Markbass Mini CMD 121P

[phat5]

I'm using a 4 banger...I'll lovingly call it the "buddy 4" thats running off a 9 volt system (so it's probably not as hot as your bongo). Do you remember where you had the volume set on the amp? Did you dial down the drive on the amp until the clipping light stopped? I'm just curious because I think this might really be the amp for me, I just cant afford to spend 800ish if it might not be durable enough to handle all the low end we throw around.

How did you feel about the excursion on the speaker...that thing really moves, huh?! Did it make you worry too? The more I think about how much that speaker looks like it wants to jump right out of the cab I just keep telling myself to have faith in MB's engineering.

Hey U, I didn't take notice of the spkr excursion. As for the volume, the I set the pre @ 1:00 all tone straight up, VLE-8:00 and Master on 4-5.....my bass was flat with the vol @ 1/2. I tend to pluck heavy over the rear pup too. I still like the sound and portability of the amp; may be a good amp to doulble with when I get my eub. As far as excursion goes, I have learned to ignore my Acme B-2 cab.....it scared me at first

[Peter Murray]

I wanted to take a second to write and see if anyone else here has been using one of those 121p's. I've been eyeing up the one they have at my local GC and ended up demo'ing it twice. (I love the sales staff at the Lancaster PA GC. I was funking & fingerstyling away quietly and the asst. manager came over and turned it almost all the way up - just to prove it could take it without blowing itself up, awesome!)

I am totally sold on the sound and headroom this amp has. The only thing that has stopped me from pulling the trigger is I haven't heard anything about the durability of speaker/cab and the warrenty. I looked on Markbass' site and I could not find any information pertaining to the warrenty, more specifically if it covered speaker overexcursion.

I'm sure the speaker has been perfectly matched to the amp, but I do play an active bass and because of the amps size (1x12) I would probably end up running it at around 50-70% capacity in order to sit with the band I'm in. When I had started Demo'ing the amp I had the volume around 2 or 3 and depending on the eq dialed in on my bass...that speaker was really moving, like whoa, maybe a 1/2 of excursion. When the manager encouraged me to really open it up the amp still sounded rock solid-but it was scary to watch the speaker for the 1 or 2 minutes that I had it at that volume. I was so afraid it was going to blow!

Has anyone on the forum been using one of these for gigs long term? Do you see any problems with the life of the speaker? Again, I know the guys are MB are top notch and I'm sure this amp can handle the volumes. I know seeing is believing, but man...an combo amp that small putting out that kind of volume and clean headroom just defys everything I've known to be true in the world of bass amps.

-=Backstory=-
Currently I am using a 78lbs. 1x15 Hartke. The old 2115 combo. Hate the sound and Hate the weight.

Hi there,

Glad you've discovered the Mini CMD 121P, and glad you enjoyed it!

Happy to address your questions.

Warranty: in the US we have a 30-day exchange policy (45-day from Musicians Friend) and then a 2-year exchange warranty. If there is any issue with your Markbass product, not including instances of user abuse, misuse or modification, you can simply exchange it. Keep your receipt as proof of purchase and you're covered. This warranty is non-transferrable. There's also an optional 2-year extended warranty, the "Performance Guarantee"--this warranty IS transferrable.

Speaker excursion and reliability: these speakers are *designed* to have a high rate of excursion! This is normal for these speakers, and nothing to worry about. In fact, it may be related to their unbelievable reliability. Honestly, I NEVER hear of Markbass speakers being blown. I'm not just saying that, I think I've heard of maybe a couple of freak cases? These speakers are rock solid, I know this from a huge amount of personal experience as well.

If you like the Mini CMD 121P, you should try hooking one up to the New York 121 extension cabinet. This is my favorite rig! Turns the combo into a 500W 2x12 rig... small footprint, incredibly portable, and great sound. Okay, I have to stop there, I might have gushed more than is appropriate!

If you have any further questions, please let me know.

Best,
Peter

[midopa]

i got one from a labor day sale at gc hollywood for cheap
i like it. good headroom, good sound

[Powman]

I just bought CMD 121H yesterday...I wanted power but I did not want the weight of a traditional rig. So far I am quite pleased. I find that the sound is brighter than my previous rig of an ashdown Mag 300 with a 15 inch speaker and the mesa cab with 2 10 inchers.

I don't think the sound quality is better than my previous rig, just different. But I lost 100 Lbs of gear weight to get essentially the same output. I just couldn't stand having to lug heavy gear around anymore. Plus later if I add an extension cab, I am now running 500 W at 4 ohms...lots of sound for my applications.

I am confident I did the right thing.

[Fuzzy Dustmite]

I love mine. I take it for the bigger gigs and just unplug the internal speaker and run a cable to my Ampeg 610. That way I get the full 500W into 4ohms. Plus the combo is still lighter than my GK1001RB in a rack case with a tuner.

[Powman]

If later I want to add an extension cab, which one would pair well with this? If you recall, the CMD 112H has a 12 inch speaker and a tweeter. Someone suggested another set of exactly the same speakers. Ie the Traveller 112...

Does this make sense?

[azzy_wazzy]

If later I want to add an extension cab, which one would pair well with this? If you recall, the CMD 112H has a 12 inch speaker and a tweeter. Someone suggested another set of exactly the same speakers. Ie the Traveller 112...

Does this make sense?

I've seen suggested that the new New York 121 pairs quite nicely with it - would let you put out the full 500w.

[Powman]

Ah yes, I see that on the Markbass site now. I am a little confused...the amp in the combo is a LMIII rated at 500W at 4 Ohm. The speaker is rated at 400 W. Is that not going to blow the speaker?

[azzy_wazzy]

Ah yes, I see that on the Markbass site now. I am a little confused...the amp in the combo is a LMIII rated at 500W at 4 Ohm. The speaker is rated at 400 W. Is that not going to blow the speaker?

I'm terrible when it comes to hooking up amp stuff, so I'll let the more knowledgeable answer, however Peter from Markbass said the following above:

If you like the Mini CMD 121P, you should try hooking one up to the New York 121 extension cabinet. This is my favorite rig! Turns the combo into a 500W 2x12 rig... small footprint, incredibly portable, and great sound. Okay, I have to stop there, I might have gushed more than is appropriate!

I trust Peter to know

[meeder2]

The CMD 121 by itself is running at @ 8ohms Is 280watts.
with and extention cab rated 8ohms, will be running at
4ohms when paired together, giving you 500watts with the
LMII. I have this combo and use a Markbass CL108 cab.
I disconnect this speaker cable on the combo and use the 8-10
cab at 4ohms for large venues. I have all I need for now.

[Manfloozy]

Ah yes, I see that on the Markbass site now. I am a little confused...the amp in the combo is a LMIII rated at 500W at 4 Ohm. The speaker is rated at 400 W. Is that not going to blow the speaker?

I am by no means an expert... nor an authoritative source of information on this ... BUT

That is 400 watts AES standard... its peak input will be higher (most likely substantially). So theoretically if you sent a butt load of signal to it continuously for a period of time... it "might" go kaboom in the bad sort of way.... but if you don't dime the volume and gain knobs, it is much more likely to just go "kaboom" in the good sort of way (i.e. not blowing out, just lots of glorious bass volume)

I think it is pretty safe, and probably according to Markbass a perfect application to use the 121p/h combo with a NY extension cab. I think this is even how they "market" the NY cabs.

Short answer: the combo + the NY extension is a good thing, and is unlikely to blow up on you.

Hope this helps.

[Powman]

Cool, thanks!

By the way someone locally is selling a used Markbass 15 inch cab. He paid $800, then with taxes it was about $1000. So he wants $800 Canadian total. Now, I already talked him down to $650 CDN, He claims he bought it for a studio in case bass players forgot their cab or something. Turns out, it never got used so they have decided to sell it.

But the Canadian dollar is trading at 0.97 US and may be worth more than the US dollar by the end of the week.

With that in mind, I checked Musicians Friend and that cab brand new is $599 US which right now is only $611 CDN! I could drive to Buffalo and pick it up there. I will probably have to pay taxes and duty, bringing it up to over $700 at least.

I think I will meet with this guy, check it out, then offer him $500 firm. Show him my research...

Does this sound like a good idea, or crazy?? (I have never bought used gear privately before...hence my hesitation)

[Peter Murray]

Cool, thanks!

By the way someone locally is selling a used Markbass 15 inch cab. He paid $800, then with taxes it was about $1000. So he wants $800 Canadian total. Now, I already talked him down to $650 CDN, He claims he bought it for a studio in case bass players forgot their cab or something. Turns out, it never got used so they have decided to sell it.

But the Canadian dollar is trading at 0.97 US and may be worth more than the US dollar by the end of the week.

With that in mind, I checked Musicians Friend and that cab brand new is $599 US which right now is only $611 CDN! I could drive to Buffalo and pick it up there. I will probably have to pay taxes and duty, bringing it up to over $700 at least.

I think I will meet with this guy, check it out, then offer him $500 firm. Show him my research...

Does this sound like a good idea, or crazy?? (I have never bought used gear privately before...hence my hesitation)

Hi, I'm not going to comment on your negotiations, if you can get a good deal, that's great!

But just to comment on the cross-border shopping issue.

Some Canadians are seduced by the idea of buying Markbass gear in the US because it's often cheaper. However, keep in mind the following:
- you will not have a warranty (the warranty only applies in the country of purchase)
- you will have to either pay duty, stay for longer than 48 hours, or smuggle the cab back in without declaring it and risk getting busted
- the trip will take time (time=money) and the gas cost alone might be more than the money you're saving.

Just some stuff to keep in mind.

Cheers,
Peter

[Peter Murray]

If later I want to add an extension cab, which one would pair well with this? If you recall, the CMD 112H has a 12 inch speaker and a tweeter. Someone suggested another set of exactly the same speakers. Ie the Traveller 112...

Does this make sense?

The Traveler 121H has a 12" and a 1" compression driver with custom horn.
The New York is a smaller cab, with the same speaker and a piezo tweeter.
The different tweeter gives the cab a different character in the high end.
The Traveler is a bigger cab, so it will give you a somewhat "bigger", fuller sound, but then it's not as portable as the New York 121.

Either cab is a good match for the Mini CMD 121P, you just have to decide whether the extra oomph of the bigger cab is worth it to you relative to the sacrifice in portability, and I guess price.
I have both cabs, and I think that the Traveler 121H is a better sounding cab overall, but the New York 121 is just fantastic when you add it to the combo.

Cheers,
Peter

[Powman]

Hi, I'm not going to comment on your negotiations, if you can get a good deal, that's great!

But just to comment on the cross-border shopping issue.

Some Canadians are seduced by the idea of buying Markbass gear in the US because it's often cheaper. However, keep in mind the following:
- you will not have a warranty (the warranty only applies in the country of purchase)
- you will have to either pay duty, stay for longer than 48 hours, or smuggle the cab back in without declaring it and risk getting busted
- the trip will take time (time=money) and the gas cost alone might be more than the money you're saving.

Just some stuff to keep in mind.

Cheers,
Peter

Good advice Peter...the lack of warranty is of concern.

I have ordered a New York 121 from my local shop and they suggested that they will might give me a better price in light of the allure of cross-border shopping. I told them I would be happy to give them my business still if they improve on their prices...they seem willing to play.

This will better in light of what you have said Peter.