New Marshall MB Series

[sk8]

anyone seen these or had a play yet?

seem to be really well placed for a hybrid amp

[Krysbass]

[quote name='sk8' post='78265' date='Oct 23 2007, 01:33 PM']anyone seen these or had a play yet?

seem to be really well placed for a hybrid amp[/quote]

I was just about to ask the same question after seeing these mentioned in the current issue of Bass Guitar magazine. Checking out the web, the prices seem really variable (anything from £279 to over £400 for the MB4210 depending on where you look).

The MB4210's spec looks really good - especially if you tend to switch between clean and classic tones, but I wonder how well it stacks up against the Ashdown MAG C210 T300?

[mr pablo]

I've had a go on the smaller practice combo and thought it was good enough for the cash (I likes the marshal sound), although not seen the bigger ones yet but for £279 doesnt seem bad for a 300w expandable combo.

[alexclaber]

Superficially that looks like a lot of amp for the money!

Alex

[ReeV0]

I was thinking of buying the Marshall 450w combo (with the 1x15 cab), but its 53kg! too heavy! So instead i will probably go for them all seperately - the 450w head, 600w 4x10 cab, and the 300w 1x15 cab. its annoying because if you get the combo (which is pretty much just the speakers and head built in) its £100 cheaper

[ianmwmac]

Hi,
I've just joined and saw this topic. I bought a Marshall MB4410 450w combo, in December '07 for £320, as I love the Marshall sound, have used it on around 6 gigs so far and have been disappointed throughout.

Lack of power for one, and the most annoying hum makes it almost unusable when put thru our PA. Weighing in at 53kg I couldn't afford to send it back to shop 200 miles away (they did free postage when I bought it) so shop agreed to let engineer in my local town have a look at it. He's changed a jack socket but still humming and still sounds under-powered, so am now embarking on a long road of exploratory engineering - on a NEW amp.

The shop in Preston were extremely helpful and after a long conversation with one of their salesmen, he confirmed that he has a lot of these amps as the build quality has declined so much due to out-sourcing, that bass players have moved on. He's had a lot of returns, he actually said he's had more Marshalls returned than any other make.

Maybe I've just got a duff one but be warned about the drop in build quality.

My advice would be to test it first

Hope it helps

Ian Mac

[The Funk]

[quote name='ianmwmac' post='170857' date='Apr 6 2008, 07:00 PM']Lack of power for one, and the most annoying hum makes it almost unusable when put thru our PA.[/quote]

The hum could be a ground loop of some kind. I get that sometimes when I try to use the DI out on my preamp with a PA. Never at home in the studio - just live with some PAs.

Not sure what you could do about the lack of power apart from adding a second cab.

Sounds like a real bummer.

[Guest MoJo]

I sold my MB4410 at a time when the band were going DI with in-ear monitoring. I never had a problem with it at all and found it very versatile. I think the one Ian Mac owns has a problem that may be affecting the output too, then again 'power' or volume is a subjective thing and depends on so many factors. I used to play through a Hartke HA5500 into Trace Elliot 2x10 and 1x15 cabinets. On stage I felt that the bass was too quiet and not cutting through. Out front all you could hear was bass, enough to knock small children over.

The guy I sold the combo to plays in a Prog Rock band. I dropped him a line to ask him how he was getting on with it. This was his reply.

[i]Hi Mark,

The amp is terrific, it took a few goes at decent volume to set it up as I want it, largely because it is so flexible, I'm using mainly the "Classic" side with my Ibanez Roadster, just a touch of distortion when I want it. On similar settings my Rickenbacker sounds exactly as I like it, similar to Rush or Yes in the 70s, delivering the grunt and the click and it cuts through to the back of the room, fantastic. I think I might have caused that earthquake the other day.......

My son has used it with his Fender Jaguar active and has found the modern side gives him a real lively sound with the guitar EQ off, He has a Zoom pedal and has made all his custom sounds more subtle as the amp fills them out better. The RBX sounds good as well when you boost the lower mid and on full chat and played hard (as all 21 year olds do) has some natural "clang" and distortion.

I've used the modern side with my Precision and this is a real clean fat sound for more mellow stuff.

All in all I'm really pleased, many thanks again.



Charles

[/i]

[RobTheBass]

[quote name='sk8' post='78265' date='Oct 23 2007, 01:33 PM']anyone seen these or had a play yet?

seem to be really well placed for a hybrid amp[/quote]

Hi there, I actually play for the Chris George Band, official demonstrators for Marshall, and I did a load of roadshows at the back end of last year with the new MB amps. It's fair to say that there were one or two teething problems with the amps but they've got it sorted now so reliability shouldn't be a problem. They're excellent value money and I actually bought my own MB4210 with the MBC115 extension cab for use with my other bands. I find this the best combination. The combo is great for smaller venues at 300w and if you play something bigger then adding the extension cab gives you 450w and thumping bottem end. It takes a bit of time and some messing around to find your sound but the choice of two channels (modern and classic) gives you so much flexibility. I prefer the Classic channel and adding some gain gives you that nice dirty 70's sound. Sure it's no all-valve VBA rig but it is a third of the price. There's no lack of volume either - it's just a case of getting the channel volume, gain and Master volume right. For a bass player on a budget it's a great rig.

[ianmwmac]

I took it to the excellent engineer that sold us our PA and sets up all our mics up and he confirmed the lack of power and buzz/hum. I then phoned up the shop again, Rimmers in Preston, and the "very helpful" salesman told me that even though I'd bought it off their web shop, he might be able to help me get it repaired locally as he agreed it was going to cost a fortune to send 50 kg from Yeovil to Preston.

He advised me to get it repaired at local engineers then phone Rimmers with the repair invoice and he should be able to come to some arrangement regarding full/part refund as it was only a few months old and still under warranty. Work included new jack socket, and re-soldering dozens of joints on the board, total cost £60. When I phoned Rimmers again, I spoke to the branch manager this time and he informed me that I would never have been told to get it repaired locally as their policy is ALWAYS to return it to Marshall,and that I had now invalidated my warranty so there was nothing else they could do. I basically got stitched!

I had a week of decent power and lovely tones form the two channels but now I cant switch between the channels anymore and power has gone again, so back to engineer. Will be selling it on or trading it in just as soon as I can get it 100% working.

[bobbytodd]

hi i think you have been unlucky and bought a dodgy amp ive got a mb450 head and it has no hum and no buzz.it gets gigged two or three times most weeks so it gets a hard life

[yorks5stringer]

[quote name='ianmwmac' post='202417' date='May 19 2008, 08:48 PM']I took it to the excellent engineer that sold us our PA and sets up all our mics up and he confirmed the lack of power and buzz/hum. I then phoned up the shop again, Rimmers in Preston, and the "very helpful" salesman told me that even though I'd bought it off their web shop, he might be able to help me get it repaired locally as he agreed it was going to cost a fortune to send 50 kg from Yeovil to Preston.

He advised me to get it repaired at local engineers then phone Rimmers with the repair invoice and he should be able to come to some arrangement regarding full/part refund as it was only a few months old and still under warranty. Work included new jack socket, and re-soldering dozens of joints on the board, total cost £60. When I phoned Rimmers again, I spoke to the branch manager this time and he informed me that I would never have been told to get it repaired locally as their policy is ALWAYS to return it to Marshall,and that I had now invalidated my warranty so there was nothing else they could do. I basically got stitched!

I had a week of decent power and lovely tones form the two channels but now I cant switch between the channels anymore and power has gone again, so back to engineer. Will be selling it on or trading it in just as soon as I can get it 100% working.[/quote]

Why don't you talk direct to Marshall about it? When I had their gear they were very helpful...I can't believe you've been treated like this!!! Give them a call, what's it going to cost?