wildebassman

Amps with no fans, I played and liked; Trickfish Bullhead .5 and Epifani UL901, lots of power too.

I currently have a Markbass LM3 with a very silent fan that never bothers me even when I am playing in a small room at low volume.

22 hours ago, radiophonic said:

That's an interesting guts shot. It seems to have 2 transformers, but only one of them is toroidal. The other one is about the same size as the ones in my 4 x 6550 HiFi amp.  Do you know what the story is there? Max needs to raise his website game I think.

The non toroidal is the output transformer, pretty normal, I have an older Laney amp with toroidal mains and non toroidal output transformer. I hand made quite a few replica Marshall amps and nver used toroidal transformers.

Pics of one of the "bluesbreaker" combo's I used to build.

One amp repair dude serviced one here in the Netherlands. He was pretty impressed. The measured output was max. 141 watts rms.

Not to sure about that, I had the BG250 112 and that one didn't have enough power but couldn't take an extension cab..

37 minutes ago, Lee-Man said:

Thomann have LM3 15th anniversary editions for £299 at the moment https://www.thomann.de/gb/search_dir.html?sw=466410+466412+466414+466405+382329&smcs=291b2c_12479&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=feed&utm_content=dotw_DV_Mark

A steal..

The Epifani went back, the Markbass stayed.

And that even with the gain and master all the way down. I recognise the problem, I tried a Little Marcus 1000 head and there also was hiss all the time. Now I have bought an LMlll and there is almost no hiss. Is this new on your amp or did you change your cabinet?

Well, some retrospect, I sold my MB 121 combo and bought a Vanderkley 112mnt cab. After that I started looking for a new amp. Played, Mesa, Epifani, Trickfish and a MB Little Marcus. 

But...I still haven't found my new "main" amp so...I just bought a 15 anniversary LMlll, n.o.s. for a steal at Thomann, 333 euro's, because I need an amp in the mean while. 

The LMlll will stay as a back up no matter what after I have found a new main amp.

8 hours ago, BillyBass said:

Ordinarily I wouldn't buy blind, but its lockdown.  I was umming and arring between the Genzler Magellan 350, the Darkglass 500 and the Markbass.  I thought I might end up wanting a bit more headroom than the Genzler would provide.  The Darkglass does have built in dirt, but I would rather have that in pedal form, and the Darkglass Footswitch costs another £89, which makes it £260 more than the Markbass, not bad value if you want the Darkglass pedals, but I wasn't sure I did.  Then there is the outstanding EQ section in the Markbass.

I did read your previous posts about your rig, as you seem to be the only other bassist out there with the one10 and Little Marcus, so thanks for posting your opinions.

My first impressions are good.  I am only playing it at quiet volumes at home but I have had to dial the 65Hz and 180Hz knobs down a bit; the room is concrete floored with painted walls and not much in the way of soft furnishings.  In a couple of days I'll take it out to my shed and turn the volume up a bit.

And yes, my basses sound different with it, more so than with my Elf (I have mim Fenders; a P and a J ).

Enjoy! Didn't work out for me but your combination of amp and cab is different.

Well the tweeter on the Vanderkley goes to max 16khz. Tried different amps on this cabinet, even today Mesa D800, no hiss at all, MB was hissing even with master volume all the way down. Well I really wanted this amp but cannot accept this anoying hiss in the background all the time even getting worse with the master up. I think it's in the pre amp design, I tried an amp with the same problem recently, EBS Reidmar 750.

8 hours ago, fretmeister said:

That's a shame.

I've never had any hiss on my 800W one. But also I don't have any tweeters in my cabs.

Does the Vanderkley have a tweeter control? Some tweeters go up to 20Khz, which in my mind is absolutely useless for bass, but that is where hiss can be.

It's not the cab for sure.

The steamhammer is a good solid amp, sounded good with everything flat, when I started tweaking I lost it, I just couldn't dail in another sound I liked. I left the store "dazed and confused"... 😉

Received the little marcus 1000w limited edition today.

Great tonal range, pretty quiet fan but...noisy pre amp, compared to the amps I have tested recently, the amp's got a lot of white noise. Even with the master all the way down considerable hiss came from the tweeter, what a bummer.

At playing levels it was really bad on my Vanderkley cab. When muted all hiss was gone, I suspect it's the pre amp.

Well I put it back in the box and it's on it's way back to Thomann.

Going to give a Glockenklang Steamhammer a try tomorrow.

Will share my findings.

28 minutes ago, wildebassman said:

Ha ha, you were faster!

Which model do you have? 500, 800, 1000watts?

Dennis.

3 minutes ago, julfam said:

Given the price difference, it's worth it indeed!

Yes absolutely!

1 minute ago, julfam said:

I got the 250 because I don't actually need more power. Can't hear much noise. I do hear the cooling fan, but it's quiet enough so that I dont hear it when playing in my bedroom, so more than acceptable in my opinion 😉

Hard to compare the noise with the Mesa because my bedroom is obviously quieter than the shop, and I dont remember anything in the shop (on both MB and Mesa).

Thanks for your answer, I tried the Mesa D800 too, nice amp, I liked it, but I will order the Little Marcus limited now at Thomann, no risk, if it's not a good match with my cab I can just return it.

2 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I am really sensitive to cooling fan noise. I hate it.

It really annoys me that the quest for tiny amps has meant cooling fans are everywhere when a bit bigger case would allow passive cooling. I often play with just a single clarinet and fan noise is obvious on some amps - not great for the gig. The Miller head is quiet enough - the fan is very low volume. Low enough that I will use the amp in the house even when just noodling to watch TV.

 

I don't hear any hiss unless I'm using a compressor or drive pedals - and that still depends on the settings of them.

 

 

Ha ha, you were faster!

4 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

It's my main amp. And I've had the regular LM2 in the past.

I use it for everything. With overdrives and other things for rock and metal, but most of the time with just a compressor for everything else.

 

My version is the limited "Gold Line" version that removed the "Millerizer" control and replaced it with a 2 knob semi-parametric, but the rest of the amp is identical and I don't use that feature anyway. It is very punchy and can be warm and clear too.

 

It is not darker than the regular LM2/3 - but the LM2/3 high EQ control was set at a completely pointless 10Khz. Unless a cab has a tweeter that control did nothing. 

 

The Marcus versions have a 5 band regular EQ rather than 4 and they are spaced better. The Ultra low control is now a little higher at 65hz - much better for cutting low end boominess in a bad room or on a cheap stage - and the Low Mid is closer at 180hz. This is particularly brilliant as that is where tight low end thump happens rather than flubby nonsense. It's also a good freq for EQ-ing to fit with a kick drum.

The Mids / high mid and treble are also far better centred. The treble is now at 3.8Khz and that is perfect for either adding nice definition at the top or cutting it for an old fashioned sound.As I said in the other thread I think cab choice is going to have a bigger impact on the treble of a sound. My BF cabs go to 6Khz at the top without a tweeter. If I bought a tweeter equipped BF cab the top end would be at 20Khz. That's a massive difference. The official Marcus cabs all have tweeters.

 

I can only think that it is youtube or the individual player that gives you the impression that it is a darker sounding amp. It is a very versatile amp. When I play metal I like a grindy treble Cliff Burton type sound and even though my cabs do not have tweeters it does that easily with a drive pedal. And it sounds great with a P bass, flatwounds and old RnB lines as well. Youtube vids might be going direct, might be getting post production EQ, might even be running into an IR of an old 18inch cab. Unless the youtuber shows all his signal chain and settings you just don't know.

Don't know if it makes a difference but at the moment the basses I'm using with it are - from darkest to brightest...

 

1: Fender American Special Precision - Rotosound Monel flats

2: Sandberg California II TT4 Superlight (Active with EMGs) - GHS Pressurewounds

3: Modified EBMM Stingray 5 (Passive PJ pickups) - D'Addario nickels

4: Ibanez SRMD205 Mezzo 5 string - Warwick Black Label steels.

 

Each bass sounds different with the amp. 

 

If it breaks - I will be buying another one.

Thanks a lot for this insightful answer! I have been looking at this amp a long time and I think I will order one now, the 1000w gold edition is "only" 750 euro's at Thomann, sounds like a steal. Two more questions, how is the fan noise and the noise floor of the amp? I also use the amp in a small room at home.

My gear:

Fender Pro Jazz

Fender Player Precision

Sire MM

Vanderkley 112mnt 600w 40hz-16khz.

1 hour ago, julfam said:

I have one as well - got it a few days ago. Wouldnt call it dark(er) either (even though not as clear as EBS Reidmar).
I found it punchier than the regular MB. The EQ is really good too. It just sounded the best with my Spector (and to my hear) while I compared it to other Markbass and the Mesa D800.
 

Now, you really got me curious, which model did you get? 250, 500, 800, 1000? How is the noise floor (hiss) on this amp compaired to the mesa? And how noisy is the cooling fan?

Dennis

7 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Not darker.

EQ is much better. More bands and better freq centres.

 

 

Do you have or played this amp? How would you rate it? 

Dennis.

Just curious, who played on the MB little marcus amps. It seems they're not as popular as the regular little mark models. 

Looking at the pre amp lay out one would think they are more  usefull in that respect.

I listened to some reviews on youtube but it's hard to really get a idea about how the amp sounds in real life. My first impression is that it is a " darker" sounding amp. Not something I relate to Marcus Millers sound.

Dennis.

Yup, funny how we all hear and perceive differently.

12 hours ago, machinehead said:

I don't know what they cost in Canada, but at the UK price, they should give you a spare one with it.

Frank.

🤣🤣👍indeed!

10 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

Me too.

I'm a plug and play guy so extreme use of the EQ always means it's not the amp for me. If all parts of the signal chain compliment each other it requires less work to get a consistently better sound throughout different songs, bands, stages and venues.

Me too, in a way that it makes me feel uneasy when I have to tweak to extremes to get my sound. I had this with a Trickfish Bullhead .5, just couldn't get my sound and clarity, I kept twisting the knobs, returned it after two days.

Now I am really curious about the MM...I have to try one out. 

Yesterday I visited Marc Vanderkley, I exchanged my 112ext for a 112mnt. We had a really good chat about cabs and amps. He is a great craftsman and friendly man. He showed me around in his cabinet and amplifier workshop, I had the chance to see how well and precise the products are made. Also we talked about the idea of launching a simpler amp with "only" 800 watts output instead of the 2x800 watts Spartan. He demonstrated one of his amps on 2 112mnt cabs, I was blown away by the sheer power, tone, and reponsivenes. That was an afternoon well spend.