Sparky Mark

One feature of this amp that I don't think has been commented on yet is the absence of surface mounted components. From WOT's thread photos the PCBs all appear to be hand soldered through hole construction which are a whole lot easier to service and repair than high density SMT. If I didn't already own a shed full of heads I would have one on order as they are in a different class to the easy to produce, almost impossible to repair units that now prevail. HB have certainly put a great deal of effort into the aesthetics of their amps which I really like and it will be interesting to see if they continue to offer the variety of cosmetic and casing options once they become more established.

I had this issue once with my Markbass F500. I was playing in a loudish rock band driving bergantino ht112er and EX112ER cabs. When I dug in it tripped out. Never had the same problem with my Bergantino AE112s, perhaps the HT stack being less efficient pushed the amp too far?

Just bought Mark's Markbass Super Synth. It was packed superbly, shipped to me immediately and arrived in practically mint condition. I won't hesitate to deal with Mark again.

Why not contact Orange itself? It is headquartered in Borehamwood, North London(ish).

Luckily, Jim was prepared to wait until my latest expedition north to buy a cab from me. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to put the bass world to rights but Jim is obviously a genuinely nice guy and a tasty bass player to boot. Good (thorough) communications throughout. Cheers Jim.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1461496574' post='3035092'] Sure. Glockenklang Blue Rock [/quote] 1000 Watts.

When I think back to my older heavier amps from Ashdown, Ampeg, Trace, Peavey, Laney, Hartke and others I have forgotten for the moment, they quite often printed peak power on the rear as well as the official continuous RMS rating. The peak output was often two or three times the RMS rating and probably allowed for transient peaks for the occasional slappy bit. Maybe this extra energy was available because of the general over engineering of the older heads (big transformers, capacitors etc)? I know cost has always been important but nowadays the race to market the biggest output for the price seems to have led some manufacturers to quote maximum RMS figures but maybe the class D topology doesn't allow the peak capability that we were brought up with? Hence the proliferation of 1000 watt class D heads that possibly give us a similar transient load capacity to the 350 to 500 watt heavyweight heads?

I had the same issue with my F500 when pushing it hard into my Bergantino HT112ER and EX112ER. Does it cut out when it is turned up loud and you are digging in? If so you may be at the limit of your F1. I think that like quite a few of the early class d bass amps that their continuous output ratings were a little optimistic.

My F500 didn't have any problems driving a pair of the more efficient bergantino AE112s, just the HTs.

Markbass STD104HF 4ohm is a lightweight 26kg cab a smidge under 24" wide. I am selling one on here BTW.☺

I owned an F500 for a while and found the parametric mid controls difficult to set as they are so small and the line on the control knobs almost invisible in all but the best light conditions. Power wise it couldn't drive my Bergantino HT112ER and EX112ER loud without tripping out which is a major ball ache on a gig. This and the F1 were markbass first 500w class d power heads and were discontinued relatively quickly. The new LM3 uses a new class d power section which in my opinion sounds much warmer than the F series. If you want the same class d power amp in a smaller format it is in the Big Bang head which offers a few more facilities. Personally I prefer the class ab markbass heads but if I wanted a 500w class d markbass head it would be the LM3.

Gary popped round to buy a cab yesterday. Good communications and a hassle free transaction. All's well in the Hertfordshire bass community. Great BCer.