Mark Bass hate

[DDR]

Hey,

 

So my gallien krueger mb112 is turning out to be pretty unreliable, and I'm looking to get a light 15" cab to go with my Ampeg portaflex 500 head.

 

I'm in Europe otherwise I'd be hitting up Barefaced. I'm looking at Thomann.. lots of mark bass options around 15kg.

 

I'm wondering because I always heard great bass players I worked with and that I respect hating on Mark bass. Any info on what that's about?

 

Is it still a thing? Any thoughts on why I shouldn't get a mark bass cab?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[maidens97]

I've always liked Markbass cabs for the most part, I used to have the 104HF and it was one of the best cabs I've used. I think most of the hate goes towards the heads more than the cabs as they're also rather unreliable in my experience. The cabs are rather mid low mid focused but helps you cut through in a mix really well. Other people just slate them on cosmetics alone

[DDR]

34 minutes ago, maidens97 said:

I've always liked Markbass cabs for the most part, I used to have the 104HF and it was one of the best cabs I've used. I think most of the hate goes towards the heads more than the cabs as they're also rather unreliable in my experience. The cabs are rather mid low mid focused but helps you cut through in a mix really well. Other people just slate them on cosmetics alone

 

Interesting. What are you using now if I may ask?

[Ed_S]

I've been using Markbass gear for 17 years (LM2, F1, LM800, LM3, Nano 300, Nano 2, CMD 121p, MiniMark 802, MicroMark 801, NY121, 104HR) and not had anything go wrong with any of it yet. Never experienced any negativity towards it either. I had one guy warning me that my amp was unreliable, but that turned out to be because the Nano 300 faceplate is red and he thought it was a TC Electronic.

[fretmeister]

I'm a big fan. I've had an LM2, LM3, CMD102P, Marcus Goldline, AG1000 and an F1.

The F1 was dead in the box when I bought it and replaced immediately. That's the only problem I've ever had with them.

 

The AG1000 is my current main amp.

I like the cabs too although I have Barefaced at the moment. I have not tried the brand new cab line.

 

I get that the yellow might put some people off. The cabs are not really a metal option but for just about anything else I think they are excellent.

 

The amp head DI is really good too. Makes a change from other amps where it seems to be an afterthought. 

[lemmywinks]

Gigged a LMII with a TRV151 and later a pair of Club 121 cabs for years, the Club cabs were especially good. No complaints here, embrace the yellow.

[Ed_S]

2 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I like the cabs too although I have Barefaced at the moment. I have not tried the brand new cab line.

 

I get that the yellow might put some people off. The cabs are not really a metal option but for just about anything else I think they are excellent.

 

The amp head DI is really good too. Makes a change from other amps where it seems to be an afterthought. 

 

My 104HR departed in a recent thinning and I'm using Barefaced as well, though I've used my Markbass gear for plenty of metal gigs and nobody's bemoaned the yellow. Ok.. they're a bit more Party Cannon than pile-of-twigs, but they're still 'good for metal'.

 

Agree about the DI as well.

[maidens97]

33 minutes ago, DDR said:

 

Interesting. What are you using now if I may ask?

 

For most of my gigs I do now I am ampless currently using a HX stomp but thinking of switching that out for something else. When I do use an amp for my original band though it will be my new setup Orange 4x10 with a terror bass.

Edited June 13 by maidens97

[Lozz196]

I found their cabs to have a high end roll off. Fine if the bass stack is handling all the low end in a venue but if you’re DI-ing to Front of House then what that gets will include more high end. 

[Chienmortbb]

Mark Bass Cabs are a bit Marmite. In the SW bass bash, in consecutive years, They were voted best and then worst  in a blind shoot out between several cabinets. 
 

Edited June 13 by Chienmortbb

[neepheid]

Pfft, "hate".  It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.  Trust your own ears.  If you like Markbass, you're not wrong.  If you don't like them, you're not wrong.

 

FWIW, my rig is a Mini CMD 121P IV on top of a New York 121 and I enjoy it very much - not only the sound but the modularity, the compactness, relative light weight and the fact that both of my "tone cubes" fit in the back of my wee Mitsubishi Colt (just).

[Linus27]

MarkBass has been a bit hit and miss for me over the years. I had a LM3 and 2x NY112 cabs and I really didn't gel with it. I was playing 50's Rock n Roll and I found it to be a bit lifeless, sterile and uninspiring. I quickly moved it all on and got an Ampeg Pf500 and Barefaced Two10 which was way more dynamic.

 

I now have a LM IV which I really like and sounds very good through the Barefaced Two10. This is for fretless and a lot more melodic type of playing. I've not tried any of the new cabs or even the old Traveller cabs but I've not heard anything bad about them.

[cacio]

As Italian i bought one of the first s450,the silver one about 20 years ago.And by then i had other varius cab and head.For my taste the cabs are too boomy and I don’t like their tw but i have to say that I use cabs without tw and non ported,so very different in sonic goals 

I found they products very reliable and with a  good price vs the Usa Made amps,but with the same quality 

if you like the sound Markbass made great gear 

[msb]

I was happy with GK gear when Markbass started to become popular. Never had any issues with the GK , if I had I probably would have bought in.

When I finally changed from GK , the Markbass heyday had passed and I got a great deal on a GB StreamLiner. 

[Lozz196]

When I was using Markbass gear I loved it, had quite a few different set ups and all were good. I moved on as I needed aggressive highs and gain/drive which I couldn’t get from them. From what I understand the eq points on some of their amps are now set differently though.

Out of all the different set ups I had the Little Mark Tube & 410HR, and the CMD121P & NY121 were my faves. 

[anzoid]

I recently got an MB58R Energy 2x10 to go with my GK MB500. Band I'm in loves it, though they've not known me use anything else so far. Had a pair of NY121s also used with a (different) MB500 and that was a monster rig that I never got the best from because I never played anywhere that I could crank it up properly so it was always barely ticking over, still regret selling that rig, so when the MB58R arrived on the scene at the time I was looking for a new cab is was a no-brainer because I like the Markbass sound.

[Newfoundfreedom]

I've heard mostly good things about Markbass. I just can't get over the *pimped by Halfords" look of them. They're the musical equivalent of an Essex boys hatchback. 

 

 

 

Edited June 13 by Newfoundfreedom

[neepheid]

5 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

I've heard mostly good things about Markbass. I just can't get over the *pimped by Halfords" look of them. They're the musical equivalent of an Essex boys hatchback. 

 

If you think my Roqsolid covers don't have yellow seams, you're sorely mistaken

 

[joel406]

I know Jeff Berlin loves em.

 

I couldn't get past all the yellow.

 

I use Mesa.

[lemmywinks]

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

If you think my Roqsolid covers don't have yellow seams, you're sorely mistaken

 

 

I had the Roqsolid with yellow trim as well, the old Club series cabs also had yellow accents and stitching on the tolex. Looked really good tbh, smart looking cabs.

[Downunderwonder]

MB were quick to mass market the Class D. Consequently they were teaching everyone of the consequences of the whole board replacement maintenance strategy. In the US their representatives let them down.

 

So that's where the internet hate comes from. That, and YELLOW!

 

Sound wise they are a bit oddball. What looks like EQ knobs are filters that have to be fully counterclockwise to have no effect. Big mid scoop baked in. Not intuitive at all.

 

I get a lot of them as supplied backline. It's s easy enough to zero the filters and boost some mids and I am happy.

[neepheid]

Internet hate is irrelevant - it is usually an amalgamation of the parochial viewpoints of a few malcontents who may well have had an individual bad experience, snowballed by a bunch of sycophants parroting what they've heard like a scary story round the campfire, because they want to belong to something or because they want to curry favour with whoever they heard it from. You'll notice it's mostly vague, people can't pinpoint a particular model or speak in depth about it, it's just generic.

 

Most of the people who talk trash about something have probably never used the product in question, or did so many moons ago and are too bitter to give it another go.

 

I pay it no attention. I let it wash past me as I make up my own mind. I've been very happy with things "people" have said are utter garbage.

 

Maybe I do sometimes pay some attention though. If I listened to the internet hate, I'd have never owned a Gibson bass. I think I bought them because of the internet hate

 

[ezbass]

I had an Little Mark 2. Sounded great and was loud. It fell off the cab and shortly after the power supply packed up. MB repaired it under warranty and it was good as gold again. Only sold it when I moved over to Phil Jones gear. If I had to buy a new rig, they’d certainly be in the mix. Some very high profile names are endorsers and have signature models. Whilst there is always some doubt about the value signature models in music, due to the potential of money swaying the named player’s endorsement, bass players are a pretty niche bunch, when compared to our guitar playing brethren and I don’t think these endorsers would tout or put their name on, or use gear they weren’t really happy with. Perhaps I’m naïve.

[neepheid]

6 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Sound wise they are a bit oddball. What looks like EQ knobs are filters that have to be fully counterclockwise to have no effect. Big mid scoop baked in. Not intuitive at all.

 

Maybe they've changed since you formed that opinion?  The IV stuff onwards has only one filter instead of two (VLE, VPF), and it's been renamed "Old School" with clearer OFF and MAX labelling to make it clear that you are dialling in zero or some "Old School" rather than it being a centred EQ point.  The mid scoop is a simple switch rather than a pot.  I find the flat tone to be somewhat mid heavy (suits me fine - great for live).  I run mine "flat" (is any amp truly flat?), with a bit of "Old School" and do any small shaping at the graphic EQ on my Monomyth at the pedalboard.

[Wolverinebass]

I used to own 2 Traveller cabs, the 2x10 and 1x15. There was lots to like and dislike about them. They were very light and well made and for the most part sounded good. However, I was then in a band where I was playing 12 string bass. That was the point where I realised the limitations of them. 

 

The piezo tweeter wasn't great and was completely uncontrollable for the top end especially when using distortion on the higher frequencies. It was kind of fine for a 4 string, just not for a 12. I couldn't get it to sit right.

 

As I did more recording, I realised how much top end was being cut from the signal even when I was using a 4 string. That was the final straw. I flogged them and bought a Vamderkley 2x12 which is killer.

 

As for the amps, I've tried a few and didn't like them. The low end seemed too spongy for me and the eq points were nonsensical. Does anyone boost a bass guitar at 10kHz? Not very much signal there.

 

They're not rubbish, just they don't work for what I want to achieve.