Cabinet choice for Markbass Little Mark Tube 800 (and other aspects)

[Dan Dare]

10 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

It's not always obvious when a cab is being stretched. In a metal environment it's even harder to hear when a cab is distorting, or simply fading from too much heat. If it was easy nobody would blow a driver.

 

A good rule of thumb is if you need to turn up and it hardly seems to get any louder the best thing to do is take a break and turn it down from there just a bit instead.

 

Au contraire. it is obvious when something is struggling. If you can't hear when a cab is distorting, you will be unlikely to hear that it isn't getting louder when you turn up. If you're playing at insane onstage volume levels, you only have yourself to blame if you destroy your gear, anyway.

[Downunderwonder]

8 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

 

Au contraire. it is obvious when something is struggling. If you can't hear when a cab is distorting, you will be unlikely to hear that it isn't getting louder when you turn up. If you're playing at insane onstage volume levels, you only have yourself to blame if you destroy your gear, anyway.

To sumarise, "it's obvious unless it isn't, not my fault of you blow your stuff up".

[Dan Dare]

On 12/02/2023 at 19:13, Downunderwonder said:

To sumarise, "it's obvious unless it isn't, not my fault of you blow your stuff up".

 

That's about it. Gear has to sound pretty dreadful if it's about to self-destruct. If you play on through that, it's down to you.

[garyt]

+1 for a Barefaced Supertwin.   Ticks all your boxes and sounds great with Mark Bass amps.   LMB 800 Tube will be a great match.    Definitely finds its place with loud guitars, so will be great for metal.  Light as a feather and will eat all situations, rehearsals and loud gigs.  You won’t get it out of second gear.  

[LiturghianPope]

On 12/02/2023 at 00:07, Downunderwonder said:

Tempting to not fix what isn't broken? Most of us would be very happy not to have to bring a cabinet with us like our Siamese twin.

 

Of course one day you turn up and the monitors are 1 10'' wedge each side so it pays to have a cab in the van.

 

What's the drummer doing?

 

I have heard that in Europe e-drums all the way to IEM silent stage metal is a real thing. Maybe in your neck of the woods turning up with no monitor amps is the new normal?

 

I don't necessarily need to take the cab at every gig, depends on the venue. And as you said, yeah - inevitably surprises can show up.

 

Sorry, what do you mean by what's the drummer doing? :)) Drumming. And telling jokes.

 

And yes - many of the bands we play with are fully digital + IEM. Some bring their own mixer (wireless) and just plug a stereo output in the PA mixer. Minimal adjustment needed on the venue's side.

 

 

On 12/02/2023 at 09:45, Phil Starr said:

I pretty much always take my own back line to a gig where I have no control over the PA. If the engineer gives me enough then I turn it right down but if I and the drummer can't hear what I'm playing I'm not left stranded. I guess that's what you want to achieve.

...

The other way is to get the speaker pointing at your ears so very tall speakers or stacks are great in this respect as are kickback designs otherwise get an angled speaker stand.

 

If the PA is really large and loud then there is often a problem with a muddy sound. Bass is omnidirectional so you'll get all of the bass from the PA and none of the top end. You can counter this by rolling off the bass frequencies in your monitors and boosting the mids to compensate.

 

Yes, that's what I want to achieve, better monitoring both at rehearsals and live gigs. Capturing the sound from the cabinet (which I don't yet have) with a microphone is not something I plan to do, unless done properly (with a good mic and someone who knows what they're doing).

 

I've seen angled speaker stands by Markbass, not expensive, probably I should consider one right from the start...

 

 

Since I received many Barefaced SuperTwin recommendations, I have to ask, what about this one? https://barefacedaudio.com/collections/10cr-bass-cabs/products/two_10?variant=44166229983512 . It's closer to my price range, and I see it has switchable impedance.

 

I do however have some trouble understanding whether it's in danger of blowing up with my amp or not. Website says 500 W. My amp outputs 500 W at 8 ohm, but 800W at 4 ohm. So since the cab has switchable impedance, I'm not sure how to interpret the specs.

 

(By the way, it says 500W here https://barefacedaudio.com/collections/10cr-bass-cabs but on the page with the amp details, it says 800W RMS.)

 

Also looking as advised into used ones, but...again, shipping might be a problem at this size, can't find anything nearby.

[garyt]

Sounds like you are fairly interested in the Barefaced cabs.

Email them with all your queries.

That’s the one thing I really like about them.  You email them, and you get some cracking advice back.   Especially after sales advice. 
Never any pressure to buy either.

[Downunderwonder]

8 hours ago, LiturghianPope said:

it's in danger of blowing up with my amp or not.

In a hard out rock environment there is danger that an overdriven tone masks the sounds of speakers being overdriven. Alex will tell you that his 210 takes 500w of clean bass. That's why he recommends an 800w amp for clean tones only.

 

800w is the clean rated output of your amp at 4ohm. It will put out peaks much higher. You are NOT SAFE unless you can play around with overdriven tones at much less than your amps maximum capability and hear when you are overdoing it. I DONT BELIEVE you have that skill if you have to ask.

 

I don't know what your amp will do into 12ohm. It will be a helluva lot safer than full throttle 4 ohn but 800w is strong so I suspect still not SAFE to wail on with distorted tones. No doubt you would find the effortless oomph at 4ohm quite intoxicating....

 

You don't want to break your 800€ plus shipping new toy on its first outing or its 50th. I think it's the wrong tool for a metal band.

[Downunderwonder]

9 hours ago, LiturghianPope said:

Sorry, what do you mean by what's the drummer doing? :)) Drumming. And telling jokes.

I meant is he all mic'd up or just the kick or perhaps kick and a couple of overheads or maybe e-drums... 

 

I wonder if Alex might have a returned big twin or an older model demo cab he could do you a killer deal on. That's about the only way you are getting one of those anywhere near your budget. He gets fantastic bulk rates on his shipping and you're only paying the one lot of Romanian VAT buying from factory direct, no UK VAT involved.

 

Perhaps someone reads this and does a local trade in at Barefaced of their overkill BigTwin for something smaller. You could put in a request in the wanted section. You would escape UK VAT and get cheap BF shipping that way too.

[LiturghianPope]

10 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

I meant is he all mic'd up or just the kick or perhaps kick and a couple of overheads or maybe e-drums... 

 

I wonder if Alex might have a returned big twin or an older model demo cab he could do you a killer deal on. That's about the only way you are getting one of those anywhere near your budget. He gets fantastic bulk rates on his shipping and you're only paying the one lot of Romanian VAT buying from factory direct, no UK VAT involved.

 

Perhaps someone reads this and does a local trade in at Barefaced of their overkill BigTwin for something smaller. You could put in a request in the wanted section. You would escape UK VAT and get cheap BF shipping that way too.

 

Mic'ing handled by the venue/festival organizer. Mostly it's kick and a couple of overheads as you said. 

 

Maybe I'll try sending an e-mail as you and @garyt suggested.

[A.G.E.N.T.E.]

Owning a  Markbass LM Tube 800 paired with a MB new york 122, I can only say good things sound wise. I play with a very loud drummer And a guitar player that insists to use a mesa boogie valve powerd stereo rig, meaning 4 x12“ on each side. I can tell you that the previous rig I used was a full stack 1x15“ +4x10" powerd by a 500 warwick amp... Felt short.

This Markbass rig has 1/3 of the sise and weight and has much more power and clarity. 

Before getting this I was leaning towards a Frfr... But the lack of easy access do eq and volume control put me of.