My Markbass CMD 121P died!

[Mornats]

Hi basschatters, it's been a while since I was active on here so hope you're all well.

 

So, my Markbass CMD 121P combo died recently and wondered if any of you had any helpful thoughts on what to do with it.

 

Here's what's up with it. Basically, I turn it on, plug my bass in and no sound comes out of it at all. The blue power LED comes on and the fans come on and it sounds ready, like it always did. There's no sound out of the speaker, regardless of volume settings and also no sound out of the DI out either (which rules out a speaker connection). When I power it off I hear the fans power down then a bit of a crackly speaker pop which honestly, I can't remember if that was there before or not.

 

My combo is made in Indonesia one that I bought in 2014. The manufactured date says November 2013. Also of note is that I did changed the tweeter based on a thread on here. I did that to combat the loud hissing that the stock tweeter has. I did this mod not too long after I bought it so 2014 or 2015.

 

One more thing, which is what I believe may be the cause of the combo dying is that I store it on a shelf in our built-in wardrobe in our bedroom. We discovered damp and mould in there a few months ago and I cleaned it all out. I've got a dehumidifier in there which extracts around 100ml of water per day from the air. Yep, 100ml per day! So I'm thinking damp/mould in the electronics here.

 

At the moment I'm not gigging and not really playing. I only found out the amp wasn't working when I used it to demo an effects unit I was selling. I can't justify spending a lot of cash on it, or replacing it really. So just wondered if there are any thoughts on what to do with it? If it's not repairable then maybe I need a cheap-as-chips replacement but honestly, that combo was insanely good for the small 3-4 song gigs I did with it. Small, lightweight, powerful, great sound and great DI. What's a complete kick in the derrière too is that a week before I found out it was knackered I'd sold my only other bass amp!

[basstone]

Hi there, Sorry to hear that your Markbass combo is faulty. It's probably a back to Markbass or their approved repairer job as Markbass don't encourage or support independent repairers in my experience. It might be worth contacting them to get a quote as a starting point. Having said that,  if it's a simple easy to find and repair fault any competent repairer may be able to help and if you know of one it might also be a lower cost option. Where are you based?

[Bigguy2017]

Try the effects send and return - first plug a patch cable from send to return jacks - the switch jacks are notorious for going high resistance if unused...

 

If it's not this, I'm guessing the preamp section is dead (no DI out) but the power amp section may be working - plug something into the effects return.

 and see if you get noises.

 

Otherwise a close visual inspection / unplug replug internally is a place to start

[Mornats]

6 hours ago, basstone said:

Hi there, Sorry to hear that your Markbass combo is faulty. It's probably a back to Markbass or their approved repairer job as Markbass don't encourage or support independent repairers in my experience. It might be worth contacting them to get a quote as a starting point. Having said that,  if it's a simple easy to find and repair fault any competent repairer may be able to help and if you know of one it might also be a lower cost option. Where are you based?

I'd be interested in a third party repairer if possible. I'm based in Bristol so there should be one about.

[Mornats]

6 hours ago, Bigguy2017 said:

Try the effects send and return - first plug a patch cable from send to return jacks - the switch jacks are notorious for going high resistance if unused...

 

If it's not this, I'm guessing the preamp section is dead (no DI out) but the power amp section may be working - plug something into the effects return.

 and see if you get noises.

 

Otherwise a close visual inspection / unplug replug internally is a place to start

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll give those a try.

 

So just so I don't blow myself up or anything, should I plug one patch cable between the send and return jack's, i.e. plug the send directly into the return?

 

Also, plugging something into the effects return, would plugging the bass directly into that be what you mean? I never use those send and returns so not sure of what not to do down there!

[basstone]

51 minutes ago, Mornats said:

I'd be interested in a third party repairer if possible. I'm based in Bristol so there should be one about.

I'm a repairer based near to Wookey Hole, not too far away. I can't promise anything but happy to have a look if you can get the amp to me.

[Mornats]

2 hours ago, basstone said:

I'm a repairer based near to Wookey Hole, not too far away. I can't promise anything but happy to have a look if you can get the amp to me.

 

Oh cool, that's awesome, thanks! I'll try some of the stuff mentioned by Bigguy and will get in touch if repairing it looks like the best way forward. We're still learning our way around being parents to a toddler so it may take me a while to get round to it.

[Bigguy2017]

17 hours ago, Mornats said:

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll give those a try.

 

So just so I don't blow myself up or anything, should I plug one patch cable between the send and return jack's, i.e. plug the send directly into the return?

 

Also, plugging something into the effects return, would plugging the bass directly into that be what you mean? I never use those send and returns so not sure of what not to do down there!

Yes, just plug a patch cable between effects send and return - this will override the switching jacks.

Plug bass though a pedal to get some boost, then into effects return - if the power amp section is working you should get something.

 

Also check the speaker (push on?) tags are well connected...

[Mornats]

11 hours ago, Bigguy2017 said:

Yes, just plug a patch cable between effects send and return - this will override the switching jacks.

Plug bass though a pedal to get some boost, then into effects return - if the power amp section is working you should get something.

 

Also check the speaker (push on?) tags are well connected...

 

Thanks for clarifying

 

I just tried all of that and no joy unfortunately. Interestingly (and also annoyingly) I had my pedal board in the same cupboard and my Polytune is glitching now (it doesn't register the E string and barely catches the others). I had trouble getting a good signal into my audio interface too so I'm going to check the whole chain now - bass (tried 2 passive basses, no joy) - cables (tried 2 cables, no joy). I wonder if damp got the pedals too although it doesn't explain the audio interface thing. 

[Jakester]

Welcome to the club! I’ve had no end of problems with mine too. If Basstone can’t help, the ‘approved’ repairer is Real Electronics in Sheffield. 
 

Just one thing to try though before you do - have you tried with a different power cable or different socket on a different circuit? You never know, that could be the cause of the problems if there’s a fault with a socket (unlikely, but worth a try!)

[Mornats]

On 02/02/2022 at 23:10, Jakester said:

Welcome to the club! I’ve had no end of problems with mine too. If Basstone can’t help, the ‘approved’ repairer is Real Electronics in Sheffield. 
 

Just one thing to try though before you do - have you tried with a different power cable or different socket on a different circuit? You never know, that could be the cause of the problems if there’s a fault with a socket (unlikely, but worth a try!)

Sorry to hear you're having problems too! I'll definitely test the power lead and socket. Everything's worth a shot!

[Dickon]

I’m having exactly the same problem since using the amp again after not using it for a while.  I’ve found that if I leave it for a while (this time seems to be getting longer…) it clicks into life.  It’s like it is running in a prolonged start up or safe mode.  There is a distinct click when it comes on which sounds like a relay?  Any thoughts would be helpful.

[Mornats]

2 hours ago, Dickon said:

I’m having exactly the same problem since using the amp again after not using it for a while.  I’ve found that if I leave it for a while (this time seems to be getting longer…) it clicks into life.  It’s like it is running in a prolonged start up or safe mode.  There is a distinct click when it comes on which sounds like a relay?  Any thoughts would be helpful.

You know I was thinking of getting it back out to try again on the off chance it would magically work again. I'll try it and will report back.

[BassBunny]

Here are Real Electronics, MarkBass approved repairer, charges. This is from 3+ years ago so "may" have gone up.

£35 to diagnose the problem, which you get back if you go ahead. £69 fixed labour, £18 courier fee to send it back + parts. VAT needs to added to the final bill.

I am pretty sure they don't repair to component level so they just swap a board out. MarkBass won't release circuit diagrams of their amps so it's difficult for independent repairers to track what the problem is. It's also a Class D amp, which a lot of guys won't touch.

I was looking at North of £200 when my MarkBass went on the fritz so I just scrapped it.

[Greg Edwards69]

19 minutes ago, BassBunny said:

Here are Real Electronics, MarkBass approved repairer, charges. This is from 3+ years ago so "may" have gone up.

£35 to diagnose the problem, which you get back if you go ahead. £69 fixed labour, £18 courier fee to send it back + parts. VAT needs to added to the final bill.

I am pretty sure they don't repair to component level so they just swap a board out. MarkBass won't release circuit diagrams of their amps so it's difficult for independent repairers to track what the problem is. It's also a Class D amp, which a lot of guys won't touch.

I was looking at North of £200 when my MarkBass went on the fritz so I just scrapped it.

Similar to the repair to my old LMII head, by Electronic Music Services in Southend. MIne had a micro fracture somewhere on the main board that made the amp go into protect mode after 20mins or so. They told me expensive as it is, it's more efficient and effective, and actually cheaper to swap the board out than try and find and fix fault(s) on a microscopic level. I think mine cost a little under £200 to fix. I couldn't bring myself to scrap it.