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Change amp in cmd 121p or...opinions please..


wildebassman
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I can't decide..I have a pristine older italian made MB cmd 121P combo.  The sound is okay but now I was thinking to take the head out and put a MB little marcus 500 or 800 in it...to get a better tonal range, but will it pay off..and then later buy an extra cab..or should I just leave it intact and up the combo with another cab like the 121HR and have a rig that will work in most situations.
Another thing, how much more in headroom to expect from a 800 vs 500 MB miller or LM3 amp.
 
Dennis.

20200418_145611.jpg

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I had a Ninja 102-250 combo and a CMD 121P and swapped the respective heads . The difference was not hugely different on either and the Ninja was a bit harder to carry so swapped them back, sold it and got a 121 New York cab  to augment the CMD121P when necessary. I had to swap around the internal 'cover' on the amps as the respective heads were a different orientation and not all the screw holes lined up.

My rationale to swap was that with the 2x10's in the NInja was that the sound would be a bit higher up for me  in a bigger cab rather than around my ankles as on the CMD121P

Edited by yorks5stringer
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9 hours ago, machinehead said:

SNAP!!

I had that too.  It sounded fantastic but the physical size mismatch made me ill eventually. :(

Frank

The mismatch in size never bothered me, but I moved to a new band who went through a massive PA so I never really needed the extension cab after that.

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I had that combo with ext cab. More than loud enough for most situations. Used in Prog band, 70's covers band and rock band and it seemed to work well in all of them.

Don't think the issue is the amp. I tried the amp thru my Berg HT322 cab and it was far beefier and more depth than the two single 12" MB cabs.

I always found the MB rig seemed to sit really well in any mix but on its own it seemed a bit thin.

If anything i'd add the 2nd cab as it does seem to thicken the sound a bit. Have you considered adding the MB 15 cab instead

Dave

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5 hours ago, Mattbass97 said:

Certainly get a second cab (NY121) before considering changing the amp. It totally changes everything with that extension.

Okay, most people lean on getting a second cab. There are three options I am considering, New York 121, New york 121 D2 or Standard 121HR. The new york 121 is the best match in terms of size etc  but I have heard that the other two have a better tweeter and bottom end, input please.

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I turned the tweeter off on my ext cab. Not a fan of tweeters. Is the tweeter something you feel is important to your sound. ? If not i'd go for the matching New York cab. Not heard of the D2 version ?

Dave

Edited by dmccombe7
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The D2 is the new big brother to the NY121.  I understand that it has a superior tweeter.  It's quite a lot bigger though, so if matching cab sizes is important to you it may not be the one.

You could also consider the TRV112, which has the same footprint as the combo if you set it up in "portrait" mode.

I would still say that the Marcus head is far more versatile than the LM, so if you can upgrade that as well at some point that would be cool.

 

IMG_2983.jpg

Edited by franzbassist
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11 hours ago, wildebassman said:

Okay, most people lean on getting a second cab. There are three options I am considering, New York 121, New york 121 D2 or Standard 121HR. The new york 121 is the best match in terms of size etc  but I have heard that the other two have a better tweeter and bottom end, input please.

You could actually go and try them in a shop when they are open again? It's not like anyone will be gigging again for a while...

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11 hours ago, franzbassist said:

The D2 is the new big brother to the NY121.  I understand that it has a superior tweeter.  It's quite a lot bigger though, so if matching cab sizes is important to you it may not be the one.

You could also consider the TRV112, which has the same footprint as the combo if you set it up in "portrait" mode.

I would still say that the Marcus head is far more versatile than the LM, so if you can upgrade that as well at some point that would be cool.

 

IMG_2983.jpg

Yeah, true it's quite a lot taller but still same foot print.

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23 hours ago, franzbassist said:

The D2 is the new big brother to the NY121.  I understand that it has a superior tweeter.  It's quite a lot bigger though, so if matching cab sizes is important to you it may not be the one.

You could also consider the TRV112, which has the same footprint as the combo if you set it up in "portrait" mode.

I would still say that the Marcus head is far more versatile than the LM, so if you can upgrade that as well at some point that would be cool.

 

IMG_2983.jpg

That makes sense as it brings it closer to your ear level and should help to hear yourself better.

Edited by dmccombe7
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On 23/04/2020 at 16:13, wildebassman said:
I can't decide..I have a pristine older italian made MB cmd 121P combo.  The sound is okay but now I was thinking to take the head out and put a MB little marcus 500 or 800 in it...to get a better tonal range, but will it pay off..and then later buy an extra cab..or should I just leave it intact and up the combo with another cab like the 121HR and have a rig that will work in most situations.
Another thing, how much more in headroom to expect from a 800 vs 500 MB miller or LM3 amp.
 
Dennis.

20200418_145611.jpg

 

Not that much difference with the 800W amp, if my experience between the LMIII and the LMT800 is anything similar. That's if you used the heads with a suitably large cab. Through the built-in speaker in the combo? None whatsoever, it'll only be louder (and probably less than you think) once you add an external cab.

I'd leave it as it is. The CMD121P is a pretty nice little combo. Use an external cab for extra volume. 

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On 25/04/2020 at 17:18, mcnach said:

 

Not that much difference with the 800W amp, if my experience between the LMIII and the LMT800 is anything similar. That's if you used the heads with a suitably large cab. Through the built-in speaker in the combo? None whatsoever, it'll only be louder (and probably less than you think) once you add an external cab.

I'd leave it as it is. The CMD121P is a pretty nice little combo. Use an external cab for extra volume. 

I think I will go along that road and maybe get me a little marcus 500 head to put in the combo.

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