Markbass Mini CMD 121P - Questions....

gubble

Hi guys

My bassist purchased this amp last week and we used it to gig with on Friday. Up until recently he's been using a 300 watt 1x15 Behringer which has been great for his sound however e's wanting to reduce the size and weight of his rig. The guy is a seriously impressive bassist.

Bandwise we're your faily typcial covers band, not too loud. I'm only using a 20 watt head for example as the guitarist. Drums aren't mic'd.

So after spending a lot of money on what's meant to be an amazing bass amp we were left hugely dissapointed. The amp didn't sound anything like a bass amp to us and lacked so much bottom end. To make matters worse the amp then cut out three times during the gig. Not what we were expecting from the reviews that we'd read and the amazing feedback we hear about these amps.

So has anyone else had any bad experiences with these amps?

I really feel for the guy because these are not cheap amps & I'd also reccomended them as being the best thing since sliced bread.

fretmeister

Sounds like he has a faulty one if it's cutting out. Get it swapped for a new one.

But also - leave the EQ flat and just use the VLE and VPF controls.

It is a very clean amp and if that isn't what he wants, then it's the wrong choice. It will give you an accurate representation of the sound of his bass.

I had the CMD 102P (the 2x10 combo) and thought it was excellent with active basses or passive ones with a high output, but not so great with passive jazz types. I got tons of low end.

It's generally accepted that the 121H has more low end grunt than the 121P. The amp and speaker is the same, but the H has a bigger enclosure and it does make a difference.

Of course everything Behringer does for bass amps is a rip-off of ampeg. Ampeg and Markbass are chalk and cheese.

alanbass1

Firstly, sounds like the amp is faulty so either needs to be swapped out or fixed before making a genuine assessment.

However, I had the CMD 121P and I really didn't get on with the piezo tweeter and I decided to disconnect this.  The amp sounded so much better and had enough highs (for me) from just the straight 12" driver.

strtdv

+1 on disconnecting the tweeter. It's very easy to do and both improves the sound and makes the amp much quieter in terms of hiss. It shouldn't be cutting out though, sounds like a faulty one.

How long does it take for the sound to come out when it's switched on? I believe the older, Italian made one has a class AB power amp which takes about 2-3 seconds to power up, while the newer one is Indonesian made and class D, and takes about 6-8 seconds to power up. It's too early to tell if that will effect reliability, but it's possible I suppose.

I have the 121P, there is no lack of bottom end (I'm using a Warwick Thumb 5), and it sounds awesome. I just cut the low and high mids very slightly, and then adjust the VLE and VPF to taste.

For more "thump", adding a NY121 extension cab will boost the power to 500 watts and is meant to be a seriously good sounding and punchy rig.

As has been said though Markbass are very clean amps, even the tube preamp ones tend to be much cleaner than you'd expect, so if you're looking for a dirty vintage tone then look elsewhere. They're great amps though.