The Noob get his first amp! Markbass content.

[ossyrocks]

Hi Chaps,

 

Following on from my post in Introductions, and asking about lightweight setups. Today an amp popped up on Facebook Marketplace only 10 minutes away from me in Lancaster.

 

I had been looking at buying a new Markbass CMD 121P, but this was too good to resist. It's been gigged quite a bit, the cab was covered in white cat hair 😂, and it appears the cat liked to exercise it's claws in the cab covering. But it sounded great, works fine, and the price was right. A bit of de-hairing, trimming the plucks and a bit of cleaning and it came together nicely.

 

I now have my first rig!

 

Tomorrow, before noon, my first decent bass (vintage Precision) is arriving too! It feels like Christmas!

 

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has a similar setup, amp settings etc, as I'm going to have to get used to dialing this in.

 

Cheers,

Rob

 

[skidder652003]

That will sound epic, well done!

[ossyrocks]

Just now, skidder652003 said:

That will sound epic, well done!

Cheers Skidder, it will only sound epic once I can actually play “epic”, but I appreciate your optimism and support.

[skidder652003]

2 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

Cheers Skidder, it will only sound epic once I can actually play “epic”, but I appreciate your optimism and support.

I have the 12" combo with horn and its cray loud and punchy. I don't even bother taking out my full fat SVT and 410. You will be using this for years, its a great rig, good choice.

[Lozz196]

Good rig, and imo a good pairing with a Precision, work well together.

[Downunderwonder]

The EQ is far from intuitive on those, particularly the filters that are off at zero while the rest of the knobs are doing more each side of 12 o'clock. The center frequencies of the EQ's are all a bit different to other amps also.

 

You might like to add a 7 band EQ pedal to help you along.

[Reggaebass]

That’s a nice setup, I used markbass for years, only with 15s, I sold my amps but I’m keeping the cabs, a precision will sound really good through that, nice one ☝️

[yorks5stringer]

Nice rig. I had the same set up some years ago: it's possible if you remove the grill and use a hairdryer to release the badge you can then relocate/stick it horizontally!

[lownote]

If you like your playing oomphy and low, my EQ on a similar rig that I happened on by accident is, in 'clock positions:  Bass 11.30; Low mids 10.30; High mids 9; Treble 8.30  VLE 8; VFF 10.30.. FYI, YMMV 

[ossyrocks]

25 minutes ago, lownote said:

If you like your playing oomphy and low, my EQ on a similar rig that I happened on by accident is, in 'clock positions:  Bass 11.30; Low mids 10.30; High mids 9; Treble 8.30  VLE 8; VFF 10.30.. FYI, YMMV 

I’ll give that a try.

 

My target tone is Pino Palladino, John Mayer Trio. It can’t be that hard, right? 😳

[la bam]

I have the same rig. Love it. I add another 2x10 for big gigs, but it isnt necessary.

 

Great weight, great tone, great volume.

 

Enjoy.

[lownote]

Twiddle away until you find what you want.  And don't be afraid to go off piste.  I was carefully trying logical combinations of settings and getting nowhere when my hand accidentally brushed over the knobs and achieved the above combination quite by random chance.  When I hit a note it was the sound I'd been searching for for ages.  But what works in private on your own may not work in a band mix - I generally need to up everything to the middle to cut through in a  loud rock band. 

[BillyBass]

Congrats.

 

I have a MarkBass head but I put it through Barefaced cabs.  I find it suits brighter basses and have to bump the treble up for my precision.  The MarkBass cab might make a difference though.

[Nicko]

I've been using a Littlemark Blackline with a (what looks like the same) 102P traveller cab for years.  It's plenty powerful enough and sounds great with a Precision.  The portability is a bonus.  I've never bothered with the filters.

[fretmeister]

Very nice.

 

I'm a big fan of Mark Bass.

[Sweeneythebass]

Yep brilliant, I’ve always found with Markbass I barely need to touch the eq or filters, eq flat and filters off. On a tight stage I really like to tilt the cab/combo for monitoring (using markbass wedge!) makes all the difference. I’ve used CMD121P and the 210 combo on gigs and the sound just cuts through, PA or no PA support. I currently have CMD151p and it’s all I need although I keep looking for an extension cab just cause I wanna see how loud it goes 😂

[bassbiscuits]

Yup I’ve got a LM3 and one of these cabs, which I pair with a larger STD102HF for big gigs. It’s ace. Lovely and punchy too. 

[CliveT]

I've been using a P bass and Markbass combo for a few years now and keep things pretty flat most of the time. 

EQ's at 12:00 and VLE and VPF at minimum.  

I find the VLE useful for taming new strings and somewhere between 09:00 and 10:00 works well.

At higher volumes the VPF stops the mids being too sharp so a setting somewhere around 09:00 works for me.

I then just EQ to taste depending on the room but it's not usually much.

It's a great tone and sits really well in the mix.  Sound guys love the DI out too.

[StingRayBoy42]

Welcome to the club!

A P Bass and a touch of the VLE... done! 😀

[garyt]

I have an LM3 and love it.  I have all the EQ dials at 12 o’clock, and then make tweaks according to the venue.  
I like the sound of the filters on their own, but in a band, I just turn them both off.   I guess I like the LM3 sounding as neutral as possible.  Sounds great with a Super Twin , but am sure that MB cab will pair excellent. 

[gjones]

That's a decent first rig.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ossyrocks]

Well, my rig hasn’t ended up being the 1x12 combo I originally envisaged, and today I picked up a Traveller 1x15 to match the rig I ended up starting with. I now have the rig of doom, which some of my bass playing pals have informed me would easily cover a gig at the Albert Hall without going through the PA. Anyway, behold the wonder of the rig of doom in a tiny bungalow! I think they could hear me all over Morecambe this afternoon.

 

Rob
 

 

[lownote]

10 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

Well, my rig hasn’t ended up being the 1x12 combo I originally envisaged, and today I picked up a Traveller 1x15 to match the rig I ended up starting with. I now have the rig of doom, which some of my bass playing pals have informed me would easily cover a gig at the Albert Hall without going through the PA. Anyway, behold the wonder of the rig of doom in a tiny bungalow! I think they could hear me all over Morecambe this afternoon.

 

Rob
 

 

 

Very nice - and the important thing is it's all colour matched lol

[StingRayBoy42]

39 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

Well, my rig hasn’t ended up being the 1x12 combo I originally envisaged, and today I picked up a Traveller 1x15 to match the rig I ended up starting with. I now have the rig of doom, which some of my bass playing pals have informed me would easily cover a gig at the Albert Hall without going through the PA. Anyway, behold the wonder of the rig of doom in a tiny bungalow! I think they could hear me all over Morecambe this afternoon.

 

Rob
 

 

 

Excellent choice! Lovely rig, that.

Hope your neighbours are nice 😀

[Downunderwonder]

7 hours ago, ossyrocks said:

Well, my rig hasn’t ended up being the 1x12 combo I originally envisaged, and today I picked up a Traveller 1x15 to match the rig I ended up starting with. I now have the rig of doom, which some of my bass playing pals have informed me would easily cover a gig at the Albert Hall without going through the PA. Anyway, behold the wonder of the rig of doom in a tiny bungalow! I think they could hear me all over Morecambe this afternoon.

 

Rob
 

 

If you want to be heard far and wide stack the cabs up in their tall directions and don't stand right in front of it.