Lightweight gear

[Graham Milton]

Hi All

Pictured is my Status Energy, which I think was an entry level Status Bass. I bought it brand new 20 years ago and it has been my workhorse for that period of time complete with the Trace rig pictured. Inevitably as I have got older, lugging the Trace rig around with it has been increasingly onerous, so I treated myself to the Mark Bass lightweight gear pictured and a Stingray for good measure. The problem is that with both guitars, I don't seem to be able get anything like a decent tone out of the Mark Bass rig at all. I've tried every conceivable setting, including a compressor and it still sounds as dull as ditch water. Someone I note made a comment on this forum some while back in a similar vein and expressed it by suggesting it sounded like it had a duvet draped over it. Does anyone have any observations? Or does anyone have any recommendations about what is the best lightweight gear? It will give me another excuse once this dreaded pestilence is banished, to pester my local music shop and buy some more gear.

[ubit]

Barefaced cabs are immense and weigh as much as a kitten holding a chaffinch!

[Lozz196]

I like Markbass gear but for me it’s far more suited to “warmer” basses such as Precisions. I also find their cabs to have a high end roll off as well - get a sound from a Markbass amp into a Markbass cab, DI that sound and it’s much toppier/treblier through the PA. 

We’re all likely to recommend what we use ourselves, and I’m no different, Ashdown, however their top man Mark used to work at Trace so there’s a connection to the gear that you loved there. Their RM cabs are plenty light enough, pair them with one of their ABM amps which again are light enough, but which aren’t class D, they have real punch and depth to the sound, and you’d have a rig that would probably fit much better with what you’re after.
 

[gafbass02]

That’s the nicest standard energy I’ve seen!! Love it. I moved from a massive trace stack to mark bass and a dozen other light weight rigs. Eventually I bought an old trace head on a whim, just to keep at home, and boom. My tone improved! 
just love the old trace sound I guess. 

Edited April 13, 2020 by gafbass02

[Mykesbass]

What @Lozz196 says. I've only had limited experience with Mark Bass, but there is an inherent warmth/dullness (according to your take on it) built in. It really isn't down to it being lightweight, as there is a world of difference between many of the lightweight brands. So many on here love the Tonehammer. Me, I couldn't get a decent sound out of it! 

Try out as many as you can (yes, I know, not the easiest thing to do even without lockdown) and have some fun doing it!

[chris_b]

I've always heard others getting a good sound out of Markbass, and IMO my LM2 had a very good sound.

The trouble with parting company from bass gear that has been with you for 20 years or more is you are so in tune with it that everything else fails in comparison. We've all bought a piece of gear and wondered why it doesn't sound like what it replaced. The reality is a new piece of gear will never sound like an old friend. You have to find something that sounds good and learn to love it. If you really can't do that, don't worry, just move on. 

For about 4 or 5 years I've used Aguilar amps through Barefaced cabs. Can't see me changing that in the foreseeable future.

[TrevorR]

Just a quick Q... where do you have the VLE and VPF controls set? Full off? 12 o’clock? Somewhere else? They have a profound effect on the core tone of the amp.

 

[Edit] Having said that, what EQ and gain settings are you using overall?

Edited April 13, 2020 by TrevorR

[Al Krow]

The MB rig you've got will have a lot of similarities to the AC 121 Lite combo which I gigged for several years (I've moved onto to DG AO900 & BF BB2 / SC  for a lightweight gigging rig and Mesa M6 & Fearless112 for home 'studio' use).

In addition to the treble roll off that Lozz mentioned, there's quite a gaping hole in the older LM2/3 EQ between the high mids at 800Hz and the high at 10kHz which compounds the treble roll off issue i.e. there's a gap in that 3kHz to 5kHz 'usable treble' range. So I would make two suggestions before you swap out what is otherwise an excellent rig:

- a decent EQ pedal to give the 'usable treble' a boost at around 3.5kHz

- perhaps even better, a preamp pedal to brighten up the tone. I'm really enjoying my VT Bass DI - its 'bite' button seems to be a key ingredient. This provides a boost to the upper mids and treble so that the tone becomes more pronounced and 'present' especially in a mix. It also has a subsonic filter (i.e. HPF) to tighten up the sound. I wonder if I had discovered this earlier (I kinda got way-laid by its predecessor, the BDDI, which didn't do much for me at all) whether I might have stuck with my MB rig in the first place!

[TrevorR]

3 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

perhaps even better, a preamp pedal to brighten up the tone. I'm really enjoying my VT Bass DI - its 'bite' button seems to be a key ingredient. This provides a boost to the upper mids and treble so that the tone becomes more pronounced and 'present' especially in a mix. It also has a subsonic filter (i.e. HPF) to tighten up the sound.

Completely agree about the VT Bass DI. Careful use of the “bite” button does add in a load of sparkly upper mid... kinda brings in a lot of that (what I think of as) “trade fair” tone, in a good way. Definitely worth exploring, especially with the “Character” control which allow you to vary the pedal’s core tone/modelling between a couple of classic amps and a more modern high gain tone.

[pete.young]

37 minutes ago, TrevorR said:

Just a quick Q... where do you have the VLE and VPF controls set? Full off? 12 o’clock? Somewhere else? They have a profound effect on the core tone of the amp.

 

[Edit] Having said that, what EQ and gain settings are you using overall?

Definitely this.

[Roger2611]

To be fair, you are moving from what was possibly the classic set up of the 80's A Status bass through a Trace rig to a very different set up, as an owner of a MB rig, personally I love it but it doesn't sound like a Trace Elliot rig.

Careful set up of the VLE and VPF controls will hopefully help, with my Status Energy Matrix I have the VLE control set to about 9.30pm and the VPF control set to about 2.30pm which works nicely for me, however, I don't use a 1x15 cab just a 2x10 I did find the 1x15 made the rig a little bass heavy.

I hope you can find the right sound for you from the MB rig.

 

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 4, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[LeftyJ]

1 hour ago, Graham Milton said:

Pictured is my Status Energy

I think that's a Status Eclipse Artist 🙂

[TheGreek]

1 hour ago, Graham Milton said:

I don't seem to be able get anything like a decent tone out of the Mark Bass rig at all. 

including a compressor and it still sounds as dull as ditch water. 

I agree...I bought the Jeff Berlin combo on recommendation of a friend - so disappointing. I couldn't get anything like a usable tone.

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Their RM cabs are plenty light enough, pair them with one of their ABM amps which again are light enough, but which aren’t class D, they have real punch and depth to the sound, and you’d have a rig that would probably fit much better with what you’re after.

Love that Ashdown tonal palette...and the customer service is probably the best in the UK.

1 hour ago, gafbass02 said:

Eventually I bought an old trace head on a whim, just to keep at home, and boom. My tone improved! 

 

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

The trouble with parting company from bass gear that has been with you for 20 years or more is you are so in tune with it that everything else fails in comparison.

I love that classic Trace Elliot palette. My suggestion would be to whip the head out of your combo (or pick up another for virtually nothing) and use that. On their own, the heads don't weigh that much (12lbs??). 

Don't be tempted by the Elf - it may say Trace Elliot on the case but it doesn't have the original tone package. 

 

[Al Krow]

One point to about the VLE is that it's a shelf EQ. This cuts a more dispersed range of high frequencies as you turn it up:

But there’s no real way to boost the treble in the 3kHz to 5kHz range on the amp itself to address the high-end roll off from the MB cabs, hence my two earlier suggestions.

[CamdenRob]

Covered by other comments above really but Markbass and Trace are at opposite ends of the spectrum really... If the suggestions above don’t work out and you do end up going for some different gear try some of the light weight GK or Glockenklang gear. 👍 

[chris_b]

The filters are off when they are turned anti clockwise, pointing at 7 o'clock. Don't have them pointing at 12 o'clock.

[TrevorR]

3 hours ago, chris_b said:

The filters are off when they are turned anti clockwise, pointing at 7 o'clock. Don't have them pointing at 12 o'clock.

That’s always been my starting point. EQ at 12, VLE and VPF fully counter clockwise. As it is mostly my EQ is High and both Mids on noon. A slight touch of bass boost... maybe 1 o’clock, no VPF (never been a smile curve/mid cut fan) and a tiny touch of VLE (maybe around 8 o’clock). That’s a nice rich, punchy tone great for sitting in a mix with my basses and the way I play!

[yorks5stringer]

I've got the same amp in my CMD121P and I've found getting the gain and master volume set up correctly helped me get a better fundamental sound before even fiddling with the VLE and VPF.

[Trueno]

I went from an Ashdown MAG combo (too heavy... arthritis and all that) to an MB combo many years ago... never entirely happy with it, apart from the weight. My solution was to keep it flat and feed it through an EBS Microbass II. I sold the MB, but now I'm addicted to the EBS... wondering whether I should get an Ashdown head but fretting whether it will make the EBS redundant.... first world problem.

[MacDaddy]

Keep the Trace, but get a decent trolley to cart it around on?

[adamg67]

I’ve got the Markbass Multiamp which does a pretty good impression of several MB amps, and I've had a couple of MB cabs as well. For me the MB amps work best when I like sound off the bass already and don't want to change it that much, like my P style bass with flats.

I also have a Stingray, which I don't think sounds great with the MB amps and is currently going through a Darkglass Vintage Microtubes. 

[phil.c60]

17 hours ago, TrevorR said:

That’s always been my starting point. EQ at 12, VLE and VPF fully counter clockwise. As it is mostly my EQ is High and both Mids on noon. A slight touch of bass boost... maybe 1 o’clock, no VPF (never been a smile curve/mid cut fan) and a tiny touch of VLE (maybe around 8 o’clock). That’s a nice rich, punchy tone great for sitting in a mix with my basses and the way I play!

And if you expand the photo the VLE is in the off position, and the VPF  is at 12 o'clock.......assuming the photo is taken how the OP usually has it set.

[Graham Milton]

Hi all

Many thanks for the useful input. As I said I've tried just about everything, however I will persevere with the aid of your comments. I may very well try some of the alternative amplification you have all suggested, as it's always useful to have some back up anyway. The Trace rig pictured is what I use in my rehearsal facility, and the Mark Bass purely for practical reasons, is my gig rig. On another note (pardon the pun) I'm wrestling with the bass line to "Hit me with your rhythm stick". I can manage an approximation of it, but maintaining the fluidity at the speed Norman Watt-Roy plays it, is quite a challenge. Any tips, or is it just solid practice?

[yorks5stringer]

11 minutes ago, Graham Milton said:

Hi all

Many thanks for the useful input. As I said I've tried just about everything, however I will persevere with the aid of your comments. I may very well try some of the alternative amplification you have all suggested, as it's always useful to have some back up anyway. The Trace rig pictured is what I use in my rehearsal facility, and the Mark Bass purely for practical reasons, is my gig rig. On another note (pardon the pun) I'm wrestling with the bass line to "Hit me with your rhythm stick". I can manage an approximation of it, but maintaining the fluidity at the speed Norman Watt-Roy plays it, is quite a challenge. Any tips, or is it just solid practice?

Plenty of YT videos for tips on HMWYRS...