2nd hand Warwick Profet 3.2?
Zach

[Guest MoJo]

I used to lug this about:

[attachment=19922:The_Big_Rig.jpg]

An MB4410 and an MBC410.....I must've been mad

I also had one of these:

[attachment=19924:MBC115.JPG]

I actually preferred the 72410 that I had before it

[attachment=19923:marshall_72410__1_.jpg]

All have now gone and this:

[attachment=19925:122hx_2.jpg]

Blows them all into the weeds in terms of both tone and volume

[Al Heeley]

[quote name='escholl' post='394453' date='Jan 29 2009, 12:12 PM']any ideas about the reliability on these?
I suppose they haven't been out that long, but have a friend who is looking to buy so thought I would ask. [/quote]I've had my MB4210 combo and MBC115 cab since end of Jan'08. Three loud gigs later it certainly has lots of authority but I'm getting an issue with intermittent cut-out during songs about half way thru the second set, the amp is really hot and I dunno if its inadequate cooling or cooling not tripping in properly, but I lose all sound for maybe 10 - 20 seconds, then it comes back again. 5 minutes later it cuts out on me again.
I'm presuming its a thermal cut-off tripping in to protect the amp. However, we're only playing at small to medium sized pubs and the volume has never gone up above half way. I think maybe the amp is trying too hard pushing the 115 cab as well as its own 2 x 10, but it should be able to cope with this.
I'm making enquiries with marshall to see what the problem is - maybe my fan is faulty, maybe its a design issue with under-engineered cooling.

[leonshelley01]

Had mine a while, rehearsing/gigging at least once a week and I have had no problems at all, apart from getting through doors! Tone is great and I have not had any cut-outs myself. One word of warning, do not use the built in compressor, it is very clicky. Personally, I don't use a compressor, but if you do, front end a pedal before the amp.

[Clockworkwar]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='368126' date='Jan 1 2009, 10:58 PM']can be bought for only £275 and pushes out 300W on its own.[/quote]

Where did you get one for £275? everywhere I have looked it has been £310?

[Al Heeley]

I got mine from Soundslive.com at the end of Dec. I see its now gone up to £306.

[chrisAngryman]

i have the 450 head and 4x10 cab and love it compared to my ashdown
i love the warmth of sound on the classic side with the voice turned full down.

if your experiencing problems with the amp speak to the marshall service dept if it's new you waranty sound cover any repairs.

Marshall service dept is second to none

[leonshelley01]

[quote name='chrisAngryman' post='410531' date='Feb 15 2009, 10:16 PM']Marshall service dept is second to none[/quote]

I can confirm that. I had an AVT275 that blew when our drummer kicked it over by accident. I took it to the Marshall factory in Bletchley who carried out the repair in 3 days at no charge under the warranty. I does help that I live 20 minutes away, but they were very helpful and keen to keep customers happy with their products. Give them a ring on 01908 375411.

[Clockworkwar]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='410468' date='Feb 15 2009, 09:33 PM']I got mine from Soundslive.com at the end of Dec. I see its now gone up to £306.[/quote]

Damn their popularity. May just get a second hand UK made Ashdown rig instead then.

What would be better this combo, or a Mag 250 (second hand) and ABM 2x10 cab?

Edited February 16, 2009 by Clockworkwar

[Al Heeley]

Sorry, I have no experience of the Mag250 or ABM.
Took the combo and extn cab along to practice togight to test again fo overheating and cut-out but found the 15 cab was not working at all. Swapped over the outputs, tried different leads...nothing.
Soon as I got home I took the back panel off and found a dry solder joint here as shown on the pics. The copper coil was quite loose on the pcb.


A blob of solder later, the cab was back up and running again.

Real pity to see such shoddy QC from the Indian manufacturing plant where these came from, its not as if the board here had much work to do on it. Lets hope its a one-off.
Now the question is, was trying to force the amp to run at 1/2 vol into a cab with no load due to the loose connection - causing it to overheat and cut out? Can i avoid having to send this all back to Soundslive to return to marshall to check out and send it back to me when there may have been nothing wrong with the amp at all? I guess i won't know till i can test it all in anger again at the next gig.

[leonshelley01]

That was very poor work on the cab, and full credit to you for finding the fault yourself. If you need to, give Marshall a ring on the number I listed earlier, I'm sure they will be able to help, they've always been helpful to me. But maybe that was just a mixture of my winning smile and animal magnetism!

[MacDaddy]

I hope you haven't invalidated your warranty by doing the repair yourself

[Al Heeley]

I'm sure I will have, to be honest, but what a load of fuss to get a dry joint sorted - I'd have to box it up, ship it to Newcastle so they can send it to Milton Keynes and look at it, then decide what to do and repair/replace - meanwhile I have 2 gigs this weekend and next with no bass gear to use.

[bobbytodd]

ive had exactly the same problem with my mbc115 it was even the same dry joint.

[Al Heeley]

[quote name='bobbytodd' post='411925' date='Feb 17 2009, 12:52 PM']ive had exactly the same problem with my mbc115 it was even the same dry joint.[/quote]Tut tut. Did you sort it yourself, or ship back to Marshall? Hasd the problem been satisfactorily resolved now?

Edited February 17, 2009 by Al Heeley