Mark King to Markbass

[fretmeister]

On 23/07/2019 at 08:06, wateroftyne said:

That’s good for you.

If MB decide to stop designing amps that look like Homer Simpson’s dream car, they might just start appealing to those who do care what their amp looks like. Just a thought.

 

Of course I get that, and I realised that before I posted. Many people seem obsessed with the look of their gear over the performance.

 

However that Mesa ^ up there somewhere, man it looks dull. It's just another black box with controls on it.

[wateroftyne]

1 minute ago, fretmeister said:

However that Mesa ^ up there somewhere, man it looks dull. It's just another black box with controls on it.

I guess they have enough quiet confidence in the performance of the amp not to have to dress it up like an Australian's nightmare 😄

[fretmeister]

I realise bassists are supposed to be in the background. But they don't have to be invisible!

 

The only thing on the Mesa I like are the knobs. Very easy to see under stage lights. The new Red and Gold Markbass does suffer a bit on that score.

 

[jacko]

On 19/07/2019 at 22:22, Al Krow said:

Come on then gents, show us a frontal pic of what a good looking amp (any current make) should look like!  

This shares the stage with me most gigs although I've since swapped the 212 for a 410. Almost as good looking as me 

 

[Al Krow]

14 minutes ago, jacko said:

This shares the stage with me most gigs although I've since swapped the 212 for a 410. Almost as good looking as me 

Looks nice enough, gotta agree (and almost certainly sounds awesome!)

But maybe could do with a bit of red and gold to spice things up a bit, tho'? 😉

[Opticaleye]

My Markbass amp wasn't tasteless enough so I changed the black knobs out. 

 

Seriously though, I can see them better on a dark stage

 

[EBS_freak]

They are not exactly out of keeping with the overall vibe. Kinda works for me... from a Mark Bass aesthetics thing.

[uk_lefty]

I don't mind the black and yellow colour scheme, not keen on this ninja stuff with the lime green though 🤮

[Reggaebass]

6 minutes ago, Opticaleye said:

Seriously though, I can see them better on a dark stage

I like that, great amp too 🙂

[Chris2112]

I recall when Markbass first arrived and made a bit of a splash, I thought they had been quite astute in choosing a distinctive colour scheme. Love it or hate it, Markbass have a visual presence in their brand. They're easily the strongest visual brand in the bass amp world since Trace Elliot. They have continued to build on that strong start and now boast the most impressive artist roster of any amp manufacturer. Marco is as smart in business as he is at making great sounding amps. 

One product I am quite eager to try is the new Stuart Hamm amp setup. It seems wild to me that Stuart's cab would be two 15" drivers and a tweeter, but Markbass 15's sound very tight and responsive, nothing like the flobby old flub-factory 15's of years gone by. On the other hand, I really haven't been that fond of Stuart's tone since he started using Warwick basses. I really miss the sound of his Urge II models.

 

 

[burno70]

I used to have a full MarkBass rig - the aesthetics never bothered me one bit. For sure there's better looking set ups out there but that's not what counts for me.

Going back to great looking amps - the newish Geezer Butler amp by Ashdown looks incredibly evil and is my current favorite.

[Wolverinebass]

On 26/07/2019 at 16:31, burno70 said:

Going back to great looking amps - the newish Geezer Butler amp by Ashdown looks incredibly evil and is my current favorite.

Pity it sounds like a second rate fuzz pedal that costs £60. It's not great for the money.

[burno70]

18 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

Pity it sounds like a second rate fuzz pedal that costs £60. It's not great for the money.

Not heard it.

[EBS_freak]

On 26/07/2019 at 16:31, burno70 said:

I used to have a full MarkBass rig - the aesthetics never bothered me one bit. For sure there's better looking set ups out there but that's not what counts for me.

Going back to great looking amps - the newish Geezer Butler amp by Ashdown looks incredibly evil and is my current favorite.

Plus all that subharmonic garb is going to be responsible for pub bassists across the land sounding utterly cack. Sub bass doesn't work on small stages... and causes more headaches than it is worth.

[burno70]

I may have missed something but I was responding to the comments about great looking amps. I like the the look of the GB Ashdown - I'm not getting one. As I say, I've not heard it.

[uk_lefty]

26 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Plus all that subharmonic garb is going to be responsible for pub bassists across the land sounding utterly cack. Sub bass doesn't work on small stages... and causes more headaches than it is worth.

Like anything it's down to the user to be tasteful with it. I personally like it, used sparingly as a doubling up effect but its only on the odd phrase. I wouldn't leave it on constantly, but it is use able. 

[Al Krow]

25 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

Like anything it's down to the user to be tasteful with it. I personally like it, used sparingly as a doubling up effect but its only on the odd phrase. I wouldn't leave it on constantly, but it is use able. 

Yup quite, particularly as the subs are controllable via a footswitch. It's a bit like saying you could never use an octaver in a set to thicken up your sound.

I agree with burno's comments: the Geezer does look fantastic as a piece of design. It also has a 9 band EQ + valve preamp. Same price bracket as many (quality) D class heads, including the MB amps being discussed in this thread. If Ashdown cut the weight from its current 31 lbs by removing the feature set which allows Geezer Butler to power his 12 (!!!) on stage cabinets - which is redundant for most of us mere mortal bassists, by releasing a 'Geezer Lite' then I suspect they could have a big winner on their hands.

Something in this thread seems to have made EBS_freak see red. IMO there are a whole bunch of other reasons for pub bassists across the land sounding utterly cack, if indeed they do, and it has nothing to do with Ashdown's amps! 😂

Edited July 28, 2019 by Al Krow

[Lozz196]

On 26/07/2019 at 16:31, burno70 said:

Going back to great looking amps - the newish Geezer Butler amp by Ashdown looks incredibly evil and is my current favorite.

 

19 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

Pity it sounds like a second rate fuzz pedal that costs £60. It's not great for the money.

 

1 hour ago, burno70 said:

Not heard it.

I have, I used one at Ashdown HQ and thought it sounded great.

Edited July 28, 2019 by Lozz196

[eude]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

 

 

I have, I used one at Ashdown HQ and thought it sounded great.

Yup, I don't doubt that, I love me a bit of Ashdown. I need to get myself over to Ashdown HQ sometime soon.

I wouldn't argue that the MarkBass stuff sounds bad, just that it looks a bit naff in my humble opinion...

Eude

[Wolverinebass]

Maybe Mark King has confused endorsements with Pokemon. In that he's trying to get them all. Mesa, Ashdown, Trace Elliot, TC Electronic, Markbass. Not many more to get now is there?

I'm waiting for the 10th model Kingbass from Status with baited breath as I'm sure that a whole bunch of middle aged Level 42 fans will lap it up before playing slap bass less than an inch under their chin then flogging it for a marginally different one 6 months later. I must admit I find that more funny than his constant endorsement round robin every 6-18 months. Every time he's on tour and plays something new the phones must ring off the hook at Status. This time it was the t-bass and everyone went out and got one of them.

Is there anyone else who inspires this level of rig copying? Especially on the instrument level. Just bonkers.

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 3, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[AndyTravis]

57 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said:

Isn't that the point, though?

It's no more crazy than dresses selling out because some royal/politicians wife/actors wife wore them at some do. In fact, maybe less crazy.

I used to work for a very well known high street retailer. In about 2000-2003

Regularly had Posh and Becks in, we gave them free clothes. If they were spotted in heat magazine wearing our t-shirt later that month, we’d sell out.

Apart from the time one trainee manager allowed becks to have a load of stuff off the Levi’s concession stand...didn’t see him around much after that. Cost about £500 worth of engineered denim (twisty jeans...)

[EBS_freak]

5 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Yup quite, particularly as the subs are controllable via a footswitch. It's a bit like saying you could never use an octaver in a set to thicken up your sound.

I agree with burno's comments: the Geezer does look fantastic as a piece of design. It also has a 9 band EQ + valve preamp. Same price bracket as many (quality) D class heads, including the MB amps being discussed in this thread. If Ashdown cut the weight from its current 31 lbs by removing the feature set which allows Geezer Butler to power his 12 (!!!) on stage cabinets - which is redundant for most of us mere mortal bassists, by releasing a 'Geezer Lite' then I suspect they could have a big winner on their hands.

Something in this thread seems to have made EBS_freak see red. IMO there are a whole bunch of other reasons for pub bassists across the land sounding utterly cack, if indeed they do, and it has nothing to do with Ashdown's amps! 😂

Nothing has made me see red - just the experience of seeing bands struggle with bad sound and eq choices makes me face palm, especially when I then see functions such as sub harmonic features included on bass amps, when the vast majority of the environments in which they will be used will cause the user headaches. Most bass cabs, including Ashdown's own cabs, simply cannot cope with the lows associated with sub bass. You are looking at some very capable, specialist (read expensive) to achieve that with any magnitude of success.... Even then I would question why you would want to in most environments.

The comment about using a octaver... well, most of them don't track in the lower registers anyway... so you are usually playing an octave higher than where you could be playing, with the octave pedal putting in the lower octave and/or the higher octave. As mentioned above, given the fact that most bass cabs can't cope with the fundamental of the lower bass strings anyway, God only knows why you would be trying to produce and push the sub harmonic content anyway. It's a one way street to nightmare soundsville. On a side note, I also see that you (Al) have tried to do something about clearing up the bottom end and not wasting amp power on this particularly useless area of the audio spectrum by including a thumpinator on your board. Anyway, as far as this "doom" thing is concerned, it's marketing nonsense and all it's going to do is encourage bass players to have subby indecipherable mush coming out front... and that won't hope with the overall band sound at all.

Just to clarify, it's got nothing to do with Ashdown amps per se - anybody trying to recreate subharmonic content on the vast majority of stages needs a kicking. If I see red with regard to Ashdown amps, it's probably because it's on fire. Similarly, it could be the latest hideous paintjob from Markbass. I am with you on the inclusion of 3 slave outputs though - especially when the "Geezer" setup only ever seems to require one of those on each amp to ever be in use...? 

Edited July 29, 2019 by EBS_freak

[EBS_freak]

1 hour ago, Jus Lukin said:

It's no more crazy than dresses selling out because some royal/politicians wife/actors wife wore them at some do. In fact, maybe less crazy.

Ah yes, that time those leather trousers sold out when a particular politician embraced them...

[Al Krow]

@EBS_freak - can't argue with any of your reply to my last post! 

... except that engaging the Sub 3 (low) generator on my Zvez Mastotron + Thumpinator + "pull" (= boosted) bass on my Mesa M6, with a cab that can handle low end really well e.g. Fearless F112 produces a BIG low end that is surprisingly 'tasty', without being mushy or boomy. 

I'm guessing that the sub harmonics generator on the Ashdown would be doing something similar? 

Edited July 29, 2019 by Al Krow