thumbo

I'm a fan of these cables. They've got a very pure sound IMO. I very geekily A/B'd one recently with a Planet Waves Custom series cable. The Planet Waves gave a little more mid-range and the George L gave a little more treble. Edit: I tested these cables with a PRS Custom 24 and a Soldano. I'm not sure what the difference would be like with a bass, if any!

I have just got this amp back from Proel (mark bass distributor), it had to have it's "power block replaced". I don't know what that means but that's what it says on the repair report. Thankfully it was under warranty as all Mark Bass amps have a 2 year warranty. Now, I must give it a thrashing with my Berg NV610!!

I really admire the work of all the UK luthiers that I've looked into, it's inspiring how many top-notch luthiers there are in the UK at the moment

Is there anything you can do? What is his other feedback like?

I don't understand why it's a problem that the label isn't there. Even if it is older than described, is that a bad thing? Am I missing something blindingly obvious here? EDIT: If you're concerned that the amp may be fake or something then post some pictures on here. I'm sure we could figure out if there's anything fishy going on from a few decent pics. If you do want to do this then take a pic of the insides too (the top of the amp unscrews easily with a small philips screwdriver), I've geeked-out over the insides of the LM, LMK and TA503 a few times. Not that i know anything about electronics but I'm 99% sure I could tell a Mark bass amp from any other amp, has anyone else seen the insides of these things? It's a work of art!!

It should be quite easy to have a glance inside it. It's been living in a rack since the day I got it but if I remember rightly there's just a panel on top of Mark Bass amps that can be easily unscrewed and lifted off. I'll have a glance over the connectors tonight, there's 2 pre-amp valves in it I think so I guess there's no harm in reseating them to see if that's the issue. Thanks

I've just had a good look through the manual again, no mention of internal fuses but it's not exactly the most detailed manual in the world. No troubleshooting or anything in there.

Hi Bod, I've checked the fuse just below where the mains lead plugs in and it's fine. I have been wondering about internal fuses. I'll have to research this a bit more.

I had that happen once with my old LMK, it just cut out for a while to cool itself down then worked fine again after about 20 minutes. I thought that my TA503 had done that but unfortunately it hasn't switched back on since :-( I just hear the fans spinning away. I'm pretty gutted because I've only just got my Bergantino cab. Markbass weren't much help they said that "it's impossible to diagnose a problem through email".

Earlier this evening I was switching my Markbass TA503 between 2 different cabs to hear the difference in them. I was being very careful with turning the amp off before taking out any speaker cables but it seems that all this switching it on and off has caused a problem. When I turn the amp on now, no lights come up on the front, I can hear and feel the fans spinning but it's not outputting anything. I think this is something to do with a protection circuit but I can't be sure. I know that these amps don't really go wrong so I've been struggling to find any troubleshooting or info online. I've emailed Mark Bass to explain the issue. Any thoughts? Thanks

Save your bucks and buy just a few really nice pedals, you won't regret it.

Fretboard markers are for other people to see what you're playing, side dots are for your reference. I'm all for basses without fretboard markers because it'll keep your guitarist on his toes when you take the lead in a song and he can't see what you're doing!

I know I say this every time the compressor threads come up- DBX 160A! Ahhhh that's better.

I'm a big fan of the massive tone of the AD200B but it's a shame they don't offer bassists more. A 1x15 all valve combo, or a slightly lower powered version of the AD200B with different voicing would be great.

I've used both the whammy and the Micro POG with bass. I found the Micro POG much more bass friendly because you have control over the volume level of octave up and octave down individually. The Whammy is quite a different beast though. You're probably best off having a go with them before you buy.

45-65-85-105 is generally the most popular gauge for standard tuning. This gauge won't feel too heavy and they'll sound nice and chunky. For drop C you'll need heavier than this if you want to retain punch in your sound, i agree with the other guys up there that are saying 55-110. I used to play my Jazz bass in CGCF, I tried out many different gauges and brands and finally settled on putting together odd sets. My gauge of choice for this tuning was a set of Rotosound 55-110 with the 110 changed for a 115. Having the 115 for the low C made the strings feel much more balanced across the board.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='213972' date='Jun 6 2008, 04:59 PM']Do you think he'd allow me to take my erbs?[/quote] What's a camping trip with out some good erb?

If there was ever a good time to get a great deal on a second hand Warwick, now is the time. Keep your eyes on ebay but try some out before you commit your money to it. I fully agree with the sentiment of Warwicks being like "marmite". If you get the chance to try out any older Warwicks you'll really notice the slimmer necks and slightly smaller frets, IMO these two aspects quite massively change the playability of the old ones against the new ones. My 98' Warwick Thumb plays much nicer than my 06' Streamer Stage 1 because it's really worn in and has the slimmer wenge neck. However the Streamer is *almost* my perfect gigging and recording bass because it sounds so good and it's light. My Thumb stays at home in my room on a stand and it gets played a lot but I doubt I'll ever play another gig with it. You'll find that the range of Warwick basses varies a lot within that signature "growly!" tone. It's important to try out as many as you can to get a good idea for what they offer and how all those different body shapes feel.

That looks awesome OBBM! What kind of qualities does that cab bring to AD? The AD is a monstrous sounding amp, I can imagine that rig breaking things!

[quote name='cheddatom' post='188781' date='Apr 30 2008, 01:12 PM']Is the EBS IQ a dynamic envelope follower? You should have that first if so IMHO Do you not have the DD20 in a loop because of the way the delay decays when you turn off a patch (I don't know if it does this)? I bet someone could design you a box to put it in a loop so it wont suck your tone until it's on, but when you switch the loop off you still get the decay at the end.[/quote] I think it depends on the effect you're after from these kind of pedals. The Bass IQ is very dynamic but if it's before my Deep Impact is makes it go nuts because i use the two together for big swooshing envelope effects (i have the envelope dial turned up to about 2 o'clock), I don't use them in a funky way at all [i]even though[/i] they are possibly two of the funkiest sounding effects out there! For shorter funky envelope tones I would probably have the IQ before the Deep Impact like you're suggesting. That's an interesting idea about having the DD20 in my effects loop. If it ever gets to the point where I can't stand the tarnishing of the DD20 I'll look into this. Thanks for the suggestion

Thanks for the reminder to change my bass' batteries. I completely forgot that both my Warwicks require a 9volt!!

The expected availability date for these to hit the UK is June according Strings & Things (one of the main UK distributors for MXR).