gafbass02 Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 (edited) With the arrival of the new baby and the accompanying chaos it's taken me a while to get round to mentioning this, but I recently sold my shuttle 9.0 to basschatter, my bass player and best mate Davemuadib. I went back to markbass, I found with the genz I loved the full range hi-fi thing, infact it mafe a great hi-fi with my bergs! But i missed having control over low and high miss seperately, something that many bass amps seem to ignore, Infact it took the otherwise very sexy tone hammer out my choices. I like to boost the low mid and have the facility to cut or boost the hi mids independently from room to room. I've been through a number of rigs lately, after the trace mega stack I ran a markbass stack of various cab combinations for years, I was an early adopter. I was very happy with it, especially with a big and small pair of 2x10's but a few large stages made me realise the throw wasnt great, and bottom dropped off very quickly! That and the huge cone excursion never stopped freaking me out, despite being perfectly normal! That and suddenly i went lightweight CRAZY! Everything had to weigh nothing! Then I ran a Barefaced compact/midget stack for a summer festival season with a markbass LM2. The weight was amazing for those long festival schleps, but I just couldn't find my tone with those cabs, and never seemed to find all that power that people rave about maybe, either indoors or out. Alex was very helpful and they were great tools for a job, but I couldn't live with the tone or looks, amazing company no doubt at all, but a compact and two midgets later perhaps not for me. I just think its 12's and 15's they always sound like 12's and 15's to me, despite the theory saying they don't. To me they do, and 12's to me sound honky and plunky rather than punchy and focused. Same with 15's. To me they sound woofy and 'retro'. Too many little 'foibles' for me, too slippy for the amp, or the handle was too high, so I used foam feet which reacted, with the finish, the handles wouldn't let me use my bass keepers, people took the p1ss about my homemade speakers etc. (But I do keep looking thoughtfully at the S12t and they do look tidyer now too) So... I tried a shuttle with the barefaced. MUCH MUCH better. 100 percent better, and part if my lightweight quest, power per pound thus rig was NUTS! ...But still not 'my' sound. A good sound, def not bashing Barefaced here, a good sound for many people, but like opinions everyones 'tone goals' are different, and this rig just wasn't playing for me. So much to my backs chagrin it went. Then fortuned intervened and I was able to pick up a pair of Bergantino AE210's. Night and day. These truly felt like the boutique quality I'd sought, with the BF I always looked at them and felt a little wrench, I know, I know, don't listen with the eyes, but when you earn as little as me you really need that money to feel well spent. With the Bergs, I STILL go and lovingly stare, not quite believing I own them. Like the old Trace stack. And so we end up back at the beginning, great cabs, great head, but, those niggling mid controls. So I looked to the past, id always enjoyed the little mark 2. Only sold it for the weight. But now I could drive and didnt carry gear around so much, and felt I learned a weight/sound lesson with my cabs, so I explored how markbass had changed since. The LM3 solved a few issues with the LN2, but I'd always been intrigued by the MoMark. Mainly cause there was a graphic module- my thing! I like graphics, used Trace for a long time and Laney too. It sold me on the Promethean too. Sadly every. Single. Piece. Of. Promethean. I bought. Went. Wrong!! :-( .... Even cabs!! Heck, even the bag!! So I looked on thomann, and bought the MoMark 800w amp frame with valve preamp, parametric EQ and variable line out output module for a VERY good price. Weighs a lot more than the shuttle, and more than the LM2, and its bigger too; but is still small and light enough to fit in and carry in my iGiG front pocket. (Then again I could fit Wales in there!) It looks great with a plastic 'faux carbon' finish. The modules are glossy 'piano' black and the strip lights are fab. Two of them flash when muted ..get in! It has a fair bit of hiss when on, not as bad as the Promethean I had though, but enough to make me think Id balk at miking in a studio in the old days, nowadays it's less of a problem with 'hissaway'! It's more of a threatening sense of the power on tap! It's more of a linear feeling volume pot than the old LM2 'on/off switch' volume. Oddly doesn't feel 'quite' as loud as the shuttle 9.0. Not ever gonna be an issue though. We're still talking LOUD here!! It feels well built and well engineered. Nice weighty knobs and positive sockets. Combo speakons are very welcome, as is the mute, line out level, switchable DI etc. The sound is classic Markbass, fast, punchy, very flexible with the filters, from modern to very retro indeed at the twist of a knob. The EQ points feel much better than the LM2, and the level controls for the mid freq's really help fine tune things. You hardly need the bass and treble knobs, the low mid really fattens things, while adding growl and saving power. Using the bass control adds a floor rumbling sense of 3d 'solidity'. It's not a crystal clear, pristine sound like the shuttle. But to my ears it fits a mix much better, and for me gives me the key sounds I use much more convincingly. Specifically that jazz bass, neck rolled off a touch 'burble' and the two pickups on full, slightly scooped funk rock type tone. I'm very, very pleased with it. Now with the two bergs, a gramma pad, my bass keepers, QED power cable and OBBM speakons my rig is spot on (for now!) I'd fully recommend the MoMark to anyone. It sounds very big, fat, solid and full, but with bite and punch and enough sense of drama' and size. An amazing rig, and typically now I'm stuck on guitar it's sitting largely unused!!!!!!!! :-/ I've not even bought the graphic module yet! Sods law! It's not as good a hi-fi either lol! Long old post that. Pics to follow. 'scuse any typos, I'm on my phone and with the new baby it's taken almost three hours to write this!!! Edited January 14, 2012 by gafbass02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/0931e75c.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/a99a621a.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/577c52fc.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/c85ced33.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/fdce5de8.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/227cbf60.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/a5c3e1f5.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/be13bfc4.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/6440a376.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/5e10f1f2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/9b02038c.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/e1e9d466.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/d2b81e0a.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/f362c845.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/e8720c74.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/182393fa.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/100_2704.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/my%20bass%20stuff/DSC00031.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/my%20bass%20stuff/ecf4db4b.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/my%20bass%20stuff/550d8c36.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/my%20bass%20stuff/511cec07.jpg[/IMG] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 And finally..[IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/gafbass02/my%20bass%20stuff/100_1432.jpg[/IMG] There's been more, but that's all the pics I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 You are going to have to name your house The Bass Gaff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman20 Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Those Bergs SCREAM quality! Love em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Yeah, they really are a tremendous buy. Love the form factor too. Drop in the boot of the Honda Jazz perfectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime_BASS Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 The thing about the 800w power amp from markbass is that it only really reaches about 650w peak, so not surprised it's not as loud as the 900w shuttle, although the difference should be minimal. Shame about the barefaced. Hard for some to get their heads around I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Yeah, it doesn't 'feel' quite as brutally loud, then again as you say, it's a minimal difference and not a factor as those volumes aren't often nessecary. Indeed possibly never. I'm aware I'm in the minority nor digging the sound of the BareFaced cabs, Shame cause I love the weight, and they certainly seem to look better now I think and Alex is a handy fella, and a very welcome addition to the board. That and I very much like to support ventures such as his. I may try them again in the future. But for now, after a lot of rigs, many more than ive discussed here, and 20 years gigging, I'm pretty much happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazhowe Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Another member of the MoMark fan club here. In fact my set up isn't too dissimilar to your's, although I've got the 500w frame. I'd been using Trace and Mesa gear and the difference when switching to Mark Bass and Bergs has been a revelation. I started out with the solid state pre-amp then replaced it with the tube pre-amp which I like even better. I've never been one for frequently changing amp and cab(s) and love the fact that I've been able to keep the best bits of my amp and change its tone for only £100. Brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 i cant wait to grab a graphic module Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phobucket Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 @Gafbass02 - Finally picked up a MoMark recently and gigged. I felt like, "Why have I waited this long to get one of these?!". That said, still looking for a good set of 210 cabs to go with it. I have a Genz Benz Uber410 which sounds awesome but is uhh...large. Definitely going to check out the berg's, but I am not sure if they can be stacked on their sides. Have you tried? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I tried a MoMark last week through various different Bag End cabs - sounded great, really clean punchy sound. It was this one at Bassgear: http://www.bassgear.co.uk/products-page/bass-amps-cabs/mark-bass/momark-sd800/ It has the EQ module but was all solid state pre-amp. Loved it through the Bag End 4x10 http://www.bassgear.co.uk/products-page/bag-end1/bag-end-q-10-bx-d-low-bass-quad-10-ax-hi-drive/ I think all the Bag End cabs are super efficient so they tend to really make the most of whatever power source you're putting through them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 They really are great sounding, I'm totally chuffed with mine I have had the bergs on their side and they stack up fine, in fact i attached some rubber feet onto the corners to make them stack even better without having to drill holes into them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigcapener Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 With the MoMark stuff, is it totally necessary to use the frame that comes with it? Is it posible to just get the modules and plug into a power amp say? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 No, you have to plug them into the module frame they are bespoke connectors. It really is an utterly fab piece of equipment though, rate it very highly, I'm very very pleased with my rig for the first time in a long time. It seems to have a bit more of that old school big thumpy, heavy sound to it it doesn't sound like a class D amplifier to me; it reminds me the most of my trace Elliot AH 400 SMX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted April 7, 2012 Author Share Posted April 7, 2012 Slight bump here, but I see they've released exactly this configuration at NAMM this year as the 'MoMark black 800' Could be a real bargain when it hits the streets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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