Markbass CMD 121 P - what a great little combo (I know, I'm a bit late to the party)

[gjones]

I've known about these little combos for years but ended up going down the digital head and Barefaced cab route. But when, just after lockdown, I saw a mint, late model one with the leather strap, going for a very good price on Ebay, I decided to bite the bullet and buy one.

 

3 years later and I've only recently had the chance to try it out in various scenarios and I'm really, really impressed. I've played through it with a quiet drummer, a medium loud drummer and a very, loud drummer, and it sounded great in every situation. Initially, I was afraid that the combo on it's own wouldn't be loud enough, so for the first two gigs I also brought along my Barefaced Super Compact but decided that the extra cab was overkill and disconnected it for both those gigs, which resulted in a more defined sound, which was plenty loud enough to project to the back of the room, and easily heard onstage. On the third gig I used it, I left the Barefaced at home.

 

It's also pretty light as well and an easy one hand lift (I have a sack trolley but haven't had to use it with the Markbass).

 

Why didn't anybody tell me these little combos were so great (ok everybody who owns one told me they were great but I just didn't listen). 

 

I wonder what the new version is like? What I do know, is that the original will be a difficult act to follow.

Edited June 5, 2023 by gjones

[Lozz196]

Yep, amazing little amps, really push out a lot more sound than would be expected 

[Nebadon2000]

Yes I bought one used a few years back worked great in rehearsal but when Band was about to Gig bought extension Cab

Have not needed extension yet mostly small/medium Gig's no FOH

 

I am also content with it's tone and blends well in mix on stage and in customer area of Venue

[kwmlondon]

I’ve got the head and cab- is there any difference?

[Ed_S]

I had the original rubber-handled combo and the extension cab, used them together once or twice before realising the cab wasn't needed, sold that and proceeded to gig the combo on its own for quite a while. Then I bought a Nano 300 head and realised I could get away with borrowing any old cab on the kinds of gigs we were doing, so got used to travelling even lighter and sold the combo. I soon realised I missed having it around, so I ended up buying a new leather-handled one just before everything went to you-know-what with lockdowns. I've not had chance to use it properly yet, but I'm sure it'll come in handy. Sound techs at venues used to love it as it was "enough, but not too much", as one put it.

[Ed_S]

1 hour ago, kwmlondon said:

I’ve got the head and cab- is there any difference?

 

I used the NY121 with a LM3 head a few times while I had it, and it seemed very similar to me. Slightly different in that you can turn the tweeter down or off on the cab, and I guess on a technicality it maybe has a bit more internal volume as there's no amp head cut-out, but for all practical purposes, with the tweeter on and the same amp head plugged in, it seemed to do the same job.

[kwmlondon]

9 hours ago, Ed_S said:

 

I used the NY121 with a LM3 head a few times while I had it, and it seemed very similar to me. Slightly different in that you can turn the tweeter down or off on the cab, and I guess on a technicality it maybe has a bit more internal volume as there's no amp head cut-out, but for all practical purposes, with the tweeter on and the same amp head plugged in, it seemed to do the same job.

I'm very impressed with the LMIII and NY121 setup - there are times it'd have been handy to have them in one package so I can really see the advantage of the combo, definitely.

[martthebass]

I've had a 2 x NY121 set up for about 7 years now.  Originally used with an LM3 but more recently with a LM Little Marcus 500.  For practices I find one cab more than adequate.  For gigs I prefer the sound using 2 cabs, not necessarily for the volume but it does seem to add extra depth to the sound.  Great little set up and despite looking for an alternative set up last year I wasn't able to find anything that beat it on sound, weight and size (it has to fit in the boot of a Mini 5dr).

[kwmlondon]

Just now, martthebass said:

I've had a 2 x NY121 set up for about 7 years now.  Originally used with an LM3 but more recently with a LM Little Marcus 500.  For practices I find one cab more than adequate.  For gigs I prefer the sound using 2 cabs, not necessarily for the volume but it does seem to add extra depth to the sound.  Great little set up and despite looking for an alternative set up last year I wasn't able to find anything that beat it on sound, weight and size (it has to fit in the boot of a Mini 5dr).

I've got an EBS Neoline 212 that I may move on and just get another 121...

[Muzz]

In a bit of a YMMV, I found the 121P struggled at gig volumes...It'd be fine for what I'm doing now (112 for stage monitoring, plus DI to the desk), but without support I thought it wasn't enough.

[kwmlondon]

13 minutes ago, Muzz said:

In a bit of a YMMV, I found the 121P struggled at gig volumes...It'd be fine for what I'm doing now (112 for stage monitoring, plus DI to the desk), but without support I thought it wasn't enough.

Do you think it'd have been fine with an extension cab or do you recon you'd need more than 500w?

[Muzz]

It's not the watts that's the issue, it's only a single 12 in smallish box is the problem (well, my problem - as can be seen above, lots of folk are fine with it) - I replaced it with the same amp (a LMIII head) and a 410, and that was night and day. My 'big rig' these days has a 300w head, and that can go stooopid loud...

 

I also had the same head in a 15 combo, I used that with the 15 extension speaker...which was plenty.

Edited June 7, 2023 by Muzz

[martthebass]

13 minutes ago, kwmlondon said:

Do you think it'd have been fine with an extension cab or do you recon you'd need more than 500w?

I find 500W plenty with 2 x NY121 even in fairly large clubs.  I usually don't need to push beyond half way on the master, any more would be uncomfortable on stage.  The DI stage is great on the MB amps and for large gigs (Festivals/Rallies) I just use the rig for monitoring and DI into the house set up.

[kwmlondon]

2 hours ago, martthebass said:

I find 500W plenty with 2 x NY121 even in fairly large clubs.  I usually don't need to push beyond half way on the master, any more would be uncomfortable on stage.  The DI stage is great on the MB amps and for large gigs (Festivals/Rallies) I just use the rig for monitoring and DI into the house set up.

I think I may ditch the EBS and get a second ny121. The EBS is overkill really. 

[martthebass]

49 minutes ago, kwmlondon said:

I think I may ditch the EBS and get a second ny121. The EBS is overkill really. 

You won't regret it matey.

[kwmlondon]

18 minutes ago, martthebass said:

You won't regret it matey.

I do like the EBS. It's quite a tasty piece of kit... but I think it'd suit a valve amp much better being 4 ohm and very hifi so you'd get the sound of something like a 100w head cooking. https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/EBS-NeoLine-212-Professional-Neodymium-Bass-Speaker-Cabinet/P37

But yeah, I've actually been preferring the tone from my NY121.

[martthebass]

12 minutes ago, kwmlondon said:

I do like the EBS. It's quite a tasty piece of kit... but I think it'd suit a valve amp much better being 4 ohm and very hifi so you'd get the sound of something like a 100w head cooking. https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/EBS-NeoLine-212-Professional-Neodymium-Bass-Speaker-Cabinet/P37

But yeah, I've actually been preferring the tone from my NY121.

I’d been through various combinations of 10s and 15s before this set up and this combination just clicked. One thing to note is the tweeter, like many I prefer the sound without it and you can disable/turn it down on the stand alone cabs. On the combo you have to disconnect it but not a tough job.