MGR/Golem « Markbass SD800 »
Published on 06/02/10 at 15:00I paly small venues, but occasionally outdoors, and this amp is my most powerful.
I play in a duo, and in a string band. No drummer either way. Usually play fretless.
Under $600, used at the local GC. Summer is here, and wanted a bit of extra watts for outdoor stuff. I like my LittleMark II, and this is a similar amp, especially the front end, where most of the 'voice' lives.
I like MarkBass amps, especially the two filters [vpf and VLE, see review of LM II]. This only weighs about a pount more than my LM II, but has some extra power, and I REALLY like that it has parametric control of both the upper and lower mids. With FL, controlling the mids is 'The Big Deal'. It also has 2 speaker output jacks. The LM II has just one ... and I figger an extra speaker is also handy for outdoor gigs.
It only weighs about a pound more than the LM II but is a much larger box. Also, it's a class-D power stage. Those always make me nervous [the LM II is analog]. It has a fan that runs all the time [but lots of amps have that lately].
Hard to judge electronics by looking at the outside ... except that I see it has those black plastic 1/4' jacks ... which I've never really fully trusted. I actually hafta mod some plugs to use them in those those jacks. But again, such jacks have become as common as the cooling fans that also bug me :-(
It sounds great, didn't cost me too much, is now my highest wattage box, and has lotsa useful controls ... speaking of which, the FX loop is both a like and a dislike, so I didn't mention it in either section above. I like that it's parallel rather than series, but I wish it had a blend or a level control. Also the loop is POST EQ, which is sometime right and sometimes wrong ... so it should have a switch or a second jack ... but it does NOT.
It's a really nice unit but I have enuf negative reactions to rate it less than '5'. The basics really rate a '5', but some of the features drag it down, so it averages out to a '4'.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I play in a duo, and in a string band. No drummer either way. Usually play fretless.
Under $600, used at the local GC. Summer is here, and wanted a bit of extra watts for outdoor stuff. I like my LittleMark II, and this is a similar amp, especially the front end, where most of the 'voice' lives.
I like MarkBass amps, especially the two filters [vpf and VLE, see review of LM II]. This only weighs about a pount more than my LM II, but has some extra power, and I REALLY like that it has parametric control of both the upper and lower mids. With FL, controlling the mids is 'The Big Deal'. It also has 2 speaker output jacks. The LM II has just one ... and I figger an extra speaker is also handy for outdoor gigs.
It only weighs about a pound more than the LM II but is a much larger box. Also, it's a class-D power stage. Those always make me nervous [the LM II is analog]. It has a fan that runs all the time [but lots of amps have that lately].
Hard to judge electronics by looking at the outside ... except that I see it has those black plastic 1/4' jacks ... which I've never really fully trusted. I actually hafta mod some plugs to use them in those those jacks. But again, such jacks have become as common as the cooling fans that also bug me :-(
It sounds great, didn't cost me too much, is now my highest wattage box, and has lotsa useful controls ... speaking of which, the FX loop is both a like and a dislike, so I didn't mention it in either section above. I like that it's parallel rather than series, but I wish it had a blend or a level control. Also the loop is POST EQ, which is sometime right and sometimes wrong ... so it should have a switch or a second jack ... but it does NOT.
It's a really nice unit but I have enuf negative reactions to rate it less than '5'. The basics really rate a '5', but some of the features drag it down, so it averages out to a '4'.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com