TRBboy Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 I'm getting a bit frustrated now.... As some of you will know, my Markbass Stu Amp developed a fault in early May, so I sent it off to the UK authorised repairer under warranty. They've been pretty good, diagnosed the fault and have ordered parts from Markbass. After 6 weeks or so, they still haven't received the parts, and are struggling to even get any response from Markbass! I'm fortunate to have a spare amp that's getting me through gigs at the moment, but it's a pretty poor effort on Markbass' part. 😖 Although I'm having this issue, I do honestly think that Markbass reliability issues get over-egged, I've had various amps from them since 2006, and never a problem till now. N.B. I posted this on the Markbass group on FB over the weekend, and blow me down Stu Hamm actually reached out and offered to help! (He hasn't replied to my PM however 😅). Marco DeVigilis then also commented and asked me to email Markbass with all the details, I'm starting to get the impression from various comments that it might actually be the UK Authorised Repairer that are giving me the runaround... Oh, and Ed Friedland commented too! 😅 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 I get the feeling that it is the UK end of things letting them down too. What did Ed Friedland say? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted July 15 Author Share Posted July 15 34 minutes ago, fretmeister said: I get the feeling that it is the UK end of things letting them down too. What did Ed Friedland say? Get a GR Bass One 800 instead and don't look back! 🤣 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted July 15 Author Share Posted July 15 35 minutes ago, fretmeister said: I get the feeling that it is the UK end of things letting them down too. What did Ed Friedland say? I think it could well be the UK repairer, they were a bit slow with Comms and diagnosis initially, and said that they're really short staffed.... I do wonder now if they didn't get around to ordering the parts for weeks.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 6 minutes ago, TRBboy said: Get a GR Bass One 800 instead and don't look back! 🤣 I nearly wrote that! ha hahahahaha! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 Seriously though - I've never tried a GR Bass amp. But the demos don't seem to have a warm sound like the MB stuff does so well. I live my MB AG1000, but I'd like to try the Little Mark Tube or the Vintage head too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted July 15 Author Share Posted July 15 (edited) 2 hours ago, fretmeister said: Seriously though - I've never tried a GR Bass amp. But the demos don't seem to have a warm sound like the MB stuff does so well. I live my MB AG1000, but I'd like to try the Little Mark Tube or the Vintage head too. That's part of the reason the Stu Amp appealed to me (aside from 1000w), the tube and solid state signal paths with independent controls. It seems to work a lot better than the little mark tube I had. In fact it's probably the tubiest single tube preamp I've used, and it's easy to get just the right blend to your taste between the two levels. I've not tried the GR Amps, but they apparently are super transparent and sound great. Contrary to popular belief, the Markbass amps are some if the warmest sounding Class D amps out there. After many amps, I came back to Markbass because they just seem to work for me, I can always get a great sound out of them 🤷 Edited July 15 by TRBboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted July 15 Author Share Posted July 15 Markbass have just sent a brief reply to my email, and it sounds like the hold up may well have been at their end. They say they have the parts ready to ship, and they'll be with the repairer within the next few days. 🤷 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted July 24 Author Share Posted July 24 So after my correspondence with Markbass last week they did finally ship the parts at the end of the week, Real Electronics received them Monday and got the repair done within 24hrs! Should be with me today hopefully 🤞 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 I've been one of the chief stirrers on this issue, I want to emphasize that I don't think Markbass are any less reliable than other brands. My amp broke because I dropped it and had previously been 100% I can't blame Markbass for that. The issue are the contractual arrangements between Real Electronics and Markbass. Real have been given a monopoly for after care by Markbass who then take no further responsibility and apparently no further supervision. No circuit diagrams or parts supply are made available to third party repairers so you have to accept the terms that are offered or go to hell. I can see the advantage to Real in having a monopoly and Markbass in being able to forget about any amp past the guarantee period. I imagine Real pay Markbass for the monopoly just as car dealers pay to become main dealers but have no information on this. All the disadvantages pass on to the customers and extra profits go the the companies. Ironically I've hd no trouble in getting parts from Music Tribe (Behringer) or Wharfedale via their UK distributors in the past so poor support from Markbass looks extremely shabby. Our only comeback is not to buy from companies that don't support their products. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royaly T Posted August 4 Share Posted August 4 On 15/07/2024 at 11:39, TRBboy said: Get a GR Bass One 800 instead and don't look back! 🤣 Had my GR AT cube 800 and AT cube 112 for three months now, got to be the best out there, sound engineer at last festival gig couldn't believe the weight and quality of the sound. Expensive, yes, but you won't need anything else. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRBboy Posted August 5 Author Share Posted August 5 Just to close the loop here, I received the amp back on 25th July (a week after I kicked up a fuss with Markbass and they finally shipped the parts to Real Electronics), and it works great! Glad to have it back, it's a really great amp. 😊👌 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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